Why They Don’t Know You Exist (and What To Do About It) – Part 3 of 4
Most organizations strive to serve their current members in every capacity. This is great, but if you are looking to grow your organization you must also spend time on showing up for your prospective members! This is the third of a four-part series addressing issues with prospective membership and how to solve these issues.
Why They Don’t Know You Exist (and What To Do About It) – Part 2 of 4
The first step to gaining new members is by providing them with a service they need. If your membership is sending the message that you offer something less-than-useful to your prospective members, you won't find the growth you're searching for. This is the second of a four-part series addressing issues with prospective membership and how to solve these issues.
National Foundation for Danish America Promotes & Connects Using the Wild Apricot Platform
Congratulations to the National Foundation for Danish America on the successful launch of their new Wild Apricot website and weekly newsletter highlighting events from all over the country that are of interest to their audience.
Why They Don’t Know You Exist (and What To Do About It) – Part 1 of 4
It's difficult to grow your membership organization when you are all but invisible to your prospective members. This is the first of a four-part series addressing issues with prospective membership and how to solve these issues.
Why I Hate Planning (and You Might, Too)
If you're like me, the standard planning process can be exciting at first. Then after a few weeks, overwhelm sets in as the big picture goals don't necessarily translate to actionable steps.
Flying the Friendly Galaxy – Partnering with Vendors, Sponsors, & Affiliate Members
Nearly every organization wants the revenue that comes from business partnerships. Yet strategic thought is rarely given to how a scenario can be constructed that benefits the organization, the company, AND the members.
Where Will Your Organization Be One Year from Now?
Planning – both long term and short term – can create excitement around your organization. However, without actionable steps, your plans will sit while your organization doesn't make much progress. Follow my simple yet effective process of goal-setting to see the progress you're wanting in the coming year.
Holiday Gifts for Members, Staff, Volunteers and Boards
The goal of membership organizations is to create an engaging and effective member experience. However, designing your organization's member experience can be a long and confusing road. Read about two members of my Member Experience Design cohort and how their expectations lined up with their realities.
Member Experience Design – Expectations vs. Realities
The goal of membership organizations is to create an engaging and effective member experience. However, designing your organization's member experience can be a long and confusing road. Read about two members of my Member Experience Design cohort and how their expectations lined up with their realities.
Three Things Members Wish Organizations Would Do Better
Members often have specific ways in which they would like to see organizations improve. However, articulating those ideas can be difficult. After years of listening to member feedback, here are three things I've discovered that members wish organizations would do better.
Why a Free Level Doesn’t Typically Work (and What To Do About It)
Free levels are meant to entice potential paying members to purchase your membership. However, you may be giving away too much and sabotaging your business' growth.
Why Don’t Members Just Tell You What They Want?
The feedback you ask for from your members may be slowing down your growth. To truly see your membership business thrive, focus on asking the right questions to understand what your members really want.
Buying Membership – Over and Over and Over
To keep your clients renewing and buying memberships year after year, think about whether what you offer is something they need over and over again.
4 Things You Can Learn from Your Competition
Sometimes the best tool you have is your competition. Learn how to use the opposition to help you identify weaknesses and grow your business.
How to Sell Your Membership to Skeptics
A growth problem can always be traced back to an aspect of the member experience that isn’t working. Study your business to improve membership experience.
Personalizing the Member Experience: Lessons from an ATM
A growth problem can always be traced back to an aspect of the member experience that isn’t working. Study your business to improve membership experience.
Why Can Some Obscure Memberships Thrive, While Others Struggle?
A growth problem can always be traced back to an aspect of the member experience that isn’t working. Study your business to improve membership experience.
What Even Smart Organizations Do That Sabotages Membership Growth
There are a million ways to sabotage success, but recognizing when this sabotage is happening and taking action to address it is how you move forward.
Should We Really Under-Promise and Over-Deliver?
Have you ever heard that old saying…that you should “under-promise and over-deliver”? On the surface, it makes total sense. If you tell people that something will take two weeks to do and you get it done in one, they’ll be surprised and delighted, right? Or it’s like...
Is This Missing from Your List of Member Benefits?
Marketing is more powerful when you speak in the language of your audience and your benefits offerings solve the challenges that they face at the time.
Building Value Through Deep Understanding of What Members Want
As many of you know, I'm currently leading a new cohort of leaders through a six-week Member Experience Design Program. Together, they are working through the material to assess the experience currently being delivered by their organizations and deciding where...
Leading Your Membership When You Don't Really Feel Like It
This week's article is later than usual. There's a good chance that no one would notice, but I mention it because this leads to a topic that I think membership leaders probably need to talk about more often: What happens when you run out of energy to lead anyone...
Running Buddies – Building Membership Value Through Shared Experiences
As I’m writing this, it is absolutely gorgeous here in Central Illinois. The sun is beaming down and the sky is a gorgeous shade of blue. It has been the kind of morning that makes me wish I could go out for a run. Alas, I’ve been nursing a persistent heel...
Members Want the Taco Bell in Front of Them, Not Behind
Last week, I got to enjoy a little down time with my family in the Rocky Mountains. I have always been awestruck by the beauty of the mountains and this trip did not disappoint. However, one of the highlights of the week wasn’t related to the scenery at all.It was the...
Cake or Frosting: How to Serve the Perfect Member Experience Every Time
In life, I think there are two kinds of people – those who adore the frosting part of the cake, and those who prefer their cake without all that sugary fluff on top. My husband is a just-the-cake kind of guy while I would take a whole plate of frosting, if I could....
All I Really Needed Was Popcorn Salt: Is Your Membership Like the Supermarket?
A few weeks ago, I ran out of popcorn salt at home, so I ran to the supermarket to buy some. Popcorn salt comes in teeny-tiny grains so that it dusts the popcorn and gets in all the little nooks and crannies, rather than simply falling off and ending up in the bottom...
Chicago Area Business Aviation Association Is Ready to Soar to New Heights – Thanks to Their New Wild Apricot Membership Platform
Congratulations to the Chicago Area Business Aviation Association on their recent transition to the Wild Apricot member management platform. Taking on such a significant project is a big undertaking for any association, but especially one that relies heavily on the...
I Didn't Ask for a Lumpy Bumpy Bed (and Members Don't Want One Either)
This week's post was inspired by a recent hotel stay while I was in St. Louis to facilitate a client's strategic planning retreat. Imagine my surprise to walk into the room and find a bed that looks like the picture on this post. Yes, that's the actual bed from the...
What I Learned About Membership in Two Minutes at Pizza Hut
When I was in college, I had a summer job as a server for the local Pizza Hut in North Platte, Nebraska. It was a great summer gig – flexible hours, uncomplicated menu, extra cash from tips. Plus, I worked for a great boss. One morning, as we gathered for our weekly...
Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pops & Delivering Value to Members
Do you remember the old TV commercial for Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pops? A boy wanders about, asking an important question, "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?" If you don’t remember the old commercial, you’ll find it here:...