6 Membership Drive Ideas and 3 Steps You Shouldn’t Miss While Planning Your Campaign

Before you plan a campaign for membership growth, you must know exactly who you’re trying to attract.

In other words, who are your ideal members?

You can determine this by using your current data.

Analyze your current core members for clues about who your association is primarily serving. This gives you an idea of exactly who your target audience is, and who is already bringing the most money into your organization.

There are plenty of ways to segment audiences within your organization’s members. Some key demographics to target may include:

• Age group
• Gender
• Income Level
• Education
• Occupation

Of course, depending on the nature of your particular organization, there may be other aspects of your association membership to analyze as well. Take a moment to note what they are and be sure to factor them into your data analysis.

The good news is that Impexiuim’s powerful analytical tools can create easy-to-understand visualizations to help you target your key demographic fast.

Once you know exactly who you want to base your drive ideas around, you can create tangible goals to guide your campaign.

Here at Impexium, we recommend that you always create SMART goals for your membership drives.

SMART goals get their name from an acronym.

The term SMART stands for goals that are:

1.   Specific
2.   Measurable
3.   Attainable
4.   Relevant
5.   Time-Bound

Writing goals with these aspects in mind will not only help you set clear expectations for your recruitment drive but also measure how successful it has been.

Setting your SMART goal will give you and your team criteria by which you can craft and refine your membership drive ideas, simplifying the next step exponentially.

It’s important to remember that when it comes to membership drive ideas, there is no one-size-fits-all plan.

The best ideas will always be the ones that best suit the demographic of the people you’re trying to attract.

For example

• If the data shows that your existing members value gathering information, consider creating a free download to incentivize prospective members to connect.
• If the data shows that your existing members prize personal connections, host a live event (either online or in-person) that will allow prospective members to have face time.

And don’t forget to think outside the box!

Every year, design studio Fell and Fair Productions hosts live, immersive fantasy-themed events such as their Hobbit Day Party held in Greenville, South Carolina.

Whimsical events like these not only attract like-minded people from around the region, but the buzz around the online content they create at the event also helps them expand their network nationally and even internationally throughout the year.

Create a limited-time offer during which someone can join your association at a steep discount.

There are various ways to set this up.

• Waive the start-up fee for a limited time
• Offer new members who join during a set time their first month for free
• Offer new members their first few months at a discounted rate if they sign up within the designated time period

The short-term nature of such offers will motivate new members to join during your membership drive, increasing your membership and helping you meet the time-sensitive portion of your SMART goal.

The best connections to new members can often be found through your current members.

Create a system by which you can easily gather and pursue referrals from current members. (By relying on automation tools, you can even make this process feel automatic!)

With this plan, you will offer incentives to current members to promote the association and attract others.

For example, a new member who signs up through a referral may receive their first month for free, while the member who brought them in will receive a gift card.

Plugging in with an established organization, such as a local business, can create an audience overlap from which both of you can benefit.

Consider hosting a popup or an event in a brick-and-mortar location near you, thereby raising awareness of your association within a pre-established community.

Free, one-off community events may require a bit of organization and planning, but when it comes to membership drives, they can pay huge dividends over the long haul.

• Networking Events. Everyone who signs up for or attends the event enters your pipeline and learns about your association.
• Influencer Appearance or Talk. Big names can be a big draw. Use that to your advantage to grow your association membership.
• Training or Educational Event. People will come for information on a specific topic, but as a bonus, they will also walk away with an invitation to join your association.
• Charity Event. People love giving back to the community. By sponsoring a charity fundraising event, you’re not only doing good in the world, but you’re also raising awareness about your association and inviting others to join you in a work they already care about.
• 5k or Cycling Race. Road races are more popular than ever. They can be a fun way to build community, encourage people to keep fit, and raise awareness (and funds!) for a good cause—including your association!
• Silent Auction. Silent auctions not only give current members a way to support the association but can also bring members of the community into your orbit as well.

A free resource is called a “lead magnet” for a reason.

Offering free resources will draw new leads into your pipeline, giving you the opportunity to follow up with an offer to join your association.

Remember, SMART goals are always measurable. With a SMART goal in place, you have all the data you need to measure the overall effectiveness of your drive.

Once you know how successful your drive has been, you and your team can meet and brainstorm ways to adjust, tighten, retool, and brainstorm your next membership drive ideas.