Going Organic: Building a High-Quality Prospect List for Membership Growth

Membership growth is the lifeblood of any association.

New members mean:
• New interactions at meetings and events
• New perspectives to share and leaders to contribute to the organization
• Most importantly, increased revenue, and possibilities for future growth

Many association leaders are often left scratching their heads at just how to achieve membership growth.

Identifying prospective members is the first step before undertaking any type of marketing and or outreach. But where do you find prospects, and how can you best allocate your resources to get your message in front of them?

The Old Ways of Doing Things

Advertising in industry publications or on popular websites or blogs may seem like an obvious place to broadcast your association’s message and collateral. But these channels are expensive, broadly targeted, and, in the age of data-driven decision making, unmeasurable. For a non-profit organization with limited marketing resources, this may not be the best bang-for-your-buck option.

Email remains a top marketing channel for many associations (and for-profit companies alike), with over 65% of associations claiming it as their top tool for member and prospect communications. However, renting lists from partner organizations or leading industry websites, or purchasing prospect information from a source like Data.com are, again, cost prohibitive. A single email message sent to a rented list can cost upwards of $2,500, which likely puts it out of your budget as a repeatable marketable tactic.

These forms of “outbound marketing,” in which products or services are “pushed” on consumers, represent a disappearing model of marketing. Individuals are bombarded with more content than ever before, and have begun to tune out the messages that marketers are pushing in their face.

Give Them Something to Care About

If outbound channels are on their way... well, out, then how can associations find high-quality prospects to pitch membership to?

We believe that building lists by providing valuable content for free is a far more sustainable, cost-effective, and, ultimately, successful way of targeting prospective members. What do I mean by “something of value?” E-books, guides, webinars, and presentations all represent assets that can be leveraged to grow prospect lists. Associations are already creating many of these resources. By choosing 1-2 key resources to “gate” behind a form, they can be used to gather contact information and begin a process of lead nurturing that leads to new members.

Think of content like your bait or landing page, and hook and reel-in your prospect marketing efforts

At AH we use a tool called Hubspot that allows us to create custom landing pages for specific content pieces, and require contact information from visitors in order to download them.

Build Trust Through Content

Providing value through the content achieves a number of important goals for your organization:

1. It builds brand recognition.

2. It demonstrates an example of your education offerings to prospective members.

These results make membership outreach more effective, as your prospects are no longer “cold” leads but have familiarity with your organization. You’ve also demonstrated the educational value you can provide to them through your content, which is even more important for groups like associations that are often based around career education and development.

Going Organic

This “organic” form of list building is more difficult than simply buying a list or advertisement placement, but the brand recognition and relationship you’ll build with prospects as a result can pay huge dividends down the line. It may take longer, and require more nurturing, but this list is infinitely more valuable than one you simply bought.

As consumers become even better at ignoring the barrage of marketing messages sent to them every day, providing them with valuable content can go a long way towards opening the door and allowing you in.

Start taking advantage of the content your association is already creating, and put it to work for you!