(More than) 75 great membership ideas.Increase your membership numbers - and the likelihood that new members will stick around - by mastering the art of giving members what they need in the ways they want to receive it. Member service is the keystone key·stone n. 1. Architecture The central wedge-shaped stone of an arch that locks its parts together. Also called headstone. 2. The central supporting element of a whole. of an association - the piece that locks in place all other facets of your organization. After all, without members, there is no association. Association professionals must therefore constantly find innovative ways to attract and keep members as well as address their ongoing needs and evolving concerns. And they must do so by developing and offering strong programs and benefits that serve their customers. In recognition of ASAE's 75th anniversary, here are a host of tips, contributed by members of ASAE's Membership Section, to help your association keep its membership program as the keystone for continuing growth and prosperity. Benefits 1. Showcase your benefits on your membership card, highlighting any new benefits that have been developed since the last dues cycle. 2. Try a graduated scale of benefits for which members are eligible after meeting length-of-membership requirements. 3. In your newsletter, highlight two or three benefits that members can get just by asking. Ask members to send a self-addressed envelope, which makes it easy for staff members to fulfill ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. the requests. Dues statements 4. Highlight your final dues notice with a desktop color foil in an attention-grabbing color. This is especially effective for smaller trade associations with fewer than 100 final notices to deliver. 5. Bill in two installments - one due in a month, the other due on a designated future date. 6. Mail a flyer along with the dues notice that details membership benefits and services, or send the flyer along with a letter asking members to renew one month prior to invoicing. After receiving dues, send each member a thank-you letter with an invitation to serve on a committee. Enclose en·close also in·close tr.v. en·closed, en·clos·ing, en·clos·es 1. To surround on all sides; close in. 2. To fence in so as to prevent common use: enclosed the pasture. a service-reply card. International members 7. Develop targeted brochures for various overseas communities and ask your distributors in those communities to insert the brochures with customer orders. This is a cost-effective way to reach large numbers of international prospects. 8. Fax your first dues notice to international members instead of using airmail airmail, transport of mail by airplanes. Demonstration flights that showed the feasibility of carrying mail by air were made in Great Britain and in the United States in 1911. , which can delay your communication. At the end of your renewal process, fax a message to those who have not renewed saying, "We have not heard from you." You'll be surprised by how many members may have renewed but whose payments have been delayed. by bank-draft problems. 9. Make provisions to communicate with your international members via electronic mail or fax. Likewise, to facilitate international communication, list time zones in key staff areas for each country where you have members. Member correspondence 10. Include handwritten notes Handwritten Notes was the first release on Reed's own label. Track listing (All songs by Preston Reed)?
tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. memo pads memo pad n → bloc m de notas memo pad n → bloc-notes m memo pad memo n → Notizblock m , and it takes only an extra minute or two to give members this personal attention. 11. Customize or personalize per·son·al·ize tr.v. per·son·al·ized, per·son·al·iz·ing, per·son·al·iz·es 1. To take (a general remark or characterization) in a personal manner. 2. To attribute human or personal qualities to; personify. all member correspondence whenever possible. Members like knowing they aren't just another record in your database. 12. Use postcards to get your message across quickly and inexpensively. Postcards stand out in the mail, and members will be more likely to read them because they're brief. (People also tend to be more creative and less wordy when space is limited.) 13. Supply each staff member with small index cards that have the organization's name, logo, and address and "Compliments of" printed on them. When sending any materials to a member or nonmember, the staff member needs only to add his or her signature. The card also gives the recipient a person to contact for future reference or to notify of any problems with the shipment. Member records 14. Maintain your prospect list regularly. This will pay off in lower mailing costs and better response rates. Send an inexpensive double postcard annually to your prospects, asking them if they want to remain on your mailing list An automated e-mail system on the Internet, which is maintained by subject matter. There are thousands of such lists that reach millions of individuals and businesses. New users generally subscribe by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in it and subsequently receive all new and requesting that they update their address information by returning the postage-paid cards. Include a check-off option to have someone contact them about membership. Use the postal service's address correction service to enhance the effectiveness of this cleanup mailing. Products and services 15. Develop products actively, not reactively. Associations traditionally develop products from suggested ideas. Do market research to find out members' needs, and develop products accordingly. 16. Establish an informal group of members-at-large on which to test surveys, new ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by Scottish New Wave/Indie Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with "Will It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for the track. , and products and services. This is an easy way for members to become involved without having to spend excessive time, and it provides you with a marketing research team. 17. Establish written criteria for such areas as revenue potential and known or potential competitors before deciding which products or services your group should offer. 18. Determine who is responsible for each part of a product's development, especially when an outside vendor is involved. Outline tasks and duties ahead of time. 19. Make product evaluation part of your marketing or business plan to identify strengths and weaknesses in your products and programs. 20. Define your target audiences by determining needs and the characteristics of members with each of those needs. Then segment your lists and target promotions accordingly. 21. Slip order forms for seminar audiotapes or other products into boxed lunches at a conference or seminar. Do this for any important notice, like a list of upcoming educational events or membership recruitment or retention letters. 22. Produce a membership decal, and use it regularly to remind members of their affiliation and to advertise the association to outside audiences. 23. Before dues renewal, create a "festival of services" that motivates members to visit and use the association's facility, showcases vendors, offers a sampling of diverse educational programs, and highlights your benefits and services. This gives members who attend the opportunity to answer the "What do I get for my dues?" question for themselves. 24. Organize a job search seminar, with speakers from your association's industry and outplacement out·place·ment n. The process of facilitating a terminated employee's search for a new job by provision of professional services, such as counseling, paid for by the former employer. firms. Include tips on sharpening For image sharpening, see . Sharpening is the process of creating or refining a sharp edge on a tool or implement. The term has a wide application but can be expressed as the creation of two intersecting planes which produce an edge that is sharp enough to cut through the target job search and interviewing skills and updating resumes. 25. Give gift certificates to members on their first anniversary to use toward educational offerings, publications, or other products. Consider sending a second gift certificate for second or subsequent anniversaries. Publications and catalogs 26. Gang-print as many pieces as you can - books, workshop materials, brochures, and so forth. Print all conference materials on one run if possible. 27. Run a brochure in the trim space on a regular print run. It's like getting a free promotion and is especially valuable with four-color pieces or magazines. 28. Entice new subscribers by tacking The process whereby an individual who is in Adverse Possession of real property adds his or her period of possession to that of a prior adverse possessor. In order for title to property to vest in an adverse possessor, occupancy must be continuous, regular, and additional issues onto the end of their subscriptions instead of offering a discounted subscription rate. It's still a deal to them, and it will cost you much less. 29. Ask members to respond to hypothetical situations or questions posed in your newsletter on a fax-back form. Print some of the responses in your next issue. Members are usually happy to participate and share their opinions and experiences. 30. Look for every opportunity to augment aug·ment v. aug·ment·ed, aug·ment·ing, aug·ments v.tr. 1. To make (something already developed or well under way) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity: direct marketing. Promote other products when fulfilling an order. Use workshops to sell books, books to sell conferences, and conferences to sell books and workshops. 31. Investigate markets outside your association's interest area that may be interested in the publications you sell. Consider selling your books as textbooks. 32. Bring your direct marketing and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most efforts together to integrate your message, enhance sales, and optimize list usage. 33. Examine how your catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. relates to your other promotional pieces, and plan mailings around it. Rearrange re·ar·range tr.v. re·ar·ranged, re·ar·rang·ing, re·ar·rang·es To change the arrangement of. re its contents and add a new cover to target a specific group, or try mini-catalogs with the same cover. 34. Increase response to your catalog by using color. Try a four-color cover, then test response to using four-color inside. 35. Organize your catalog the way the customer thinks, not the way your association is structured. Apportion ap·por·tion tr.v. ap·por·tioned, ap·por·tion·ing, ap·por·tions To divide and assign according to a plan; allot: "The tendency persists to apportion blame as suits the circumstances" catalog space and position to sales volume of each product. 36. Consider publishing your catalog in an electronic format. Get in touch now with electronically inclined members and customers. 37. For future marketing purposes, track and measure all responses to your catalog. Recruitment 38. Use testimonials to their maximum advantage. Be sure to match the testimonials to the market segment you are trying to attract. Don't over-edit or write the testimonials yourself; they are most believable be·liev·a·ble adj. Capable of eliciting belief or trust. See Synonyms at plausible. be·liev  a·bil in your members' own words.
39. Use magazine covers as membership promotions. Print an overrun 1. overrun - A frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, especially in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes of the magazine cover, and on the reverse side list 10 reasons why a prospective member should join. 40. Remember that student members are prime prospects for full membership. Reach senior students before and after graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. with direct mail appeals, asking them to upgrade their membership status. 41. Simplify your message. If you take too long to get your membership program or product across to potential members, they will either tune you out or toss your letter or application away. Try writing a one-page letter summarizing your key benefits, beginning with those known to be most important to your target audience. 42. Offer 10- or 15-percent discounts on dues to new members their first year. 43. Include space on your promotional materials for prospects to request inactive status Status of reserve members on an inactive status list of a Reserve Component or assigned to the Inactive Army National Guard. Those in an inactive status may not train for points or pay, and may not be considered for promotion. . In addition to a "Yes, I'd like to join" check-off box on the response card, include boxes for "Sorry, I can't join this year but keep me on your mailing list" and "Please take me off your mailing list." Cleaning up your prospect list during a recruitment campaign will save you time and money later on. 44. Offer prospective members a complimentary registration for a convention, conference, or workshop. 45. Acknowledge the time constraints In law, time constraints are placed on certain actions and filings in the interest of speedy justice, and additionally to prevent the evasion of the ends of justice by waiting until a matter is moot. placed on the everyday lives of your members by providing them with a form to list up to five prospects you can contact on their behalf. Tell them you'll do the work for them, but that they'll still get the credit. 46. Consider using a "bill me" option, a popular technique in commercial direct marketing that can also work for associations. 47. Solicit the help of your supplier members to sell regular memberships by offering them commissions, prizes, or awards. Most of them already call your regular members every day to conduct business. This type of program also helps get supplier members involved and abolishes the notion that you are only interested in them for their exhibiting and advertising dollars. 48. Promote money-saving affinity programs to your prospects as well as to your members. Have two sets of materials: one that gives the various telephone numbers and access codes and one that does not but that still describes each offering in detail. Ask your regional, state, and local association affiliates and chapters to help distribute information through their meetings, newsletters, and new-member kits. Consider paying them a marketing fee or a percentage of the net income for their efforts. 49. Reward member-get-a-member sponsors with special packages delivered to their rooms if they're attending your annual conference or mailed to those not in attendance. A logo mug filled with Hershey's hugs and kisses For the XML format, see . Hugs and Kisses is a term for a sequence of the letters X and O, e.g. XOXO, typically used to express affection or good friendship at the end of a written letter or email. and a discount certificate makes a nice thank-you. 50. Let potential members sample your organization on a trial basis before converting them to full membership. They'll get a firsthand first·hand adj. Received from the original source: firsthand information. first look at member benefits and publications. 51. Convert to membership those nonmembers who subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; your magazine. Test market an auxiliary auxiliary In grammar, a verb that is subordinate to the main lexical verb in a clause. Auxiliaries can convey distinctions of tense, aspect, mood, person, and number. type of membership that includes a subscription plus additional benefits. 52. Follow up on hot prospects by sending letters or personally calling nonmember participants in your meetings and seminars. 53. Gather information to build a solid database covering prospects' interests; then use it to its fullest extent with targeted offers and promotions. 54. Entice new members to join by publishing an addendum addendum n. an addition to a completed written document. Most commonly this is a proposed change or explanation (such as a list of goods to be included) in a contract, or some point that has been subject of negotiation after the contract was originally proposed by to your membership directory. Give prospects a deadline to join with the promise that their names will appear in the addendum. 55. Call any prospect who does not join within two weeks of receiving membership information. Solicit callback An authentication technique that calls the sender back. After connection is made, the receiving side breaks the connection and calls the sender to ensure that the logon was made from the authorized computer. Callback prevents a stolen ID and password from being used on a different machine. help from staff members, membership committee members, or even the full board of directors. Never underestimate the power of a personal telephone call. Retention 56. Call new members a few months after they join to welcome them to your organization. Make sure they are receiving their publications, and ask for their initial impressions. They'll appreciate the call, and you'll get important feedback. 57. Produce and send to each new member a videotape videotape Magnetic tape used to record visual images and sound, or the recording itself. There are two types of videotape recorders, the transverse (or quad) and the helical. that outlines member services. Include entertaining clips from recent events or meetings to instill in·still v. To pour in drop by drop. in stil·la tion n. enthusiasm. At the end of the tape, offer a free
prize. Ask the new member to send the tape back in one week (and make it
easy to do so). If the member asks for the prize, you'll know he or
she watched the tape.
58. Offer to make all convention and workshop registrants complimentary luggage tags - made from their business cards with your association's logo on back when they pick up their registration packets. 59. Paste a brightly colored "last issue" sticker on publications going to members who are delinquent delinquent 1) adj. not paid in full amount or on time. 2) n. short for an underage violator of the law as in juvenile delinquent. DELINQUENT, civil law. He who has been guilty of some crime, offence or failure of duty. in their dues payments. 60. Expose new members to the association's strongest programs by giving them freebies when they join. Write off the cost of these giveaways against the value of keeping them as lifetime members. 61. Hold an orientation to introduce new members to the organization and to other members. Invite committee chairs to say a few words about their responsibilities and ask for new-member volunteers to serve on committees. Review your association's benefits and services, and be sure board members are there to welcome attendees. 62. Conduct exit surveys or interviews to find out why people leave your organization or fail to convert as members. Offer them another chance to renew or join. 63. Hold new-member events at annual or regularly scheduled meetings. Position veteran members who will lead conversations at tables with new members to answer questions and find out general information about the new members. Conduct quiz-style contests among the tables on association history, meeting events, or industry activities. Make sure your speaker or master of ceremonies involves everyone in the room. 64. Continue selling new members on the association by creating a guide to your association that will help them maximize their use of benefits. 65. Require each staff member to call 25 members every month to "see how business is" and remind them that association staff are there to serve them. Post an in-house slogan that reads: "A phone call a day keeps dropped members away." 66. Segment your members according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. their primary reasons for joining your association, and be sure to fulfill their particular needs and concerns. Titles and company names no longer tell you why people join. 67. Send a report card to new members in which you ask for their opinions and ratings of the association's services and benefits. Make it short, with close-ended questions and room for comments. Mail it, return postage paid, approximately six months into their memberships. This is early enough to show them you care about servicing their needs and close enough to their dues renewal to serve as a retention tool. It also gives you time to address any concerns before renewals are mailed. 68. Set up an informal committee of member volunteers to monitor the effectiveness and service of member benefits, particularly affinity programs,and report the results to staff. You'll find out your association's top-rated programs and member services and be able to weed weed, common term for any wild plant, particularly an undesired plant, growing in cultivated ground, where it competes with crop plants for soil nutrients and water. out potential problems before they become widespread. 69. Involve members by developing a section of the newsletter that features members who have unique life or human-interest stories or hobbies or who have made significant contributions to the group or to society. Include a photograph and a tag line tag line also tag·line n. 1. An ending line, as in a play or joke, that makes a point. 2. An often repeated phrase associated with an individual, organization, or commercial product; a slogan. Noun 1. that invites members to nominate nom·i·nate tr.v. nom·i·nat·ed, nom·i·nat·ing, nom·i·nates 1. To propose by name as a candidate, especially for election. 2. To designate or appoint to an office, responsibility, or honor. either themselves or other members of the association to be featured. 70. Find new ways to put members in touch with each other. Use fax-back forms, teleconferencing, online services, and directories to get members talking with each other. 71. Provide information on demand. The pace of business is speeding up, and associations must now deliver instant answers. Make it your goal to be the first place members call for information. Staff education and training 72. Provide staff members with a membership reference notebook that includes procedures for handling membership inquiries, a brief history of the association, a list of member benefits, current membership applications and dues schedules, membership brochures, meeting calendars, and a list of frequently asked questions and the answers to them. Be sure to provide regular updates of materials and information. 73. Educate staff members by setting up a membership bulletin board that includes motivational quotations, current membership statistics, and other fast facts about the organization. 74. Send staff members to seminars held by the association. Seminars provide an ideal continuing education continuing education: see adult education. continuing education or adult education Any form of learning provided for adults. In the U.S. the University of Wisconsin was the first academic institution to offer such programs (1904). opportunity and attending them will give staff the chance to personally meet members as well as offer a critique of the seminar. 75. Train all staff who handle member or subscriber calls in all product areas so that they can answer questions without having to transfer the member. Be sure to include the receptionist in this training. 76. Keep staff members informed about which mailings are distributed to chapters by compiling a weekly "read file" routed to all staff. This saves money and paper by eliminating excessive photocopying photocopying, process whereby written or printed matter is directly copied by photographic techniques. Generally, photocopying is practical when just a few copies of an original are needed. When many copies are required, printing processes are more economical. and keeps all mailings together to read at once. 77. Centralize cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. customer service to improve efficiency, but be sure to disseminate dis·sem·i·nate v. dis·sem·i·nat·ed, dis·sem·i·nat·ing, dis·sem·i·nates v.tr. 1. To scatter widely, as in sowing seed. 2. key information to your staff. Use contact software to keep track of calls, consolidate information, and report back. 78. Tell staff members to leave their terminals in the membership look-up screen when not in use. When customers call, pull up their records to identify them as members, then go the extra mile and thank them for their membership. 79. Organize a scavenger hunt scavenger hunt n. A game in which individuals or teams try to locate and bring back miscellaneous items on a list. for your entire staff to test their general knowledge of your association and to help refresh (1) To continuously charge a device that cannot hold its content. CRTs must be refreshed, because the phosphors hold their glow for only a few milliseconds. Dynamic RAM chips require refreshing to maintain their charged bit patterns. See vertical scan frequency and redraw. them on membership benefits and other aspects of the organization. Ask questions to get staff using your membership directory, magazine, conference schedule, and organizational bylaws The rules and regulations enacted by an association or a corporation to provide a framework for its operation and management. Bylaws may specify the qualifications, rights, and liabilities of membership, and the powers, duties, and grounds for the dissolution of an . 80. Extend receptionist hours to cover the three-hour span between coasts. Two receptionists make sense for organizations that have heavy telephone traffic. In addition, it's hard to be at your best when you are bombarded by calls for eight hours a day. Trade shows 81. Get supplier members who haven't renewed after the late-payment invoice to renew by sending them a letter notifying them that their memberships will be canceled. Copy the exhibit contact and reiterate re·it·er·ate tr.v. re·it·er·at·ed, re·it·er·at·ing, re·it·er·ates To say or do again or repeatedly. See Synonyms at repeat. re·it the impact that cancellation will have on their priority to exhibit at future shows. 82. Extend an invitation to state and regional associations to exhibit at your national trade show with the promise that you'll exhibit at theirs. Chances are you will pick up a few new members in the process. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion