Growing IECA One Chapter At A Time

1. Growing IECA One Chapter At A Time with Meg Tully, CAE Association Development Director

2. What Will You Learn? • How to establish goals and objectives for a recruitment campaign • How to identify prospects • Different types of recruitment methods • Tailoring recruitment methods to your audience • Importance of follow up • Lifetime Value Calculation

3. Acknowledgment Most of the material for this course was taken from the Membership Recruitment Techniques Vignette, published by the American Society of American Executives, 2009.

4. A Team Approach “Recruitment is a continuous activity that requires a commitment from the entire organization. Whether it is the CEO or the administrative assistant, everyone is responsible to recruit new members and to work as a strategic team to accomplish your organization’s overall membership recruitment goals.” –ASAE Membership Recruitment Techniques Online Vignette

5. First Questions • Who makes up your market? • What potential markets can you tap into to recruit prospective members? • What is it that you want to accomplish with recruitment? • What are the goals and objectives of your recruitment campaign? Are your goals realistic? • What resources are available to help you to achieve your recruitment goals? • Stay Tuned….

6. Market Definitions Know Your Members – most important task • Demographics • Motivation • Why are they members? • What attracted them to IECA? • Why do they stay members? • Benefit Value • Why do they buy certain products, services? “If you don’t know what your members want or what’s on their minds, you surely won’t be able to serve them.”

7. IECA Membership Demographics

8. 3,124 Members (down 17.24% from last year)

9. Membership Trends

10. Chapter Trends

11. New Member Trends

12. Who Are Your Prospects? Three Types • Resisters – people who dislike the organization • Indifferents – prospects who do not see the value in joining • Uniforms – have little info about IECA to make an informed decision “Understanding their decision-making process will help you choose the right marketing message, marketing strategy, sales process and sales strategy.”

13. Segmenting the Market • Matching the Needs of Members:personalized solution, separate offers • Boost Profits: sensitive to price • Stronger Growth Opportunities:“up sell” after introducing a particular product at a lower, introductory price • Retaining Members:appeal to members and potential members at different stages of their life • Targeted Marketing Communications: the message is relevant • Gain Market Share: achieve the competitive advantage and become the favored choice of potential members See Potential Market Segment Worksheet

14. The Recruitment Plan • You’ve defined your audience. Now… • Begin Planning • Goals, objectives, rationale • Outline should be simple and have a defined outcome. • What You Need - Pull together resources, including your membership development program, budget and organizational strategy. See Membership Recruitment Plan Sample Document

15. Outline • Proactive campaign • Set clearly defined goals • Include measurable timelines • Example:We will increase our membership by 5% by the end of this fiscal year. See Recruitment Plan Checklist

16. Marketing Plan Marketing Plan • Written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product, service, or brand that typically covers 1 year to 5 years. The plan should include short and long-term goals of the association, knowledge about the immediate market place, the necessary resources to make the plan successful and project timelines with estimated expense figures. Includes • Executive Summary • Research Analysis • Objectives, Strategies and Tactics • Marketing Summary See Membership Marketing Plan Template

17. Lifetime Value • Lifetime Value of a Member (LTV) can help you determine how much is reasonable to spend to recruit a new member.  • You will need to know: • average length of time a member remains a member • your total number of members • yearly membership dues and non-dues revenue • expenses incurred to service members annually • You also need to evaluate your value proposition See Why Do Members Join Your Association, then Lifetime Value Calculators and Examples

18. SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats The SWOT analysis helps identify the various situations your association may need to examine before the decision-making phase of your marketing campaign. • Record Strengths • Define Weaknesses • List Opportunities • Understand Threats See SWOT Analysis Worksheet

19. Membership Marketing Implementation Plan Know what you want to achieve!

20. Designing the Campaign – Five Elements • Techniques – pros and cons • Sales Calls • Trade Shows • Member-Get-A-Member • Telemarketing • Advertising • Direct Mail • Electronic Recruitment • Theme • Offer • Product • Price • Payment Options • Guarantee Policy • Terms • Timing • Tools/Materials See Writing a Membership Recruitment Plan Document

21. Follow Up New Member Packet • Welcome letter • Newsletter • Testimonials • How to Access tools and resources • Contact List

22. Evaluation – Close the Loop • Establish a benchmark • Code and track every application • Keep accurate and complete record of costs • Analyze results • SPIE!

23. What Tools Can You Use? • Chapter Portals • Rosters of new members • Rosters of non-renewals • Chapter Leader Resource Center • Partners for Excellence • Maintain a web site • Appoint a membership chair • Send IECA your attendee lists in Excel • Send IECA updates, news • Publish regular newsletters, other communications • Calendar of Events • Lower price for members at events