Getting the Word out About your Next Webinar

Even in pre-COVID-19 times, webinars were becoming a growing a trend in associations. They are a great way to reach a national audience and provide a source of education for members. If you are going to spend time and energy putting together a webinar, it is important that you properly market that webinar to your audience.

1.     Pick a topic your membership wants to hear about. Do not make assumptions on topic choices, poll your membership and understand what they are looking to gain out of webinars. This will help you to plan out the year’s subjects. Provide a spot in the survey for members to also suggest a speaker if they know someone who would fit the bill. This will make your job on the board easier while making members happier.

2.     Put goals in place. What does the board want to achieve from the webinars? Member retention? Membership growth? Revenue? This is important to discuss before jumping into the details. It allows you to put some structure to the webinars and topics. It also makes it clear who the marketing messages should be directed at.

3.     Create a timeline. How often do you want to reach out to your target audience? What should each message include? Having this timeline planned out in advance will ensure everything goes out properly and at fitting times. You can schedule social media messages on Hootsuite or future emails on platforms like Constant Contact and MailChimp.

4.     Introduce your speaker in advance. In the messages going out to potential attendees, provide them with some information on the speaker. Include things that would explain why they are qualified to speak on the topic. If the webinar is not just for members, let your speaker know that they can invite others as well.

5.     Follow up! Provide those that registered for the webinar with all of the materials discussed. This includes slides and a recording of the webinar. Some people might have signed up and had to miss it and others might just want to reference the materials in the future. You can also take the content and make it into a blog post for your website. You have the information and should make the most of it.

Webinars are only going to continue to grow and should be embraced! Keep your members happy and educated.

Upping your Email Game: 4 Ways to Better Reach your Members

Associations often use emails as their primary method of communication with members. Emails can be a great way to keep members engaged and informed, but they do need to be done right in order to see the best results. This might require a few test runs in order to fully understand what grabs the attention of your target audience. Here are a few ways you can up your email game and hold your members’ attention.

1. Segment your email lists.

The more specific you are to your audience, the more likely they will be to take action or at the very least read your email. Depending on the topic you want to reach your members about, create lists based on age, careers, special interest, geographic location. This will prevent people from receiving too many emails about things they are not interested in, which could result in the dreaded unsubscribe button being hit.

2. Emphasize your call to action.

Put it in the subject line, start the email with it, and end the email with it. You can never mention the reason you are emailing too much. Word it differently so that you don’t sound like a broken record but make sure to get your point across!

3. Send a test email.

Send yourself the email before sending out that final draft. Read it a few hours after you have finished it to see it with a clear mind. Does it get your point across? Does it feel personal? Will they understand all of the information? What questions would they have? If the answer to any of those questions is not what you intended, go make some edits!

4. Review the data!

Once your email has gone out into the universe and is no longer under your control, pay close attention to the results. Note who clicked on what, who didn’t even open the email, and anything else that could help you to have more effective emails in the future.

 After each email, make sure to note what worked and what didn’t. Always be open to making changes and taking the time to fully communicate your message to your recipients.

As seasoned association professionals, the Impact team has sent their fair share of membership emails. Too many to count! Learn how Impact can help your association see the most benefit from your member communication.

2 Reasons to Switch Your Focus from Members to Customers

Looking to increase your association's revenue this year? It may be in your best interest to focus on increasing your non-member—or customer—sales rather than putting all of your effort into recruiting new members. Non-members often pay more for the events and benefits that are included in your membership packages. This could ultimately make non-members more profitable for your association.

This is not to indicate that you should not work to retain your members’ happiness. They are vital to the core of the organization. A shift of focus, however, to the non-members might help to bring in more income for the upcoming year. The shift should change the board’s mindset from how to recruit this member to how to have this person choose our products and experiences.

1 . Increased Revenue from Webinars

 Many businesses will not pay for an employee’s full membership but will reimburse an employee for professional development opportunities. If your association is hosting a webinar that applies to something within that person’s industry, they can show the value of this to their employer and attend. The guest-cost will bring in a little extra revenue for each event.

2. Wide Variety of Guests at Events

If the goal of your organization is to network and connect with others in the industry, having a set of recurring guests that are not at every event, will also keep your members happy. They will then have the opportunity to network with new faces rather than the same members that come to everything. This will increase their value and will help to retain current members’ memberships.

This change in mindset, is beneficial to the organization in small doses. At the end of the day, the mission of your association should be at the forefront of all decisions. Sometimes, however, achieving that mission requires money and this is one option for reaching that financial goal. Learn how Impact can help your association achieve its goals—financial and otherwise.

3 Ways to Make the Most of your Membership Website

Membership software can change the experience your members and potential members have on your website. If you have membership software, it is important to take advantage of its full potential. Below are a few ways to make your life easier and your members happier.

Automate everything you can possibly automate!

Whether it is invoices, emails, or renewals, automating it is the way to go. It will save you time and allow you to better serve your members in other ways. Platforms like Wild Apricot have template emails for new members, event reminders, renewals, and more. You can turn this function on and even take the time to personalize them to your association. 

Keep an eye on member involvement.

Look into who is unengaged, who is attending events, who is always late renewing. Paying attention to these details can tell a lot about what you are doing as an association. It might show you some things that should change and provide a better understanding of the types of new members you should target.

Collect as much information as possible through event registration without frustrating the registrant.

Ask questions about dietary restrictions, what they are expecting from the event, and more. If you are asking extra questions to learn more, do not make these questions required.

The membership software can be your best friend when it comes to learning about your members and the direction your association should be headed towards. Take advantage of it and learn as much as possible about the platform you are using.