How to Launch a Patreon: Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:00] I'm Becca. I'm a full-time creator, and a year and a half ago, I launched my Patreon. But when I did, I made every possible mistake. For example, I was way too ambitious with my initial offerings, and then I had all of these tiers that didn't really make sense.

[00:14] But most crucially, I didn't plan a great launch announcement. I'm hoping to launch some sort of Patreon. But despite this rocky start, Patreon is now a huge source of my income, and it allows me to do what I love to do, which is make stuff. So if I can go back,

[00:28] Rebuild and relaunch my Patreon, here's what I do instead. First, the obvious stuff. You need a profile photo. Make sure it's clearly and authentically you. Then a name and a byline.

[00:42] The byline is what will appear in search, so keep it short, but get some keywords in there. Pick a theme color, customize your URL. You can even include a video here to give it that personal touch. Hello, welcome to my Patreon. Now, this next part is where I made my first mistake.

[00:56] This is when you decide what you want to offer your audience. When I was launching my Patreon, I offered way more than I could actually produce. Like I thought I could make weekly vlogs on top of my already produced YouTube content and social posts. Welcome to the first behind the scenes vlog.

[01:09] It just ended up not being possible So take some time to think deeply about what you actually have the bandwidth to make or how you could repurpose some of the work that you making for other platforms into a Patreon

[01:21] offering. On Patreon, you can offer both free and paid tiered work. Now, the goal should be to move people into your paid tier, but free offerings allow you to showcase who you are and what you make.

[01:33] For example, you might have a newsletter, standard podcast episodes, or previews of your exclusive work in your free tier, and then in your paid tier, you could have bonus episodes, ad-free content, early access to new episodes, live event access, community

[01:48] chat access, or even a poll for your fans to choose what they want to see next. And while you can have many paid tiers, it's recommended that you keep it under 3-5. But personally, I would start with just one paid tier, and build up as you grow.

[02:03] This was another mistake I made, I went way too elaborate with tiers, and then when I trying to deliver on content, I just got confused about who gets what. Next, pricing. Price smart, but don't sell yourself short. Five bucks.

[02:15] This is a great place to start. You can always ask your fans what they want to see more of and maybe make a $10 tier down the road that accommodates those requests. Whatever you decide to offer though just make sure that it things that you can actually deliver on and things that you want to make Then once you got your tier set it time to get making stuff and organizing it into collections

[02:38] So for me, those include how-to videos, podcasts, ad-free videos. Got some of these, one of those, couple of these. And then don't forget to set up your community chat. It's a great way to connect with your community in real time.

[02:51] Naturally, my community chat is a place to nerd out about cameras and tech. This next part is very important and it is, again, where I made another mistake. And that's launch day. You see, when I told my audience about my Patreon, it wasn't ready yet.

[03:05] I just mentioned that I was working on it. Wrong. You want to make sure that when you announce something new to your fans, they can actually see it, engage with it, and hopefully become a part of it. So once your Patreon is all set up on the back end, make a launch plan that aligns with

[03:18] your usual posting rhythm. Your big reveal day or your launch day is by far the most important. You'll want to make a post or a video explaining what your Patreon is, what you have to offer, and include some incentives for joining, like a livestream or a limited time discount code

[03:34] to kind of stir up excitement. It also important to explain why you doing this now and what Patreon is I like to say this and in case you don know Patreon is a community platform where creators like me give fans like you exclusive access to work and experiences Feel free to steal it Then

[03:50] share your Patreon everywhere. Wherever you post, wherever your fans are, make sure you reach them in some way. But know that once you launch, the work isn't over. This is when it's time to stay consistent and keep delivering on all of your promises. And don't forget to remind fans that

[04:05] for the most exclusive access to your work, they're going to want to join you on Patreon. This is also a good time to explore Patreon's new discovery network. It's called Quips, and it's a place to share quick thoughts and updates in front of your paywall. It's a new

[04:18] feature, with the benefit being that your work will appear more widely on Patreon's discovery feed, where it can be seen by your next potential superfans, and it's a great way to extend your reach. Lastly, I want to mention that your Patreon will grow and change as you do. It doesn't have

[04:32] to be perfect right from the jump. I mean, hell, mine was a mess. Listen to your fans, grow and experiment, and be proud that you're building a community and a space that's all yours. If you want to learn more about how to start and grow your Patreon, make sure you're subscribed to the

[04:45] YouTube channel, and please drop a comment down below about what topics you want to see covered. Also, you can check out Patreon for Creators, where there's tons of information just like this, and I've linked that down in the description as well. You got this. Now go get creating.