Membership isn't just about the money...
Memberships, increasing members and reducing membership churn was a key concern from numerous association executives I spoke with over the last two days at ASAE 15. The first thing most associations realize is that, as I mentioned in my latest LinkedIn post, they need to do more with less. In order to be able to do something, the associations need to retain members, reduce member churn, and whenever possible, increase dues by increasing value. Compounding this issue is dealing with multiple generations that interact and use technology in vast different ways.
The question is how to provide value to all the members, across all the generations?
Variable Membership types
Some of the association executives I spoke with are in the process of solving their membership issues with variable types of memberships. The variation in membership options brings value to the potential member since they see that the association understands that one size does not fit all while allowing the potential members to select the membership tier that they fit in and will most benefit them.
Private communities
Another association strategy is bringing members something they could not get anywhere else, that will bring value, that may reduce churn, and hopefully encourage them to invite their friends to the the association. How they save members time was achieved in one or a composite of several different ways. First and foremost was access to expert networks. Experts help association members move to that next level faster without having to figure it out for themselves. Another time saving strategy that was applied by associations was not access to expert networks, but access to the secure association community. In other words - leverage your members expertise by creating a community and a forum for them to teach and connect. The value will come.
Specialized and curated content
Finally the last aspect that I learned associations are leveraging content. One way associations leverage content is through specialized association specific content only available to members. This content, created specifically for the association members, by experts or invited content creators give the association members meaningful insight directed at them, uniquely for them. The second way associations use content is through exhaustive content curation. With the deluge of content that seems relevant, associations pour through it and present only extremely relevant content in an easy to digest format where readers can access the full content if they want, at their leisure.
So there you have it, the few ways I’ve learned that associations are trying to bring value to their memberships. At Message Blocks we do our best to support these types of activities.
Are you trying any of these tactics or have others you’d like to share, let me know!
- Mark Shalinsky is our very own Director of Sales & Marketing Operations, also known as "the pun-master" and "Mr. Neuroscience Phd". You can contact him at mark@messageblocks.com and read more of his great content on LinkedIn.