How this Italian Magazine Sold Memberships Like Hotcakes
Hey media maker,
How is your planning for the next membership campaign coming along? In the last edition (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of the Steady Growth Newsletter, I introduced you to autumn marketing and the reasons why this is a great time to launch a campaign. But if you’re short on inspiration, don’t worry—Steady has got you covered, as always!
In today's edition, you’ll find an interview with the editorial team of Pagella Politica (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), which has seen tremendous success with their promotional campaigns. Let’s see how they did it.
Pagella Politica’s Campaign
For over ten years, Pagella Politica has been one of Italy’s most followed fact-checking outlets. Started as an independent, self-funded project by its founders, Pagella launched their membership programme on Steady in 2022. Since then, thanks to their brilliant promotional campaigns, the number of supporters has steadily increased. One of the most recent campaigns, lwhich kicked off in May 2024, was particularly successful. Here’s how it played out.
Pagella Politica’s team
You recently launched a campaign around the European elections. Can you walk us through what you did?
As a project focused on fact-checking and political information, elections are a crucial event to broaden our audience and grow our supporter base. We also aimed to provide top-notch coverage to help our readers cast informed votes. We scheduled a dedicated editorial plan, both for our "Sostieni Pagella" plan, which is exclusive to supporters, and for our wider audience, with free content.
The goal was to guide our readers, both supporters and non-supporters, starting a month before the elections. Among our initiatives, we launched “Pagella Europea”, a series of live Instagram sessions, a dedicated podcast called “Brussèl”, and a specific section on our website collecting all our in-depth coverage on the topic. Our standout piece was the "Elections Manual," an exclusive for our supporters, published a few weeks before the vote. It’s a 140-page ebook with all the information we deemed important for making an informed voting decision.
The book is part of a series of "manuals" that are usually well-received, which we include in our membership offering. We knew this format would be effective, and indeed, after launching the election guide, we saw a spike in the number of supporters. Overall, we achieved excellent results thanks to both our editorial work and the email and social media marketing efforts we built around it.
What do you think made the campaign successful? Any key takeaways for future activations?
Planning well in advance and maintaining consistency worked well for us. Every activity was part of a well-structured plan to guide readers towards the elections without overwhelming them. A key element was providing content that truly met the audience’s needs, showing its value and encouraging them to support us.
Besides our editorial offering, we consistently highlighted the importance of contributions from our supporters, as we are an independent project. This message strengthened our connection with those who support us. These activities have allowed us to build a solid workflow, which serves as a foundation for future "Support Pagella" initiatives.
How did Steady’s tools support your campaign?
The 30-day trial system helped us increase the number of supporters by offering interested readers the chance to access our content and decide whether to continue supporting us. This way, those who join “Support Pagella” aren’t doing so blindly; they already have a clear idea of our work and the value we provide, which leads them to stay with us. The major benefit of Steady for us is the ease with which it allows us to manage most of the payment aspects, which is crucial for an independent organisation like ours and for a membership programme that was launched not long ago.
Lessons from Pagella Politica’s success
Pagella Politica’s experience offers an excellent example of how to engage more supporters in your membership programme. Here are three lessons you can apply to your next campaign:
Seize the moment. Pagella launched its campaign around a key event for the community: the European elections. Look at your calendar and identify all the important moments for you and your audience, from major events like elections or festivals to more personal milestones, such as your publication’s anniversary. Choose at least one per season, and you’ll always know when to launch your next campaign.
Plan ahead. Pagella prepared in advance by organising a content calendar for the entire month leading up to the event. Once you’ve identified the right moment, plan your campaign and don’t be afraid to let it last—results will follow.
Make it personal. Pagella emphasised the importance of reader and supporter contributions to the growth of the project. Don’t hesitate to explain the difference their support makes for you too: your relationship with the community will become even stronger.
I hope this example inspires you. Use it as a guide for your next campaign—you won’t regret it. I’ll be back next month with more tips and some exciting news from Steady. We’ve got a lot in store for you!
Speak soon,
Flavia
