Happy Friday! I can’t believe it’s already May! I feel like we just celebrated Christmas here, and Cinco de Mayo is already over! There were some great posts in the association community this week – feel free to share some more in the comments!

1. David M. Patt shared some wisdom this week through a story about an advertisement. The moral of the story: even if you think you know what your audiences should want, it doesn’t always work that way. Ask them, then provide it, no matter how much you think they shouldn’t want something.

2. I’m a huge fan of ABC’s “Lost” (although I’m several episodes behind, so no spoilers!), so I loved Carolyn Hook’s post on Acronym this week. She shared three scenarios from the show and derived community-building tips from each one. Whether you watch the show or not, there are some great ideas in this post.

3. At the Membership Marketing Blog, Tony Rossell shared some results from the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey. The question: What strategy leads to membership growth? The options: Acquisition, retention or both. The results might surprise you – check it out.

4. Guest writing at the Social Fish blog, Leslie White discussed the possibility of associations using a modified BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) process to make decisions. She suggests an independent commission could evaluate programs, services and events and the board would accept or reject it. What do you think?

5. Joe Gerstandt wrote a great post about inclusion in the workplace and unintentional filters that are set up. He writes, When people do stand up, when they do speak their truth, ask big questions or challenge decisions we generally send some pretty clear messages that they are making everyone’s life more complicated. A very good read…

I’m off to the beach this weekend! I hope everyone has a fun, enjoyable weekend too! And a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Photo source

I did some digging on YouTube and found this video from ASAE & The Center. Although it was posted in November 2008, the video includes some great reminders as it discusses the book, “The Decision to Volunteer” by Monica Dingnam and Beth Gazley. In Dingnam and Gazley’s study, they talked directly to association volunteers to give staff members insight into retention and recruitment. In the video, Gazley, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, highlights key points associations should remember.

The Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey results were released in late August at ASAE and The Center’s Annual Meeting. The results, which are available as a 40-page PDF here (registering to get access to the PDF is easy), compile data from a nearly month-long survey conducted this spring. Previous posts examining the results can be found here.

I still find myself intrigued by the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey. I was scanning its pages this afternoon and noticed something very interesting.

Ninety-one percent of associations incorporate direct mail into their plan for membership renewals.

My first thoughts?

1. That’s not very “green.”
2. That seems like it probably takes a lot of time and resources, depending on the size of the association

I read on, and found the kicker:

“Associations with renewal rates of 80% or higher are significantly more likely to use the more personal methodologies for renewal efforts, such as staff phone calls (66% vs. 46%), board phone calls (34% vs. 17%), and peer member contacts (37% vs. 19%).”

Whoa. So despite the fact that the majority of associations use direct mail (91%) or e-mail marketing (83%), those tactics just don’t work as well. The more personal the contact, the higher the renewal rate.

Lesson? Don’t just send off a bunch of brochures or literature explaining why a member should renew. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Your members should be your biggest advocates.”

It’s all well and good to put some literature together proclaiming how great your association is and why members should renew. But you should never discount the importance of adding a personal touch.

Maybe staff, board or peer phone calls would take more time than sending information via direct mail. But are the resources it would take (time, predominately) be worth it if your association renewed a higher number of members in the end? I’m thinking yes.