Creating a Value Proposition for Your Chamber or Association to Attract Members

At a recent webinar sponsored by Institute for Organization Management (IOM), Amy Hager led a discussion on creating your value proposition.  I have written about that before and it can be found HERE.
 
Now on to the title of the blog post.  The following are my notes from Amy’s presentation.
 
Mission vs Value Statement – two different things!
 
Mission – describes the things you do to fulfil your vision.  A quick example, if the vision is to cure cancer, your mission would be the things you do to help people live with cancer.  A vision of an organization is something to strive for and not necessarily achievable.
 
Value Proposition – the benefits your stakeholders (members, industry, donors) gain by supporting your organization.
 
Value propositions will change to meet the needs of your members.  Your mission will not.
 
Three qualities of a value proposition:
 

1. Focus on the end result – why you exist, relevant to current pain points and what you’re delivering to your members.
2. Don’t be vague – focus on how you are helping your members that you can measure and that you can communicate to your members.
3. More than a catchy slogan – describe why people join your organization.

 
Do you define/redefine your value proposition as needed?  What do you do very well (think your top benefit), who is your ideal audience and what problems are you solving for them?
 
Remember, you can’t be all things to all people.  Focus, focus, focus on your core audience.  Sounds like a version of the Hedgehog Theory.  For a blog post on that concept can be found HERE.
 
Do you define your features vs benefits of membership?  We confuse the two.  An educational training program is a feature of membership, the knowledge you gain from that session to solve a future problem is a member benefit.
 
She asked the question, “do you know what your members value?”  You should know.  Ask, ask, ask through surveys, focus groups or during your virtual meetings.
 
How are you sharing your value proposition?
 

• Website – a great place to rotate/tweak your value proposition.
• Email – newsletters, recruitment campaigns, engagement campaigns and automation (auto email responses if they visited a certain page on your website).
• Board and Membership Committee – make sure your volunteers have that value proposition elevator speech.
• Social Media – the use of platforms where your members hang out is a great way to communicate your value proposition, through the use of banners, ads, testimonials, or content marketing.
• Media – do you have talking points for your chairman?  If they are interviewed, they should be able to describe your value proposition to any question the media might ask.  They should be able to prioritize the one thing you want the audience to take away.

 
For a great ASAE article on value propositions go HERE.

At the end of the day, stay focused on your messaging when talking about your value proposition!

Key Metrics to Identify Member Loyalty

I attended a recent seminar led by Pam Loeb with Edge Research and Peggy Smith with Community Brands focused on the title of this blog.

Value propositions are shifting from expectation driven to experience driven.  For a book on the experience economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore go HERE.

• Expectations - outcome driven, logical, meets needs, everyone has it, tangible.
• Experience - influences decisions, emotional, above and beyond, subjective, intangible.

Engagement comes from exceeding expectations, which means being relevant and providing value.

And remember, an engaged member is worth more than a new member.  So true!

Studies show that on average members of associations are 84% satisfied vs 55% feel connected - 20% extremely connected 80/20 rule (great opportunity to grow that connected percentage)

Extremely connected members - have the following characteristics:

• They care about belonging;
• Normally belong to more than just one organization;
• Wants regular communication from you that is targeted and are most likely connected locally; and
• They’re in their jobs a long period of time and in leadership roles.

Rank and file members - satisfied but less connected, want updates on a weekly or monthly basis.

Value seeking members - majority are critics, lapsed in the past year, little value for reason they dropped - they go by the WIFFM theme “What’s In It For Me.”  Definitely not altruistics – those that believe in your overall mission and that’s why they are members.

Lapsed Members - the following are the top reasons for non renewal.

• ROI - cost too much or I didn't get anything out of it;
• Changed industry/employment;
• Forgot to renew;
• Company would no longer pay; and
• Decline in benefits or quality of benefits offered.

What drives retention - code of ethics, industry information, representing your interests, fueling growth of profession, advocacy and raising awareness, certifications, training, networking, fueling innovation, job opportunities, and online continuing education credits.

What’s interesting is that studies show little difference in the above observations no matter what generation your members are from.

A final thought that’s imperative, your website must be mobile friendly and you must be able to communicate differently using segmentation with your members, based on their individual needs and wants.

Communicating the Value of the Chamber

What are you doing to keep the program of work your chamber is doing in the public’s eye in your community?

Do you have a regular communication tool that is informative and can be spread through social media?

There is no better entity than the chamber in telling the story of the community and how the chamber is playing a vital role in the health and growth.

Have you had a chance to review the great Horizon Initiative: Chambers 2025 report produced by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE).  It’s a great starting point to focus your chamber on what issues chambers are facing all over the country.

While we have the saying “if you’ve met one chamber, you’ve met one chamber,” that doesn’t mean we don’t have common areas of focus.

The key to all of the reports and stories you may read on chamber management and the trends, you’ve got to ask yourself a question, “What do you want to be.”

And then spend some time on how you can maximize your resources in attaining that goal.

I’m reminded of the Hedgehog Theory in Jim Collin’s book Good to Great, focus on what you can be or are the best at, what you have passion for and where you make money.  That’s the business you should be in for your members.

Always remember, you can’t be all things to all people, so stop trying to please everybody!

Focus on your mission and the strategic plan your membership has set forth.

Good luck!

8 Tactics to Redefine Your Member Value Propositions and Experience

I recently attended a great session by Peggy Smith on how to redefine your member value proposition and experience.

I’ve written on that subject matter before and you can go HERE for that blog post titled What's Your Brand.

Her view on the Value Proposition is all about expectations and experience.

• Expectations - outcome driven, logical, meets needs, everyone has it, tangible. 
• Experiences - influences decisions, emotional, above and beyond, subjective, intangible.

She goes on to talk about how expectations are tied to the reason why your members join.  Traditional value propositions are the new expectations.  She states we are shifting to experience-driven value propositions.

During the session she asked each of us to share our mobile device and asked the other person to find where you can join that persons organization.  Wow!  While some organizations made it easy to join, others had a hard time finding any link anywhere on the mobile device.

Peggy talked about focusing on the following 8 Tactics to redefine your member value proposition and experience.

Meet Expectations with Mobile - everyone is on a mobile device so it's important that you have a mobile responsive website.  What that means is your website adapts automatically to the users device (i.e. desktop, iPhone, iPad, etc.). The research tells us that 4 out of 5 consumers are using their smartphone to shop.

Simplicity Meets Design - again research is telling us that your members have an 8 second attention span.  Do you have a clear navigation for your members and potential members and a clear call to action on your website. Focus on usability, accessibility and the ease of interaction as a guide.

Simplify the Onboarding Process - first impression is key, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.  How many clicks does it take for a potential member to join?  Do you have a welcome campaign that goes beyond the thank you letter?  Do you give them a gift?  Maybe a pen with your logo, mouse pad, what do you have that you could give in addition to your plaque.

Get Social - networking is the #1 reason why members join your organization.  Do you have an online community?  Do you have a daily strategy to connect with your members, and by the way, consistency is the key with your strategy, whether it's a daily or weekly connection.  Having said that, most will tell you A daily habit is definitely the way to go!

Personalized Marketing - the ability to segment your membership by their demographics, lifestyle geographic and behavioral traits.  Are you getting them information that is important to them based on the above criteria?  Are you responding to their pain points.

Live Interaction at Events - do you have a mobile event app that allows for  ongoing interaction throughout your meeting in real-time?  Getting people to post to their Twitter and Facebook accounts is a way to get the event out to the community beyond those who are attending.  Are you using Gamification to get your attendees active in your live event?  What a great marketing tool.

Make it Easy - does your website have a member portal where it tracks the actions of your members and when they come back to your website relevant information will show up.  This is where you'll want to get your CMS provider involved to help you in this process.  The other question is are you automating your processes?  Membership renewal.  It's been stated that 29% of associations offer automatic renewals.  At the end of the day, eliminate unnecessary tasks.

Agile is the New Lean - go to strategyzer to get the business canvas for membership and the value proposition mapping.  Start on your member profile side first.

Keep in mind the above 8 tactics while your working with your membership engagement.

For more resources on membership from yourmembership go HERE.

What's Your Brand?

That is the $64K question.

Has your brand changed over the years?

Building a brand is important, it’s built over time, and you need to review your brand every five to ten years if you want to stay relevant.

Which leads me to my next question.

As I visit with the chamber community across the country, I’m always asked the following four questions.

1. Are Chamber’s of Commerce Relevant?
2. Are some more relevant than others?
3. Are all your members important?
4. Are some more important than others?

As you might have guessed, the answer is yes to all four. But, let’s not fool ourselves, some chambers are more relevant than others, and some members are more important than others.

Based on the Winston Group study, a question was asked – “What makes chambers relevant?” The top 4 answers:

1. Networking opportunities (41%)
2. Economic/community development (37%)
3. Issue advocacy/lobbying (16%)
4. Tourism/Community promotion (15%)

That being said, I’m quick to point out a conversation I had with a chamber CEO last year who stated, “If you’ve met one chamber, you’ve met one chamber,” which leads me to my next question.

What is your Chambers Value Proposition?

You’ve seen the equation: Benefits – Costs = Value.

What is your Chamber’s Golden Handcuff? What do you provide that every member wants to be a part of. That’s your golden handcuff, and that’s a question only you can answer.

I’m reminded of two books I’ve read and wanted to share two concepts that I keep “top of mind.”

The first, is by Jim Collins. The book is Good to Great, and it talks about how organizations make the leap. Mr. Collins refers to a concept called the “Hedgehog Theory.” And, in a nutshell, it’s a business model for lines of business. Think of three circles:

1. What do you do better than anybody else?;
2. What do you have passion for?; and
3. What do you make money at?

The book suggests to focus on where the three meet.

The second book, Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain. Mr. Bourdain was the executive chef at Les Halles in New York.

He talks about why people go back to the same restaurant year, after year, after year for the same meal. I’m guilty. I went to Café Dalat, in Arlington, VA, for 15 years, and I order the same thing every time (without exception).

I’m so guilty, I go cross country to California and order the same meal at Lares, a Mexican restaurant, every year – that little tradition has been going on for 20 years.

Mr. Bourdain states that people order the same meal, from the same restaurant, because they know the quality of the meal will be the same every time.

I suggest the message to chamber leaders (volunteer and staff), is too never forget why your members join.

Your members will want you to innovate, push the envelope, create new products and services, but at the same time, you need to deliver the core goods that your members expect from your chamber.

As you look towards the future: show the value; communicate, communicate, communicate your brand; build partnerships/alliances; and never take a member for granted.