My Go-To Association Growth Strategies

 

Year after year, association leaders face consistent pressure to expand membership, increase meeting attendance, and grow product sales. Without growth, their association may face stagnation and decline.

Having consulted with organizations on growth strategies, I have relied on the insights of several outstanding writers and thinkers to guide me. Here are some of the strategies I find most helpful in establishing and maintaining association resiliency.

Remove Growth Barriers with Systems Thinking

I have encountered associations over the years where warning signs are evident. Perhaps new member input is decreasing, or attendance at meetings is dropping. Peter Senge's insights on systems thinking address these issues. In his book The Fifth Discipline, he states that growth naturally occurs; however, when it slows down or stops, identifying and taking targeted actions to remove a specific barrier to growth offers a high-impact opportunity for change.

When it comes to an association, Senge recommends that an organization step back from addressing symptoms and instead focus on the bigger picture. For example, rather than reacting to a drop in new member numbers by pushing harder, Senge advises examining the entire system to identify one or two specific obstacles causing the decline. The systemic barrier to more new members might be an unclear value proposition, a lack of testing new messages, or an overreliance on email rather than other channels. A systems-thinking approach emphasizes identifying and addressing a specific obstacle to create meaningful change.

In my book, The Seven Deadly Sins of Membership Marketing, I identify the common systemic obstacles that prevent associations from increasing their membership. 

Foster Continuous Innovation

Unlike groups facing declines, many associations continue to grow steadily. Their challenge is not primarily to address obstacles but rather to foster a culture that encourages and sustains innovation. 

Matt Ridley provides practical advice on innovation in his book How Innovation Works and Why It Flourishes in Freedom. He shares guidance that I follow for the process of ongoing improvement. Here are three Ridley-inspired innovation principles that directly relate to associations.

1.      Innovation arises from trial and error. A strong foundation in marketing involves maintaining a continuous testing strategy. Some tests will succeed, while others may flop. Innovation requires accepting a certain level of failure. For example, Thomas Edison conducted 6,000 tests before discovering the right filament for the lightbulb. For membership, this might mean regularly adjusting and improving your renewal system or experimenting with a new marketing channel.

2.      Innovation often occurs by combining existing components. Mixing and matching can be one of the most effective ways to create new solutions. For example, associations might establish a tiered membership structure by adding existing products or services to create a new gold-level membership category that enhances member value and increases revenue for the organization.

3.      Innovation depends on teamwork. Collaborating and gathering input from others with specialized knowledge and skills fosters new ideas. Ask your customer service team what they are hearing from members. Get the latest tech solutions from your IT team. And go beyond your organization to connect with other membership professionals, consultants, and suppliers to gain fresh ideas and insights.

Follow a Proven Growth Playbook

Checklists help ensure you cover all growth opportunities. That's why I use the list provided by Michael Treacy in his book Double-Digit Growth. He outlines five specific disciplines that an organization can follow to establish and accelerate growth. These include:

1.      Preserve the growth you've already achieved. For an association, this involves retaining the members you have worked hard to attract through engagement and an effective renewal system. Associations generally excel at this. The median renewal rate reported in our 2025 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report stands at 84 percent.

2.      Capture business from your competitors. Associations now face increased competition from other associations, for-profit companies, the internet, and even AI. Treacy’s point is that it may be time to actively pursue sales from these rivals. Associations can differentiate themselves through effective marketing and by serving member needs as information curators and conveners of professionals and businesses.

3.      Show up where growth happens. In nearly every industry, some individuals and companies are pioneering new ideas and innovations. Associations that can identify and connect with these key players can benefit from their ideas and successes. Find and engage the innovators and leaders in your industry or field.

4.      Expand into nearby markets. Market expansion has long been a proven growth strategy. In my book, Membership Recruitment, I share examples of associations that use this approach to grow. A notable example is AARP, which shifted from being a teacher-focused organization to serving all retired adults and eventually opening to everyone 18 years of age or older.

5.      Invest in new lines of business. Product line extensions—adding exciting new resources and services—boost the usefulness and appeal of an association. An example of a highly successful one is the American Association of Airport Executives, as highlighted in my book, Membership Recruitment. It has grown to a $100 million budget largely through introducing new products.

These three thinkers—Senge, Ridley, and Treacy—continue to influence my approach to association growth. Their ideas serve as a reminder that lasting success isn’t achieved through quick fixes but through systems thinking, fostering a culture of experimentation, and maintaining a disciplined growth mindset. Whether your association faces challenges or is experiencing a wave of success, applying these principles can help ensure you stay relevant, resilient, and prepared for what’s ahead.

Membership Marketing in a Digital Age: Evolving Tools, Unchanging Principles

Imagine transporting a membership marketer from 1988 to 2024. They would marvel at our digital tools—email, websites, social media. However, looking closely, they would realize that the core challenges and opportunities are unchanged. The foundations of membership marketing have remained remarkably consistent over the decades. The core principles of providing value, planning effectively, and testing remain the levers for growth as they did in the past. 

The Evolution of Marketing Technology

Here is a short list of the most significant marketing technology developments over the decades. 

• Email. This ubiquitous marketing tool did not come into common usage until the mid-90s. Today, the median number of weekly emails sent to members is three, and associations rate email as the most effective recruitment channel.
• Internet. The ability to make purchases and conduct financial transactions began in the late 1990s, with the first recorded secure transaction in 1994. Today, virtually all associations allow members and customers to purchase through their websites. 
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Google founded its AdWords program in 2000, focusing on keyword-based advertising and pay-per-click (PPC). Today, 32 percent of associations have search engine marketing as part of their marketing mix.
• Social Media. The ways we now commonly connect online developed in the early 2000s, with LinkedIn in 2003, Facebook in 2004, and YouTube in 2005. Today, 68 percent of associations use social media for their membership recruitment marketing campaigns.
• SMS. Companies began to use text marketing in the mid-2000s. Today, 13 percent of associations use texting in their marketing efforts.

This evolution of marketing technology is a crucial aspect of our field, and staying informed about these changes is essential. However, let’s also look at examples of how leading association marketers in the past have described the core aspects of membership marketing. They remain relevant to us today. By combining the opportunities presented with technological innovations and actively addressing the foundational principles of membership marketing, we can make significant progress in building a powerful membership program. 

The Enduring Need for Membership Value

Decades ago, the critical need to maintain a powerful value proposition was at the forefront of association challenges. In the 1995 publication Keeping Members: The Myths and Realities, Arlene Farber Sirkin and Michael P. McDermott highlighted the critical requirement of a powerful value proposition. They wrote, “Simply put, members will want to retain membership in your organization if they believe it’s valuable to them.” 1

ASAE’s 2007 landmark study, The Decision to Join, affirmed the critical nature of membership value. The study's data confirms, “As you might expect, the failure to deliver the expected value is by far the most prevalent reason for dropping membership.” 2

The value issue also dates back to the earliest Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. The 2009 Report noted that the number one reason members did not renew was the “perceived lack of value.” Focusing on a powerful value proposition continues to serve as a priority to establish and sustain membership growth.

The Ongoing Challenge of Effective Planning and Sustained Outreach

Planning challenges were also present decades ago. Even in a somewhat less complex period, the paralysis of analysis plagued the implementation of marketing efforts. The ASAE book Membership Marketing highlighted this challenge. In the chapter on planning by Lauren L. Corbin and Rick P. Whelan, they explained to readers that “Doing something is better than doing nothing. Don’t let the process of producing an annual marketing plan take the place of marketing. Marketing must be a continuous process in today’s marketplace.” 3

The Continued Importance of Tracking, Testing, and Analysis

The critical requirement for market testing and tracking goes back to the 1920s. Claude Hopkins, one of the first direct marketers, maintained that “Mail order advertising is traced down to the fraction of a penny. The cost per reply and cost per dollar of sale show up with utter exactness. One ad is compared with another, one method with another . . . So no guesswork is permitted.” 4

For years, the need for these practices held a critical place for many associations. In the 2008 edition of ASAE’s Membership Essentials, we see the essential nature of market testing and tracking. “Perhaps the most important but most overlooked discipline in membership recruitment is testing and then tracking the results of marketing tests. Effective testing and tracking point you to where you can best deploy your resources most effectively and economically among the vast array of marketing options available.” 5

Without testing and tracking, we cannot discover the best approaches and offers to acquire new members.

The landscape of membership marketing has transformed dramatically with the rise of digital tools like email, social media, and search engine marketing. Yet, despite these innovations, the core principles—delivering a solid value proposition, sustained recruitment, and regular testing—remain as crucial as ever. As association marketers, we must embrace the latest tools while staying grounded in the principles that drive growth.

This article is an edited excerpt from the forthcoming book, The Seven Deadly Sins of Membership Marketing.

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[1] Sirkin and McDermott, Keeping Members.

[2] Dalton and Dignam, The Decision to Join.

[3] Nicholais, Membership Marketing.

[4] Hopkins, My Life in Advertising & Scientific Advertising.

[5] Jacobs and Assante, Membership Essentials.

Build Membership Resiliency through Innovation

This article is an edited excerpt from the book Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission. Find it on Amazon.

When I do presentations on the need for innovation, I often share a comparison of Sears and Amazon as a case study. There may not be a better example of the implications of whether or not organizations innovate and embrace change.

In July of 1995, when Amazon first opened its online store, Sears possessed everything needed to become what Amazon is today and more. Sears had a dominant and trusted brand. They sold a full portfolio of products, from clothes to appliances to tools. Sears had an enormous print catalog along with an extensive customer list and warehouses to pack and ship purchases. In fact, for over one hundred years, Sears mailed out its big book catalog to a significant portion of the U.S. population. At times, the catalog was as large as 1,500 pages and offered more than 100,000 products.

Even a decade after Amazon came on the scene, Sears still held many advantages. In 2007, Sears had sales of $53 billion and had 350,000 employees, while Amazon had sales of $14 billion and 17,000 employees. However, those advantages were not to last long. By 2018, Sears filed for bankruptcy as sales dropped to $16 billion, and staffing fell to 89,000. By that time, Amazon sales had soared to $232 billion, with over 600,000 employees.

So, what happened? Those who have done in-depth studies of the demise of Sears point to several factors, including the emergence of discount retailers like Walmart and category-focused retailers like Home Depot and Best Buy. But a massive contributor to Sears's challenge was their failure to capitalize on the movement to online shopping, leaving the door open for Amazon to capture this market. Their lack of innovation and adaptation in pricing and product focus, combined with its delay in moving from brick and mortar to the internet, spelled disaster for this retail giant.

There are lessons from the Sears experience that can be applied to not only for-profit companies but to membership organizations. Here is the lesson. If you do everything recommended in this book to drive growth through effective recruitment but do not use that growth to support innovation, your organization will ultimately reach a point of steady state and even decline.

In practical terms, this flattening of the membership growth curve happens because, by effectively marketing to prospects in your chosen field, you will ultimately reach a point of market saturation. In effect, you become a victim of your own success. You have reached the prospective members who were interested in joining and even succeeded in getting those who were on the fence to become members. You have fully penetrated your prospect market. What’s more, without investing in new product development, even the loyal members you have added will become bored and lose their excitement for the benefits that you provide.

In short, without a focus on innovation, just like Sears or any maturing organization, growth will be stunted, and membership will begin to diminish.

Sustaining the Membership Growth Curve

So how can a membership organization sustain vitality and growth?  One of the most-read articles on organizational resiliency by Gary Hamel and Liisa Välikangas in the Harvard Business Review put it simply, “Strategic resilience is not about responding to a one-time crisis. It’s not about rebounding from a setback. It’s about continuously anticipating and adjusting to deep, secular trends that can permanently impair the earning power of a core business. It’s about having the capacity to change before the case for change becomes desperately obvious.”  As these authors concluded, “A turnaround is transformation tragically delayed.”

Research conducted with nearly a thousand associations supports this conclusion. Associations with membership increases in the past year, and over the last five years, are significantly more likely to report that their organization has a culture that supports innovation. Conversely, those reporting declines in membership are considerably more likely to share that their organization is only slightly innovative or not innovative at all.

There is no single recipe for successful innovation. As Matt Ridley noted in his book, How Innovation Works, “Innovation is not an individual phenomenon, but a collective, incremental and messy network phenomenon.”  However, there are some methods that associations have used successfully to drive new ideas and maintain relevance in an ever-changing environment. These innovative methods include keeping a focus on seeing big-picture opportunities, using marketing research to monitor member needs and perceptions, seeking outside perspectives, and – very simply – trying lots of new ideas.

Keeping the Big Picture in View

Maintaining a big-picture perspective is one of the most significant steps for identifying new ideas and opportunities. However, everything in our daily life seems to pull us toward the details and incremental solutions. The proverb “You can't see the forest for the trees” captures this challenge. We tend to develop ever more granular solutions to try and fix a problem without stepping back and looking at the big picture and a high leverage solution.

Overcoming this myopic tendency is often a struggle for associations. For example, one of the often-repeated tenets in association marketing is that segmentation of members and prospects into ever smaller groups will produce better results. The theory says that highly targeted messages sent to each segment detailing specifics about the association’s benefits and services will solve a membership decline. You might hear something like, “If we tell the prospects that we publish articles in their specialty, then they will join.”  Besides the complexity in managing this type of program, the real issue is that by trying to serve these limited segments, an association can take its eye off the big picture and the more significant marketplace trends. Through their push for ever-finer divisions, they may accomplish the very opposite results of what they were hoping to achieve. Even if the message encourages a prospect to join by highlighting specific information as soon as they receive a copy of their first magazine and newsletter, they will see that the membership they purchased is not what they expected.

That is why one innovation method to achieve continued growth is to go in the exact opposite direction and focus on the forest and not the trees. Instead of focusing efforts on more granular segmentation, seek out the value needed by your broader audience. Advice in the book Blue Ocean Strategy included, “think noncustomers before customers; commonalities before differences; and desegmentation before pursuing finer segmentation.”  By identifying the broader needs in the marketplace, you have the opportunity to realize extraordinary possibilities.

Similarly, Amazon launched its business as an online discount book retailer. They could have stopped there and simply provided specialized services to book buyers. Instead, they used their highly efficient infrastructure to broaden their product offerings. The result was outstanding growth. In the next chapter, I will look at how some associations have achieved exponential growth by looking at larger opportunities and expanding to new markets.

Using Market Research

Keeping your membership offerings thriving also requires staying on top of the trends and demands of the markets you serve. Market research is a tool to keep your finger on the pulse of these opportunities. Regularly conducted qualitative research, whether in-person or online focus groups or in-depth interviews, provides meaningful directional information. Additionally, quantitative research offers statistical validation when evaluating new opportunities. Consistently deployed, these tools provide data on long-term trends that you may miss with a one-off research snapshot.

By understanding and capturing what is going on in an industry, an association can stay ahead of the competition and aggressively take hold of new market opportunities.

Seeking an Outside Perspective

Dr. William Osler, one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital, famously said, “A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” The quote should be an excellent reminder to us as membership marketers. We, as individuals, and our organizations, have blind spots and do not always have a clear vision of the opportunities and challenges in front of us.

So, another innovation opportunity is to aggressively seek insight and guidance from others to maintain a resilient program. This need becomes more important each passing day as the level of expertise needed to manage membership marketing is at an all-time high with the increasing availability of marketing channels, more sophisticated data analysis tools, and new regulations and laws. Getting guidance can come in a variety of forms, including attending and networking at professional development events, bringing consultants or contractors on board, or hiring a marketing agency. Each of these options provides valuable insights.

Trying Lots of Ideas

A final key to maintaining resilience for a membership organization is continuing to focus on innovation by always trying a lot of new ideas. Hamel and Välikangas concluded their Harvard Business Review article with this advice. “Most companies would be better off if they made fewer billion-dollar bets and a whole lot more $10,000 or $20,000 bets—some of which will, in time, justify more substantial commitments. They should steer clear of grand, imperial strategies and devote themselves instead to launching a swarm of low-risk experiments.”  Not every new idea will be a winner, but building this innovation practice into an association’s culture will ultimately lead to success.  As the great inventor and innovator Thomas Edison famously said, “invention is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” His methodology was always trial and error. For example, “In developing the nickel-iron battery, his employees undertook 50,000 experiments.”

This article is an edited excerpt from the book Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission. Find it on Amazon.

How to Improve Your Innovation Skillset

Some of the most used words by association professionals this past year have been “pivot,” “adapt,” and “shift gears.”  We have had to make changes in real-time. In short, we have had to innovate. 

The need to innovate has led me to study some of the best practices in building an innovative mindset and culture. I have found two books as helpful guides. First is How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley, which I wrote about here. The second is a classic, The Innovators DNA, by Dyer, Gregersen, and Christensen.

The authors in The Innovators DNA did eight years of research to understand the crucial skill and practices that drive innovation. The outcome was identifying five specific skills that power innovation. These are skills that you can learn and cultivate. As they share, “we believe that you can find ways to more successfully develop the creative spark within yourself and others.”

Here are the skills that drive innovation and creativity.

1.      Associating: A theme for associating is that one + one = three. There are very few completely new discoveries. Instead, new ideas build on existing experiences and concepts.  Innovators “connect wildly different ideas, objects, services, techniques, and disciplines to dish up new and unusual innovations.” One method to do this is to journal to capture your ideas and review them to connect them to new thoughts.

2.       Questioning: Innovation is supported by asking questions that challenge the status quo.  Questions include “What is the current status?”, “What is the cause?”, “Why and why not?”, and finally, “What if?” These questions do not create innovation but set the platform for change.

3.       Observing: While questioning is very active, observing is more passive. By watching people, techniques, and processes, you gain insights into what works well and what does not work.  You can observe customers and members as they do their jobs, visit and watch how other associations go about their work, and broaden your vision by going to different cultures to understand how they function.  

4.       Networking. Many people feel they are good at networking.  But the purpose of their networking focused on finding their next job or selling their services. Networking as an innovator is different. The goal of this networking is not to build a career but to discover new ideas. How can you do this? Attend conferences and events. Build relationships with experts in the field. Exchange ideas with people outside your community.

5.       Experimenting. I recently read Thomas Edison’s biography. We typically think of him as an inspired genius.  But he did not view himself this way. He saw his inventions as inspiration by perspiration.  To find the proper filament for the lightbulb, for example, he and his team tested 6,000 different materials.  For associations, the marketing realm offers a beautiful laboratory for testing and experimentation. Everything from product ideas to value propositions to messaging can be tested, analyzed, and optimized. 

In the year ahead, the saying that “The only thing that is constant is change” may be more accurate than ever. Developing the skills to respond to that change with new innovations is the best hope for dealing with what is to come.

New Report Highlights Impact of Pandemic on Associations

In the just-released Association Economic Outlook Report, over 500 association executives shared how the pandemic and the recession have impacted their organizations.

They reported substantial disruptions.

·       78% canceled or postponed their in-person events this year

·       39% see their membership as going down by the end of the year

·       20% cut the salaries or hours of their employees

·       18% reported layoffs with no intention to bring back those staff members

Nevertheless, associations have responded forcefully to address these circumstances.

Most notably, the present challenges have decreased the impediments to change and innovation experienced by associations. A year ago, in the 2019 Economic Outlook Report, respondents said that some of the barriers to change were institutional resistance to risk and the slow pace of board and senior executive decision making. As this chart highlights this year’s data shows that some of those impediments have substantially declined.

In response to the current challenges, associations are making adjustments.

·       84% have increased their virtual professional development opportunities

·       78% have developed new products and services to assist members and member companies

·       77% of those that canceled their in-person events replaced it with a virtual event

·       72% have reevaluated and streamline internal processes

As associations deliver essential services to members, they see the impact. Fully 69% say that member engagement has increased during this year. For those willing to provide critical information, networking, and community to members during hard times, the results can be increased loyalty and organizational resilience. The message is, do not waste the opportunity for innovation and change that challenging times bring.

You can download the full EconomicOutlook Report here. 

Membership Innovation in a Time of Turbulence

A time of crisis requires every organization to innovate to survive and thrive. But a common question is, how do you go about innovating? Matt Ridley’s book, How Innovation Works and Why it Flourishes in Freedom, shares valuable principles that answer that question.   

Five of his recommendations have an application to associations.

1.     Innovation occurs incrementally. Often, we expect new solutions to come with a flash of inspiration. “But the deeper you look,” Ridley maintains, “the less likely you are to find a moment of sudden breakthrough, rather than a series of small incremental steps.”[1] For membership, this might mean regularly tweaking and updating your renewal system with improvements instead of starting over from scratch.

2.     Innovation comes from trial and error.  It is a foundation of good marketing to have an ongoing testing strategy. Some of the tests will prove very successful, and others will be a flop. Innovation requires a tolerance for error. As an example, before finding the proper filament for the lightbulb, Thomas Edison conducted 6,000 tests.

3.     Innovation often emerges through the combination of existing components. Mixing and matching can be one of the best ways to come up with new solutions. An example would be associations that create a tiered membership structure. Typically, this involves adding existing products or services that already exist in the association to enhance the current membership category.

4.     Innovation depends on a team effort. Changing any system in an association can be complicated. By collaborating and getting input from others with specialized knowledge solutions come faster and are more effective. Ridley notes that “Innovation is a collective phenomenon that happens between, not within, brains.”[2]

5.     Innovation thrives with collaboration. Why are so many technology companies formed in Silicon Valley? Specialized communities drive innovation.  So, interacting with other people outside your organization is essential. Associations should promote that they create this collaborative environment and community as a value proposition to recruit and retain members. Likewise, an association's staff needs to go beyond their own organization to interact with other membership professionals, consultants, and suppliers to gain new ideas and insights.

Ridley adds one additional thought that we all should remember as we feel the need to improve and change. He says, “An element of playfulness probably helps, too. Innovators who just like playing around are more likely to find something unexpected.”[3]  So despite the serious need to make changes, keep in mind that enjoying the process can lead to better outcomes.

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[1] RIDLEY, HOW INNOVATION WORKS. P. 241

[2] RIDLEY. P. 233

[3] RIDLEY. P. 253

Insights from the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

Each year the goal of the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report is to help associations better understand what is working in membership recruitment, engagement, and retention. Providing these insights comes from not just cataloging the practices from the 800 responding associations but through cross tabulating the survey responses against the outcomes that associations achieve. As a result, the report highlights some of the best practices that correlate with increased new member input, higher renewal rates, and total membership growth.

Here are ten significant findings from this year’s research that you can apply to improve your membership results.

1.      Value – Providing members with value remains the foundation of a successful membership program. Our data shows that members join for networking with others in the field, continuing education, accessing specialized information, and learning best practices in their profession. For trade associations, advocacy is an additional reason to join. But do associations believe they deliver this value? The research found that associations reporting gains in their membership numbers and improvements in new members over the past year are significantly more likely to indicate that their association has a compelling or very compelling value proposition. The challenge is that only about half of associations consider their value proposition to be compelling (48%). As one respondent commented, members “need to see value. Just because someone is a member or has been a member, it is not a given that they will renew. You need to continually show new value and ROI.”

2.      Innovation – How can associations enhance the value that they provide to members? Our data shows that a culture of innovation is the critical driver for creating member value. As one respondent made clear, “Try something new or you’ll plateau and decline.” Indeed, the survey results show that associations with increases in their membership over the past five years are significantly more likely to have a process in place for innovation and new ideas. At the same time, those showing declines over the same period are more likely to say that they have no innovation process.

3.      Membership Models – One area where associations have been innovating is introducing new membership models. Among associations that have adopted a new model, a tiered configuration has been the most common choice (46%). A tiered membership often replaces a static structure and allows members to choose the value proposition that best satisfies their particular needs and budget. The second new model is moving to a combination format by adding an individual or organizational category to the membership offerings.

4.      Recruitment – The report highlights associations use a wide variety of channels to add new members. This year when we look at individual membership groups, two channels – one old and one new – are helping to drive new member acquisition. The emerging marketing channel is paid digital advertising. As one research respondent shared, “Paid digital advertising is no longer optional.” Associations with operating budgets over $1 million are now significantly more likely to use online digital advertising for membership acquisition, retention, and reinstatement. Facebook paid advertising (46%), search engine optimization (37%), and retargeting (31%) are the most commonly used digital marketing tools by associations. The traditional channel of direct mail also continues to perform well for larger associations. Groups with over 20,000 members are significantly more likely to report direct mail to be highly effective for recruiting new members.

5.      Special Offers – The use of incentives to encourage a member to join is often debated.  However, since your website provides a 24/7 opportunity to join, the reality is that getting a prospect to take action now requires offering an incentive to act now. The data shows that associations showing increases in their overall counts over the past year are significantly more likely to consider dues discounts for first-year members to be very effective. The other offers that respondents highlighted as the most favorable to get a member to join were conference discounts and monthly or quarterly installment dues.

6.      Engagement – Once a member joins the way for associations to build a strong membership foundation is by proactively putting in place plans to engage members. Respondents have been consistent in sharing why members do not renew. This year, once again, they say members do not renew because of a lack of engagement with the organization or because they could not justify the cost of membership. However, when associations establish an active program to engage members to raise their usage of benefits, membership retention increases. This year, 78% of associations that have seen an improvement in their renewal rates say that they have a tactical plan to increase engagement.

7.      Participation – The report also highlights a continual shift in the membership benefits where associations are seeing improvement in their members’ participation and engagement. In our research this year, there were five areas where respondents said that they were seeing broader member participation. Most of these growth areas reflect ways to enhance interaction with members and share information, primarily on a digital platform. The top services seeing more usage are:

• The use of their mobile app

•  Participation in their public social network

•  Attendance at their webinars

•  Participation in their private social network

•  Participation in their young professional’s program

8.      Generations – This migration to more digital member services may also be supporting how associations are effectively attracting emerging generations of members. Our benchmarking data shows that associations reporting increases in their one-year membership levels are more likely to have a higher percentage of Millennials in their membership. Nevertheless, associations are still most likely to say that the most significant proportion of their membership consists of Baby Boomers (35%),

9.      Renewals – Two findings related to renewing members have come out of this year’s benchmarking research. The first highlights that, after email, direct mail represents the marketing channel that generates the most renewals. With the average association achieving an 82% renewal rate, it is almost impossible to lose money through renewal efforts. The second finding is the effectiveness of automatic credit card renewals. Fully a third of individual membership groups make this option available. And those that offer this option see substantially higher renewal rates for members, especially for first-year members.

10.  Budgets – Right now, every line item of an association’s budget is under scrutiny.  So how do you make a case for sustaining and even increasing your membership marketing budget? Benchmarking data would support that funding membership marketing produces improved results. Associations seeing one-year and five-year membership increases are more likely to have increased their awareness, recruitment, and engagement funding. A total of 34% of respondents said that they increased their budgets for recruitment, and 32% increased their engagement budget. One important reason to fund membership marketing is that it produces an outstanding return on investment compared to many of the other products that an association offers. Customers come and go, but the average members will remain with an association for five years producing a stream of dues and non-dues revenue.

The 12th edition of the MGI Benchmarking Report contains over 60 pages of additional information segmented by size and types of associations. Take this opportunity to download the full report to see how your organization compares with others. 

Top Findings from the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

Everyone working for an association can relate to the competitive challenges of today.  In addition to 24/7 competition, associations are faced with scarce resources, talent shortages, and sometimes political or bureaucratic hurdles.

Yet despite these threats, findings from the 2019 MembershipMarketing Benchmarking Report shows more associations continue to experience membership growth year over year than those that are seeing a decline in membership.  This year 45 percent of associations shared that their membership has grown over the past year compared to 26 percent that saw a decrease in membership counts.

Indeed, contrary to the narrative that membership “no longer works,”, for the past decade with the exception of the Great Recession, our benchmarking research confirms that far more associations have reported experiencing an increase in members than those who have reported a decline in their membership counts.

Why have associations been able to adapt and continue to grow despite the challenges they face?

Some definite answers are apparent from the insights that we have gathered in this year’s research.  In addition to looking at the tactics and strategies that typically correlated to success, we also asked respondents to rate how innovative their association is and what level of value that they are delivering to members.

In each case, associations that reported higher innovation and value scores showed a correlation with increased likelihood to be achieving a number of important positive outcomes in membership. In short, these more innovative and value-producing associations are successfully adapting to the challenges faced in today’s completive marketplace.

Here is some of the data underpinning these findings.  Associations with increases in membership over the past year and the past five years, as well as those with increases in their overall new members are significantly more likely to indicate that the organization has a culture that supports innovation. Conversely, those reporting declines in membership are significantly more likely to believe their association culture does not support innovation.

Additionally, associations that indicate that their organization is only slightly innovative or not innovative at all are significantly more likely to show declines in their membership over the past year and the past five years, plus decreases in new members and overall renewal rates.  Moreover, associations that have a specified process in place to support innovation and new ideas are significantly more likely to report increases in one year and five-year membership numbers.

Many of the same outcomes are evident for associations that report having a compelling value proposition for their members.   In fact, associations that described their value proposition as very compelling or compelling are significantly more likely to report increases in their one year and five five-year membership numbers, as well as increases in their new members and their overall membership renewal rates.

So if innovation and value are so important, how are associations innovating and providing additional value to members?

One of the areas of innovation and value enhancement that we looked at this year in our research was the development of new membership models.  Ideally changing the membership packaging is designed to respond to new market conditions, give members more options, and competitively price membership.  The data from our research does support that adopting a new membership model may give membership a bump.  Specifically, the associations that have adopted a new membership model are more likely to report experiencing an increase in the number of new members this year (22 percent vs. 13 percent).

Historically, one membership model that has seen growth is the move toward Combination membership. An association with a Combination membership offers members the opportunity to join as either an individual (like a typical IMO) or as an organization (like a typical Trade Association).  In the 2011 version of the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, only 13 percent of respondents identified their association as having a Combination membership structure.  This year, 26 percent of respondents identified their association as a Combination association. The Combination membership structure appears to be working for associations.  These groups have the highest median growth over the past five years of 14 percent, compared to 12 percent for IMOs and 10 percent for trade organizations.

Another developing innovation for associations is the use of paid digital media for their marketing efforts.  For membership recruitment, this channel has increased as a preferred channel from 12 percent to 15 percent over the past year.  Of the 15 percent of associations that consider paid digital marketing tools as a highly productive method for recruiting new members, Facebook paid advertising remains the most effective digital marketing tool. Associations are also increasingly using various paid digital advertising platforms to present their message for many products and services beyond membership recruitment.

The other technology-driven development that associations reported this year is a significant improvement in data challenges that have been reported in the past. The top data complaint of a lack of marketing results tracking and analysis dropped from 51 percent of associations citing this as a major challenge in 2018 to 39 percent in 2019.  Similarly, the issue of inadequate membership dashboards and reporting tools went from 48 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in 2019.  In the competitive environment facing associations the ability to track, analyze, and report on marketing efforts has become a core ability to drive success.  So these improvements are significant.

Finally, some associations are thriving through innovative ways to attract and provide value to Millennials and Generation X members.  Our data highlights that associations with increases in their one year and five five-year membership numbers are significantly more likely to have higher percentages of Millennials and Generation X members. One way these groups are achieving this is through growth in participation with their young professional programs.

On the other hand, associations reporting no changes in their membership in the past year are significantly more likely to have a higher proportion of Baby Boomers as members.  Associations reporting declines in membership totals are much more likely to report that their specific challenges in membership marketing are related to their struggle in attracting and/or maintaining younger members.

So what should associations take away from this year’s Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report?

In an era of rapid changes in technology, culture, and demographics, our data shows that many associations have been able to sustain a level of membership growth and continue to serve their markets.  The data points to the conclusion that innovation and value creation are important drivers of this success. However, a critical look at the trend data also shows that over the last decade the percentage of associations reporting membership growth is in a gradual decline from 52 percent in 2012 to 45 percent today. My hope is that this report will encourage associations to aggressively innovate with new strategies, technologies and marketing approaches in order to thrive and grow in a changing world.