Strategies for Driving Member & Event Engagement

The following are my notes that I thought were worth sharing from a great session on the title of this blog post I attended presented by Results Direct and their team.

First, they started out with suggesting you need to create an engagement strategy.

Understanding the needs of your members and meet them where they are is a great place to start.

Here are their 10 strategies:

Engagement Strategy 1

Multi-channel communications – email has been the main way your members have gotten information from you.  Now it’s time to think of multi platforms (think social media) where you can connect with your members or prospective members.  A large number are engaging on mobile.

Engagement Strategy 2

Personalization – get to know your members and communicate with them directly where they are (think the different generations) and how they want to receive your organizations information.  

Engagement Strategy 3

Year-round networking and community – staying connected is key in keeping your members engaged and will help your retention.  Mobile communications is a great way to keep them engaged.  Create forums where they communicate with each other (think listservs).

Engagement Strategy 4

The medium is the message – meet the member where they are.  Manage your message and how you are distributing that information.

Engagement Strategy 5

Deliver content in the format members want – is it written, video, audio?  Do you use different digital formats to reach your members and prospects?

Engagement Strategy 6

Create experiences – shared experiences with your members.  Your role is to facilitate this process.  When in person, this is where you need to take full advantage of creating an experience your members will tell their peers (think memories).

Engagement Strategy 7

Incentivize engagement – reward behavior you want your members to do on a regular basis.  You have to decide what reward you want to give out (free meeting registration, gift card, etc).

Engagement Strategy 8

Engage members before, during and after events – think about continuing to push relevant content to your members through a mobile channel.  That is the easiest way to stay connected to your member throughout the year.  Have you thought about creating an app for your meeting

Engagement Strategy 9

Capture moments of time – use technology to get you content to your members.  People’s attention spans has shrunk.  So, think about less is more in your communications.  Another way to think of it, how can your members consume your information on the go!

Engagement Strategy 10

Create an integrated engagement strategy – create a dashboard on where you are creating your content and events and make sure they are integrated.  Decide what is successful for you. Some people may call it the member journey and you’re creating the road map for them to engage.

They ended with the comment that the goal of all these strategies is to engage your members which translates into higher retention numbers.

For more information from Results Direct go HERE.

Staying Relevant in a World of Decreasing Attention Span

I attended a webinar based on the title of this post and took the following notes that I wanted to share on this blog.

Bill Sheehan with Multiview started out with asking the question “what is your pain point with member engagement” and how do you define member engagement.
 
The new bottle neck is the attention with our members.  Or put a different way, we live in an “Attention Economy.”
 
After reading multiple sources, on average, people speak at a rate of 150 words per minute, while our brains can process up to 1,000 words per minute.  Now you know why our attention can be diverted.
 
How do you get through the clutter?  Here are his tips:
 
Be a trusted source of information.  Think like a media company and focus on 4 main commonalities – your audience, distribution channels, content, and advertising platforms.
 
Audience – where do your members spend their time?  Collect as many data points as you can on your members.
 
Distribution channels – social (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.), your website, blogs, videos, influencers, podcasts, newsletters, annual meetings, etc.
 
Content – what is your expertise?  Focus on what your members want and need.  And don’t forget the quality and consistency of your content.  Stay in your lane (i.e., your mission).
 
Advertising – working with your members on sponsorships to promote their business and generate revenue for your chamber.  What platforms are you using to get your message out to your members and community while generating non-dues revenue?
 
Develop a strategy to maintain the attention of your members.  Get all entities within your chamber rowing in the same direction with your program of work and your communication vehicles.  At the end of the day, it’s about communications.  Are you communicating in a direct and consistent way?
 
You need to be agile and know that you can’t be all things to all people – one size does not fit all.  Remember, there are five different generations out there in today’s workforce and they can consume information through different channels.
 
My final comment, stay on message and grab your member or prospective member’s attention!
 
For a great book on effective communications titled Smart Brevity go HERE.

Hyper Personalize to “Market of One”

This post is based on a recent seminar I attended a couple of months ago in Washington, DC.

The following are my notes based on the conversation led by Dave Will, PropFuel, CoFounder and CEO, and Jemilah Senter, VP of Marketing and Communications, Special Libraries Association.

 
They started out talking about marketing and how that is really broadcasting to your general audience.  And how you need to think about marketing to one.  There is a difference in membership needs vs an individual member’s needs.
 
The “Market of One” Philosophy
 
Personalization vs Individualization Personas – first name and other demographics is what personalization is all about.  Individualization is about just in time information on what your members need.
 
One to one conversation = market of one.  If you were face to face with a new member, what would you ask them?
 
Conversational engagement is about asking questions any time you are communicating with your members and getting that information in your database.
 
Segmentation is the key word they used over and over and the importance of starting there and then drilling down on what the individual wants from the membership.  That’s hyper-personalization.

For more information on the subject visit PropFuel's website HERE.

Should Your Association Launch a Podcast? 5 Questions to Ask

I attended a great session presented by Evan Sparks, American Bankers Association, on the title of this blog at the recent ASAE Marketing and Membership meeting in DC.

He started by saying that some folks feel podcasts are replacing radio – radio duplication.

Are you part of the 62% of Americans that are listening to podcasts?

He explained three types of podcasts:

1. Q&A
2. Panel discussion – one-on-one, not a panel of four
3. In-depth lecture

But before you dive in, ask yourself the following five questions?

1.    Who are your members?

• Will there be enough members that will engage to make the podcast sustainable?

2.    How do your members currently engage with your organization?

• You must understand this to make an informed decision on whether your members will engage, do they have the time or are they already getting the information they need through your current communication vehicles?  Can the podcast supplement your current program of work as it relates to your content, advocacy work, training programs?  Think of a podcast as the new conference call you use to do with your members on a hot topic.

3.    What’s your content strategy?

• Free vs paid – is this a marketing opportunity for new members?  This is also an opportunity to get a sponsor to generate non-dues revenue.
• The content long tail – use the podcast as a way to tease upcoming programming or keep the content alive and in front of your members.
• Adapting existing content – don’t recreate the wheel.  You’ve heard me say it before, repurpose your content on multiple channels.

4.    What is your current content mix, and how would podcasting fit into that?

• Range of topics.
• Your print vs digital.
• What frequency strategy will you have for your podcast?  Daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly?
• Long-form or short-form?  Most will say 15 – 20 minutes tops.
• Active and passive.

5.    What resources can you devote to production and distribution?

• Goals and objectives (engagement vs revenue).
• Who will host the podcast?  Be consistent.
• Format – as mentioned above, long-form or short-form.
• Equipment you need?
• Production – staff vs dollars?
• Distribution – what channels will you use to reach your audience?
• Marketing – if you don’t market it, no one will listen.

At the end of the day, make sure you have a base of people that will engage with a new podcast on a regular basis.

The speaker’s final comments:

• Podcasting is not for everyone.  
• Your organization should be able to identify your goals for creating the podcast, including but not limited to, the tailoring of your content, format and frequency that fits your audience and your content strategy.
• It’s a great way to introduce members of your team that are subject matter experts to your membership and community.
• Don’t give your guests the questions.  Do give them a sense of the overall direction of the session.

For more information on starting a podcast, the logistics side of the equation, go HERE.

Great Boards: Finding Them, Engaging Them, Keeping Them

The following post are my notes from a great session led by Claire Louder, Louder NonProfit Strategies, LLC, on the title of this blog.

At this year’s ACCE Summit, Claire started out her session by identifying key attributes of a good board member.  The ones that jumped out for me, include but are not limited to, strategic thinker, visionary, integrity, expertise and financial resources.

She went on to talk about where you can find good board members.  Current volunteers, donors/sponsors, other organizations, and referrals from board members. I’m a fan of identifying skill-sets the board may need; legal, finance, marketing, policy, etc.

Once you have them, support them by holding an orientation – where you can review your program of work, give them support materials and possibly find them a mentor.  Help them build relationships with current board members.

Claire went on to talk about the importance of working effectively with your board chair.  You could have an orientation just for them which is very different than what a full board orientation might look like.  They need to understand their role.  Possibly your past chair could lead this discussion with you as a participant or you could attend a program around the subject. ASAE has conducted their CEO Symposium for over 20 years now.  For more information on that series go HERE.

It is critical that the chair understands his or her role.  They need to understand the difference between the board chair and the CEO of the organization.  Do you have a Memorandum of Understanding on the role of the chair and CEO?  Go HERE for a blog post on that subject and sample document.

And by the way, that document is a great way to set an expectation on how you will communicate, set board agenda’s, etc., in the year they are chair.  Find out what works best for them and stick to the timetable they’ve set.  Respect their time!

She went on to talk about ways to engage them.  Make sure your board meetings are meaningful and timely, stick to the agenda, and use a consent agenda for general reporting items.  Use the other time to discuss any issues the chamber may be facing in the future.

For an example of a board agenda go HERE.  She suggested your strategic plan and business plan should be in your board materials at every meeting.

And her final comments were about recognizing your volunteers.  Thank them and give them credit.  It’s about them, not you!

For resources from Claire’s website go HERE.

Revitalizing Member Onboarding

We’ve all heard the terms, right?

Recruitment, Engagement, Renewal (Retention).

When reviewing your membership application process and onboarding of new members, start with the basics.

Ask yourself these three questions?

• Is the application easy to fill out?  Do you make it easy for your members to renew?
• Do you have ambassadors to help you sell memberships?  Think member-get-a-member campaign.
• Do you send a welcome kit?

Once the initial transaction has taken place with the welcome kit.  Are you connecting with these new members in 30, 60, 90 day communications?

That is an example of drip marketing and an effective way of making sure you keep your new members focused on their membership. These communications should be personal and come from the CEO.  Think segmentation.

How do you personalize? Think segmentation.  Are you listening to them in the recruitment process? It’s important to understand their challenges and be ready to solve their problems.

Differentiation - tell your chambers story at the 30,000 foot level and then drill down to how you can help them with their needs.  At the end of the day, it’s about them, the member, not you.

Always remember to connect, listen and engage with your new members.  Don’t forget to communicate your culture!  What do you stand for in addition to what you are doing?

Think about how Amazon communicates with you if you’re a Prime Member - when you join Prime they don't send you one communication with all the benefits.  They send you three different communications, first is the free shipping benefit, then the movie TV option, and then the Prime Music station, etc.  Again, it’s called drip marketing and it's very effective.

Are you making phone calls to that new member six months in?  Old technology still works and should not be discounted.  Everyone likes a check-in call.

Create a script for your staff team or ambassadors who will be making the calls.  Most calls will go to voice mail, but you've made the contact.  At the very least, end the call with thanking them for being a member and a call back number should they need anything.

And at renewal time, prove your worth - are you doing a year in review document with your invoice?  Are you using video to show value by having your members give testimonials - show the value of ethics, connections, advocacy?

Communicating with your membership on a regular basis should be top of mind for all chambers and your members' lifecycle.

Finally, membership is a team sport - Membership Is Everybody's Business!  Go here for a blog post on that HERE.

Good luck in your revitalized onboarding process!

3 Tips to Engage New Members

You’ve heard me and many others say before, that engaging your members in your program of work, is the easiest way to improve your member retention.

So what are you doing, for not only your first year members, but also your base members too?

Here’s three quick things you could implement very easily, not only to welcome new members, but will also help on the back end when it comes to retention.

In fact, I know you’re already doing the first one.

New Member Kit - we’ve all got the thank you letter, web sticker and some form of the Chamber member plaque/sticker, but what else are you including in your new member kit?  Do you include a schedule of your upcoming programs or a copy of your mission statement?  The goal of your new member kit should be to make your new members feel welcome and to get a sense of what the Chamber will do on their behalf and the business community at large.

Special Invitation - pick an upcoming program or event for them to attend and make sure you have a buddy system where they are met at the registration table and that buddy will stay with them throughout their first event they attend.  Nobody wants to attend an event and feel isolated.  Formalize this in a way that works best for your Chamber.

Personal Phone Call - this is so easy to do and it gives the personal touch that any new member will appreciate.  The goal is to check-in and see how they are doing, ask if there is anything you can do for them and then end the call with a simple “Thank You” for being a member.  And by the way, the CEO needs to make this call.

If you do these three things to engage your new members it will be a good starting point to improve their engagement with the Chamber and it will help with your first year retention rates.

Why Understanding Your Member's Needs is the Key to Engagement

Can we all say needs assessment survey?

If you don't ask your members what they want how can you deliver valuable programs?

Many chambers make the mistake of creating programs where no one or not nearly enough show up to make the program profitable.

What do we call a program that doesn't make money?  A member benefit! We're all guilty.  Let's stop doing that today.

I'm a big fan of the Hedgehog Theory discussed in Jim Collins' book Good to Great.  The concept is that your chamber should only be doing programs that:

• You have passion for;
• You are the best at or can be the best at; and
• You make money.

Where those three circles intersect, those are the programs you should focus on and be involved with.

Kick the rest to the curb!

3 Tips To Increase Member Engagement

There's a lot of discussion on the blogosphere on member engagement and how that affects your retention rate.

In fact, I wrote a previous blog post (HERE) that goes into detail with that very subject.

In this post, I want to talk about engaging your members in your program of work.

As you may know, I personally believe chambers should mainly be in the business of advocacy and helping your members run a better business.

Use these 3 simple tips 1) Ask; 2) Follow-up; and 3) Give credit.

Ask - the first step in getting your members engaged is to ask them.  It's important that you have a specific task for them with clear expectations on what it is you want them to do.

Follow-up - now that you've asked them to do a specific task on behalf of the chamber it's important to give them feedback on how they are doing. Communication is key for both parties to be winners.

Give credit - make sure you give credit where credit is due.  Publish in your communication vehicles what your members (by name) are doing on behalf of the organization and thank them.

If you keep to these 3 simple tips you will get more buy-in from your membership at large and the more buy-in you get the higher retention rate you'll get at the end of the year.

That's a win/win for all involved.

How Are You Engaging Your Members in Social Media?

As we all know, social media is here to stay.

Are you engaging members and prospective members to raise your retention and recruitment efforts?

Social media is really the new “Wild West.”

Anybody can create an audience around your issues or community.  Don't let that happen. You need to fill that space.

I’ve made the assumption that you have already captured that space. Are you measuring your program of work in that space?

That’s the question!

How are you measuring success?  Number of visitors, number of responses to your content, the depth of the discussion, or, is it the amount of money generated for your organization?

Only you can decide what criteria you want to use to measure success.

I only want you to measure your efforts in the social media space.

Metrics are a good thing, use whatever tools are out on the web that gives you a sense of your actions.

Good luck!

For a free guide on to how to engage your members through social media from memberclicks go HERE.

Rules of Engagement

An engaged member is a retained member!

You know the deal -- recruitment, engagement and retention, are the keys to an overall effective membership plan.

Do you have a formal engagement program for new members?

Does it include:

• A welcome letter w/benefits sheet.
• Do you call them 90 days into their membership thanking them for joining and asking some key questions:

1. Have you visited our website?
2. Have you attended a chamber event?
3. Have you signed up for our grassroots network?

• In this call, it’s important to close w/thanking them for being a member.

While these simple suggestions may seem elementary, they can go a long way in improving your retention rates.

Remember, we all know it’s cheaper to retain a member than to recruit a new member.

Something to think about!

Engaging New Members

We all know that first year members don’t renew at the same level as our base members.

 

Why is that? Engagement.

 

In some chambers, that can be a difference of up to 40% (i.e., base member’s retention rate of 85% and first year member’s retention rate of 45%).

 

What are you doing to engage that first year member?

 

If you don’t have a formal plan, now is the time to create one. At a minimum, the following should be considered in any first year member engagement plan:

 

• Welcome letter and membership kit;
• Follow-up phone call 90 days into the membership;
• Sign-up for something on your website; and
• Get them to a chamber event.

 

It’s a fact - an engaged member is a retained member.

 

Create that first year member engagement plan today!

15+ Bright New Membership Ideas

The following is a list of potential ideas you may want to try for your organization as it relates to your:

- Recruitment;
- Retention; or
- Engagement campaigns.

The second set of ideas were collected in small groups representing professional societies and trade associations.

The following were identified strategies that they they were employing or planned to employ in membership.

Recruitment

• Membership is everybody’s business (staff and volunteers).
• Create a fact sheet.
• Know why people join: Advocacy, publications, affinity programs, recognition, training & development, etc.
• Fine-tune your message (you don’t have time to tell all).
• Sell your brand.

Retention

• Communicate (not just at renewal time).
• Show dollar value of each service for membership.
• Show the value (Benefits – Costs = Value).
• Mini surveys to monitor satisfaction.
• Office visits.

Engagement

• Orientation programs (in person, virtual).
• Reference guide.
• Volunteer opportunities.
• Personal contact.
• Rewards programs.

Professional Society Ideas

Recruitment

• Go directly to the college or university.
• Work closely with graduates or soon to be graduated students.
• Get member volunteer to work with each campus.
• Conduct some events for non-members (non-student members and non-society members).
• Use these public events as a “look” at what the society can do for you.
• For non-member conference attendees, offer 30-day window to join at special conference attendee rates.
• Follow up with mailing and phone contacts.
• New member discount on first event attended.
• Obtain letterhead and envelopes from members and send “invitation letter” to join to prospects as a personal endorsement over member signature.
• Use “endorsement partners” to assist with or sponsor membership marketing program.

Retention

• Ask lapsed members why they have not continued.
• Get local members more involved in retention work.
• Offer deferred dues for displaced members (hardship) category.
• Job board for free to keep members involved (retains members if it is free to them.)
• Have volunteers make calls to non-renewals - there is usually a higher response rate because their peers are asking.

Engagement

• Conduct regular “Needs Assessment Survey’s.”
• Ask them to be on a committee.
• Ask for expressions of interest.
• Add new volunteer positions (in each committee).
• Show appreciation for membership and volunteering.

Trade Association Ideas

Recruitment

• Personal visits.
• Business/members to bring in a new member.
• Use phone-a-thon, with a runner to deliver membership packet.
• Changes in staff offer opportunities to meet again with prospects.
• Ask board members to write why they are a member and use these statements as testimonials.
• Focus on core group.
• Work on strategic relationships and alliances with allied associations so that there are opportunities to share information.
• Membership and involvement in umbrella organizations to add credibility and to foster relationships and raise industry profile.
• Make sure that the Web site draws prospective members to the “How to Join” site easily and logically.

Retention

• Calling program—list those not on ‘involved’ status.
• Mentor/ambassador program to adopt new members.
• Reenergize membership committee: 1) give them high visibility at convention and other events; 2) provide distinctive polo shirts, ask them to greet members at trade show, convention; and ask membership committee members to make follow-up calls, visit after staff contact.
• Press releases to industry of association developments, and copies sent to members to show what the association is doing to raise visibility, credibility of industry.
• Press releases to announce member accomplishments.

Engagement

• Use mentors or hosts for each new member.
• Organize a mentoring program.
• Some groups are offering a “tour’ of membership programs.