Whether you’re an association that’s been around for years or you’ve just signed up your first member, gaining visibility, establishing interest and growing your member database is always in the forefront of your work. However, while membership growth may be one of your top priorities as an association manager, member retention should be equally important, if not a higher priority. You can continue to recruit as much as you’d like, but if you’ve got a “leaky bucket” (Silverbear), meaning, members flowing in the top but slowly leaking out the bottom, your efforts are wasted. The cost of acquiring a new member can cost “up to 5 times” the amount of retaining an old one says Saleh from Invesp.
So how do you successfully retain members while also opening the door for new members? Check out these four tips below.
1. Be authentic
Consumers these days don’t necessarily want to engage with the organization but more with the personalities of the organization – like you! “What people really want now is not just a product or a service… [but] an experience” says James T Noble of Kissmetrics. It’s important to be professional and provide the necessary information about your association to prospective members but be sure to add some character to your work too. Make sure they know your core values and why you do what you do and how that ties to your services. Check out this recent post on our blog, “how to best tell your associations story” for more tips on authenticity in messaging.
2. Post frequently with relevant content
Showcase your authenticity and personality through frequent content sharing. This could be through a blog, social media, or email marketing. This kind of engagement builds trust and credibility with prospective members and nurtures current members. Make sure to develop a thoughtful editorial calendar that lays out your messaging – what does your audience want to learn about? And how frequently do they want information? This can take trial and error but once you’ve committed to a few solid months of content marketing, it’s likely you’ll see an increase in member engagement. Having troubles creating content that resonates? Check out the Tuesday Tidbit from our sister blog at ArcStone – Create a content marketing strategy that speaks to your audience
3. Use Multimedia
The modes in which to communicate with your audience is vast and ever changing. How do you know which media platform to post on? Do you tweet, blog, or make a video? There are so many options and keeping up with the constant change in multimedia use can be exhausting. Instead of getting overwhelmed, take a step back and consider your audience. Where do they hang out online? What media platforms do they use to get their news? While video marketing is definitely one of the most popular forms of communication in 2017 it does not necessarily mean it’s appropriate for you.
Keep your content fresh by experimenting on different platforms and be sure to track your metrics across each. Remember to reevaluate your strategies frequently – work works now may not work in 6 months.
4. Recognize members
It’s natural to want to share as much as you can about your association to potentially connect with a prospective member but you don’t want everything to be about you – after awhile it gets boring and can make the members feel like it’s all about you. Showcase a current member or organization and show prospective members how much you value your members and the benefits that come with a membership at your association.