Create Must-Have Value With Membership Marketing
Membership marketing–the process of acquiring, engaging, and retaining members–is the cornerstone for associations. It’s also a very challenging task. Now is the time to think about your goals and what you want–what you need–your association to look like in the coming years. Will you be able to sustain your current membership goals? Do you need support in attracting a younger demographic or engaging Gen X and Gen Y as your Boomers move on and enter retirement?
Many pieces fall into membership marketing. Your members want a return on their investment. They want to see the value in their membership.
So how do you create value with membership marketing? Utilize and develop plans in multiple areas and disciplines.
To start, consider the following three areas:
Social media and online marketing
Social marketing is here to stay. Your members and potential members are hanging out online. Create value by providing them engaging content and reasons to interact with you. As you think about your organization’s goals, consider your current Web presence. Are you engaging with your audience? Are they talking with you? Are you giving them opportunities to do so by maintaining a Facebook page, blog, or other means of engagement?
Brush up on your social media statistics and understand what they mean to the audience you’re trying to connect with.
Social media is not just for the young and hip. There are great ways to connect with everyone in your membership base through your website, social media channels, and mobile marketing. The key is having a great plan and people to execute those plans for you.
Membership campaigns and promotions
Word-of-mouth marketing has come a long way since your organization began. Promoting your association and tapping into new members requires out-of-the-box thinking and new directions for your marketing and communication strategies. Ideas include outreach or advocacy campaigns, new product/service offerings, and networking events (think live Twitter feeds, social meet-ups, and speed networking). It all goes back to your target audience–who are you trying to reach, and how will you get there?
The global Membership health matrix
Let's take the pulse of how members think of different association practices. You can use the insights to stop declining memberships and engage existing members better.
Strong brands and identities
Does what you stand for resonate with your current membership? How about your ideal members? Are you touting values that are still relevant today or have followed from year to year because that’s what has been done in the past? Do you assess your current logo, website, and brand identity regularly?
Associations rely on relationship-building to grow membership; your brand is an integral part of that process. Keeping your brand at the forefront of everything you do can help evoke and maintain emotional attachments and a sense of purpose for your members. Make sure that your identity grows with your membership. Make it appealing for new members to join, current members to stay, and outside audiences to understand what you’re all about. Strategies include:
Defining your core values
Assessing current visual identity systems
Researching and developing critical message statements
Updating online presence–website, e-marketing, social media
Outline membership value in your marketing plan
It can be a daunting task to communicate with your membership. And it’s likely that they are grouped into various demographics. Recruiting new members and staying engaged with current members takes many moving parts. Allocation of resources is critical, as is establishing a practical, workable plan to drive results. In addition to the three areas above, you need a stellar marketing and communications plan. Elements of your planning process should include the following:
Targeting your audiences
Analyzing your competition’s strategies
Researching your audiences’ preferences and perceptions
Shaping your brand and core messages
Understanding and stating the unique value you provide
Developing work plans and budgets to support goals
Evaluating results
Don’t be overwhelmed. These are elements you can take on yourself or hire out. XYZ University also offers membership marketing services for associations and member-based organizations.
Now, what will you do to prove value to your membership?
We have assembled many tools to assist your organization.
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