From small trade groups to professional societies with offices across the country, almost every association aims to grow. By bringing in new members, your association can earn more in dues revenue, increase its influence in your sector, and provide members access to a larger community.
However, the best approach to association member acquisition may not always be clear. With changing priorities in many professional fields and advances in association software, the optimal path for growing your association’s membership base will change over time.
To help your organization bring in new members, we’ll explore top strategies for marketing your association and giving prospective members the push they need to join your community.
Why does association member acquisition matter?
Member acquisition is essential for growth. Without attracting new members, your association’s member base will likely remain static or decrease over time as prior members move on.
By actively focusing on acquisition, you can replace lapsed members and expand your community with new members who have unique, fresh perspectives.
Almost every association professional will agree that member acquisition is necessary for continued operation. However, they may disagree on whether it’s best to prioritize acquisition or retention. Both are fundamental to maintaining a healthy, active member base, but a few signs your association should focus more on acquisition include:
- New association start-up. Brand new associations should focus heavily on member acquisition in their early marketing strategy as they likely have few current members to retain.
- Low market share. Professional and trade associations should conduct market research to determine how many prospective members are likely to join an association like theirs. By doing so, they can estimate approximately how many total members they could achieve at max capacity. For example, a state-based association for art teachers might calculate there are about 1,000 prospective members in their area. If the association only has 400 members, it should focus on acquisition as there is logically a significant number of new members to gain.
- Changes in audience. If your association changes its offerings to appeal to a new audience or there is a significant shake-up in your industry that would make association membership appealing to new groups, there will be new members to market to.
Even in these situations, you should still maintain a high-quality membership experience so that new members brought in by your acquisition strategy stay with your organization. This means retention should always be an important focus, even when prioritizing growth.
1. Know your audience.
Effective marketing starts with knowing who your audience is. For professional and trade associations, this means being aware of your average member’s characteristics.
Assess your members and conduct market research on your industry to learn the following information about your target audience:
- Demographic information. Consider your typical member's average age, geographic location, income bracket, and education level. For trade and professional associations, you will likely focus on career-related details, such as job title, prior training, and current employer.
- Goals. What do your prospective members want, and how can your association help them achieve their goals? For example, a new class of graduates entering your field for the first time might have goals related to finding entry-level employment, whereas experienced professionals may focus instead on maintaining their professional networks and staying updated on industry trends.
- Obstacles. What prevents your audience from reaching their goals? This might be a few professional connections or a lack of training. Additionally, consider what stops your audience from joining your association, such as not knowing what benefits you offer or being unsure if a membership is worth the cost.
Additionally, when crafting your association member acquisition strategy, consider where your audience is in the membership funnel. Sales funnel models vary depending on the industry, but for associations seeking new members, it will look something like this:
For acquisition strategies, you will primarily focus on the first three stages of the funnel: capture, nurture, and convert. These phases involve engaging your audience by creating content that piques their interest and aligns with their goals, then providing easy pathways to learn more and become members.
2. Establish your association’s value proposition.
Why should a prospective member join your association over a similar organization? The answer to this question is your value proposition. This short sales pitch consists of three main elements:
- Audience: Who are your offerings meant for?
- Benefits: What do buyers receive from your organization, and how do these offerings help meet their needs?
- Differentiators: How are your offerings different from those provided by a similar organization?
For example, a professional association for high school and college biology teachers might be: “We provide biology teachers across the country with access to an exclusive community of like-minded professionals.”
This value proposition clearly states the intended audience (biology teachers) and a major benefit members receive (networking opportunities). It also attempts to differentiate its offerings from other associations by pointing out the exclusivity of its offerings.
To acquire new members, consider what your association offers. This might be a thriving online community, industry-leading professional courses, access to a curated job board, and more.
3. Build your online presence.
You can maintain a regular stream of new members by making your association easy to find online. Today, most working professionals looking to join an association will start with an internet search, and the more digital content your association posts, the more likely they are to discover your offerings.
Build your online presence by maintaining social media accounts on platforms popular with your audience, like LinkedIn and Facebook. Additionally, update your website regularly to show prospective members that your association is active and ready to provide a positive experience to new members.
To provide direction for your online marketing activities, consider search engine optimization best practices. A few of these include:
- Creating keyword-optimized content. Develop valuable content that aligns with keywords prospective members will likely look up. For example, you might make a public blog post on a recent industry trend and ensure the keywords for the trend you are discussing are featured strategically in the post title, headers, and body text.
- Improving your website’s technical health. Search engines prioritize websites that are fully functional. As such, sites with fast load times and no deadlinks tend to rank higher than their less technically healthy counterparts.
- Building a backlink profile. If other reputable sites link to your association’s website, search engines will also view your site as trustworthy. The best way to build a backlink profile ethically is to create valuable content others will naturally want to link to and to set up cross-blogging opportunities with other organizations in your sector to spread your thought leadership.
Maintaining an online presence is an ongoing effort. However, after an initial push to implement SEO best practices and set up social media accounts, your website can help you passively acquire new members as they discover your content and essentially convert themselves.
4. Develop your thought leadership.
Develop high-quality content to show potential members that your association offers valuable, professional benefits. This thought leadership should showcase your knowledge of your field and your association’s unique perspective to entice potential members to purchase access to similar content.
A few types of content to create include:
- Blog posts. Maintain a blog where you regularly post about your field and association. This might be commentary on industry trends, updates on your association, or any other professional opinions or content that members are likely to be interested in.
- Webinars. Host lecture series and partner with other organizations in your field to appear as a guest speaker on webinars and podcasts. This helps get your association in front of a new audience by presenting your content in a new format.
- Research reports. Conduct high-quality research in your field to share with members. For example, the American Association of Physics Teachers publishes two peer-reviewed journals. When you gate valuable content like this, exclusive reports can entice research-minded individuals to purchase a membership.
Consider what content to make available to members and on what platforms. For instance, you might create a public blog post that you cross-link on social media sites. However, in that same blog post, you might link to gated content to push prospective members toward converting.
5. Cultivate member relationships.
Your current members are one of your strongest recruiting tools. Members who have a positive experience with your association are more likely to recommend your organization to friends, family, and colleagues, expanding your reach.
You can further incentivize members to recommend your association by creating a referral program. A few benefits you might offer to members who recommend others include:
- Discounts. In exchange for recommending your association, offer discounts, such as a free month of membership or an exclusive sales code for your online store.
- Exclusive offerings. Provide limited items and prizes to members who refer others. For example, this could be merchandise or V.I.P. status at your next event. By making these benefits exclusive or only available for a limited time, you encourage members to make recommendations in a timely manner.
- Tokens of appreciation. While not a tangible benefit, be sure to show appreciation for everyone who participates in your referral program. Express your gratitude by sending personalized thank-you messages to members who make successful referrals.
Additionally, show members the innate benefit of bringing others into your association by maintaining a vibrant community. If your members regularly chat and meet up, they will be more inclined to invite other friends and colleagues to enjoy socializing and networking.
6. Consider an “open-door” model.
If you are seeing low acquisition rates, consider mixing up your membership model and experimenting with an open-door approach. This marketing strategy involves creating a free membership tier, allowing potential members to sign up with your association without committing to regular dues.
A free membership should provide access to basic parts of your association, such as your blog, events, and some courses. However, the majority of your content should be locked behind a paid membership tier or require additional payment, such as event tickets. By giving free members part of your association’s benefits, they’ll be able to verify the quality of your offerings and feel pushed into upgrading to a higher membership tier.
Additionally, adding free members can also energize your association by expanding your community. For instance, with more members, you can increase event attendance and have more voices chiming in during online discussions.
7. Offer in-demand benefits.
Depending on your field, the benefits members need may shift over time. As such, it’s possible to see declining association member acquisition rates if you’re offering outdated content when compared to alternative organizations.
Keep up with current news and best practices in your field and consider how you can apply them to your offerings. For instance, you might regularly review your association’s credentials and educational offerings to ensure they still meet industry standards. Or, you might launch a new blog series reviewing ongoing trends and discussing what your members should take away from them.
8. Collaborate with other organizations in your industry.
Prospective members likely engage with other organizations related to your field. For instance, a potential member might not be part of any one association but still regularly attend a major annual networking event.
Connect with other organizations that share your audience to get your content in front of their members, customers, and supporters. This might take the form of participating as a guest lecturer at events, joining webinars, writing blog posts for other websites, and co-hosting events with other membership-based organizations.
9. Make signing up easy.
When a new member decides to join your association, ensure doing so is as simple as possible. You can make your sign-up process easy by:
- Streamlining your member application form. Ask only a few necessary questions during your initial member application form. Later on in the process after members are signed up, you can gather information by prompting them to fill out a profile for your member directory.
- Accepting multiple forms of payment. Ensure your payment processor accepts credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and other payment forms members are likely to use. Additionally, give members the option to save their payment details so they can automatically renew their subscriptions.
- Providing self-service tools. Invest in a member management platform that allows members to handle several parts of their experience themselves, such as choosing their membership level. This allows them to easily upgrade their membership tier without needing to contact someone at your association.
Track your sign-up completion rates to determine where potential members drop off. This can help you identify and refine steps that may be overly long, frustrating, or unnecessary to improve your association member acquisition rate.
10. Craft an email recruitment series.
When a potential member shows interest in your association, their first interaction will likely be low commitment and revolve around learning more about your organization. For example, they might sign up for a free membership, subscribe to your newsletter, or attend a single event.
After a potential member takes this action, enroll them in an email recruitment series that provides information about your association and pushes them to become a full member. For instance, your series might look something like this:
- A welcome email that introduces your association and invites prospective members to learn more
- A content or activity highlight email that focuses on one of your association’s benefits, a recent piece of content, or a popular offering that’s likely to intrigue new members
- A limited offer email that prompts prospective members to sign up by providing some sort of benefit or deal to doing so in the immediate future, like a trial period or reduced membership fee for the first month
Also, don’t be afraid to get creative with your email marketing strategy. For instance, during various holidays, you might send out eCards promoting new offerings or inviting members to events. Or, you might jump straight to enrolling potential members into your newsletter to encourage greater interaction with the rest of your community.
11. Interview current members.
Discover what attracts members to your association by speaking with your current ones. Send out surveys that ask members questions related to acquisition, like:
- How did you first hear about [Association Name]?
- Would you recommend [Association Name] to a friend or colleague? Why or why not?
- What offerings motivated you to join [Association Name]?
- Have the benefits at [Association Name] met your expectations?
This is also an opportunity to assess how well you are engaging members, which is necessary for retaining the supporters your association member acquisition efforts bring in. Additionally, consider interviewing recently joined members a month or so after signing up to get a fresh perspective on your sign-up process and how new members view your offerings.
More Member Acquisition Resources
Associations need to acquire new members to grow and provide the valued benefits their communities rely on. As such, crafting a reliable, flexible association member acquisition strategy should always be one of your organization’s top priorities.
To improve your ability to acquire members, ensure your software is set up to facilitate marketing, membership management, and benefits delivery. Here are a few top resources for association professionals looking to upgrade their technology:
- Member Engagement Platform: Getting More out of Memberships. Member engagement platforms allow you to connect with your members all year long. Explore how to leverage these tools.
- 7 Leading Hivebrite Alternatives To Power Your Organization. Hivebrite is one of the top member management platforms, but it’s not the right choice for every association. Discover alternatives for your organization.
- Event Management From Tradewing. Engage your members with event tools from the top community engagement platform, Tradewing.
