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The MemberClicks Blog

Recruiting, engaging, and retaining young professional members continues to be a hot topic. After all, generations do vary, and you can’t just treat them like you would your more senior-level professional members. (Well, you can, but that may not get you very far.)

The one thing all generations of members have in common, though, is this: They ALL want value. It’s just what’s valuable to each generation that varies.

So what’s valuable for young professionals? Materials and services that can help them start building their career - or get their foot in the door, even. You probably have several offerings that align with that already: a mentoring program, networking events, a job board, etc. But the more you can offer, the better. And with that said, you may want to consider creating a “young professionals toolkit.”

How many people do you know who’ve cut the cord on cable? Maybe you’re one of those people. You got tired of paying for channels you never watched, and so you dropped cable for Netflix. (Or Hulu. Or both.)

The point is, you didn’t want to pay for things you weren’t using. Many people feel this way, and many MORE people (more than ever before, at least) are starting to act upon it.

What does that mean for your organization? Well, just as people don’t want to pay for channels they don’t watch, they also don’t want to pay for benefits they won’t use. They want somewhat of a “custom membership,” and that’s where membership levels come into play.

There’s a lot that your association or chamber does to grow its membership: You host events, you send emails, you make phone calls. But what if I told you that your best tool for membership growth...is your website?

You know you NEED a website, but it’s pretty important that you keep it in tip top shape to be viewed by prospective members. Here’s why:

One of the most frustrating things about communicating with members is actually being able to reach them in the first place. People move, change email addresses, change their names, change their job...and when they don’t tell you what’s new, how are you supposed to keep your own records updated?

In a perfect world, members would make keeping their contact information updated with you a priority. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case - but there are a few things you can do to keep it top of mind:

The following blog post was written by Association Analytics, an industry leader in data analysis and management products, services, and training.

An analytics strategy offers many benefits to your organization and now more than never, analytics is changing the way organizations run their day-to-day operations.

For your organization to stay relevant in the minds of your members, your team needs an analytics strategy to guide the decisions, so you can deliver an optimal customer experience. Without a proper analytics strategy, you’ll see a loss in productivity among your team members, incorrect decisions being made, and an incohesive customer experience.

With these costs in mind, it’s worthwhile for your team to invest the time and money into an analytics strategy.

Wondering how to even proceed with developing an analytics strategy? Consider breaking it up into these four focus areas:

Even though the failed Fyre Festival took place (or rather, didn’t) in 2017, it’s still very much the talk of the town. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that Netflix and Hulu recently released documentaries, exploring what really happened. (I mean, how does a heavily promoted event just NOT happen...with attendees being kept in the dark the whole time?)

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Fyre Festival, here’s what basically happened. (Note: This is a very summed-up version.) The Fyre Festival was marketed as a luxury music festival. It was supposed to take place in the Bahamas (nice, right?) and attendees were promised a VIP experience. We’re talking luxury villas, gourmet food, yacht packages - the whole nine yards.

Only...when attendees actually showed up, there was none of that. The “luxury villas” were actually leftover hurricane tents, and the “gourmet food” turned out to be cheese and bread. Seriously, that was it! (See pic below.)

Having a soon-to-be member fill out a member application on your organization’s website is exciting. More interest! More growth!

But in addition to it being an exciting process, it’s also a great opportunity for your organization to gather information that can help with engagement and retention, as well as future recruitment efforts...as long as you ask the right questions.

In fact, here are four questions you may want to consider adding to your online member application moving forward:  

Knowing how to effectively manage your membership renewal timing can be a bit of a game.

When do start talking renewal?

How often do you reach out?

How do you reach out? (As in, what communication channels.)

It’s a bit of trial and error. Effectiveness can even differ from member to member! But, according to Marketing General Incorporated’s 2018 Membership Marketing Benchmark Report, there are a few statistics that we think point to an approach to hone your renewal process in on:

You already know that we host regional training events three to four times a year around the US. For our next event, we’re going all virtual! Sessions will still be conducted live by our expert trainers (and go more in-depth than a 101 session) but this way you and your fellow staff can join us from the comfort of your office!

And even though we won’t be in a room together, this two-day deep dive into your database will be beneficial if you find yourself in any of these situations:

So you’ve pondered the idea of purchasing a membership management system. I mean, it would make your job a LOT easier. But you’ve made it this far without one...do you really need to pull the trigger now?

Well, there are a few telltale signs that would lead you to “yes.” In fact, it may be time for a membership management system if…