Membership drives are vital to the longevity of your organization. You are there for your community, and without your members your organization would cease to exist. As stewards of goodwill, you provide services to your community that can be unmatched, and your organization’s survival is dependent on memberships. Increasing memberships year after year is critical and doing so can be challenging. Take a look at our five ways to increase your organization’s membership, and discover how you can see a make a positive change.
Offer Promotions & Discounts
We’re all just looking for a great deal that gives us more bang for our buck, right? So why not incorporate that mindset into your next membership drive? Get creative with your promotions, and offer sleek and helpful swag like selfie sticks, PopSockets, tumblers or even Bluetooth speakers. There are multiple websites like Swag.com that you can peruse to see what kind of cool items are out there and figure out what best fits your community and your budget.
If you have the ability to offer discounts, include a multi-family member discount or even a buy one get one discount at a designated percent off. Or even offer a discount on a class or program when a community member purchases a membership.
Make Registering for a Membership Easy
The best thing you can do for your organization is to make registering for a membership as streamlined and as smooth as possible. Leave those paper forms behind and take it all online! Be where your community is—on their smart devices. Give them the ability to register from anywhere whenever they want, and make the process as simple as possible by including any pertinent forms and waivers they’ll need to fill out. The best part? All their information is easily stored in the cloud and can be accessible to you whenever and wherever you need it.
Remember: The easier you make it for your community to register for a membership, the more likely they will do so.
Advertise
You have to spend money to make money, and the best way to do so is to advertise. Put an advertisement for your upcoming membership drive in your local newspaper, partner with organizations and schools in the area to get the word out or utilize digital marketing via Facebook, Instagram or Google. Even if you advertise via your social media channels, don’t forget to post regularly on your pages about your upcoming membership drive, and remember to send out emails from time to time to potential members.
Utilize Your Current Members
Your current members love what you provide to the community, so why not utilize their love of your organization to spread the word? Send out an email encouraging them to share information about your upcoming membership drive with their friends and family. Ask them to share your posts about the membership drive on their social channels, and even offer a discount or prize to anyone who is able to refer a new member.
Listen to Your Community
A great way to increase memberships is to offer your community the programs, classes, events and camps they want. Ask your current members, via text, email or in-person, about the kinds of things they want to see your organization offer, and try to incorporate them into your programming. Remember, you are there to serve your community, and one of the best ways to do so is to meet their wants and needs.
ACTIVENet Offers the Complete Solution
Save time and focus more on your community with a premier recreation management solution that will set your YMCA or parks and recreation department up for success. ACTIVENet has everything you need to increase memberships, starting with easy online membership registration that can be done from anywhere, anytime. Looking to get the word out about your upcoming membership drive? With ACTIVENet you can quickly create and deploy dynamic emails to your vast email list with a click of a button. ACTIVENet has everything you need to take your organization to the next level and more. Connect with us today!
