Find new members and keep the ones you have!

However, figuring out how to grow your members – and then making this happen can sometimes be easier said than done.

Achieving Membership Growth

Membership growth is the result of careful attention to a whole range of things at your association. It is hard work, requiring consistent effort at every level of your association.   Smaller associations often don’t have access to the expertise needed to put together a long-term, sustainable membership growth strategy – while larger associations can often benefit from a fresh, independent set of expert eyes to review and refresh their membership acquisition, membership renewal and membership engagement programs.

If you are struggling to attract new members despite your best efforts, if your members are leaving faster than you can replace them or if you want to supercharge your growth past anything you have managed to achieve before, then it might be time to get in some expert help.

Our approach to membership growth

There are a number of ways we can help you turn your growth strategy into reality. We offer two main types of services to help our clients achieve their membership growth ambitions.

The first is membership growth strategy development, where (as the name suggests) we work collaboratively with you to develop a comprehensive membership growth strategy, backed by a detailed implementation plan that explains what you need to do, when to implement the strategy.

We can also take a very hands-on approach, working on a part-time, contract basis as part of your team (for example as your Membership or Marketing Manager), with responsibility for membership acquisition, membership engagement and membership renewals.  This is a particularly effective for small associations who do not have this kind of expertise in-house.

1. Membership Growth Strategy

We will collaboratively develop a comprehensive membership growth strategy – and then work with you ensure it gets implemented correctly!

Step 1: Membership Research

To get started, we recommend you conduct research with members and prospective members to provide quantitative, evidence-based data on member engagement and satisfaction at your association. The Member Experience (MX) Research we conduct in partnership with widely-respected researchers, beaton, is very affordable, and provides invaluable insights to inform the membership growth strategy.

Step 2: Membership Review

We then conduct a comprehensive review of your current approach to membership acquisition, engagement and retention.

This includes reviewing your membership criteria and pricing, your value proposition (or promise to members), how you currently go about finding new members, why members join (or leave), the quality of your prospect and member data, your association’s join and renewal processes and how your members are engaging with your services.

As part of this review, we also look at the environment in which your association operates to understand the challenges facing your members and their companies, the competitive landscape for your Association, industry trends and the impact of these on your Association.

Step 3: Membership Growth Strategy 

We then develop a comprehensive membership growth strategy, which includes:

• Membership growth targets
• Membership acquisition strategies and campaigns
• Strategies to optimise membership renewals
• Strategies to improve member engagement.

Step 4:  Annual Implementation Plan

Having a sound membership growth strategy is essential – but any strategy is only as good as its implementation.  We develop a step-by-step annual implementation plan that details exactly what you need to do, when to deliver on the strategy.  We can also coach and guide your team as they implement this plan, and conduct quarterly reviews ensure you stay on track and maintain momentum.

2. Contract Membership Marketing & Management Experts

Not all associations have the in-house resources necessary to take the membership growth implementation plan and run with it!

They want someone who knows what they are doing to manage everything related to membership marketing and management at their association and to work collaboratively and flexibly as part of their team on a part-time, contract basis.

In this scenario, we look after membership growth at your association and do everything, from creating and executing membership acquisition campaigns, to managing your renewals process  your secretariat, to developing and implementing new membership engagement programs.

Connie Finestone  and Nicki Hauser have extensive experience membership marketing and management experience, and have helped associations including the Australasian Legal Management Association, the Institute for Professional Editors and Master Builders (QLD) achieve membership growth.

Our proven, practical and effective approach is the reason why our clients choose us for this important work.

And we’d love to work with you!