How to See Art on Patreon Without Becoming a Member

In Jeff Goins' book, Real Artists Don't Starve, he exposes the myth of the "starving artist" and talks about how, throughout history, creators have leveraged their creativity and social power to not just survive, just to thrive from their creations. It's a cadre thing we're watching for in the creator economy , since the cyberspace has created even more options for creators to make money from their work.

And i of these options is Patreon.

When Patreon launched, it gave thousands of creators a brand new fashion to make money off of their work. The idea was liberating. Practice what you lot exercise best, focus on being great at it, and the people who love your stuff tin support you.

But just because the idea of having patrons support y'all is great, it doesn't get in easy. For every artist wishing they could be making a full-fourth dimension living off of their work, there are hundreds of others who bring in a trickle of coins every month or fifty-fifty nothing at all.

Because the truth about Patreon is that being a creator isn't enough. You lot also take to acquire the art of being successful on Patreon, of delivering value and managing your audience.

That's what we'll talk nigh in this postal service. Nosotros'll give you the foundations for how to exist successful on Patreon. If you lot tin can figure this out, yous'll have time to devote to the work that yous love. And isn't that what it'due south all nearly?

Here'due south how to be successful on Patreon:

In this commodity…

Know why people back up

The place to first with Patreon is not setting up an account and hoping money comes. It's having a strong agreement of your personal brand and what your craft is. Patreon has an enormous range of possibilities. Whether y'all want to give tips on raising succulents or whether y'all're a style influencer, you lot can probably build a following there. Only it's important to actually know what your affair is.

Behind every successful Patreon account is someone devoted to a arts and crafts. So a good place to start is with the question, What am I good at?

And after this question, you lot tin ask a few more than: Why would people desire to back up my work? What do they leave of it?

Here are a few reasons people will get patrons:

For the love of the craft

This is what we usually remember of when we think of patronage. Possibly it's the purest class of back up, when people will donate simply for the love of your arts and crafts and a desire to support information technology. Every bit we'll talk about below, patrons throughout history have received dissimilar goodies from supporting creators, simply there may even so exist people who want to back up you just because they beloved what you practise and believe it should exist.

Passion nigh a crusade

Some patrons volition as well support considering they're passionate about a crusade. Imagine if you have been frustrated by a social issue in the by, and all of a sudden you realize somebody is devoting their life to fixing information technology. That might be something you desire to support. In this example, giving through Patreon looks more like supporting a charity. Examples of this type of Patron would be donating to someone advocating for refugee issues or raising awareness of systemic racial injustice past using social media platforms.

For the benefits

In many cases, people volition become patrons because of the benefits that come up with it. Examples of these benefits might include guests or merch, face time with a creator, or a course. We'll talk more than well-nigh this below.

By the way, if you accept any qualms nearly offering benefits to your supporters, DON'T! Contrary to what y'all might think, it's non "selling out" and it doesn't dilute the "pure beloved of the craft." Thousands of creators offer some sort of benefit to the people who dearest their work, and it'due south a fantastic affair.

Principal audience building

If you lot are trying to figure out how to be successful on Patreon, one of the most obvious things is that people need to know you lot're there. So the start step is probably going to be something that will come up like shooting fish in a barrel to some creators and hard to others: audience building.

There are different ways to accomplish this, some depression-tech and some high-tech, merely you need to get your Patreon account in front of people who support you lot.

Audition edifice doesn't always come easy, and just because you are not bad at your craft doesn't necessarily mean y'all will be swell at building an audience. If you are an influencer wanting to use Patreon, you are probably already keen at building an audience. If y'all have 10,000 Instagram or TikTok followers, yous're well on your way. If you're an artist or author, audience building might exist a new thing.

Don't be intimidated past it. Audition edifice is a skill, and if you can larn it, information technology volition pay off big-fourth dimension!

Here are some of the ways that some Patreon members cull to build their audience.

One of the near common feeders for Patreon supporters is social media. Social media platforms, whatever they are, requite creators a way to build a following, grow a fan base, and therefore find loyal supporters.

Note that you don't need to be on every social media platform to successfully build an audience. In all honesty, you are probably better off choosing one or two. The influencers who wait similar they're on every platform often have teams of people helping them. Keep it unproblematic. Figure out where the people are who volition get the nearly out of what you have to offering. Focus on that platform.

Here are a few ideas for platforms you can endeavour and what works on them:

LinkedIn=Careers or business organization

Instagram=Artists and creatives, fashion influencers, inspirational figures

TikTok=Merely about anything

Twitter=Politics, big ideas

YouTube=Just most anything

Email

Information technology's one of the oldest forms of online communication, but e-mail is all the same a corking way to build a following. Even better, it's a great way to deepen trust with an existing following. Social media comes and goes, and they change the rules all the fourth dimension. Merely when you have someone's electronic mail, theoretically you can always reach them (although spam filters are a thing).

Email is personal. Nearly people check information technology every day. If you lot are in someone's inbox, you are in a nifty place to build a long-term relationship with them. And it's the perfect spot to build trust with possible futurity patrons.

Other Media

What if y'all could arrive front of millions of people without posting on social media everyday for years or working hard to grow a post-obit? Some people do exactly this, choosing to focus more than on tapping into existing audiences with their message than trying to build an audience from scratch.

Getting your ideas and work onto other media channels, whether it's writing op-eds for popular news outlets, a guest blog post for a popular blog, or trying to become on the news by signing upwards for Help a Reporter Out ( HARO ) tin can likewise be a peachy strategy for growing your audition. Yous probably want to mix these with the ideas above, especially if you lot're going to build a relationship deep enough to win patrons, but using existing media channels is a great way to become your message out.

Deliver value to members

The adjacent step for existence successful on Patreon is learning to evangelize value to your members. If y'all go and look at Renaissance paintings, you will find a lot of wealthy patrons with their portraits sprinkled into ancient scenes. These patrons wanted to be rewarded with a motion-picture show side by side to Plato or someone from the Bible, and the artists painted them into famous works of art. And these patrons' portraits have been preserved for posterity in some of the greatest pieces of art ever made.

In that location'south a lesson here. Larn how to deliver value to your patrons. Patronage isn't only a one-way street in which patrons requite you money. Often, rewarding your patrons will make them feel neat about supporting you, and hopefully, encourage them to continue!

But the other challenge is delivering long-term value. Unlike crowdfunding websites where you are raising money for a specific crusade or projection and information technology has a time limit on it, you're hoping to keep your patrons for a long time to come up. You'll need to learn how to evangelize value, not for a week or a month, just for the unabridged lifecycle of your supporter. That can be a alpine order.

Here are some ideas for how to exercise that:

Set up membership tiers

One of the best options Patreon gives you to deliver value to your members is through membership tiers. This is where you can have preset offers, and members will be rewarded co-ordinate to their level of gift. For example, a visual artist might prepare membership tiers that look something like this:

Entry-level = $5-10/mo (5 free printables)

Mid-level=$x-25/mo (5 free printables + a recorded monthly video art lesson)

Loftier-level = $25+ (five free printables + live monthly video art lesson with Q&A + recording after + quarterly guest fine art lessons)

There are a million different ways to reward your members, but finding means to make them feel special will be a great incentive for them to keep supporting you!

Pro tip: Endeavor to proceed your rewards scalable. If you said, "I'll meet personally once a month with everyone at the high-level tier, and and then ane,000 people joined, you'd never get anything else done. Information technology'south meliorate to offer things you can do once (like printables, classes, courses, alive streams, etc) that benefit everyone.

Create merch

Patreon has the option to build merch for your supporters. It might not be right for everyone, only if you're an artist or musician, or even if you accept a potent logo or a quote you want to share, merch might be an option. Patreon recently added the option to build merch into your offerings, and they have care of the manufacturing and shipping.

Sending your supporters a costless mug or t-shirt tin exist a great way to deliver value.

Offering access

One of the best ways creators can deliver value to their Patreon supporters, specially if you have fans, is to offering them access to…. YOU. It might seem a flake Hollywood at get-go, but oft people love the chance to meet creators and/or to learn from them.

If y'all're a well-respected creator, you might find that people are excited past the gamble to come up and run into you, ask you questions, and get more than face-fourth dimension.

Another option that a lot of creators are taking is to build and grow an online community . It's one of the all-time means to give your supporters access, value, and easily manage different membership tiers. With the right community platform, you tin can live stream, post ideas and host discussions in the forum, and fifty-fifty serve your members with an app! We'll talk more about this beneath

Nosotros're a huge fan of this strategy because you don't need 100,000 people to build and monetize successfully . Yous might be surprised to notice out that you don't need a huge marketing team or social media presence to launch a groovy community. You lot only demand a articulate value proposition for people who will join, and they need a reasonable expectation that beingness in your customs will assist them accomplish their goals.

Linking this to your Patreon levels tin be an easy style to add together value to your supporters.

We've built a swell community platform for you to reward your Patreon supporters with. Try it out for free!

Endeavour it at presentNo credit card required.

One terminal step that you tin use to give value to your Patreon supporters is to create actress bonuses. You could practise this for gratuitous as part of their Patreon package, but a lot of creators choose to use their Patreon audience to springboard into other things, running special events, courses, and more. In fact, selling access to quondam benefits is a huge source of income for some Patreon creators.

In business, it's well-known that it'south easier to sell to an existing client than someone who's never bought before. It'south the concept of the upsell, and it'due south why your favorite burger joint ordinarily asks, "Practise you desire chips with that?"

So, even so y'all want to handle the pricing, creating extra bonuses for your members, and fifty-fifty charging for them, can be a really important function of a sustainable Patreon funding model.

Here are a few ideas for extra things you could offer:

Your creations

It stands to reason that if you're an artist, the people supporting you on Patreon won't look a free oil painting every month. So if you lot have an actual large product to sell, something astonishing you've created, your existing audience are probably the perfect people to purchase it. You could offer discounts to your members if you desire, every bit an even bigger value-added (e.thousand. "Members get 5, 10, and 20% off depending on membership tier.")

If y'all're a creator who builds and sells either physical or digital products, using your existing Patreon members to make sales is a great extra.

We talked about community above, just building a community infinite for your patrons to bring together, or mayhap even upselling a customs membership is a great manner to give your patrons access and extra value.

Events

Another mode that many creators choose to add extras for their members is through an issue . Y'all could choose to sell tickets at a disbelieve to members or requite them first or special access. And whether the issue is a series of speakers, a lesson that you lead, or a performance, you can utilise it to expand your accomplish and your income potential.

Courses

Running courses for your followers, whether it's on "Building an Instagram Following" or "Undercover Watercolor Techniques," is another style yous can add more value to your existing audience and also supplement your Patreon income. A lot of our creators on Mighty Network do amazing things with courses and brand not bad income off of them!

Courses Feature

Coaching

Finally, some creators cull to add coaching as an extra to their Patreon work. Whether it'southward a limited group coaching session, a mastermind group , or i:one coaching, it's an extra that lets creators piece of work closely with select people and evangelize fifty-fifty more than value.

If you're looking for a super-piece of cake way to run community and/or events and/or courses and/or coaching, try Mighty Networks! We go great with Patreon and help you lot bring even more value out of your audience.

Attempt it at presentNo credit carte du jour required.

Conclusion

If you're but starting out on Patreon, it can be intimidating. You may look effectually at other creators and run across people making a decent income off of the platform, and it's hard to believe you could get there. But if y'all work to grow your following and add value, you tin definitely make Patreon one of your income streams.

But information technology'south important to exist realistic nearly what Patreon will and won't do. Based on their numbers, Patreon estimates that a creator with a following of 30,000 people tin make nigh $315-$1,575 a calendar month . If you lot're currently making cipher, that sounds pretty great. But it'south hardly enough to live on. If you want to actually make a living from your piece of work, you'll probably need to brand Patreon a function of your overall income, rather than the whole.

And that'south where some of these extras we talked virtually, building a community, hosting events, or even selling products, will need to be a part of your overall monetization strategy . We've built an amazing platform y'all can use for this, that will give your patrons a ton of value and let you sell more memberships, access to subgroups, courses, and events. It gives you lot bang-up ways to serve your members like polls, alive streams, and discussion forums, and many creators are earning a full-time living off of communities of twoscore or 50 people.

Y'all can endeavor it for free and get a sense of what you could build with it!

Try it nowNo credit card required.

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Source: https://www.mightynetworks.com/resources/how-to-be-successful-on-patreon