Using Content Marketing to Recruit Members

Are you trading content for contacts?

This is what content marketing is all about.  You provide a white paper, epub, etc. but they must give you their contact info (opt in) to your reaching out in the future.

Don't forget to use referrals from current members as a way to gain additional prospects and hopefully members.

Are you using online advertising on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to reach lapsed members who may still be following you?

There are tools out there that will tag a person who has visited your website and then they can get an ad on your organization when they visit Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on their next visit.  This is what sponsored ads are all about.

Or what about Lightbox Popups to capture more emails?  Learn more about that HERE from the folks at optinmonster.com.

I've heard many people talk about the copywriting SOS's.  Keep it:

• Short - conversational
• Organized - clear and compelling with a call to action
• Skimmable - use white space, bullets or think digestible

At the end of the day, what's the offer?  That is the key for you to define and communicate using the above SOS copywriting strategy.

Never forget, it's all about the offer (call to action)!  And never forget to offer multiple ways to join.

Do you use deadlines as a tool for your prospective members to take action?  I've heard it before, time is a killer.

Test, test, test what channel works best for you and then focus on that channel to recruit and retain your small business members.

A final piece of advice from the experts in the field, you've got to get away from one message fits all.

For a great resource on one of my content marketing favorite websites go HERE.

Good luck!

Growing Membership in the Digital Age

I recently participated in a webinar by my friend Rick Whelan with Marketing General Incorporated.

I've written about their annual membership benchmarking survey before and the latest survey can be found HERE.

He talked about how this new digital age offers you the opportunity to reach out to many folks that you may not even know about.

The Direct Marketing Association recently stated that each person gets 2,500 impressions each day.  Wow!  That's a lot of clutter.

Communication channels are clogged with messages.  You must be able to target by demographics - profession, jobs, experience, age, specialties, certifications.

You must define what your prospective member pressing needs or challenges are and have the tools to fix it for them.

Value Proposition: What's in it for me (WIIFM).  Your members are thinking - how can I be smarter, save time, save money, and solve a problem.

So what messages are you using to attract new members?  Do any of these ring true:

• We're the place to get info you can't get anywhere else;
• We can solve your problems; and
• Here's how you will benefit from membership (not what they'll receive but how they will benefit).

For a previous blog post on that subject go HERE.

He talked about how you need to identify the right people, at the right time, and the right benefits/solutions to make the "membership sale."

He also went on to talk about the membership lifecycle.  And there has been much written about this, but this was his definition:

• Awareness - tell your target audiences who you are and what your value is, invite them to engage with you.

• Recruitment - find your target audience, invite them to join you.

• Engagement - Give them something for their money, deliver value, encourage usage of your resources.

• Renewal - invite them to renew, early and often.

• Reinstatement - invite them back, new and improved products and services if they happen to lapse.  A large number of our members will lapse at some point in time.

While there are many marketing channels to fill the funnel of prospects: events, telemarketing, database marketing, direct mail, social media, webcasts, app, online advertising, and email marketing.  Decide on what channel works best for you to be successful?

Find out what is working for your chamber, in your community, because it might be different than another chambers success in another community. Track and measure everything you do!

A great resource on membership trends by Marketing General can be found HERE.

What I took away from this webinar is that all ages join organizations but for different reasons - check out MGI benchmarking study to learn more HERE.

And don't forget what Seth Godin has said in the past, "Everyone is not your customer."

Until next time!