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The MemberClicks Blog

Looking to expand your marketing efforts by introducing video to your event campaigns? Video is one of the best ways to promote your association to a new audience as well as to remind your members of the value that you provide to your industry. However, learning new technologies can be an intimidating experience, especially when you’re going to use those results to publicly market your association.

Don't fret! Check out these tips to follow before, during, and after your video process to help keep you on track.

As an association professional, there are many things you can be doing to recruit new members. But similarly, there are also many things you can be doing (maybe some you’re not even aware of) that can actually drive members away.

In fact, here are three ways to actually lose your association’s members…

Sounds like an oxymoron, right? If you’re not sure that “alleviating stress” and “financial management” belong in the same sentence, then you might be surprised to learn what association management software (AMS) can do to lend a helping hand!

An AMS is a valuable part of an association’s financial ecosystem. Its functionality can create a better experience for members, save valuable association staff time, and make things easier on your books. (Which also makes things easier for you!) Here are just a few ways that an AMS can alleviate financial management stress:

While planning MC LIVE!, MemberClicks’ conference for association and chamber professionals, we’ve asked ourselves a lot of questions when deciding what sessions to move forward with. To list a few:

Is the topic thought-provoking?

Is the speaker a leader in the industry community?

Will session attendees walk away with actionable tactics?

Another thing we’ve considered is whether or not the session would qualify for CAE credit - and boy, have our speakers come through. In fact, at MC LIVE! nearly every breakout session is worth credit. We're happy to say you could earn 8+ over the 2.5 days of the event! Take a look at these CAE-credit-earning sessions (worth 1.25 each):

One of the most difficult aspects of event planning is actually getting people to register and attend. You’re putting so much time and money into this. You need to make sure the ROI exceeds that.

So how can you drive awareness and registrations for your association’s next event? Here are 14 ideas:

Have you been looking into some ways to gather some additional funding for your association or chamber? We have one word for you: Grants! Applying for grants will offer your organization a chance to bring in funds that don’t have to be paid back as well as help you expand out more robust programs to better serve your members and industry.

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed at how the process works, we get it. The grant application process is no joke! Take a look at this simple outline to follow how the grant writing process generally plays out.

Networking.

If your eyes roll (and your stomach drops) upon just READING that word, you’re not alone. Many people understand the importance of networking, but they still dread it.

We get that - and we’re here to help! If networking intimidates you and you’re never really sure what to ask/talk about, here are 20 questions to keep in your back pocket:

A personal touch is key to effective member acquisition. Actually building a relationship with prospective members will help communicate the value of membership by honing in on what’s important to them, and make it easier to continually engage them once they do become a member.

It can be difficult to focus on creating that personal connection when there are so many other details to keep track of in membership acquisition. However, let your software do some of that heavy lifting - that’s what it’s for, after all! Whether you’re using MemberClicks or WebLink, here are a few ways your database can support your member acquisition initiatives:

When it comes to showing members the value of their investment in your organization, we’re sure you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Does one of those tricks include talking about their online directory placement?

If not, it should! Your online directory is often overlooked by members, but there are a lot of hidden secrets about this benefit - and ways that you can demonstrate that value! Take a look:

Regardless of what industry you work in or what your particular role is, it is SO easy to get lost in your day-to-day.

We need to send out that email.

Have the lanyards come in yet?

Is everything in place for tomorrow’s webinar? How many registrations do we currently have?

The list of “need-tos” goes on and on and on and on…

But you know what that often leads to? Association burnout.