How can you continue to attract new members to your organization?
Here are 10 proven, yet often overlooked, approaches to increase membership.
For large associations and labor unions, membership recruitment is a never-ending project. Just think: Every year, members leave your organization – they retire, change jobs or professions, go out of business, lose their professional development budget, or just leave for unknown reasons. As members go out the back door, you must keep new ones coming in the front.
So, how do you increase membership? What strategies will you use for recruiting new members? And what tactics will you use to achieve your recruitment goals?
How to create a membership recruitment strategy
It’s helpful to start by thinking about your approach to creating a membership acquisition strategy. Of course, an easy approach is to recycle membership recruitment tactics of the past. But that will only get you the same old results.
As the world changes, so do members’ needs and expectations, and your membership tactics must change, too. So, consider inviting staff and volunteers to bring their creativity to the planning table. Be open to trying out new ideas and experimenting with new tactics to increase membership.
TIP: Learn about evolving trends that impact member acquisition, engagement, and retention. Read the 2023 Association Trends Study
Creating a fresh membership growth strategy gives you a way to move forward with intention. Your ever-changing potential membership base needs engaging ways to get interested in your group, and you need the right plan to reach them.
Here are some ideas to keep in mind when creating your membership recruitment strategy:
Understand your members.
Do some in-depth research to better understand who you’re trying to reach. Segment your audience – including current members and potential members, identify their motivations and preferences, and find ways to connect with them. Take time to get a comprehensive picture of prospective members, and determine what benefits they want from membership. Once you have some reliable information about your audience, analyze it for insights on how to grow membership in your organization.
It can be extremely helpful to have membership management software in place that gives you deep insights into your data. For example, Aptify membership management software by Community Brands lets you view, report on, and interact with data in real time. You can use hundreds of out-of-the-box reports and dashboards, many of which allow you to drill down into each piece of data directly from the dashboard for more details.
Also, Nucleus data analytics solution for associations by Community Brands is available with Aptify, making it easier for large associations and other membership-based organizations to make better use of the data they collect. For example, using Nucleus, you can spot membership trends, such as which membership tiers receive the least number of joins, so you can re-evaluate value for each membership type and add value to those that are least appealing to new members. In turn, this helps you to increase membership.
Clarify your mission.
Having a clear mission is critical to effective and compelling communication with your audience. Make sure you have a holistic picture of what your organization is trying to accomplish. Share your organization’s mission and articulate your short- and long-term goals to attract new members to your organization.
Know your value.
Understand the member value your organization offers, and communicate it in an engaging way during your membership recruitment campaigns. Whether it’s your empowering mission, a vibrant community of like-minded individuals, or industry-specific certifications and exclusive programs, be sure to broadcast the value of membership with your organization.
Evaluate your resources.
As you decide how to increase membership, carefully evaluate your resources and capabilities. Determine your funding, expertise, and technological capabilities, and assess how you can most effectively use them.
Plan your process.
Based on your audience, mission, value, and resources, create the right plan. Give yourself time to develop strategies to grow membership that fit your capabilities and resources. Create a process that integrates stakeholders and keeps the goal in focus.
10 proven ways to attract new members and grow membership
As you put together your plan, consider using the following 10 under-utilized, yet effective, member recruitment tactics. As a bonus, the practices and mindset you develop by implementing these membership growth tactics will improve engagement with your current members as well.
1. Provide targeted, valuable content.
Instead of relying on membership promotions alone, provide content that helps you develop relationships with membership prospects. Identify and research the different segments of your target membership market – for example, students, early career, mid-career, executives, and professionals in transition.
Here are some things to ask to identify the content needs of prospective members:
- What do they need to know to advance their career or do their job better? For example, do they need professional learning opportunities? Do they need career development resources?
- What issues trouble them? What challenges do they encounter?
- What types of content do they prefer? How do they prefer to receive it?
Then, if you provide valuable content for these prospective members, they’ll keep coming back to you for more. They’ll begin to think of you as a reliable source of information and a partner who helps them reach their goals.
By adding this approach to your membership recruitment strategy, your content takes on a new role as a lead magnet – something that potential members find so valuable that they’re willing to provide their email address in exchange for downloading it. Your content then becomes the catalyst for converting website visitors into prospects (leads), and then converting prospects into new members.
2. Simplify the path to membership.
Based on your understanding of what members want, be sure to offer membership packages and levels that allow members to choose the member value that meets their needs.
And when a prospective member is ready to join, no barriers should stand in their way. Make sure the joining process is quick, intuitive, and frictionless. Start by testing your website and blog. Ask yourself:
- Will first-time visitors know they’re in the right place?
- Can they immediately see the value you provide to members?
- Is it obvious what impact membership will make on their life?
- Is it easy to figure out how to join?
Make joining as simple and painless as possible. Lengthy forms are a turn-off. So, ask only for what’s absolutely necessary on your online membership application – the data you need now to process their membership. You can ask for more data later.
TIP: Aptify offers one of the most feature-rich membership management software products available. In addition to a full feature set “out of the box,” Aptify can be easily configured and expanded to meet virtually any business requirements for your organization – even if you have complex membership models – helping you to deliver a great member experience.
3. Offer an incentive to join.
Sometimes an enticing incentive can break down the last psychological barrier to joining. For example, offer new members a special discount toward a future event, online learning opportunity, or webinar registration. Promote these incentives on your home page, in your blog sidebar, in email campaigns, and on social media.
Also, evoke a sense of urgency in the incentive you offer. For example, members who join before a certain date get an exclusive invitation to a special in-person or virtual educational event. Make sure the event is truly exclusive and special.
And provide incentives to your built-in network of recruiters – your current members. For example, for every successful membership referral they provide, give them an incentive as a thank you, and recognize their contributions in publications and at events.
4. Step up your social media interaction.
Social media provides another channel for attracting the interest of prospects. Find out what platforms your prospective members and current members use and how they use them. Develop a social media strategy that aligns with your organization’s membership and marketing strategies, and with the needs and interests of your prospects and members. Let that strategy guide your efforts so that your time is invested wisely.
Use social media to demonstrate your value as an industry resource. You can do this by helping followers manage information overload by being a curator for them. In addition to sharing your own content, select interesting and informative content from other sources to share as well.
Also, post on your social media channels to let followers know about the great membership experiences you provide – such as events, online learning, publications, and other resources. Provide a preview of membership value, such as snippets of online community discussions. Consider using Facebook ads for highly targeted promotional campaigns.
5. Find co-marketing opportunities. 
Partner with other businesses and organizations in your industry by marketing each other’s services or offerings. It’s mutually beneficial, and these opportunities have the potential to exponentially expand your reach to potential members.
Choose co-marketing opportunities that fit your mission and target audience. Whether you have a cause or value in common, or you’re offering complimentary services, develop relationships that will help you and the other organization move forward.
6. Optimize your website for new member conversions.
When potential members land on your website, make sure there’s a clear and compelling path for them to become a member. Give special attention to the user experience. Is the user interface convenient and accessible? Is finding information straightforward?
Think through what potential members want to know, and ensure you’re making that information readily available on your site. Whether that means adding new member-specific content or enhancing navigation on the site, create an experience that’s welcoming and user-friendly.
TIP: From accessibility for a visitor who’s exploring your site for the first time to a clear onboarding process, think through all the steps a new member will take to join your group. Then, ensure your site optimizes that process from beginning to end.
7. Host events that aren’t just for members.
Members-only events are great as membership benefits, but there is also great value in hosting events that non-members can attend. This allows you to show off the value of your organization to potential new members before they join.
There are a variety of ways you can offer engaging events for your recruits and membership body. Consider webinars, conventions, networking events, and other opportunities that will help members and non-members alike. Create opportunities to provide your guests with informational and professional value while helping them learn more about your organization’s mission and benefits.
8. Add a job board to your website.
An online job board meets a practical need for many people. It’s also an ideal way to position yourself as a leader with members who contribute to the industry. Optimize your website and job board so that people can easily find and navigate it.
TIP: Aptify integrates with YM Careers by Community Brands, which offers online job board software for membership-based organizations. YM Careers helps you build a robust job board and provide other valuable career advancement resources for your members.
9. Use existing business networks.
If your organization and/or your members are involved in local business networks, these are great ways to get the word out about your organization and its benefits. Take advantage of speaking or sponsorship opportunities whenever possible. It will give you the chance to broadcast your mission and demonstrate your organization’s expertise in your field or industry.
10. Enhance the member experience with modern membership management software.
Membership recruitment isn’t the only never-ending project. You should never stop learning about your potential members and current members. The more you know about their needs, interests, preferences, and habits, the better decisions you’ll make about the content, products, and services – the value – you deliver to them.
Take full advantage of your membership software to collect and analyze data on the interests and engagement of prospective members, new members, and existing members. You can also use it to learn more about member preferences and habits, such as what they read, open, click, and download.
For example, while wooing membership prospects, you can track their interactions with your website and emails. Their online behavior gives you a sense of their interests.
Then, when it comes time to onboard new members, ask them questions about their reasons for joining as well as their needs, challenges, and aspirations. Launch an automated series of onboarding emails that introduces them to the resources, upcoming events, and educational opportunities that fit their interests and needs.
Targeted content will help you deepen your relationship with them and tie them closer by encouraging them to take advantage of your organization’s benefits.
Learn more about how to increase membership for your organization
Discover more tips and insights on how to grow membership for your organization. Download 50 Ways to Boost Membership for powerful approaches for large associations and unions.
