2015–2016 award winning ideas - aaf website content/260_clubachievement/2016... · opportunities...

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AWARD WINNING IDEASN A T I O N A L C L U B A C H I E V E M E N T C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N I N G E N T R I E S

MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Membership Development

Club Achievement2015-2016

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Background:

After largely focusing our efforts on membership, AAF-Central Minnesota ended the 2014-2015

year strong with 64 members, a 14 percent increase from the previous year. In an effort to keep

the momentum going, our membership committee co-chairs honed-in on creating new tactics for

recruitment and retention prior to the start of the 2015-2016 year. Our regular membership

committee meetings yielded three specific needs for membership: A clear value proposition,

more exposure to in-house marketing departments (push beyond agencies), and an easier way to

retain members. From a value perspective, those who are regularly involved in the organization

know the professional development, excellent programming and events, and rich networking

opportunities AAFCM offers is the true value of membership, but our difficultly lies in telling

that story and justifying the cost to non-members. Central Minnesota is a small market and all

the agencies know who we are. This year, we wanted to broaden our audience to other local

professionals, specifically in-house marketing teams, who haven’t heard of us and/or haven’t

been involved for several years. Finally, we wanted to revamp our membership sign-up system to

an automated program (verses manual emails sent by committee chairs every summer) to make it

easier for member retention and simpler for our prospect members. Committee objectives

yielded the creation of the following concrete membership goals (Exhibit 1.1 – Strategic Goals):

1. Identify and publicize members-only perks to encourage membership and express an

atmosphere of exclusivity.

2. Implement rolling membership to simplify the yearly sign up process for our members.

3. Offer a season pass membership that included both membership costs and all event costs

at a discounted price to reward our dedicated members.

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4. Increase our roster to 75 members utilizing our successful methods from previous years,

as well as implementing new ideas.

Recruitment:

Our goal this year was to increase membership from 64 to 75 total members from July 2015-June

2016 (Exhibit 2.1 - Membership Roster 2014-2015). Considering how our membership has

trended much lower than that over the past 10 years, this was an ambitious goal. With the

strongly branded messaging we put together in 2014-2015 (Exhibit 2.2 - Brochure), we were

ready for the challenge.

The desire to simplify the process of becoming an AAFCM member has been talked about for

five years. This is primarily because those who sign up later in the year feel as though they do

not get the full value of their membership because it expires with the new AAF membership year

on July 1. To alleviate this concern, we set a rolling membership plan into motion. Our new

membership system will now automatically remind members to renew their membership 2 weeks

and 2 days before it expires. Rolling membership also means each membership expires exactly

one year from its purchase date, not on July 1 when the new AAF year begins. By automating the

process, membership chairs were given more time to focus on new membership recruitment

instead of on following up with past members to sign up again. We’re ensured each member will

receive renewal emails when their membership is close to expiration, and it allows us to drive

them back to the site for more information on the value we are offering year-to-year.

In addition to this rolling membership, we implemented a second membership type, a season

membership. It was geared for our members who are dedicated to attending a majority of the

events. This season membership would roll in the cost of the membership with the cost of all the

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events at a 15 percent discounted rate, in contrast to the 10 percent discounted rate standard

members receive. Not only would this help us cover the cost of programming in advance, but it

helped to motivate our members to attend more events. Because this year saw significant

changes to our membership structure, we created a simple postcard to overview the options

(Exhibit 3.1 – Membership Rates Postcard).

Learn. Grow. Network. With these three simple words, we summarized the benefits of becoming

a member. With change, comes questions. To help alleviate concerns, we thoughtfully

redesigned and reorganized the homepage and membership pages on our website

(adfedcentral.com). We simplified the cluttered homepage to offer visitors a way to move

forward via two call-to-action buttons. Those familiar with AAFCM have the choice to sign up

right away. Those seeking more information are offered the path to learn more. (Exhibit 3.2 –

Website Homepage Redesign) We also updated the membership interior pages to reflect what we

currently offer and to appeal to a wider audience (Exhibit 3.3 – Membership Page Redesign). We

ensured there was a way for our user to proceed down the conversation funnel on every page. We

also outlined the price and benefits breakdowns for both membership types.

Furthermore, we continued last year’s tactic of custom messaging to potential members. We

reached out to past members and interested prospects with messages crafted to outline the

benefits of membership as they pertained to that individual (Exhibit 3.4 - Custom Messaging).

We expanded on last year’s efforts by reaching out on many platforms. We relied on e-mail

marketing, LinkedIn messages, and in-person meetings to reach a wider audience.

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With five colleges located in our market, we continually try to engage the large student audience.

We’ve consistently found it difficult to communicate the value of joining AAFCM to students on

a tight budget and with limited time. Plus, students have a hard time understanding that the

school’s AAF chapter is different from our chapter. Being a member of the school chapter

doesn’t make you an automatic member of our chapter. To make sure the value and purpose of

our club was being communicated clearly, our board members, along with our student liaison,

volunteered to meet individually with professors and students, present in classrooms, and attend

a local student career fair (Exhibit 4.1 – Career Fair Email Receipt).

Lastly, we tapped into our biggest asset for membership recruitment: our board of directors. Our

BOD is made up of 18 local professionals from various agencies and in-house marketing

departments throughout the St. Cloud area. These are the people with a pulse on everything in

the local advertising world. We wanted to tap into all of the potential our BOD has to offer. We

challenged our team to each bring in as many members as they could, offering them the ultimate

prize: a coveted spot on the upcoming national conference trip to Disneyland in 2016. Each

member referral is counted as one chance to win the drawing. By setting up this challenge,

coupled with the sweet reward of Disneyland, we’re hoping that our whole BOD team will bring

their A-game to the recruitment efforts.

Retention:

Retaining members from year-to-year is a feat only possible through the value we bring to our

members, and our most valuable offering by far is our excellent programming. By locking in

extraordinary speakers early on in the year, we were able to communicate the value of our

programming right away. This year, we scheduled almost the entire year of programs before it

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began, giving us a lot of ammo when it came time to talking value with members. To add more

value to event programs, our club started blogging this year. Through the blog, we’re able to

communicate more about the speaker, increase event hype, manage expectations, and post

recaps. (Exhibit 5.1 – Event blogs).

We’ve learned that maintaining the perceived value of our membership can be very difficult.

Beyond our programming, we are always looking for new and improved ways of providing

value, and then communicating that value. This year we implemented a few new initiatives to

show that value: (1) Offer two free luncheons to members. (2) Begin a membership spotlight

program in the form of a slideshow shown at each event.

By offering two free luncheons to our members, we create a sense of both value and exclusivity.

Free luncheons are also a way to show appreciation for our members. Plus, the free events act as

a conversation starter when bringing up the benefits of becoming a member. The membership

spotlight program takes advantage of the slideshow screen prior to the speaker’s presentation at

monthly luncheons (Exhibit 5.2-Membership Spotlight Program). Members have the option to

sign-up for the free spotlight program in the follow-up email they receive after membership

registration. They follow a link to a form on our website, answer a few simple questions, submit

a photo, and they’re in. The slideshow profiles are a great way for members, especially those

looking for employment opportunities, to be recognized in the local advertising community.

Currently we have eleven participants, and that number grows as each member renews/signs up.

We look forward to seeing this program continue to benefit our members and offer them a new

way to connect with others.

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Involvement:

The true barometer of a strong club is engagement. When members are engaged, they’ll stick

around year after year. Our club focuses on getting our members involved in a variety of

programs in both traditional and non-traditional settings. While we had several event successes,

two of our favorites from this year were CMYK and the 12-Hour Student Design Challenge.

For the CMYK event, we invited local professional and student designers, in-house and agency

marketing professionals, and anyone interested in local artwork and local craft beer to design and

submit a poster relating to our 2015 theme of beer. AAFCM handled the printing and hosted the

show and silent auction at a recently opened craft brewery, Beaver Island Brewing Company, for

the artists, their supporters, and members of the general public. The posters were up for auction

and door prizes were given away throughout the evening. We involved student members in the

event to help run the check-in table, and half of the proceeds from the event were donated to our

local NSAC team from St. Cloud State University (Exhibit 6.1 – CMYK Poster and Event

Photos).

We also hosted a 12-Hour Student Design Challenge (SDC) on the campus of a local college.

SDC is an event tailored to our area’s college students as well as one local non-profit

organization that has a real need for strong branding and a comprehensive marketing campaign.

Students from all marketing backgrounds, everything from design to PR, spent the day

researching and creating the non-profit’s branding and marketing campaign from scratch. At the

end of the day each team presented their ideas to a panel of judges that consisted of local

industry leaders as well as the chosen non-profit marketing chair. We further enhance the event

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with the presence of on-site mentors throughout the day comprised of local industry

professionals (Exhibit 7.1 - 12-Hour Student Design Challenge Event Materials & Photos).

Results:

This year has been anchored around necessary change. Rolling membership, adding a season

ticket offering, and focusing on creating content that communicates membership value – those

are all changes that were done to impact the long-term health of the club. While they were

significant changes for the board of directors to tackle upfront, we’re estimating we won’t see the

fruits of this year’s labor for a couple years, especially for rolling membership.

In terms of concrete numbers, we had set our sights on hitting 75 members this year. It was a

high bar considering last year ended at 64 members. As of March 7, 2016, we have 21 local

professionals signed-up for our standard professional membership option, 14 students signed-up

for our student membership option, and we’ve had 14 professionals sign-up for our new offering,

the season ticket membership. Since June 2015, we’ve grown our membership number to 49 total

members (Exhibit 7.2– Updated Roster). With more valuable events remaining in 2016 and our

new selling point of rolling membership, we are optimistic we’ll achieve our goal of 75 members

by May 31, 2016.

We are also pleased with the member attendance and participation at programs this year. At our

first “free for members” event last fall, 33 of our 35 members [at the time] attended. We intend

to build in another “free for members” event this spring, as well. Additionally, we completely

sold of our cap of 30 artist slots at the new CMYK event, and we also filled up our eight team

slots for the annual Student Design Challenge two weeks in advance of the event. These positive

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showings tell us that the members we do have, although a smaller number than we’d like, are

very much engaged with our brand and are participating in our programs.

Finally, an even more exciting aspect to come from this year’s membership efforts are the

conversations regarding how we can continue to improve the membership process. Most recently

we’ve started exploring the option of offering American Advertising Awards entrants a

discounted price post-event to become a member. The idea is that we’d apply the cost difference

between member and nonmember entry fees and apply it toward a new membership. This tactic

will move participants who’s only touch point with us is the American Advertising Awards up

the engagement ladder to become more involved. In the 2016-2017 year, we’re going to explore

how we can apply this concept through other avenues such as luncheons or special events. This

strategy requires a greater investment from the club upfront, but we believe the return on the

investment is substantial.

To be able to represent AAF at our local level in the Central Minnesota area is something we

don’t take for granted. We see continuous growth in members each year and a lot of that we

attribute to our team of board members that volunteer their time passionately into making this

club superb. Our objectives were established as a committee and board to continue that upward

movement towards a bigger and better club for our ever-growing area.

CLUB ACHIEVEMENT MEMBERSHIP EXHIBIT 1.1

Strategic Goals Plan


Membership ROSTER: 2014-2015

June 1, 2014-May 31, 2015

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STANDARD MEMBERSHIP:Saves 10% Annually and Includes:

• Dues for one year of AAFCM membership*

• Discounted admission to one year of AAFCM programming

• Reduced entry rate to the American Advertising Awards

• Access to member- only events

• Local and national discounts to Office Depot, FedEx, Hertz and more

Student: $40Freelancer $75Professional: $125

* Membership expires 1 year from purchase date.

SEASON TICKET MEMBERSHIP:Save 15% Annually and Includes:

• Dues for one year of AAFCM membership*

• Admission to one year of AAFCM programming**

• Reduced entry rate to the American Advertising Awards

• Access to member- only events

• Local and national discounts to Office Depot, FedEx, Hertz and more

Student: $95Freelancer $190Professional: $250

* Membership expires 1 year from purchase date.

** Admission excludes ticket to American Advertising Awards.

Member Rates2015-2016

new!

AAFCM Members save 10-15%Members get 2 FREE luncheons • Access to member only events

Learn more membership benefits at AdfedCentral.com!

Membership Rates postcard


Homepage Redesign

call-to-action buttons


Membership Page Redesign


custom messaging


Hi there,

I noticed you recently became a member of AAF-Central MN! I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I’m Britt, one of the club’s membership co-chairs. I’m excited to welcome you to this energetic group of local marketing and advertising professionals.

I’ve been involved with the club for a couple years now, and I can tell you, first hand, that you definitely get out of it what you put in – as cliché as that sounds. ;-)

Nonetheless, I’m confident that if you take full advantage of all the events and gatherings we offer, you’ll notice the impact this organization can have on your career. From net-working, to new advertising and marketing ideas, to discounts on educational seminars, being a member of AAFCM gives you endless opportunities that extend beyond Central Minnesota.

As another way to extend the reach of our members, we’ve developed a new initiative this year called the Membership Spotlight. If you opt-in, you’ll have the opportunity to be a “Spotlighted Member” on our website, social media pages and even at events. If you want to learn more about being a Spotlighted Member, or to opt-in, visit www.adfedcentral.com/spotlight. It’s just 5 easy questions, and could really get your name out in the community!

Last but not least, our website is full of great information, including job postings and upcoming events. See what’s on this year’s programming calendar at www.adfedcentral.com/events. And as a member, you’ll get FREE admission to two luncheons.

Please let me know if you ever have any questions. I look forward to seeing you at the many AAFCM events this year!

Britt Vander EykAAF - Central MN Membership Co-Chair


Career Fair Email Receipt

Event Blogs


Membership Spotlight Program


Hi Amy!


CMYK Poster & Event photos


12-Hour Student Design Challenge Event Materials & Photos

EmailBlog

June 1, 2015-March 7, 2016

PROFESSIONAL & FREELANCE

PROFESSIONAL & FREELANCE

Studentmembers

season ticketHolders

STUDENTS

Updated Roster


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HEADQUARTERS 1101 VERMONT AVENUE NW, 5TH FLOOR, WASHINGTON DC 20005

P: (202) 898-0089 F: (202) 898-0159 WWW.AAF.ORG

2015–2016 award winning ideas - aaf website content/260_clubachievement/2016... · opportunities...

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