For instance, there are at least three Facebook groups dedicated to related topics with thousands of members each. One has a formal rule for how often you’re allowed to post on a crowdfunding campaign (typically Kickstarter, but seems applicable to this too): one post at the start of the campaign, one post at the end (last 24 hours, typically). I think that’s at least an unwritten rule for the others. And I get that – there are typically 20+ Kickstarters going on in the space on any given month, so if we all posted daily updates, it would be hugely spammy and any non-sales posts in the group would get buried.
Similarly, I have an e-mail list that’s extremely targeted, but I feel like if I sent daily updates to it, I’d start to really annoy people.
Now, if I spent more time planning HOW to promote instead of WHAT to promote, maybe I could be clever here – stagger posts across the different Facebook groups so I don’t hit every one on the same day and then go silent for a while, but instead hit a different one every couple days so I don’t violate the rules of individual groups but still keep promoting over the course of the offer.
Finally, on the topic of educating potential patrons about what I do (and possibly about how Patreon works), I think it would be challenging to do it within the time frame of a special offer – it’s more on me to keep that going over time and then jump in with a special offer periodically. But I would like a landing page so that anyone who’s new to it but intrigued by the special offer can jump to a primer.
Hi @michaelharren - thanks for sharing the broader context of your experience. I’m glad that despite the obstacles you stuck with it and did gain a few new folks at higher tiers especially. I think the song and zines that eventually get compiled into a book and EP are an awesome idea! I can’t wait to see them!
I am also definitely inspired by your view that there are 130 folks who are your die-hard fans! It sounds like your community is very committed, and those types of relationships do take time to foster and build. I love the list you shared - right on the money. You have to love what you create, and your fans catch the bug so to speak.
I hope your arm heals up and thank you again for bringing your enthusiasm and insight to this program! I
We had the same number of sign ups as normal, but they all were bumped up a tier higher than usual, so I think the promotion helped with that.
Timing was bad for us in the end. We thought it would tie in nicely with the launch of our newest software version, but then we had to delay it a week or so to iron out last minute things. We’ve also found that marketing isn’t a skill either of us possess! This campaign was the incentive we needed to get a twitter account up and running properly, launch a Discord server and use the newsletter list we have, as well as changing up the header images on our Patreon and Twitter profiles.
I’ve enjoyed the campaign, even though timing wasn’t the best it taught me a lot. We are looking to run a second promotion in the near future, maybe sending out stickers to our Patrons as a Christmas thank you.
I have feedback on how to set the end of the campaign, but I’ll start a new thread for that as it’s a bit technical.
In terms of support, I think the general advice about marketing was interesting reading and gave us some ideas. However, a lot of it doesn’t apply to us. For example, we write Open Source Software, so we have no need to run a Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat account as our audience just isn’t there.
In terms of what the benefit its, we had to do some thinking too. We don’t currently do videos (so no shoutouts), and we will never do things like artwork commissions. But our benefit did seem to work at the end of the day - we launched a Discord server with a “VIP” role being handed out as the promotional benefit. VIPs now have access to a VIP-only chat room which gets advanced previews of what we are working on, and faster response times from us. Eventually, we will use this in combination with a livestreaming service to make this more of a draw for high-value tiers. It’s working quite nicely so far, but would be good to talk to other software devs out there who are using Patreon.
In all, thank you Patreon for offering this opportunity. It’s forced us to think about marketing! How soon in the future will we be able to run our own campaigns?
That’s a really good point about Patron recommendations — the more tools that can be incorporated that make it easy for Patrons to share & brag about their Patron rewards/experiences, the more I think this kind of word-of-mouth marketing could be facilitated.
Hi @ScienceMom. I don’t think we share the same kind of audience like you do with the lady that does a science podcasts for kids, but a few months down the line I am planning to roll out a new project that teaches Turkish children about evolution. I just wanted to reach out and say hi! My name is Nesli and I was wondering if maybe we too could have a conversation down the road. For example when the time comes, do you think I could email you? If it sounds like something that you would be interested in, please PM me your email address. All the best, Nesli
Dear @laurab and the rest of the Special Offers Patreon Team,
I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to take part in the special offers campaign because I believe through this experience I have learned to become a better sales person for my own art. Self promotion has always been a point of deep resistance for me, but through the HangTime Seminar, the worksheets, the handbook, and most importantly this forum, I have been able to converse with other creators and learn from them. I’m happy to have been involved with such an effort. Thank you.
I ran my campaign for 10 days and 11 new patrons have joined my crusade to bring “HappyNES to Istanbul.” (HappyNES is the name of my Patreon Account
During the campaign I used promotional messaging like this:
My one suggestion would be to have a hang time once a week during the 5 week period. I loved the first hangtime, and thought it would be helpful to do that each week, to say “okay, this is what you need to focus on this week, this is a recap of what was suggested in the forum, don’t forget to do this, etc.” If by chance, there was a hangtime every week and I missed them! Then I would suggest revising how people are notified about hangtime seminars, because I totally didn’t get the message. (I hope that wasn’t the case)
My suggestion may seem to many like it’s expecting too much hand-holding. However valid that might be, I still felt very -on my own- at times. I would have responded well to my insecurities if I had a teacher gently guiding me through this campaign each week, if not just to check in and answer questions in realtime. A soft opinion. Regardless, the special offers campaign was a stellar experience and for me at least, rendered real results. For that, I am truly thankful.
@nes10bul this is so wonderful to hear! I’m thrilled to hear this program helped you, we hear a lot from creators how hard and unnatural it can feel to promote yourself and your work. I also thank you for the feedback around how we can improve this kind of thing in the future with weekly hang times and more gentle guidance - that’s what this forum is here for so I hope we can continue to build that
p.s I love the “thank you for believing in me” bird branches <3
I’m not feeling great about how my special offer went, but I do feel I learned things I have not learned before, which is worth a lot to me.
I gained +$76 in pledges, but no new patrons. Since I was hoping to attract new patrons and do not believe that my increased-pledge patrons will stay at the same level, I have mixed feelings about the promo.
What I think might have happened to get to this result:
Bad timing. That’s probably the #1 reason. The timing did not work for me - first the Jewish holidays, then the political situation that dampened everybody’s enthusiasm.
Most of my fans do not have $5-$10 to spare monthly.
I am not making any new fans at this point (a serious concern, but maybe this is all in my head).
I am creating too many different things - people are confused (but I want to continue creating a variety of things; that’s what I am most passionate about).
not enough prep time, marketing was not as effective as I hoped (not sure about this).
Good things that came out of this
I am genuinely enjoying the letterpress art I am making. Actually I love it.
I did not expect so many of my existing patrons throwing so much more money my way.
Lessons learned:
I have focused on the $1-2 tier the most, and that’s where I have the most content, but it’s time to start rearranging my tiers to give more to my higher-tier patrons.
I do need to do more outward-facing stuff (again); I have enjoyed doing Patreon so much that I neglected other areas.
If fulfillment goes well, I want to do this again.
I hear everything you are saying about timing, mood and internal conversations, Rose!
I have had a similar focus on the lower tier stuff and have been wanting to work on the higher tier things, so…
I sucked up my fear and focused on a higher tier for this promotion and found it surprisingly successful.
I wish you all the best as you continue your creative way forward!
Hi @tansyrr, yes, absolutely. We’re actively working to improve the special offers experience, and all creators who participated in this alpha, and offered feedback have helped us improve this feature. So, thank you all very much! We look forward to releasing the next version.
That’s exciting @irunfar ! Unfortunately, the beta version is not yet quite ready, though we are targeting next month. If timing is of essence, please, don’t let our timeline hold you back. You can edit your special offers tiers to include information about your special offer, and promote it, albeit without the countdown on your page, or the cool lightning bolt identifying the special offer.
We’ll be sure to keep this group posted with updates on the beta.
Thanks! It’s great to know the timing. I’ll likely give the concept a go in the short term, albeit without some of the cool features. I’ll still try to report my results back here!
