The following post is based on a session at the MMCC recently held in Washington, DC, by members of ASAE's Membership Council.
It was a great discussion on utilizing 8 tools in tuning up and revving up your membership recruitment.
Here are the 8 highlighted tools:
Target Audiences – who do you want to join your chamber? Define those that are most likely to join (i.e., your lapsed members are at the top of that list).
Value propositions – why should your members join? It’s about that radio station, WIIFM, what’s in it for me? Talk about the benefits that your members will get by being a member – knowledge, business, etc. not about features – newsletter, monthly luncheon, etc. Meet their needs.
Offer – why should your members join now? Special offers (i.e. 25% off, please note I’m not a fan of discounts)? Just be clear in the value of joining your chamber.
Multi-channel, multi-touch – ask your prospects to join via multiple channels on a regular basis.
The ASK – is it clear that you want them to join? Make it front and center and make it easy to join.
Testing – you should be do some A/B testing to see what message or offer is working best in converting your prospects into members.
Results evaluation – analyze your different campaigns and figure out which campaign generated the most money for your chamber.
Budget – fuel up! Get your list updated, and start sending your marketing campaigns, whether mail or email, and send them on a regular basis.
They left us with three final takeaways:
- Evaluate your membership recruitment campaigns.
- Measure your performance, what’s working and what’s not working.
- Make changes to improve your response rates. And remember, these changes can be very simple.
For a great resource from Aptify on membership recruitment for associations go HERE.
