Membership sites that do not attract new members, and have poor member retention are bound to fail, but why will they crash and burn, and why is membership recruitment important?
The fact is membership recruitment is crucial for any organization. Here’s why!
Why Is Membership Recruitment Important?
Membership recruitment is important because it is responsible for growth, inclusivity, financial stability, new knowledge, new networks, and more power due to numbers.
All these elements are vitally important to any community, organization, club, association, or business. Here’s why these membership recruitment elements are important:
- Growth
By actively recruiting new members into your organization, you allow your community to expand its reach and influence. Also, more members mean access to more resources, expertise, and networks.
- Inclusivity
When you recruit new members, they bring their perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds into your organization.
This diversity creates an innovative, creative, and inclusive space.
- Financial Stability
Recruiting new members means you increase your revenue stream. This means you can fund more operations, initiatives, and programs, which is only doable when you achieve financial stability.
- New Knowledge
Recruiting new members to the community will bring fresh ideas, expertise, and skills to the organization. These new skills will also contribute to the community’s problem-solving abilities.
- New Networks
New members will also mean more opportunities to expand your network. These networks can open new collaboration possibilities, partnerships, mentorships, and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
- More Power In Numbers
The collective strength of a larger membership base gives the organization more credibility, influence, and bargaining power. This can be particularly important when advocating policy changes, negotiating partnerships, or seeking stakeholder support.
Now that we’ve answered, “Why is membership recruitment important?” we need to talk about what membership recruitment is.
What Is Membership Recruitment?
Membership recruitment is the process of actively finding, communicating with, and inviting individuals to join your organization, club, or association of like-minded professional people.
The process involves various strategies such as:
- Outreach
- Advertising
- Networking
- And promotional activities to attract new members.
At the end of the day, the goal is to expand the organization’s membership base.
By continuously recruiting new members, you can ensure the organization’s growth, sustainability, and relevance in its communities or industries.
Now that you know what membership recruitment is, how does one recruit people to their organization?
How Do You Recruit Members To Your Organization?
To recruit new members to your organization, you need to adopt a multi-pronged approach which includes:
Understand Your Demographic
To appeal to your core demographic of professionals, you need to know their interests and how to attract them to your organization. If you don’t know your demographic, you won’t be able to hold their attention.
Develop An Attractive Brand
Your potential members will only want to join your group if you have a great brand presence. This branding must also work in promotional materials such as adverts and brochures, in your online presence such as membership websites, and more.
Create Great Referral Programs
The best tool you have to recruit new members is current ones who are happy with their membership.
Make sure to offer current members incentives and rewards for successful referrals.
Also, featuring members with positive testimonials in your promotional material can be a great asset.
If you combine these methods and strategies, you’ll see results quickly. And always remember why membership recruitment is so important.
Read next: How Can I Make My Club More Interactive?
