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Archive for the ‘Membership’ Category
Friday, March 25th, 2011 by user
By Jean Whiddon
Timely, clear & relevant information is what your members want – and being able to provide it to them shows your value as an association. But with websites, e-mail, social networks and all the other channels the web now has, what’s the best way to reach who with what info? Unfortunately, there is no single answer because everyone uses the web differently. But there are some tips you can follow to be as effective as possible. Why just 9? See tip #1.
1) Be aware of information overload. Be sure what you are providing is helpful and necessary, and don’t overwhelm your members.
2) Make your website a timely information resource – not just brochure-ware. Build an RSS, blog roll, or Twitter feed into your homepage, so the relevant industry news of the day is always right there.
3) Regular e-newsletters, with short, relevant topics that link to more in-depth information let you deliver information to those not actively seeking it. Plus, it’s a great way to keep your e-mail list/CRM scrubbed.
4) Make sure your website is designed for mobile screens. Big graphics, wide horizontal navigations and the like don’t allow convenient communication with mobile users. Be sure to have a mobile friendly or mobile site.
5) If you’re going to have a Twitter account, tweet regularly. Twitter users want to know what’s happening, daily. Product trends, governmental regulations and trade show happenings are just a few of the things you can tweet about.
6) If you have a blog , be sure to post at least 3-5 times a week to keep your audience engaged. The posts can and should be more informal and personal than your main website. Entries should encourage discussion through comments.
7) Re-tweet and use hash (#) tags.
8) If you have a Facebook page, the more people who’ve friended you, the better. Host a contest that exchanges trade show sponsorship points for friend acceptances. Whichever company drives the most friends gets a free sponsorship. Post regularly with all sorts of information.
9) Keep Facebook and Twitter separate – do not repost the same info to both as they each serve different audiences. Facebook is to people who have opt-ed in by “liking” you. Twitter is mostly public and can be searched or followed by anyone with hash (#) tags.
Jean Whiddon is President & CEO of Fixation Marketing, the largest full-service agency specializing in creative strategy, design and interactive solutions for association events and trade shows.
Tags: association communications web trade shows events, association twitter, how to use facebook and twitter, membership outreach, social media in associations
Posted in Digital Delivery, E-mail, Member Outreach | 7,120 Comments »
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 by Autumn Jones
According to the Fall 2010 Association TRENDS Finance Survey, meetings account for over 30% of revenue for associations — the greatest non-dues revenue source by far, followed by educational programs (19.6%). And while 7% of surveyed CFOs reported an expected decline in meeting attendance in 2011, 25.9% projected an expected increase in revenue from meetings.
Imagine what that projection would be if members could attend conferences, meetings and training sessions remotely! Consider offering “hybrid meetings,” where webcasts and live streams bring members whose schedules or budgets may not enable them to attend in person to the live event. Meetings revenue would dramatically increase.
This can be done efficiently and cost-effectively. You may choose to hire an outside audio-visual company or you may choose instead to invest in a quality video camera and tripod and host the content on your own site. You may even be able to get a company to sponsor the event and offer the services free of charge.
Do not fret; this will not replace in-person attendance. There will always be “butts in seats,” because members value the opportunity to assemble, network and generally catch up. Social Media heavyweight Chris Brogan said “Webcasting your event is just another way to get your audience to wish they were there,” at the MTO Summit recently.
Here are some tips to implementing hybrid meetings:
- Always have an audio feed into the camera; do not rely on the strength of microphones alone. This is relatively easy to achieve.
- Offer keynote addresses and common sessions online live as they are occurring. Select the most interesting breakout sessions, but do not try to stream all of the sessions presented at the conference.
- Engage remote attendees by incorporating social media into the discussion.
- During breaks, offer special online-only features, maybe a Q&A session where the presenters answer Tweeted questions, or a break out interview with a prominent guest or presenter. You can also engage a few members who are attending in person in discussion about the topic and broadcast the discussion for online viewers.
- Integrate slides and other visuals into the video feed, again, do not rely on images presented at the front of the event to suffice.
- Make sure you have a mobile streaming program, or that your webcast or stream is accessible on mobile platforms.
- Password protect broadcasts to avoid free remote access to the event.
ASAE has compiled this list of associations who have hosted commendable hybrid meetings recently.
Tags: hybrid meetings, meetings revenue, remote meetings
Posted in Member Outreach, Membership | 3 Comments »
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 by user
By Rick Whelan
I read an interesting and timely blog posting on this site from an “about to be” former member of ASAE. The writer states the many reasons he did not find the benefits of membership to have been worth the dues, and therefore will not renew his membership for 2011.
As a membership marketer (not employed by ASAE, but a longtime ASAE member myself) it got me thinking about the formal or informal process a current member uses to decide not to renew.
It goes to the heart of many an association’s membership problem – the growing number of people who never join, or who join, only to leave in the first year or two of their tenure.
In simple terms, it’s the association’s “value proposition,” or “the gets” of membership that many times drives the decision to un-join.
So how can an association be better armed to intercept –and then reverse– the decision to un-join?
First, associations need to realize that they are not the only game in town for professional information. As the blog writer says, there are dozens of sources for info.
Growing competition for time, attention and dues dollars is the chief impediment to association new member growth.
Not only does all that information available – much of it for free — take a toll on our time, but it often leaves us on overload. As a result we shut down to new sources of information, or offload sources to give ourselves some breathing space — in this instance web sites and blogs won out over an ASAE membership.
Second, associations need to treat different members differently, so the fact that this member self -identified as a young professional meant they had developmental career needs that should have been address proactively by the association. Certainly a look at the ASAE web site shows that it has lots to offer YPs.
Third, ASAE should have reached out to the YP as a new member asking what he needed or making suggestions that would have help keep him engaged.
Prospects are not sure “what the association has to offer” or have seen “no compelling reason to join” in the first place, and new members are not sure what they are getting for their dues, so it’s easy to let the membership lapse.
I suggest my clients become “career partners” with their members changing and modifying the offered member benefits and services as the member’s need change over time.
If the company pays for membership, most of us would probably let our membership continue almost indefinitely. But this member, who first used his boss’s membership and then decided to pay for his own, didn’t think the $100 paid was worth it.
Even that tells me that at some point ASAE membership did have value, but something changed after joining.
Companies’ moving association membership from company-paid to personal-paid is a growing trend, and one that is already causing problems for some of the biggest trade groups and membership societies. This will require, even more than in the past, that the association makes clear the membership benefits and meets professionals right where they stand. Increased communication, letting them know you’re still there for them, will become key.
Sadly, not only was the member at fault in this case, but the association, too. There was no way that after only one year the member could have possibly explored all the value available at an association like ASAE, and he should have recognized that and extended his membership.
I have been a member for 10+ years and still find value in many of their offerings that I did not know even existed months before.
And ASAE was at fault for not recognizing and then addressing this member’s particular need as a “Young Professional,” which would be very different from what I may look to ASAE for.
Please understand I am not picking on the member or ASAE, just using them both as examples here.
Since ASAE is the premier association for associations, it would be interesting to know if this member will ever rejoin as he may move along and upwards in the association profession.
Rick Whelan is president of Marketing General Incorporated (MGI). For 32-years MGI has helped hundreds of associations grow brand awareness, new member recruitment, member engagement, renewal and reinstatement programs. Visit MGI on the web.
Tags: ASAE, membership crisis, membership value, value proposition, why I won't renew, young professional
Posted in Communications News, Membership, Membership Marketing | 10,414 Comments »
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 by user
By Barbara Meyers Ford
Susan Sarfati recently spoke about engaging and growing membership at the 2010 Cadmus Executive Management Retreat, where she offered 20 tips for engaging and growing membership:
- Content isn’t king anymore; context is. Connect the dots and make sense of content.
- Live your brand, which is the promise you make to your constituents.
- Create experiences that are remarkable. Create a buzz. Introduce major innovations, not tweaks or tinkering.
- Send members lots of love. Competence alone won’t cut it.
- Capture the hearts and minds of your stakeholders and engage them for the long term.
- Be personal. Show your personality. Always deliver.
- Define the journey. Know where you are, where you are going, and what direction and actions you are taking to get there.
- Understand how to build community and recognize people for their contributions.
- DOWN with busy work and bureaucracy. UP with creativity, innovation, and meaning.
- Even with a community of thousands, create an experience of one.
- Be relevant, generous of spirit, and make a difference through social responsibility.
- Be inclusive, open, transparent, and authentic.
- Meet members on their own turf.
- Deliver the most off-the-charts customer care.
- Be a student of motivational theory, organizational culture, emotional intelligence, psychology and demographics to create a unique organizational culture.
- Balance high tech and high touch. Don’t jump on the technology bandwagon rather use technology as a tool to accomplish goals.
- Communication must be two-way and always remember to use Simple Speak.
- Tell stories, they make facts more engaging.
- Create a process to collect on an on-going basis the needs, wants, and perceptions of your community. Profile members according to aspirations. One size does not fit all.
- Spend a long time in the hiring process and a short time firing staff who don’t fit the culture.
Event Date: October 27, 2010, Baltimore, MD
Susan Sarfati is CEO of High Performance Strategies, a new company which she started after leaving the American Society for Association Executives (ASAE).
During her 35+ year career, Barbara M. Ford worked for societies and consulting companies before establishing Meyers Consulting Services (MCS), specializing in society management and scholarly publishing. Since starting MCS, Barbara’s work with commercial and non-profit publishers (as well as organizations in allied industries) ranges from a day of advice to months or years of service as adjunct staff in senior positions.
A co-founder of the Society for Scholarly Publishing and a past President of the Council of Science Editors, she has devoted considerable time to all the organizations serving our industry and continues to do so. Her most recent contributions are as adjunct faculty in the Masters in Publishing Program, George Washington University. More information can be found at www.bmeyersconsulting.com.
Tags: engaging members, grow membership, membership strategies
Posted in Membership, Membership Marketing | 10,759 Comments »
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 by user
By: Tony Rossell
Happy New Year! It’s time to develop, or at least review, your marketing plan, so I thought it might be useful to outline the marketing planning methodology that I use to brainstorm and develop strategies for organizations.
We are all familiar with the four “P”s: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. They are established tools in marketing to help define strategy, but I find that they do not serve membership groups as well.
So to serve membership organizations better, I have adapted the four “P”s to the following:
Market – Answers the question, “WHO?”
Product – Answers the question, “WHAT?”
Promotion – Answers the question, “HOW?”
Economics – Answers the question, “WHY?”
Let me make a few quick comments about each of these.
First, any sound marketing strategy needs to look at “who” we want to reach. I have found it helpful to break most markets down visually using a triangle or pyramid.
At the top of the triangle are the best prospects for the product that we are offering. If properly defined, this is almost always the smallest segment. As we work our way down to less qualified prospects, we have increasing numbers of potential members or customers – hence the wider triangle. The goal, of course, is to be sure that we flow our scarce marketing funds first to the best prospects and then down the triangle to generate the best ROI.
Taking the time to carefully define who is in each market segment and how many people are in the segment is fundamental to planning.
Next, define “what” you are offering. Should your product be bundled or sold a la carte? What are your best price points? What is your unique selling proposition (USP) to each market segment? What enhancements can be made to the product to make it unique or more valuable? How does your product compare to the competition?
The third element is promotion or “how” we go to market. Unfortunately, many marketers start at this point without doing the earlier leg work. I sometimes, for example, hear that “direct mail doesn’t work for our organization.” It is possible, but it is more likely that the channel is not to blame, but the message went to the wrong person. You cannot sell ice to Eskimos.
 Sometimes, the communications vehicle is not to blame; try examining your audience and tailor-fitting your message, regardless of the medium. Promotional decisions look at how best to connect the product and the market. What marketing channel should you choose (personal sales, telemarketing, direct mail, space ads, broadcast FAX, email, search engine ads, or retail)? Each channel offers unique advantages, cost structures, and response rates.
Finally, marketing planning requires an answer to the question, “why.” Does the plan make economic sense? This involves looking at realistic projections of revenue and costs and calculating the Life Time Value, Cost of Goods Sold, and Maximum Acquisition Cost for a member or customer. I provided these calculations in a membership marketing context in my post on September 10th, Membership Marketing Calculations and Formulas.
I hope that these thoughts get your strategic marketing juices flowing. If you need help in planning for your 2011 marketing efforts, please feel free to contact me.
Tony is Senior Vice President at Marketing General Inc and can be reached at tony@marketinggeneral.com
Tags: Marketing, Membership, Planning
Posted in Membership, Membership Marketing | 6 Comments »
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 by user
By Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated
When I played sports in high school, my coach would always have us work on “fundamentals.” For soccer (yes, the greatest sport in the world!), we would focus on kicking properly, “heading” the ball, dribbling, and a host of other activities. This helped us to create “metrics” so we could evaluate our own performance and become better players.
As membership professionals, our typical metrics are:
- Response Rate
- Renewal Rate
- Average Tenure
- Lifetime Value (LTV)
- Maximum Acquisition Cost (MAC)
- Steady State Analysis
For many of us we have computer programs that automatically calculate these metrics. However, after over 25 years in this business, I can tell you that occasionally these programs are incorrect, so it is always a good idea to understand how these metrics are calculated just in case you are suspicious of a number and you can do the math yourself.
| Metric |
Measures |
Formula |
Example |
| Response Rate |
Campaign effectiveness |
Total Responses/Total Number Promoted |
120/10,000 = 1.2% |
| Renewal Rate |
Member retention |
(Total Members Today – 12 Months of New Members)/Total Members in the Previous Year |
(10,000 – 2,000) / 9,500 = 84.21% |
| Average Tenure |
Membership duration |
1 / Reciprocal of the Renewal Rate |
Reciprocal = 1 – .8421 = .1579;
1 / .1579 = 6.333 years |
| Lifetime Value (LTV) |
Member revenue |
(Dues + Non-Dues Revenue) x Average Tenure = LTV |
($150 + $100) x 6.333 = $1,583.25 |
| Maximum Acquisition Cost (MAC) |
Member profitability |
[(Dues + Non-Dues Revenue) - (Incremental Costs[1])] x Average Tenure = MAC |
[($150 + $100) - ($50)] x 6.333 = $1,266.60 MAC |
| Steady State Analysis[2] |
Membership Projection |
Annual New Members Acquired / Reciprocal of the Renewal Rate = Total Membership Steady State |
3,000 / .1579 = 12,666 Total Membership |
[1] Incremental Costs include customer service, cost of goods sold, etc.
[2] Note that this does not tell you when it will occur, just that it may given the current situation.
Erik Schonher is Vice President of Marketing General Incorporated (MGI). In addition to providing strategic and tactical planning for a number of MGI clients, Erik also oversees MGILists which provides list management services for over 80 association clients.
MGI is America’s leading provider of membership marketing services to the association marketplace. For over 31 years, MGI has provided strategic and tactical services that have successfully grown associations’ memberships and driven non-dues revenue. Visit MGI on the web here.
Tags: calculating membership value, membership metrics
Posted in Communications News, Membership | 15,204 Comments »
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 by user
By Rick Whelan
We’ve got just a few weeks left before the end of the year, and many associations are scrambling to meet year-end membership and revenue goals.
One sure way to help “make your numbers” is not to overlook those who have: 1) yet to renew their memberships for 2011, 2) let their memberships lapse in 2010, and 3) those customers who have yet to join but are warm prospects.
 Meeting membership goals can be just one missing communication link away. Year-end tends to be a good time to do last minute membership campaigns with a sense of urgency. I have found that many members or prospects procrastinate during the year because of hectic work and travel schedules that tend to ease as the year winds down — meaning that they may have more time to consider your offer. Likewise many companies and organizations have a “use it or lose it” budget philosophy, so monies for memberships that didn’t seem to exist before suddenly become available.
If 2011 will see a dues increase or addition of new benefits, letting current prospects know that they can beat a dues increase or lock in a new benefit might just be the incentive they need to join now.
And thinking of incentives to join or come-back, do not forget to look to get rid of leftover premiums from the conference, books or other publications that might be ending their shelf life but still may have a high perceived value in the market place.
Finally, any marketing this time of year needs to be done with a sense or urgency and a 12/31 deadline, so forget the mail, and try to use email, faxes or the phone to contact your prospects and former members.
Rick Whelan is president of Marketing General Incorporated (MGI). For 32-years MGI has helped hundreds of associations grow brand awareness, new member recruitment, member engagement, renewal and reinstatement programs. Visit MGI on the web.
Tags: association membership drive, membership benchmarks, membership goals, membership marketing
Posted in Direct Marketing, Membership | 11,569 Comments »
Thursday, October 28th, 2010 by Jill M. Cornish IOM
Editor’s note: Straightforward is a weekly column by Association TRENDS’ executive editor, Jill M. Cornish, IOM.
So many associations are moving to digital communications. Yes, that is a trend, but in too many cases there has not been enough thought put into the move. Many people, not just Gen X and Gen Y, are Linked-In and connected. Many use their iPhones to communicate daily. Some have disconnected their landlines and disposed of their desktop computers, preferring mobile technology for all their requirements.
But, does that sound like your members? Have your constituents made the move to all digital? What have they told you about your association’s magazine, the professional journals that they keep for years, the printed directory that is so dog-eared and marked up? What about the promotions for the annual convention and tradeshow? The special program to honor members? The education and social events? Do you still send brochures and postcards by snail mail or are they all produced and delivered digitally?
While some organizations can, and have, made the move very successfully to eliminate excess paper and costs, as well as to meet members’ digital needs, others are finding that they must provide what their members want, in the format that they prefer.
Do your research and planning upfront. Don’t decide on format changes just because everyone else is doing it or because the association’s staff complain about the extra labor required to produce a product in more than one format. What do the members, customers, participants and guests want?
Years ago, when I was sewing my children’s clothes and pasting up half tones on TRENDS layouts, I learned: “measure twice, cut once.” The same applies here: research, research, research and plan, then decide. You’ll find your members are better served.
Tags: digital delivery, members
Posted in Membership | 10,897 Comments »
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