tomorrow's membership organization
TRANSCRIPT
TOMORROW’S MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION
Kyle J. Sexton, Fast Chamber
Tomorrow's Membership Organization
Have a S.E.A.T. Service & Sell With The Latest
Technology Engage Members Without Asking
Them to Show Up Allow Members to Choose Their
Investment Teach Members How to Talk About Us
The Want-To's Are Our Future
The “have-to's”The “ought-to's”The “want-to's”
WHY PEOPLE DON’T JOIN
Don’t have time to participate (68%) Don’t see the value (49%) Corporate office policy (45%) Membership costs too much (18%) Don’t do business locally (10%)
WACE
ENGAGE MEMBERS
… without asking them to show up! Participation vs. Partnership Membership does not require
participation Prevent drops due to “no time to
participate” Health club comparison Chamber Church Confessional
Buying and Justifying
Businesses: People BUY emotionally, JUSTIFY intellectually
Chambers: People JOIN emotionally and JUSTIFY upon renewal Who MUST you reach in order to be
successful? Who will have the most impact over the
long-term?
ALLOW MEMBERS TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN INVESTMENTCommon Dues Structures
Fair Share (usually based on number of employees)
Special Formulas (usually for certain industry categories)
Tiered Dues Structures Negotiated Dues Dues/Non-Dues Package (such as
Chairman’s Clubs)
Membership Tiers
Offer something for everyone Create “upsell” opportunities Create a sense of privilege,
recognition and exclusivity with upper tiers
Create benefits that require little or no hard costs to the chamber
Upper Tier Benefit Objectives Self-Segmentation Pro-active leadership role Above “Cost-per-member”
benchmark Increased membership stature and
personal/professional recognition Improved personal and professional
skills and networking contacts
Quantify your benefits
How much does membership cost? How much is membership worth? Quantify it and sell it! Add to the value with media partners
and give-aways
TEACH MEMBERS HOW TO TALK ABOUT YOU Generate talk about your product or
service amongst peer groups Some products/services will only be
sold with referral Testimonials: People trust other
people’s opinions
YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE
The Wrong Pitch The chamber is a private non-profit
membership organization that works to ensure a healthy local economy.
The chamber is a group of businesses that share common community goals.
YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE
The Right Pitch The chamber solves common business
problems like not having enough time to lobby the government for less red tape and taxes.
The Chamber connects businesses to consumers and each other, in order to help them grow.
The Chamber helps people who are tired of doing business out of a phone book.
Testimonials: Get them started! “As a service business, membership
in the Chamber is especially valuable because…”
“The Chamber helps me to…” “The Chamber saves me time/trouble
by…”
Segmenting Testimonials
Segment the sources of your testimonials for use in targeting like audiences
Start-up, Emerging, or Mature Retailer, Restaurant, Manufacturer,
Service, Professional, etc. Match prospects with corresponding
testimonials
SERVICE AND SELL MEMBERSHIPS WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY What is GoDaddy and why are
they number 1?
Gain the service advantage enjoyed by other industries
Are These Your Sales Challenges?
Information Overload Sales Department Turn-Over Printed Materials Out-of-Date “Foul Language” of Volunteers
The Solution
Never Complains Never Asks for a Raise Works 24-7-52 Captures Your Web Traffic Standardizes Your Sales Language Has sold up to $25,000 in new
member dues per year
YOU’VE HEARD THE BUZZ…
Logos are copyrighted marks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Too much technology Not enough technology Too many friend requests Can’t keep up with technology Trying to stay ahead of businesses
SOCIAL MEDIA CONCERNS
What are they?If you haven't moved yet, what's keeping you
away?
Business Power Lunch
Family Dining
Fast Food
RESTAURANT ANALOGY:
DEMOGRAPHICS:
LinkedIn $106,000 average income every Fortune 500 company is represented Facebook 35-54 age group is up 276% in the last 12
months Twitter 25.9% in 35-44 age group 25-34 age group 30% more likely to use 45-54 age group 36% more likely to use
MOST POPULAR WEB SITES Search & Social Media are HUGE1. Google2. Facebook3. Yahoo4. YouTube 5. Myspace6. Twitter7. LinkedinSource: Alexa.com
THREATS TO YOUR RELEVANCE
The Chamber That WOULDN’T
WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY
Social networks build online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.
Web 2.0 uses Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
• Podcasts –iTunes, Audible, AudioAcrobat• Blogs – Blogger, WordPress, Type Pad• Social Networks – LinkedIn, FaceBook, YouTube
STATUS UPDATES
What’s your status?
SOCIAL NETWORKING CONCERNS
Should we be friends?
What do you do with friend requests?
LINKEDIN – FOR PROFESSIONALS
• Started as online resume service• Groups allow causes and associations to
gather followers• “Answers” allow users to participate in
a professional referral community• Ancillary applications are limited – no
fluff!• Professional visibility without
“exposure”
LINKEDIN TIPS
• Be easy to find through keywords• Answer questions• Ask for recommendations• Recommend others • Update your status• Search for past and new connections• Discover new out-sourcing partners
FACEBOOK – THE NEW LEADER
• Started as invitation-only network for college students
• Second only to Google in traffic• Gives users complete control over
privacy• Integrates many different technologies
into one space: videos, photos, links, games and more
FACEBOOK TIPS
• Turn OFF the features you're not comfortable with: Fan postings, links, photos, videos, etc.
• Keep it more professional than personal• Add the RSS feed from your blog• Tell your story (use keywords)• Create a fan-base – you've got them!
• Something between blogging and text or instant messaging
• 140 characters or less – Think headlines!
• Commonly called micro-blogging• Twitterfeed lets you relay other RSS into
your Twitter account• TwitterLocal follows geographic Twits• Search and filter with TweetDeck
HOW AND WHY DOES THIS WORK?
Flip The Traditional Marketing Funnel On Its Side
Why Does This Work?
• Google loves social networks• Google also loves Chamber sites• Social networks want your posts• Chambers have members who have
posts• Your members can “tag along” and get
found on search engines by participating with you
HOW Does This Work?
• Start with a Blog or Ning Network• Now add a LinkedIn Group and feed
your blog into the NEWS tab• Now create a Facebook Fan Page and
put your Blog or Ning feed in the Notes tab
• Create a YouTube channel so you can embed videos in your blog and web site
Writing News Releases
Effective Headlines The First Paragraph The Middle Paragraphs —End— Boilerplate
Boilerplate
In 5 sentences or less, Who are you?
Contains complete contact information
Should be consistent; inconsistent = unprofessional
PUT IT ALL TOGETHERFlip The Traditional Marketing Funnel On Its Side
TAKE ACTION NOW
• Survey your members!• Start a Blog• Link your blog to your site• Create a profile and Group on LinkedIn• Feed your Blog into the News feature on
your LinkedIn Group• Feed your Blog into your Twitter account
and Facebook Fan Page with TwitterFeed• Use Ping.fm to post on multiple sites
