Losing members is a sign to reassess your membership program. Is your communication strategy lacking? Is your marketing strategy falling short? Or maybe members are joining other associations to get more value. If you suspect this is the case, it’s time to start brainstorming how to upgrade your program’s benefits and strategies to keep members engaged.
Modern associations and their communities thrive online. Online events, webinars, forums, blogs, and other digital engagement tools allow members to expand their knowledge and form beneficial relationships with fellow members. A flourishing online community and optimized association website ultimately promote member engagement, retention, and recruitment.
Chris Beaman, CAE
Hello and welcome to You Should Hear This, a podcast for the everyday association professional. I'm Chris Beaman, your host. Today's podcast is brought to you by Visit Bloomington. In the heart of the U. S. Midwest, Bloomington, Indiana is the perfect place to host a small to midsize meeting, convention, or conference. Offering unique and flexible venues available to groups of up to 400 people, as well as a hub for higher education at Indiana University, a nationally revered culinary scene, and natural wonders like the Hoosier National Forest and Monroe Lake, Bloomington is sure to wow your guests during and after your event! Go to visitbloomington.com To start planning your next meeting.
Imagine this: you’ve just hosted a successful auction, bringing in tons of non-dues revenue and providing an engaging experience for your members. Through this event, you’ve built relationships with new members and strengthened connections with existing ones.
Associations are always searching for ways to improve member and staff experiences. Many are looking to online learning to help them do that, but launching or scaling up initiatives can seem daunting. Will the experiences resonate with members? Will the technology create work for staff? In short, are the results going to be worth the effort?
Acquiring employees with the right skills, experiences, and traits to join your association is a crucial part of the hiring process, but it’s only the first step. Once you’ve built a pool of interested candidates, you need to maintain their interest in your organization. Otherwise, they might take their talent elsewhere, making the process feel more frantic for your team.
Imagine you’re trying to promote an upcoming conference to your association members. You start by filming a video that highlights your past events and creating ads with details about your conference’s location, agenda, and registration instructions.
Studies show that association membership is on the rise, a welcome change after rates fell dramatically during the pandemic. Thanks to positive market changes, members’ finances seem to be in a better place, which allows them to continue paying dues. However, there are a few factors that could be harming member engagement, retention, and overall growth.
Membership incentives are the rewards or benefits that your organization’s members receive for being part of the program. While most of these incentive programs give members exclusive discounts at certain retailers, they can also offer more tailored perks. To create an effective program that encourages them to renew their memberships, donate to fundraisers, and remain active in your organization, it’s essential to connect with members regularly and craft a program that appeals to them.
Legacy giving offers a valuable opportunity for all fundraising organizations that leave lasting impacts on people’s lives—associations included. But its benefits can only be sustained with effective donor stewardship and relationship-building along the way, especially after a member works with you to create such a meaningful gift.
Since members are your association’s bottom line and main revenue source, it’s crucial to keep them continually engaged in your activities and offerings. However, with their busy personal and professional lives, it can be challenging to find the right ways to maintain their interest in your association outside of meetings.
You’re likely familiar with the planning chaos before a fundraising event like an auction: your team is scrambling to polish off details, items seem to be missing, and you’re in the midst of trying last-minute strategies to drive more registrations. This has probably left your team wondering, “How can we avoid these issues and streamline our planning in the future?”
Your association is committed to changing members’ lives for the better, advocating for their rights, and making lasting improvements in your industry. The only way to effectively represent their interests is to collaborate with them, which makes collecting and listening to their feedback crucial.
In recent years, there have been significant fluctuations in association membership rates. Membership seems to be on the rise again with 46% of associations reporting an increase in membership in 2023. However, the volatility of membership rates has forced associations to change the way they approach member recruitment, engagement, and retention, placing more of an emphasis on delivering the value outlined in their membership offerings.
Written by Mark Mason, Indiana Gaming Commission
Association professionals like you know that a lucrative sponsorship program is crucial to your organization’s bottom line. Not only do sponsorships generate important revenue for your day-to-day operations, but they also allow you to strategically plan for the future and expand the important work you’re doing to serve your members.
Your alumni aren’t the same now as they were when they were students on campus. They’ve grown and changed since graduation, and your alumni communications should reflect that.
As an association leader, you have firsthand experience of the rigorous demands of working at an association. Just as you’re busy trying to determine how to add value to your member experience, your team is hard at work growing your organization’s revenue, scheduling networking events, and searching for resources to offer your members.
Whether you manage a social or professional fraternity or sorority, communicating with members should be one of your top priorities. With all your organization has to do on a daily basis, member engagement activities can unintentionally fall by the wayside.
