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This is the Creative Funding Show, a podcast for authors, YouTubers, and podcasters who want to fund the work they love without selling out. I’m Thomas Umstattd Jr., and with me is Bremner Morris, the head of Patreon’s Creator Partnership and Success Teams.
Today, we’ll talk about newbie mistakes people make on Patreon. Bremner consults with a lot of creators. In fact, his main job for several months was helping people take their pages to the next level. Just having a page on Patreon is not enough.
How does a creator know when they’re ready to start a Patreon page?
Thomas: When do they know their fan base is big enough to justify it?
Bremner: It depends on the individual creator. Some creators only have a few thousand fans but do really well on Patreon because they have a deep and unique relationship with their audience. Others have millions of fans but lack that connection, so the outcome is different.
From our perspective, it’s about whether you’ve developed a deep enough relationship with your fans that they would want to support you on an ongoing, recurring basis. You also need to consider if converting, say, 0.5% to 10% of those fans would be a compelling return on your investment.
We help creators see what their potential earnings could look like. We typically explain it this way: you have your total addressable audience, which is people who’ve maybe seen your show once or a few times. Then a smaller portion of those become actual fans. From that fan base, a smaller group (between 0.5% and 10%) might convert into paying patrons.
Thomas: Do you have an online tool where people can plug in their numbers and get an estimate?
Bremner: Not yet, but that’s one of our opportunity assessments for our product teams. We want to build something like that so creators who are thinking about launching a Patreon page can get a sense of the potential return.
It’s important to remember that launching a membership business is an investment. You’re not only marketing and educating your fans about your membership but also committing to fulfilling rewards on a regular basis. That recurring relationship comes with responsibilities.
Thomas: One mistake is launching with just five backers and suddenly feeling obligated to do a ton of work to keep those five backers happy.
Instead of charging monthly, you could charge per piece of content and set a rule that says, “I’m not going to charge anyone until I have at least 50 backers.” That helps protect against overcommitting too soon.
Bremner: Yeah, that was our earliest business model. When Jack first launched Patreon, it was based on pledging per piece of content. So when he released a video, fans pledged a set amount per video, often with a cap like 10 videos per month max.
But we realized that many creators were essentially turning it into a monthly subscription anyway. So we built that into the platform. Now, most creators use the monthly membership model. It’s more predictable and easier for patrons to understand. They know exactly what they’ll pay each month. And it aligns with how the industry is shifting.
Thomas: Yeah, it’s scary to say, “I’ll charge per YouTube video,” and then realize you’re posting 10 videos a month. Even though you can set a cap, I get the impression that not many people actually do.
Bremner: We don’t have specific data on how many people use the cap, but most patrons are your most loyal fans. They want to support your work no matter how much you create. So I’d guess a lot of folks don’t bother setting a cap.
What are some common mistakes creators make when launching their Patreon?
Thomas: Let’s say someone has a solid base of maybe 300 loyal fans or 10,000 casual ones, and they think they’re ready. What are some common mistakes creators make when launching their Patreon?
Bremner: The biggest mistake is thinking that launching a page is enough. You’re not just setting up a page; you’re launching a membership business.
That means ongoing marketing, continued engagement with your fans, and clearly explaining what membership means for them. A lot of people launch their page and then wonder, “Where is everybody?” But they haven’t done the work to acquire and convert that audience into paying members.
So the number one mistake is not creating a compelling marketing plan for the launch.
Thomas: A simple marketing plan can just be a Google Doc or Word Doc. List the next 14 days and add bullet points for what you’ll do each day to promote your campaign. That can make a huge difference.
Bremner: Exactly. When we consult with creators, we often build detailed workback schedules. We plan what to talk about and when, leading up to the launch.
You want your fans to pay attention when you go live. Some creators tease that something exciting is coming. Others survey their audience to learn what kinds of benefits they’d want. That builds momentum.
Also, it helps to have a compelling event tied to your launch. Most people will delay a $10 monthly decision unless there’s a reason to “act now.” Offering a limited-time benefit or early reward gives them that push.
Then, on launch day, be available. Be present for the people who sign up. Make them feel like they’re part of something special. Many fans are looking for a deeper emotional connection with the creator. That first impression matters.
Thomas: That’s right. I’ve found online live events to be really effective. When we launched the Novel Marketing Patreon, our big Facebook Live event was a huge driver for early signups.
In-person events might work even better, but they’re also more expensive and complicated.
The best practice is to make a plan, tease the launch, then create a compelling limited-time event to drive urgency. That’s not a new approach.
PBS gets support from “viewers like you.” They run pledge drives with emotional appeals and limited-time perks. When I was a kid, they’d show Riverdance or ice skating during those drives, which was entertainment you didn’t see any other time.
You’re recommending something similar. Kick things off with a special event, then revisit it later with another limited-time offering. And it doesn’t have to be contrived. It can be something real, like offering to include patron names in an album. That’s a classic example.
Bremner: Natalie Dawn, who is our CEO’s wife, ran a campaign where all her patrons’ names were included on an album cover. People had to sign up within a certain time period to be featured, and that campaign was a huge driver of her initial success.
What are some strategies for ongoing acquisition?
Once you have people sign up, though, you need to convert them into ongoing supporters. So there are different strategies for acquisition and retention.
What you just mentioned about PBS and “viewers like you” is a great example of fan recognition. Mentioning supporters and making them feel acknowledged is an effective way to market your membership campaign. You don’t have to explicitly say “support me on Patreon.” Instead, you’re recognizing fans who already contribute and signaling to others what they’re missing by saying, “and viewers like you also get X, Y, and Z when you become a member.”
There are a lot of creative ways to drive ongoing acquisition through your content.
Thomas: The best tactics are often tied uniquely to what you’re creating. There’s no one-size-fits-all silver bullet. A lot of people want the “one easy trick,” but aside from putting people’s names on things, it really depends on your medium.
What works for a musician may be totally different from what works for a podcaster. Just having a microphone doesn’t mean acquisition strategies are the same.
What rewards work well and what mistakes should creators avoid?
Thomas: Let’s talk about rewards. Natalie Dawn had people eager to be immortalized forever in her compact disc jewel case, which already feels like a relic. I wonder if we’ll even be using those in 10 years. But if she had put names on the record itself, those would be preserved even longer. What rewards work well and what mistakes should creators avoid?
Bremner: We break rewards into five main categories. The first is fan recognition. It’s a major driver of both acquisition and retention.
Recognition
When fans receive recognition, whether a physical sticker or a digital badge, it becomes a visible symbol of their support. That recognition can extend across platforms, and we’re investing in ways to let it live with fans online.
I was at a live podcast event during South by Southwest, and the show brought all of their patrons up on stage. There were about 15 to 20 people. If you’re a $10-a-month supporter and get to be on stage with your favorite podcast, that’s huge.
Thomas: Absolutely. Everyone in the audience is suddenly asking, “How do I become a patron?”
Bremner: Exactly. So recognition works as both a retention and acquisition tool.
Engagement
The second category is engagement. This is about creating opportunities for fans to interact directly with you. It could be through livestreams, AMAs, polls, or anything that creates two-way communication. For your most loyal fans, that access is incredibly valuable. Think of it like jamming with the Black Keys if you’re a die-hard fan.
Thomas: The easiest way to start that engagement is to simply send a thank-you message when someone becomes a patron. Tom at Graphtreon messages every new patron. That opens a thread, sends a notification, and helps fans see you as a real person.
Bremner: Exactly. Like I mentioned in the last episode, patrons support you as a creator. They might love your content, but they’re also backing the whole person. You may be doing things behind the scenes, like drafts, cuts, or abandoned work that feel mundane to you but are really compelling to loyal fans.
Digital Offers
The third category is digital offers. These are exclusive digital rewards like videos, behind-the-scenes content, and digital badges.
We’re investing heavily in this area through Patreon-built tools like Lens, which lets you share ephemeral video content with patrons for a limited time. We also have integrations with various engagement platforms that make it easier to deliver these rewards digitally.
Thomas: The platform is especially great for podcasters. It handles the delivery of bonus episodes seamlessly.
There are podcasts I support where I’ve paid $20 during a fundraising push to access bonus content, and never listened to any of it because it came in a zip file. I would have to extract, sync to my computer, and then transfer it to my phone. Total hassle.
Creating a custom RSS feed per person is hard. Most podcasters today don’t even know what an RSS feed is because it’s handled by their host. Patreon already takes care of that detail, and it’s huge. I use that feature all the time.
On our other show, we do special Q&A episodes and bundled topic episodes. For example, we might gather four or five episodes on Facebook marketing from the last five years and package them into one long episode. It’s easy to produce, high-value for listeners, and super easy to deliver.
Bremner: Some fans want the back catalog. Others want the uncut or bonus versions of episodes.
In podcasting, we’ve made it really easy to deliver that via private RSS feeds. As our platform matures, we’re focusing more on specific content categories and building tailored features for each one.
For video creators, that might mean partnerships with video hosting providers. For podcasters, it could mean integrations with podcast players that make patron-only content accessible. Across the board, we’re trying to build tools that make Patreon a more compelling platform for creators in every category.
Access & Insight
Bremner: The fourth category is access and insight. This is about giving patrons a behind-the-scenes look at your creative process or letting them participate in decision-making. Maybe they get to vote on what you cover next or participate in your show somehow.
It’s like being in the Gold Club. They’re not just observing, they’re involved. That keeps them engaged and adds real value.
Physical Offers (Merchandise)
Thomas: That’s the scary one. Shipping boxes to thousands of fans is intimidating.
Bremner: Exactly. We’ve seen creators offer merchandise with great success, but the logistics are brutal. That’s why we’re building tools to simplify it.
We’re partnering with fulfillment services so that if a patron signs up at a tier with merch, the inventory, packaging, and shipping will be handled automatically. You can even set time-based rewards. Maybe they get something at six months, then another at 12 months.
We want to make that process easy, because fans love it and it really works.
Thomas: Partnering is key. I have a friend who runs a fulfillment center, and often their fees are offset by the shipping discounts they get from UPS due to their volume. So it actually costs creators less than doing it themselves.
UPS doesn’t want people showing up at Office Depot with one box because it’s inefficient. They offer deep discounts to streamlined operations. So partnering is smart and opens up a lot of possibilities.
Bremner: There are the discounts, of course, but this ties into where we’re headed with the conversation. One important thing to understand about rewards or benefits is that they come with a cost. Creators often forget to account for the cost of their time. This is especially true in the merchandise space, where creators end up giving away their time for free, and that becomes very costly.
One of the best ways we can help is by reducing that time cost through automation and backend fulfillment partnerships. That’s a huge win for creators.
Whenever we think about rewards, we encourage creators to consider two key factors.
- What’s the impact on your fan base?
- What’s going to convert and retain patrons?
That will vary depending on the audience. For one group, an extra episode might turn them into loyal subscribers. For another, they might want a piece of merchandise every year. Others may want to attend a live event and get brought on stage.
So the impact varies, but understanding it helps you decide how to price your rewards and what to offer. Then you weigh that against effort. If something is highly impactful but also takes a lot of effort, you can still offer it, but you’ll need to price it accordingly. If it requires little effort, you can offer it at a lower price point.
Thomas: A good rule of thumb is to decide what your time is worth. Maybe you set it at $25 or $50 per hour. The exact number isn’t as important as having a number so you can make decisions based on it.
Some authors calculate their time spent on social media marketing and realize they’re making 25 cents an hour. If you can make more standing by the road with a cardboard sign, it’s time to rethink your strategy.
What makes a good Patreon welcome video?
Thomas: There’s a huge range in video quality. YouTubers usually have amazing videos, and they’re on one end of the spectrum. Authors are often on the opposite end, with no video at all. Many are scared to be on camera.
Podcasters fall somewhere in the middle. They’re comfortable with audio, but the video may not be great. So what are some best practices for creating a compelling “Welcome to my Patreon” video?
Bremner: Let me step back for a moment and talk about educating your fan base.
Most fans are used to consuming your content for free through podcasts, YouTube videos, or blog posts. If you’re an author, they may pay $10 or $20 for your book, but everything else is often free. That’s usually supported by ad revenue or book deals, but fans don’t necessarily see that.
So when you introduce a paid membership, there’s a lot of education required. You have to help your fans understand why they should pay to support your content.
First, creators need to recognize that what they create is valuable. That’s an internal hurdle many wrestle with because the industry has conditioned us to believe content should be free. But creators must own the value of what they’re making.
Second, you have to explain to fans why your work is valuable and what’s in it for them. Educate them on how the current system undervalues your work, how that affects your independence, and how a membership helps sustain your creativity. Also, show them what they get in return as members.
You can do this through a video, a blog post, a podcast, or whatever medium you’re comfortable with. The important thing is to clearly communicate why you’re launching a membership. You need to say, “Here’s what I gain as a creator, and here’s what you gain as a fan.”
That’s the core script.
Thomas: Mentioning Patreon by name isn’t enough. A lot of creators think, “Everyone knows what Patreon is.” But that’s not true.
I was at an event recently where someone asked, “What’s Patreon?” If you’re in the YouTube world, you hear it constantly, but for people outside that space, especially older audiences, it’s still unfamiliar.
Bremner: That’s why we’re working on building more brand equity for Patreon, but honestly, if our name fades into the background and the focus is on the relationship between creators and fans, that’s fine with us.
We encourage creators to focus their messaging on membership, not Patreon. Sometimes the word “Patreon” causes eyes to glaze over because people don’t know what it means, or they’ve heard it so many times that it doesn’t resonate.
It’s more effective to say, “I’m launching a fan club” or “I’m starting a membership program” and then clearly explain what that includes.
We’ve seen a lot of creators just say, “Support me on Patreon” and leave it at that. That doesn’t educate the fan. Instead, say something like, “I’m launching a membership that includes X, Y, and Z. It helps me continue creating independently and gives you ongoing, exclusive access.”
Thomas: Sometimes it helps to brand your membership separately. Philip DeFranco doesn’t say, “Support me on Patreon.” He says, “Join DeFranco Elite.” It sparks curiosity and signals that it’s for true fans.
Anyone can do this. You could call it a guild, a society, a circle, or whatever fits your brand. You don’t need permission to use the word “elite,” by the way.
So the goal of your welcome video isn’t to walk through every reward tier in detail. That’s risky, because rewards often change early on as creators figure out what works. If you list each one, then tweak them later, you’ll have to reshoot the video.
Bremner: Exactly. It’s more about communicating the overall value of your membership program.
Talking about your membership with confidence, excitement, and enthusiasm is essential. Fans want to feel your energy.
In the early days of Patreon, we saw creators apologize for asking fans for support. But you’re not asking for charity. You’re inviting fans into a value-for-value exchange. They’re getting deeper, more meaningful engagement with you, and that’s exciting.
We haven’t done a sentiment analysis comparing video tone to revenue, but it’s obvious that creators who pitch their membership with energy and passion tend to do better than those who say, “Sorry, please support me.” That kind of apologetic tone is the opposite of best practice.
Thomas: This varies by community. Authors tend to be the most apologetic. YouTubers used to be, but now they’ve reframed the pitch by saying, “Help protect me from the evil YouTube that keeps demonetizing me.”
That’s a powerful message. It’s not just support; it’s defense. Although I think some are exaggerating the demonetization problem. A lot of the pressure has come from traditional media companies, which view YouTube as a threat to their ad revenue.
Mainstream media has a financial incentive to highlight bad actors on YouTube. They say, “If you spend ad dollars there, you might end up supporting Nazis,” even if that represents a microscopic percentage of creators. But that’s another conversation.
Bremner: You make a good point. Things have changed. Many creators who once had a sustainable income on YouTube are no longer able to rely on it.
We’ve seen creators with millions of subscribers earning almost nothing in ad revenue. That’s part of why Jack started Patreon in the first place.
What’s compelling about membership is the predictability and the creative independence it gives. We recently launched a campaign with Cyanide and Happiness, the digital comic creators. They make short, animated videos with stick figures, and the stick figures have butts.
YouTube demonetized their channel to the point where they were making just one-tenth of what they used to, all because of stick figure butts.
Thomas: Big air quotes on “uncensored content.”
Bremner: Exactly. So they told their fans, “If you want us to keep making uncensored content, we need a sustainable stream of income.” Their fans responded because they love the style and humor of Cyanide and Happiness.
And that’s part of a bigger trend. Platforms are making broad algorithmic decisions that affect creators creating perfectly harmless content. It’s not about offensive or hateful material; it’s about what big advertisers are comfortable with. If your content doesn’t align, you get cut off.
Thomas: So the algorithm is listening more to the five people who are offended than the 12 million who are subscribed.
What are common mistakes creators make when engaging patrons?
Bremner: One of the common issues, which is more of an oversight, is assuming that patrons are going to engage with you directly on Patreon.
In reality, your patrons may still interact with you on YouTube, Twitch, via email, or wherever they’ve already been engaging with you. Just because someone subscribes to you on Patreon doesn’t mean they’re going to shift all their engagement to that platform.
A lot of creators set up their Patreon and then say, “I’m not seeing much interaction here.” But that’s because many patrons are using Patreon simply as a transactional platform. They support you there, but they continue engaging with your content on the channels they’re used to.
So the misunderstanding is that Patreon must become the central hub of engagement. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. That misalignment can lead to frustration.
Thomas: If you’re doing a good job engaging with your fans, that’s what matters. It doesn’t have to be on Patreon.com. Whether they’re commenting on your blog, Facebook, or somewhere else, what’s important is that you’re engaging them.
Bremner: It’s also important to know who your patrons are, especially when they engage with you elsewhere. If I’m a $10 patron and I leave a comment on your Twitter, I expect a different experience than someone who isn’t supporting you.
It’s like being a top-tier member at a club. You expect special treatment. That differentiated experience matters, and it should extend across the internet.
That’s where our platform API comes in. It can connect with services like MailChimp to help identify your most loyal patrons so you can email them differently. Or on platforms like Twitch or Reddit, it lets you know who your core supporters are so that you can engage with them more intentionally.
Thomas: I got a long email from someone who didn’t like one of my podcast episodes. It was this long, rambling critique, and at the bottom, they said, “I’m not a patron.” I remember thinking, “If they were a patron, I’d definitely respond in detail, thank them for their feedback, and take time with the reply.”
But they weren’t. And the internet is full of angry people. It’s not always worth the energy to try to convert someone who’s just angry for the sake of it.
Bremner: Some of our creators call Patreon a “troll-free zone” because you have to pay to troll on Patreon.
Thomas: The one safe place on the internet.
Bremner: Exactly. I won’t say it’s 100% troll-free, but it’s pretty rare that someone’s going to pay $10 a month just to leave angry comments.
Thomas: Our Q&A episodes on Patreon have been some of our most positive experiences. We ask for questions, and the patrons give us thoughtful, intelligent feedback. These are people who want to learn and grow.
It’s our most fun episode of the month. Since it goes out to a smaller group, we can give more focused answers. It feels more intimate and enjoyable.
Creating on the internet is hard. There will always be angry or jealous people who take their personal pain out on creators. That kind of feedback can be draining.
So having a space where 99% of that is filtered out is incredibly refreshing. Patreon creates that space. People can still look and observe, but if they’re not paying, they can’t comment or engage directly.
How does Patreon help build community among creators?
Bremner: Another benefit is that many creators are excited to join Patreon because of the creator community. It’s tough being an internet creator today. You’re exposed to all kinds of feedback, good and bad.
When we host meetups or community events, creators love being around other creators. At those gatherings, people don’t talk much about Patreon as a platform. They talk about the real challenges of being creative online, like burnout, criticism, algorithm changes, and emotional tolls. It’s support from people who understand those challenges.
Thomas: Most people outside the creator world don’t get it. They say, “You have so much attention. Why are you upset about a few negative comments?” But they don’t realize how personal and draining it can be.
How can creators connect with the Patreon community?
Thomas: Other than listening to the Creative Funding Show, how do people connect with the Patreon creator community?
Bremner: Listening to the Creative Funding Show is definitely number one!
There are a few ways to connect. First, we have an online resource library to help creators learn how to be successful on Patreon at learn.patreon.com, though it may move in the future. You can always find educational materials on patreon.com itself.
Second, once you sign up for Patreon, you can join our creator community forum. It’s a place to share challenges and strategies, not just about using Patreon, but about thriving as an internet creator more broadly.
And third, we’ve been doing something called Patreon on Tour. We go to different cities and host live events focused on helping creators succeed. But more importantly, we bring people together to foster community. We usually announce those events on Patreon’s Twitter account.
Then there are grassroots events like the one you hosted. If you’re a creator and want to organize a meetup in your city, even if Patreon isn’t visiting there, we’d love to hear from you. You can reach out to our support team, and they’ll direct you to the right person.
Links
About Bremner
Bremner Morris is the Head of Patreon’s Creator Partnerships and Creator Success teams focused on helping creators develop their membership strategies. Bremner spends his days consulting with creators on their membership businesses as well as providing key insights from creators to Patreon’s leadership team.
Before joining Patreon, Bremner lead Business Development, Partnerships and Operations at AppDirect, a technology company that provided the commerce infrastructure for software vendors to launch and scale their subscription business. Bremner brings similar consulting frameworks from AppDirect to the content and creator membership / subscription space. Bremner lives in San Francisco and is a cyclist, runner and mediocre drummer.