Can membership organisations use events as an effective member recruitment tool?
Brightelm - The Event Agency for Associations
The Event Agency for Associations
Our latest blog explores how membership organisations can use events to help grow the membership of their organisation. It explores whether or not members and non-members should have the same, or similar experiences at events, and identifies a few “quick win” tools that associations can use to help them grow membership.
Why do we need new members?
New members are very much the holy grail of any membership organisation. Membership retention for most associations is at it’s absolutely best 90%, which means that all organisations need a minimum of 10% new members per annum just to retain the status quo. Some studies carried out over the past twelve months (2020-2021) indicate that membership organisations have seen an overall decline in membership, which means that now more than ever it’s so important to have a clear strategy on how to use your events programme to recruit new members
Events are fertile ground for new members
When I trained in sales (let’s not count the years) we spoke about when the best time to “ask for the business” is…that’s a point where you ask a lead to sign the contract. It’s usually when they can see that you as the suppler can solve their problems for them. If someone’s enjoying themselves at an event and they can see value, either through knowledge or networking, they are a prime target for conversion.
Furthermore, communicating membership value is a whole lot easier in person, so what better way to show prospective members the power of membership than showing it live in action?