Clubhouse Go-to-Market Strategy. Revenue Model and Marketing Tricks

Clubhouse marketing trick set is a vital thing to learn for anyone who wishes to launch a social network. The social network market is brutal, but the effort will pay off. With Clubhouse, it costs them 0 dollars to acquire users. Clubhouse does not pay for content production. Its value increases with the number of users. Its valuation grew from 10 million to 1 billion to a whopping 4 billion. Yet, it is worth mentioning that their user base growth was backed up by user engagement rates. 

But, there are always more failed businesses than the ones who succeeded. And social networks make a compelling case for it. Facebook outcompeted MySpace and Friendster as well as smaller campus-focused social networks. Clubhouse too entered a market with quite a few established players. For instance, there are Discord voice channels but it targets mainly the gaming communities. Then, there are Facebook Live Audio Rooms launched the following year after Clubhouse. Twitter Spaces which are now X spaces have also joined the social audio market. And just last year, in 2024, Airchat launched with an aim to be an audio Twitter. It got attention for 5 minutes and now it is shutting down. Airchat does plan on relaunching, which underscores the importance of keeping up the hype of the first few months. 

Overall, Clubhouse achieved great success due to impeccable strategy and near-perfect execution. So, let’s dive into which Clubhouse marketing trick will be good for your business. In addition, we’ll look at the Clubhouse revenue model, which is something of an enigma. But, it is common for social networks of this scale.

Clubhouse Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy

Clubhouse Marketing Trick 1: The Right Timing

Firstly, Clubhouse marketing trick set heavily relies on launching at the right time. It would be impossible to disregard the value of timing that contributed to the overwhelming success. 2020, a year when the pandemic came to the USA, many people started really struggling with being cooped up at home. Many needed a space to socialize and process this collectively. Moreover, many businesses experienced the effects of the pandemic and fell into a tunnel vision situation. Very few companies managed to see the opportunities right there and then. A few of those companies were Zoom, Houseparty, and Clubhouse among others.

Launching at the right time is not without its downside. For instance, people managed to build their lives around the pandemic and companies started losing their user base. Houseparty shut down mid-2021. And Clubhouse did experience a significant drop in its user base as shown below.

While it is important to launch at the right time, sustaining this hype is a next-level challenge. With Clubhouse, the company made quite a few mistakes with the product. Mostly when the product was scaling. It released a block option and it was weaponized to silence differing people. Block-hopping killed off the vibrancy, variety, and uniqueness of the discussions. In addition, as we’ll see later, Clubhouse overused FOMO and delayed too long in coming up with a revenue model. This is why the Clubhouse case provides quite a valuable example, and some companies are already trying to replicate their success such as Airchat. Overall, it is vital to correctly choose a moment when to scale.

GTM Trick 2: Ties to venture capitalists and tech talent

It must be noted that Clubhouse founders had close ties with the Silicon Valley tech community. And access to venture capitalists that comes with it. This ensured their product ran smoothly during its explosive growth. However, reliable Startup Services can be found globally at affordable rates. 

For example, the recent launch of Airchat is also a product of a venture capitalist and former Tinder’s CPO. But as we can see, Airchat is closing down and relaunching with a different app. It often takes a couple of speedy iterations to get the product-market fit right. In contrast, for Clubhouse a lot of things went right from the first go between 2020 and 2021. This is extraordinary on its own by all standards. 

Marketing Trick 3: Celebrity Endorsement Combined with Velvet Rope Strategy

So, Clubhouse launched its app on iOS in March 2020. January 3rd, 2021 an article came out in Vogue about all the celebrities using this app. The allure was that it was free to join but you would need an invite. Drake, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Virgil Abloh, Tiffany Haddish, Kanye West and others. These were the speakers leading the discussions on technology, entrepreneurship, culture, sports, and such on Clubhouse. Obviously, one will not get excited to listen to just anyone talking about these. Clubhouse began with celebrities and mega experts starting the conversations. 

Normally, it is not that easy to get to listen to people like that but still possible. So the Clubhouse marketing trick was not simply about listening to these celebrities. It was about joining the rooms with them. The velvet rope strategy gets its name from velvet ropes separating the VIP section at events. In Clubhouse terms, it represents the high-profile speakers on its platform. Everyone wants to join and be on the other side of the ‘rope’. And in actuality, it didn’t cost a thing, you just had to know somebody with an invite. Once you get in, you can also be this sought-after person with an invite, a sort of VIP who can give out a pass to this special club. This is why Clubhouse got trending so quickly. In June 2020, the app already had 100,000 users, and in December 2020, the number of users hit 600,000. 

It is worth noting that such effects of VIPs and exclusivity often endorse some sort of premium subscription. The Clubhouse revenue model could have emerged right there in the first year of its launch. However, we are still yet to see if the company will reveal to the public the Clubhouse revenue model.

Clubhouse Marketing Trick 4: FOMO from Invite-Only & User Behavior

Here is a piece of Vogue when Clubhouse was already quite popular. And here in the article, it was a writer for Vogue who struggled to get an invite to Clubhouse at that time. Overall, Clubhouse launched as a beta version, and already a month after the launch, it had 5,000 users.

Importantly, once you join, you get to invite someone else. And the more you participate, the more invites you can give out. Even more important, once a person joins using your invite, your name is there on their profile. This created a sort of accountability for people you invite and their behavior. If a person breaks the rules or offends users on the platform, they get punished. And a person who invited them as well. Therefore, the invite-only Clubhouse marketing trick provided two valuable effects: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and Control over User Behavior. The latter helped to maintain the product quality as more people were joining.

Impact of removing invite-only registration

The invite-only strategy was so powerful that at one point invites were actually monetized and sold to people wanting to join. Surely, now anyone can join and it has always been the plan. As soon as Clubhouse moved out of the beta version, the registration became open to everyone. In fact, any social network starting with exclusive access sooner or later becomes open. Facebook, Bluesky, and many others started as invite-only and then became accessible openly. 

Removing invite-only was a move to scale.  Invite-only registration limits user growth and eventually leads to a growth plateau. To maximize network effects and not lose momentum, Clubhouse had to remove invite-only registration.

However, it comes with its downsides. Once you remove the barrier to join, the app loses its sense of exclusivity, moderation becomes much more challenging, and the engagement worsens with much less invested users. In addition, it changes the atmosphere in rooms to a more alienating one.

So, maybe if the Clubhouse revenue model was in place there would have been a way to keep invite-only for premium users.

Marketing Trick 5: iOS-only app with FOMO boosted & cultural fit

When you launch a startup, with professional MVP development, it is reasonable to start with only one platform. However, whether it is iOS or Android depends on your business idea. Clubhouse pushed for exclusivity and targeted the audience to whom Apple would be a more likely choice. 

As a rule, influencers and thought leaders are more often iOS users. Apple users are considered a tighter community with certain preferences. In the case of Clubhouse, they aligned well with the product. iOS users are generally more interested in new technology as well as in the perks of a premium ecosystem. 

As a side note, this again puts to the question why the Clubhouse revenue model did not attempt a premium tier. iOS users engaged in trendy discussions enjoying exclusivity are often willing to contribute. 

Another advantage of starting with an iOS app for Clubhouse was unified UX. To bootstrap launch and growth, it is not enough to just generate hype. The product itself must be of great quality. And this is easier to ensure within the Apple ecosystem. Compared to the variety of Android devices, it is always relatively simpler to ensure a unified user experience. Apple devices are much less varied compared to all the devices that run on Android.

Once the app gained popularity and moved from its beta version, it launched its Android counterpart.

Marketing Trick 6: Network Effects  & Viral Loop

Any social network has gaining as many users as possible as its main goal. The more users a network has, the more things are happening, and the more interesting it becomes. As such the number of users gets tied to the user experience and product value itself. Which is what network effects are about. Social networks live by user-generated content. So, if there are few users, it becomes dull and boring. But if the network looks like a bustling place, it is more valuable and exciting. 

And for Clubhouse, user acquisition didn’t cost a thing. Which leads to the  Viral Loop concept. When a person joins, they can invite someone else. And as the invites are so highly valuable, they quickly become used. As such, a new invite is released, and so on. Additionally, the more each person engages on the platform, the more ‘credit’ they get with the platform, and the more invites they can give out. So basically, users who really enjoy the product get more opportunities to share it. 

Marketing Trick 7: FOMO from missing a live talk

Again, now if the room creator enables recording, then it is possible to listen to a talk at a later time. However, it was not an option at the beginning. Clubhouse launched with live talks only. Again fueling the fear of missing out (FOMO). The sense of ‘now or never’ helped Clubhouse achieve extremely high engagement rates. 

In addition, since it is only audio, people do not need to look at the screen. So, there were many users who would listen to Clubhouse talks: while driving, running, and even sleeping. The hours of consumed content was sky-high. In general, mobile phones are a priority when it comes to social media use. And if you can manage to increase its usage without making the user look at the screen all the time, your app is golden. Other apps that achieve high consumption rates because they are audio-only are Spotify, Audible, and others. Also, a lot of apps aim for the same effect by enabling audio-guided content, voice chats, voice recognition for navigation, or audio cues.

The Clubhouse Revenue Model

Clubhouse is what is known to be a VC-fit. Their first valuation was at 10 million when the company had a few thousand users and no revenue. Another valuation was at a whopping $4bn as reported by Business Insider. The only tangible facts that fuel this valuation are 10 million active users, engagement rates, and celebrities who join. For instance, Mark Zuckerberg joined before that $4 billion valuation. 

It is known that Clubhouse announced its focus on helping creators make money. They launched a payment system to pay creators. However, the creator receives the entirety of the sent money, and the payment system charges its fee. Clubhouse does not take a percentage from it. Which seems to be a missed opportunity for defining the Clubhouse revenue model.

Also, Clubhouse had The ‘Creator First” accelerator program in 2021. Its accelerator program is also only an expense category for Clubhouse. It was funded from the financing obtained from investors. 

It is a given that delayed monetization is often in the playbook of businesses relying on network effects. However, it seems that forming a clear and public Clubhouse revenue model is long overdue and will determine its further success. 

What Startups Can Learn from Clubhouse: FAQs on Growth & Monetization

Final Words

The Clubhouse marketing trick mix has been quite efficient on its way to success. However, lacking the Clubhouse revenue model might well be one of the reasons why the company’s success is in question now. Even so, the Clubhouse case offers a great go-to-market strategy. Any company whose success hinges upon network effects and social networks should carefully consider Clubhouse’s hits and misses.