Blog

Rick Whelan, CDM
President, Marketing General Incorporated

In 1978, a small startup company in Washington, DC, took its first baby steps intent on helping a single association improve its membership numbers.

Fast forward to 2019 and that same company, Marketing General Incorporated, (MGI), is celebrating its 40th Anniversary as the largest association-focused direct marketing agency in North America. With more than 100 clients in 16 states, MGI is a multi-faceted company that has made an indelible mark and grown consistently in size, results, and reputation.

Few organizations in any line of business survive 40 years. In the association marketing world, it’s unprecedented.

Many factors have…

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Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President

Inaction is the single largest enemy to association membership marketing success.

Over the years, I have been in more meetings than I care to count where statements like, “we cannot do that because,” “we need approval,” or “we need more research” has shut down the marketing process.

To many, it may sound like heresy, but very often the right course of action is to simply do something. I call this the Ready, Fire, Aim solution. By doing something, an association may very well discover that they are sitting on some big opportunities.

One group that I am familiar with has 100,000 opt-in emails from prospects who have registered on their website. However, the…

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Actual Photo of the Iceberg that Sank the Titanic

The Hidden Obvious – Search and Discover it Before Adding another Layer of Complexity.

I said this in the last Tipster I wrote: I am nearing retirement after 41 years of professional marketing. It has been an invigorating, aggravating, and enervating run. I vowed never to become “that guy” who pretends to aphorisms and witticisms about the many experiences I have had in this field.

But…

Finding the Problem to Fix Instead of Fixing the One that’s Not There.

More than one membership client has approached Marketing General and said: “Membership is dropping, our renewal rates are dropping and we can’t seem to grow.” We’re not rocket scientists, we’re…

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There are many reasons members lapse, but so often the answer is some version of, “I didn’t see the value of membership, or I didn’t use my membership.”

The organization’s internal response to this reasoning is usually something along the lines of, “But we sent you twenty emails telling you the value of membership and outlining your benefits.”

If this sounds like you or someone you know, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Are you articulating the value of membership benefits or just listing features?

For example, do you simply tell members they have access to your job site, or do you tell them they can save time finding the most qualified candidates for open positions, or find an…

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Tip #1 – Engage!

If renewal time is the first time throughout the year you’re checking in with your members, you’ve just become the relative no one talks to because he only asks for money. Have an on-boarding and ongoing engagement plan in place, check in with your members at various points throughout the year, and increase your efforts with your at-risk member groups.

Members who engage even one additional time with an association throughout the course of the year are significantly more likely to renew.

Tip #2 – Personalize your renewal communication to the user’s experience.

Know what your members did that year and remind them. Include the points of engagement someone had with your…

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