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Tips and Tools to Help You Grow

Creator Toolkit

How to use this toolkitDoes this sound like you?

• You are a creator with an established following who wants to build a financially sustainable creative business — independent of ads, brand deals, and algorithms.

• You are a creator who wants to build your creative career by engaging directly with your fans and supporters.

• You are a creator committed to being around for a long time, making awesome things, and inspiring the world.

We thought we recognized you.

Creativity takes courage, but it also takes time and energy. As your eager business partners, our goal is to lighten your workload, and highlight ways Patreon can work for you.

As you read through this toolkit, note which best practices you can implement right away, and which resources you can count on to further grow your Patreon membership business. We’re so excited to see all you achieve and remember, we’re in this, with you.

Introduction

Getting StartedLanguageTiers + Benefits Design

PromotionBrand KitCommunicationsEvents

Partner ToolsIntegrationsWidget

ResourcesWorkshopsPatreon UBlogHelp Center

Introduction

Language Tiers + Benefits Design

Getting Started

Getting Started

Language - you’re talking to your biggest fans!

The community that you invite to support you on Patreon is there because they want to connect further with you. They already believe in your work, so tell them how they can champion it. You are building a sustainable membership business and your words should reflect that.

It is important to use active language rather than passive when engaging with your fans, followers, and patrons.

More of this:Join me!Only on…Exclusive atBrought you to by my amazing patronsThank you patrons! Check out more….

Not this:Give meDonateHelp me

Best practices:• Use language that resonates

with your audience; be authentic

• Think about what will give them a sense of community and connection to you

• Talk about the value of joining your membership offering - “tease” benefits

Membership Tiers + Design

The perfect membership tiers are the ones that both- Offer benefits your most passionate

fans want- Offer benefits you can deliver

consistently, without burning out

It’s crucial to create membership tiers that resonate with your fans AND are manageable month over month.

Most creators have a mix of support-inspired patrons, who will respond to your why (why you’re on Patreon, or the vision of your work) and benefit-driven fans who are all about the what (i.e., they’re excited to interact with you). Build your tiers to align with your audience’s motivations.

Best practices:• Choose 3-5 membership

tiers; give choice but don’t overwhelm patrons

• $2-$5 should be your lowest tier level - remember to not undervalue your work

• Offer exclusivity and occasional surprises!

Select easy-to-fulfill options for the lower tiers which can go out to many patrons, and offer more personalized benefits at higher tier levels as they require more of your time.

Note: There will be times when you want to go above and beyond for your patrons, which is great for Special Offers. We’ll get to that in the Marketing section of this Toolkit.

Brand Kit Communications Special Offers Events

Marketing

Marketing

Brand Kit The best way to grow your Patreon is to talk about it. A lot. Over 70% of patrons come to Patreon because a creator told them about it; you have the power to convert your fans to patrons. To make mentioning Patreon easier, add our logo to all your websites and any promotional materials (mailings, posters, etc.) you create.

Talking about Patreon doesn’t have to be hard; leverage our logo to help your conversations.

Get the brand kit here:https://www.patreon.com/brand

Best practices:• Fans won’t know about it, if

you don’t talk about it• Thank your patrons with

custom cards once a year, and shoutouts as you make content

• Post regularly on your social channels - posts move fast, fans may be missing your mentions!

Marketing

Consistent Communications Wherever your fans are is where you need to talk to them about Patreon, but even still it’s easy to miss posts on social media, or skip emails when your inbox is full. It’s okay to be persistent and consistent in your communications. Think about how often you want to promote your Patreon membership business and how you want to do it.

For example, will you post on your socials every day, and email a newsletter every two weeks? What works for your audience and your workload?

Best practices:• Remember - these are

your people; they want to hear from you

• Start with something easy and add to your efforts when you are ready to ramp up

• Designate a regular newsletter mention spot, set it and forget it

Marketing

Patreon Widget Do you have a website where fans come to find you? If you use your site to connect and engage your fanbase, use the Patreon widget to make it extra easy for fans to become patrons.

The widget helps keep your Patreon membership top of mind for your audience and can bring any user directly to your Patreon page.

The widget can be found on the brand page or in your profile under the widgets section.

Best practices:• Make it easy for fans to

convert to patrons• Seeing the Patreon

mentions makes your current patrons feel appreciated

• You can track conversion from the widget to see where your patrons are coming from

MarketingSpecial Offers

A new feature in beta that allows you to run a special, limited time offer for engaging your patrons or reaching new ones.

With this tool, you can offer your patrons something extra special to thank them, encourage them to move up a level, or become a new patron.

A Special Offer allows you the flexibility to offer a benefit that you have in limited quantities or tied to a general marketing event, ie. a book release.

Best practices:• Time your Special Offer to

a milestone, holiday, or marketing event

• Make the benefit something that speaks to your community

• Have fun with it! It is for a limited time and is a great tool for doing something new

MarketingEvents Live Sign Ups Any live event — including signings or talks — offers a perfect opportunity to mention Patreon and encourage sign-ups. Even better is to create a QR code that allows fans to sign up on the spot, right from the event! This has been even more successful when tied to an exclusive merch item that both existing and new patrons can get at the event.

Make Your Patrons Visible If you are a creator who holds regular live events, think about how you can recognize your patrons at the events. Can you establish a special seating area for patrons, host a patron-only pre or post event gathering? Even offering early ticket sales is a great way to make patrons feel extra special.

In addition to generating those positive gratitude vibes with your existing patrons, other folks will witness the value of becoming a patron.

Contact us at CreatorSuccess@patreon.com for more tips on live events and QR codes.

Best practices:• Create a QR code to sign

up patrons on the spot - we like scan.me

• Print out the QR code on flyers that invite attendees to become members

• Make an exclusive piece of merch to give out at the event for sign ups and current patrons

Partner Integrations Patreon Widget

Tools

ToolsPartner Integrations

Patreon partners with other offerings that will make our creator’s lives easier and enhance their memberships.

These partners are great resources to add some flavor to your membership benefits.

Instructions and discount codes can be found at the Patreon partner directory.

https://partners.patreon.com/

Best practices:• Include engaging apps like

Discord as part of your membership tiers

• Link your Reddit account to bring your communities together

• Look for ways to add a personal touch easily with apps like Bonjoro

Discord Host a patron-only chat

Bonjoro Create personal thank you videos

Reddit Reward your patrons with custom flair on Reddit

Tools

Best practices:• Set up patron-only mailing

lists with MailChimp• Seamlessly post locked

content to your website with a WordPress plugin

• Become fully connected across your entire workflow with zapier

Partner Integrations, continued

Some of our favorite tools for managing your membership business also offer Patreon discounts and coupon codes.

Get more ideas on this post and let us know which ones are most helpful to your work!

Workshops Patreon U Blog Help Center

Resources

Resources

Want more? We have more for you!

• Attend a live workshop to learn from Patreon team members and other creators

• Dig into all the Patreon U articles to help you at any stage of your creator journey

• Subscribe to our blog to get regular updates and best practices

• Have a specific question? Check out the Help Center for support articles on all our features and tools

• Or reach out! We are here to help from the creator success team.