I talk about the importance of a good message a lot. Why bother taking the time and making the effort to communicate with your members if a) the message isn’t being read, b) you don’t have anything of importance to say and c) the end result is will not be realized. Let’s talk about retention.
Association’s are in a tough place right now – we hear all about it every day. No budget, no staff, retention is dropping, non-dues revenue events are plummeting and members are selling assets to feed their families. You need to make sure that your members know the value of belonging to the association and the importance of maintaining their network. You have to make renewal a no-brainer. That is not accomplished by being vague, or using the same verbiage that the EO from 28 years ago used.
Be specific about the benefits. Don’t say “access to over 20 networking events” – list them. When dealing with sponsorships, don’t just say “hundreds of people will see your name” – list all the places where their name and company logo will be displayed. Long lists make impressions.
We’re producing a Business Expo here in the Wenatchee Valley and the list of exhibitors is getting pretty long. We have a section on the website and even created a flyer that showcases who is in the show – we update and reformat it daily. Why? Because a long list is impressive and, in this case, it has tipped some “prospects” over to exhibitors.
Keep track of phone calls to your Association looking for referrals (by industry). In your membership database, start a column that indicates how many times you referred a certain company. Provide statistics and search results from your website when applicable. Capture activity on your website for your members if you can. ACE Insurance may be impressed to know that they had 40 hits in the last three months! That’s relevant and important information. If you have these stats available when renewal time rolls around, you’re armed with powerful proven information of the benefits of Association membership.
Hot Tip: Give non-members a one month “trial” membership, track their web stats or action and provide the results at the end of their trial period.