Substack: Creating An Offer That Sells 11K US$+ A Year [Mindset, Strategy & Tactics]
Mindset, strategy and tactics to craft a compelling offer
Substack Accelerator
Welcome to the Substack Accelerator, a series of Posts to help you grow your Substack with a 360 approach covering 3 pillars:
Mindset
Strategy
Tactics
This series is for Paid Subscribers, but you can enjoy today’s Post and see if it’s for you.
Previously on Substack Accelerator:
How To Design Your Substack Home Page To Get More Views
Branding: How To Make Your Substack Irresistible (Inspired by Apple)
Substack: 10 Cool Ideas that Helped Me Get 100+ Paid Subscribers
You Can Steal My Substack Strategy But You Can't Steal My Croissants
Creating an irresistible offer
I coach 33 Substack Founding Members on strategy for writing. They all love writing and creating and want to take their passion to the next level: publish a book, launch a course, grow their audience…
They have very different backgrounds and goals but there’s one word that always comes up during our session: monetization.
The hardest part about writing is not the actual writing; it’s the selling. And that’s because selling requires different skills and engages a different part of the brain: the Marketing Genius.
It’s not only what you sell but how you sell it and to whom.
I have made every single mistake you can imagine when it comes to creating a poor offer:
Boring
Generic
Irrelevant
Confusing
So I can speak with authority about what not to do if you want to create an attractive offer that turns readers into your loyal fans.
I have also been able to successfully monetize my Substack and turn it into a Bestseller with 162 Paid Subscribers as we speak and 11K+ US$ in revenue. So I can also speak with confidence and business proof about what works.
Let’s plant some lemon trees 🌳🍋
Mindset
The golden rule of personal growth is to ditch the scarcity thinking and feed an abundance mindset.
Writers want shortcuts to get paid subscribers. Who doesn’t?
What many fail to realize is that your paid subscribers are already there: they are your readers on the other side of the digital wall.
Think of a shopping mall: there are tons of people walking around the mall and then there are those who are already in the store, your store. They haven’t purchased anything yet, but they willingly came to you and are keen to listen to what you have to say.
They came to you and they are interested.
Even if it’s only one person, that’s one opportunity.
A little story…
A few months ago, I proudly shared a screenshot of my Substack progress. I was celebrating a milestone and a party pooper spoiled the fun:
“It’s disheartening that out of your 1,000 subscribers, only 28 are paid. So much work for so little reward.”
😑
The party pooper didn’t mean to be rude. It was a valid comment that got me thinking.
And it’s also the perfect example to help illustrate an abundance mindset:
In my mind, it’s freaking incredible that hundreds of people and now thousands are already in my store, curious to see what I have to offer. I don’t have to drag them in or pay ads to Musk or Zuckerberg to seduce them with their dodgy tricks for me.
They are already here… for free.
That’s 50% of the job done.
The other 50% is to get them to see the value in my community so that they want to be part of it and get that value.
An abundance mindset looks at those numbers and thinks:
“28 done, 972 to go. Game on.”
See, the glass is not half empty or half full: the glass has water and water means opportunity.
That’s how I want you to look at your Substack - no matter how small the numbers might be.
Lesson 1: Feed a mindset of abundance and focus on potential
Strategy
As a writer, my big aha moment was discovering that writing is an ecosystem: it’s not a pile of disconnected articles, disparate ideas, and junk miles on the keyboard.
Everything needs to be connected to make a bigger impact and draw a journey for your readers: your social media posts, books, webinars, newsletter, courses…
People don’t pay for a product or even a service: they pay for a transformation.
My Paid Members don’t pay for a webinar: they are investing in new skills to self-publish their first book, monetize their writing, or grow online.
My Founding Members don’t buy a coaching session: they seek guidance to create a strategy that will help them grow faster.
My readers don’t purchase my book: they want a proven framework to start a new path based on actionable steps that worked for me and can work for them.
Once you evolve from transaction to transformation, you start thinking about an ecosystem with interconnected pieces and a journey with different touch points for your readers.
This is what the ecosystem and journey at The Lemon Tree Mindset🌳🍋looks like:
Awareness (followers):
LinkedIn posts, Medium articles and Notes to get people interested in my topic.
↓
Engagement (free subscribers):
Free articles to get readers to engage and connect with me.
↓
Conversion (paid subscribers)
Webinars, courses and an exclusive group chat to get people to be a part of my community and develop new skills as writers and creators.
↓
Customization (Founding Member):
One-to-one strategy sessions and coaching packages for those who want personalized support.
Everything is connected. I’m trying to create a journey for my readers to take them deeper and help them with their transformation through different options and touchpoints.
Warning: It doesn’t happen overnight.
Most of my Founding Members start as free subscribers. Then they see something that seduces them to go further and upgrade (my book, a webinar, a course..). After a while, some want personalized guidance and become Founding Members to work together on their strategy.
It’s a process that can take months, so you have to be in for the long term.
My conversion rate is 3%, which is lower than Substack’s official figures (5-10%) but it doesn’t matter: I know that the more people come into my ecosystem, the more opportunities I have to turn them into Paid Subscribers and Founding Members, provided I deliver on my promise.
Lesson 2: Think bigger and build an ecosystem and a journey
Tactics
When you are selling something, the what is cool but the how is just as important.
One of the most common mistakes I see on Substack is how the offers are presented:
“Upgrade here for unlimited access to my archive.”
“Become a paid subscriber to read my exclusive content.”
Visiting an archive is as exciting as watching paint dry.
And I have to pay for it?
People want to be seduced by your offer but are you speaking their language?
How you communicate it is critical.
I created a simple framework I use for all my marketing communication to speak my readers’ language.
My CSR framework:
Clear: Is it easy to understand and remember?
Specific: Is it detailed and precise?
Relevant: Does it speak to your ideal client?
This sounds simple but most people overcomplicate offers, use fancy names and lose their audience with too many options.
Do you understand your own offer?
It’s a valid question. I realized I didn’t understand mine. Ouch.
“Webinars” - about what? how many?
“Exclusive content” - videos, courses, newsletters?
“Continuous support” - one-to-one? messages? group chat?
I followed the principles of CSR to update my offer and you can check it below.
Lesson 3: Communicate an offer that is clear, specific and relevant.
Ready to unlock your Marketing Genius?
Lesson 1: Feed a mindset of abundance (and don’t be your own party pooper)
Lesson 2: Build a strategic ecosystem (from transaction to transformation)
Lesson 3: Keep it clear, simple and specific (CSR framework
A little surprise 🎁
September is a special month for me.
7 years ago I said yes and Dave and I are building a wonderful thing together ❤️
I would love to celebrate with you all and share the love with a special offer ✨✨
Fully agree on the ecosystem point of view! Several channels can act as top of the funnel bringing different people into your tribe.
Be happy with those 3% paid members (I‘m proudly included here) and continue to focus on value & service.
This was really helpful! I'm working on clarifying the transformation I help clients with. I'm leaning into the life purpose aspect. After reading this article, I changed "find healing and purpose with journaling," — which I do love, but I wonder if it speaks to peoples' desires enough? — to "find your life purpose and become successful." My current goal course isn't attracting paid subscribers at all, and I think it's too vague, not a specific enough outcome. Maybe a little boring! :) Always learning, testing and reiterating!