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Being involved in any association is an excellent way of being part of a community wherever you may be. It’s like your mini contribution to the world of sorts. It gives you the opportunity to do worthwhile endeavors, connect with like-minded individuals, share common interests, and find more people to join in.
Associations have a very noble objective, and that is for the betterment of their members. After all, associations live and die with the people that make them up as they are your steady source of revenue. This means that in order to keep your organization running smoothly and growing continuously, attracting new members should be achieved on an ongoing basis.
But first things first—how do you lure people to sign up? Here are some actionable membership drive ideas to consider:
Increase Traffic To Your Website
The most logical thing to do first is to increase the number of people visiting your page. After all, no one would have an idea that you exist on the internet unless you let them know, right? The more people are aware and actually looking at your website, the more you have the power to persuade them into joining.
There are several ways to drive traffic into your website, and these include the following:
- Promoting through compelling blogs
- Doing affiliate marketing
- Inviting potential members through a mailing list
Have A Social Media Presence
Another way of increasing traffic to your website, and one of the most convenient ways to spread awareness about your association without having to spend anything, is through social media. By having a very active social media page dedicated solely to your organization, you can spread awareness through shareable content.
On your social media page, it is easier to make announcements, invite to subscribe to an email list, or just to generally spread the word about your club. Just ensure that your page has the capability to accommodate new members right then and there through the presence of clickable application forms.
Post Advertisements
Who says online advertisements are only for big companies? Digital ads have evolved in recent years to cater to just about any business or entity that wants their brand to be known among their target market.
Perfect examples are ads placed on social media and those so-called retargeting ads. Gone are the days when you place ads like you’re shooting blanks, hoping that those who should see them actually see them. Nowadays, you can place these ads in such a way that only your intended market would be targeted, making them more cost-effective and yield a higher return on investment.
Do Special Offers and Promotions
Everybody loves discounts and promos in just about anything. So, if you want to catch people’s attention, these are perfect strategies. One method you can use to make it more appealing to the public is to make your offer very limited, like offering these to the first 50 sign-ups from the promo launch or for subscribing for the first month of the year.
But of course, you don’t want your existing members to get jealous and cancel their subscription. The solution is to give them the same discount you offer your new members once they renew their membership. This way, everybody’s happy.
Give Incentives for Referrals
The majority of your members would probably be willing to give your association a free “word-of-mouth” advertisement from time to time. But since they act at their own time or pace, and have no sense of urgency, membership growth would be very slow.
It would be an entirely different story if they knew they would be rewarded for it. How about providing each member with a shareable referral code or a clickable referral link that goes straight to your website’s membership page?
It would definitely boost their competitive streak when you acknowledge their efforts through incentives for every successful sign up using their code.
Other Factors to Consider
While you might have the tendency to think that a good organization can always speak for itself and that members would automatically flock in without exerting any effort, it doesn’t work that way. Below are some of the other factors to consider when trying to boost your website’s membership:
Keep Your Existing Members Satisfied
Although it may not have the most reach, word of mouth is still the most effective way to attract interest to your association. Since an actual member is the one sharing a good experience, the convincing power is definitely more significant than just reading content about your club.
Membership retention is just as necessary as recruiting new ones. This is one of the reasons why you should keep your members happy and satisfied. By having them experience the best within the organization, you avoid having member turnover issues.
You know how gossip spreads like wildfire online, and this could potentially happen when previous members share the terrible experience they’ve had, whether real or not. You should keep in mind that around 84% of people are persuaded by reviews online. The result will likely be similar if it’s from a personal account shared face-to-face.
Encourage Team Effort
There’s a reason it’s called an organization—it signifies unity to achieve a common goal. Therefore, you should not do it all alone.
You can assign a team to do the recruitment. Of course, all of the current members should be willing to do it voluntarily, even without being asked. However, those assigned will make an extra effort because of the added responsibility and, perhaps, the desire to contribute.
When doing this as a strategy, ensure that your membership committee is well represented. An organization with diverse members should have a representative for each unique trait to recruit the same individuals with like characteristics.
For example, let the seniors recruit the seniors, let the professionals seek the corporate workers, and the like. After all, nobody understands them better than someone who can relate.
Develop Consistency
You must remember that recruiting new members is a continuous process. It’s not a task that you get to stop once you have recruited one, two, three, or a lot.
Since there are several members assigned to this activity, not everyone is expected to have the same results. There will be some who are more efficient than others.
As you continue to hunt for more and more interested individuals, you may be interested to know the strategies of those who were able to convince more people than others. Adjust these methods to the most effective ones and discard those that didn’t produce any. You may even ask new recruits what made them say yes and convince the recruiters to use those methods.
Parting Words
Having an organization or club is a serious responsibility that you should not take lightly. It’s not something that you can leave all by itself and expect it to grow on its own. It will always boil down to keeping the fire burning so that you can lead the team to your common goal.
But you also have to remember that it is still a business after all. It can’t operate with just sheer passion and dedication. In this case, membership equals money, no matter how you thoughtfully you want to put it.
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