MC Talks
The MemberClicks Blog

Silent auctions are a GREAT way to generate non-dues revenue for your association or chamber of commerce. But the success of a silent auction all depends on the interest and demand for the items you have available.

Now some items are pretty standard and always popular - wine and/or beer baskets, vacation packages, sports paraphernalia, etc. But what other items and offerings could you throw in there to not only switch things up, but really grab people’s attention? Here are three:

Your website is the hub of online member engagement. It’s where your members go to access content, view and register for upcoming events, interact with other members - the list of benefits goes on and on.

So having a good website - one members find easy to use and valuable - is of utmost importance.

But how do you know if your website is performing as it should be? How do you know how it’s being perceived by your members? Well...just ask! Consider sending a website evaluation survey with the following eight questions:

More and more people are paying attention to the “carbon footprint” of the organizations that they interact with. That means your members - especially those in younger generations - are definitely noticing when you make an effort to be conscious of yours.

One area to be particularly careful with? Your events. There are a lot of details along the planning, preparing, and executing journey that, with some care and attention, could make your event a whole lot more “green.” Start by getting in the habit of thinking about these things with each event you host:

Have you ever thought of your online member directory as a place to actually prospect for new members?

Well if you haven’t, I’m here to tell you that you’re missing out!

Believe it or not, your online member directory is a unique member acquisition tool. Not only is it a tangible example of membership value, but it can also help identify which prospective members you should consider reaching out to. Here’s how to leverage yours to its fullest:

A major benefit of your organization is likely professional development: providing your members with educational opportunities to help them stay sharp and ahead of the curve.

Now for many organizations, a majority of those educational offerings center around hard skills, which typically require unique training (such as computer programming). Teaching those hard skills (and best practices related to those hard skills) is CRITICAL and a big reason why people join your organization.

But just as important - yet often overlooked - is soft skills training. Soft skills are a bit more subjective and rather difficult to quantify, but examples include:

You’ve heard of email marketing calendars. You may even have an email marketing calendar. It’s a great way to plan ahead and get really strategic about your member and prospect communications. (Plus, it’s a great way to ensure you’re not overdoing it. Or, just as dangerous, underdoing it.)

But here’s an idea for you that may also add some value: a handwritten note calendar.

From webinars to conferences, educational events tend to draw a crowd. But whether that crowd leaves happy or not, well...a big part of that has to do with your event speakers. Did they deliver new, interesting, and/or helpful content? Did they cover what attendees were hoping they would?

Because so much of your event’s success depends on how well your speakers do, it’s worth taking some time to prep them effectively. In fact, here are three resources you may want to pass along:

Recruiting members, planning events, managing benefits: You have a LOT on your plate. If you could add a new, easy-to-use tool to help alleviate the headaches and give you extra time...would you?

If you didn’t already know, MemberClicks offers a number of tools beyond the membership management software you use - and they’re all designed to elevate your organization and the member experience, while saving you time and sanity.

What are they? Here’s a quick rundown:

Part of growing your organization is communicating membership value - and that’s tough! You and your active members know there are things that are totally unique to being a member of your organization, but it can be hard for a potential member to see that before joining.

Instead of working extra hard to convince prospective members that there’s more than meets the eye, here are a couple of steps to easily communicating membership value through regular activities:

Even if you’re a fairly organized person (your desk is clean, your papers are all put away, your emails are filed nicely into folders, etc.), chances are, keeping up with your to-dos can sometimes be a challenge.

You have your personal to-dos and your professional to-dos. You have your urgent to-dos and your “later down the road” to-dos. Throw in the fact that these to-dos are constantly changing, and well, it’s a lot to keep track of!

Enter Google Keep. Google Keep is a note-taking service (you guessed it, from Google!) that can be a game-changer in terms of staying organized.

Here are three reasons, in particular, you may want to give it a shot: