Sales and marketing are crucial parts of your role as a membership site owner.

Even the best membership website in the world will fade away into obscurity if you’re not doing anything to attract new members. With a focus on authentic membership marketing, you can grow your audience without feeling like a sleazy marketer.

If you’re wondering how to sell a membership without feeling pushy or fake—you’re in the right place.

Here are our top tips for attracting new members without feeling like a scumbag…

Avoid Unrealistic Hype in Your Sales Messaging

We’ve all seen the headlines…

“Discover How This Beagle Made $7,838,922 in Just 25 Minutes Using a Paperclip and a Half-Squeezed Lemon”

Okay, maybe not THAT headline, but you get the gist…

You can highlight the results your members achieve, but don’t promise the moon. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is—and people know it. Authentic membership marketing is about setting real expectations.

Speak in your own voice when selling

Instead of mimicking every sales page on the internet, speak in your own words. Inject your personality into your copy.
For memberships, this matters more than ever. You’ll have an ongoing relationship with your members, so the way you communicate upfront sets the tone.

This is particularly important for membership sites. Your ‘dialogue’ with your members will continue beyond the initial sale so it's important to establish a tone that feels consistent, authentic, and aligned with the experience they can expect as part of your community.

Provide legit risk reversal

Every buying decision represents a risk for the customer, including the decision to join your membership site.

Sell a membership without pressure with, what Jay Abraham calls, “risk reversal”.

Use tools like trial periods, money-back guarantees, or clear social proof. These strategies help prospective members feel more confident in their decision.

Use genuine, verifiable social proof

Testimonials can be extremely powerful additions to your sales pages, and they’re even more effective if they can be verified too.

Putting a face, a name and even a company and website address to your testimonials and quotes removes any doubt about their legitimacy.

You might even consider posting screenshots of genuine emails and social media messages too for added effect.

Ditch the ulterior motive

Getting involved in existing communities can be a great way of promoting your membership site; however responding to every request for input, feedback or assistance by pushing the link to your sales page will wear thin pretty quickly.

Instead, try to actually help people out, adding value to the communities you’re part of, and you’ll find that people will respond far more positively and be more likely to be interested in your product.

Remember that “marketing” and “sales” are not dirty words

While there are clearly some styles and approaches that you will want to avoid – it’s important to remember that it’s okay to actually market and try to sell your membership.

Many sales trainers agree that one of the biggest mistakes people make is failing to ask for the sale – so be sure not to fall into the trap of “not wanting to appear salesy”, and as a result avoid trying to sell altogether.

How do you approach to sales and marketing?

Which sales techniques turn your stomach?

What sort of things tend to work on you from a customer perspective?

Let us know in our FREE Facebook Group

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