is nothing without a strong membership. We depend on membership both financially and

Transcription

1 Club Achievement - MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT As the unified voice of young professionals and students in advertising, Ad 2 Tampa Bay is nothing without a strong membership. We depend on membership both financially and communally to prosper. Last year, we were out a Membership Director, which resulted in a lack of membership growth and record-keeping. Needless to say, we started the year in a membership-insecure state. By renewing ourselves with an inspired Membership committee and specific membership development goals, we set course for one of the most successful years in Ad 2 Tampa Bay. We focused on the value our organization provides members, developing a system to communicate benefits to prospective and current members, and creating a system to manage and track memberships, payments, and renewal dates. By doing so, we were able to consistently amplify our recruitment efforts, improve retention of existing members, and increase the level of involvement of new and existing members throughout the year. Our specific goals for these three areas of focus were: 1. Recruitment: A. Increase our paid membership roster by 300% B. Develop and recruit 1 business to an all-new Agency Membership level 2. Retention: A. Establish outreach and interaction systems to encourage at least 75% of last year s members to renew their memberships B. Establish Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a benchmark for likely retention and earn at least an 8.0 rating on the How likely would you be to recommend joining Ad 2 to your friends or family? mid-year survey 1

2 3. Involvement: A. Promote the value of our events so at least 20 members attend each monthly event B. Provide member perks and activities to encourage member-driven team bonding INITIATIVES Building A New Membership Management System Goal: Recruit Secondary Goal: Retain Activity: Club Operations Overview: Restructuring our Membership Management System was our biggest membership undertaking of the year. Although our creative team had been creating amazing messaging that effectively grew our prestige throughout the advertising community, we struggled to follow and keep up with memberships because we didn t have a dedicated membership management system. The manual upkeep of membership renewal dates was subject to human error, and we were waiting for AAF s Engage system to help automate the process. We appointed a new Membership Director who had a passion for people, but also an intense desire to develop new membership processes to grow new and retain existing members. He set out to develop a system to use technology to track our memberships, enable swift registration and payment, and send out welcome s and membership renewal reminders to retain existing members. We started the year by mapping out the existing membership journey and identifying opportunities to improve the experience for incoming and existing members. (1.1) This exercise allowed us to pinpoint specific areas where we could begin to immediately improve in our club operations. There were too many tools in our technology stack (the collection of software and programs we used to manage our memberships), a confusing registration form, and no follow-up or welcome s being sent to new members. 2

3 Tactic A - Improved Membership Technology Stack (Recruit): Our marketing/membership tracking technology stack was very disjointed and comprised of a mix of manual entry and unnecessary automation. We did some research at the beginning of the year and vetted a number of Membership/Association Management Tools. Most were well out of our budget, so our membership director decided to make our own using a few Wordpress tools. We invested in Gravity Forms and MemberPress to handle our membership automation. This led to a number of incremental improvements to our website. (1.2) We first made it responsive, so visitors could use it via mobile devices. After which, we implemented the new tools to streamline the membership sign-up, notification, tracking, and renewal process. We also implemented an event calendar to keep all of our members informed of upcoming events. (1.3) Tactic B - Simplified Membership Dues and Registration Form (Recruit, Retain): After analyzing the existing membership form, we identified a few problems that needed to be worked on. The membership sign-up was wordy and separated into two forms, making it confusing for both new and renewing members. We were able to use the new tool, Gravity Forms, to create a single, beautiful form to walk new members through signing up. (1.4) We then incorporated the form and membership management tool so that we could track our membership through our website and send out automated reminders when memberships were coming up for renewal. (1.5) Tactic C - Dedicated Membership Facebook Group & Slack Chat (Involve, Retain): After analyzing the member journey, we realized that there was an opportunity to welcome new members to an exclusive Facebook Group (1.6) so they could immediately start interacting with other members. We chose Facebook because nearly every member has an account, and the Groups functionality meant they would receive social notifications whenever Ad 2 Tampa Bay or a Director posted. This would help with our objective of increasing member interaction and 3

4 ultimately help with retention when it came time to renew. We set up a welcome (1.7) for people to receive after they have registered and paid dues, which directed them to the group. We also utilized a team collaboration tool called Slack, which was rated 4.5/5 by PC Mag, to enable a chatroom exclusively for our committee members. The new Slack chat works on desktop, mobile, and in-browser and allows us to communicate and keep everyone engaged throughout the year (1.8). Both Slack and Facebook were effective primary tools for continual member contact throughout the year. Results: After programming and testing, we now have a robust member management solution that has enabled us to scale our membership outreach, accurately track our memberships, and ultimately measure the incredible amount of growth we achieved this year (1.9). We are currently at 85 (1.10) paid members, which means we have exceeded our goal of intense growth. There is also a front-end login (1.11) so members can see their membership information and when they need to renew which will be useful for retention. Our Membership Director can now focus on less tedious work thanks to automated, well-designed welcome s directing new members to our Facebook group, plus personalized reminders (1.12) when they are 30, 5, and 1 day from their renewal date. The best part about the new membership management system is the robust analytics that we can enjoy right from our website. (1.13) We can now track memberships by month and drill down into specific membership types all from one convenient dashboard. Committee-First Recruitment, Events, and Engagement Goal: Recruit Secondary Goal: Involve Activity: Volunteerism Overview: This year we took a committee-first approach to membership recruitment and involvement. By repositioning committee involvement as the primary benefit of membership, and an opportunity to get real-world experience similar to an internship, we were able to use it as 4

5 a powerful recruitment tool and a way to keep members involved with both building and attending events. Committees also helped significantly with Director workloads. Tactic A - Ad 2 & You Kickoff Event (Recruit, Involve): During this event our Directors ran stations that educated guests and potential members on Ad 2 Tampa Bay s core initiatives, and explained the benefits of membership and committee involvement. There were opportunities throughout the night to join the organization and sign up for a committee. (2.1) Tactic B - Leadership Retreat (Involve, Retain): After gathering our new members and organizing them based on the committees they wanted to volunteer for, we held a retreat at local agency Clear Labs. Throughout the day we established committee roles and educated our new members on Ad 2 Tampa Bay s core values and initiatives, which set them up for a year of passionate involvement. (2.2) Tactic C - Monthly Membership Meetings (Involve, Retain): We instituted monthly membership meetings, open to our entire membership, where Directors would collaborate with their committees to plan and execute upcoming events. By inviting non-committee members to the meetings as well, we were able to showcase the camaraderie and fun that the club s more passionate members experienced from volunteering. (2.3) Results: Ad 2 & You drew over 60 attendees, 38 of which signed up and joined a committee. These new members also went on to attend our retreat, and were consistently engaged volunteers and event attendees throughout the year. (2.4) Monthly Programming Goal: Involve Secondary Goal: Retain Activity: Projects/Programs Overview: From communal AdSocials to educational AdTalks, we deliver fun and hospitable insight to our members through monthly programs. Our AdSocials allow social and networking 5

6 experiences while our AdTalks bring in high-profile guest speakers from the local and regional advertising industry. Tactic A - Network and Chill AdSocials (Involve, Retain): Our updated networking event series was focused on providing our members with a glimpse into the diverse agency workplaces and cultures in the Tampa Bay area. Where our networking events used to take place at bars or coffee shops, they now took place within agencies across the area. Host speakers touched upon the different job roles and work flows that exist across departments within their organization. Agencies visited include: Harbr Co, 22 Squared, Company Man Studios, Sparxoo. (3.1) Tactic B - AdTalks (Involve, Retain): From tackling topics of Diversity with our UNDIVIDED event, to broaching the topic of data collection during our Cyber Insecurity event, to discussing the emerging Virtual Reality market with an expert from Facebook our AdTalks are focused on bringing timely and relevant discussion that engages our membership and their needs. (3.2) Results: Our AdSocials and AdTalks drew an average of 25 attendees to a variety of different agencies and businesses across the Tampa Bay area. The value of these events, and the presence of the Membership team at each event, helped propel us towards our 80 member goal (3.3). New Community Partner Membership Level Goal: Recruit Secondary Goal: Retain Activity: Projects/Programs Overview: In order to connect ourselves more deeply with the local advertising community, we restructured and rebranded our Corporate Memberships into Community Partnerships. Our Membership committee worked with our Executive Board to establish different price tiers which included not only discounted memberships, but also additional benefits like highlights on our social media and event presentations (4.1). 6

7 Results: We exceeded our goal of adding one Agency Member by obtaining two: Sparxoo, and Social Forces, as well as one Ongoing Community Event Partner, Buddy Brew Coffee (4.2). Member Perks Goal: Involve Secondary Goal: Retention Activity: Projects/Programs Overview: For involvement, we also wanted to have at least one membership perk per month to encourage our members to gather together and get to know one another. Perks included free spin cycle classes, gym memberships, happy hours, and aromatherapy classes (5.1). We even offered members a choice of perks, to feel like they had more control over their membership value (5.2). Results: These perks were very well-received, and helped to create deeper bonds between our membership and the club s leadership. Specifically, they motivated members that had not previously attended events to meet and bond with other, more active members. Most of our perks were event based, with groups of highly engaged attendees (5.3). Feedback Surveys + Personal Inquiries Goal: Retain Secondary Goal: Involve Activity: Member Feedback Overview: In order to pinpoint our successes and areas of improvement throughout this year, we created a Mid-Year Survey for our membership to complete. This included a variety of questions that allowed them to express what they felt we were doing right and wrong, which helped us tweak and improve our programming and offerings in the second half of the year. Some questions included what they felt we did well as a club, what needed improvement, how the frequency and type of programs should change, and if they were part of a committee yet. (6.1) Results: ⅓ of our entire membership responded to our Mid-Year Survey, and we exceeded our goal of achieving an 8.0 Net Promoter Score with a 9.1 indicating that the vast majority of our membership would recommend our organization to a friend or coworker (6.2). We also utilized 7

8 the responses in our mid-year retreat presentation, and addressed both concerns and praises from our members, such as wanting fewer events in a month, and wanting to see a workshop in the new year (6.3). CONCLUSION: Overall Results No annual plan is complete without the motivation of your members and board of directors to accomplish a shared vision. We started the year with the intense goal of going from 20 paid members to having 80 by the end of the fiscal year a growth of 300%. For retention, we wanted to make sure that we kept at least 75% of the original 20 members in growing the club and we kept 85%. We also wanted to make sure that in this period of rapid growth, that we increased member attendance at our events and programs throughout the year. By utilizing new forums of communication, reaching out personally to our members, and using personalized e- mail communications, we hit our goal of engaging members and having at least 20 of them attend each event, for some events we had as many as 35 members alongside the non-member attendees. Finally, after hitting 85 members after such a short time, we ve already exceeded our 300% increase recruitment goal which means we now have a clear lineage of future leaders and our club s continued success.. 8

9 1.1 Membership Journey Map 9

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11 1.2 Old vs New Ad 2 Tampa Bay Website , Unresponsive Page 11

12 Responsive Redesign 12

13 1.3 Website Member Event Calendar 1.4 New Membership Sign-Up Forms 13

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15 1.5 Automated Renewal Reminders 15

16 1.6 Facebook Group Examples 16

17 1.7 Welcome 17

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19 1.8 Slack Communication 19

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21 1.9 Membership Management Interface 21

22 1.10 Old vs. New Membership 22

23 1.11 New Login 23

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25 1.12 Membership Reminder 25

26 1.13 Membership Dashboard 2.1 Ad 2 And You Outreach, Photos, Collateral 26

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30 Interactive cards 30

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32 2.2 Committee Spreadsheets and Retreat Photos 32

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34 2.3 Membership Meetings and Breakout Group Example 34

35 2.4 Ad 2 & You Attendance, Committee Conversions 35

36 3.1 Network and Chill Promotional Collateral 36

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39 3.2 AdTalk Promotional Material Examples 39

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46 3.3 Average attendance 46

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48 4.1 Community Partner Options 48

49 Community Partner Options 49

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51 4.2 Bringing On Community Partners 51

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54 5.1 Membership Perk Eblasts 54

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57 5.2 Choose Your Member Perk Survey & Respondents 57

58 5.3 Examples of Perk turnout/attendance 58

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61 6.1 Personalized Mid-Year Survey Outreach 61

62 6.2 Mid-Year Survey Results Word cloud from responses 62

63 Mid-Year Survey Results 63

64 Mid-Year Survey Results 64

65 Mid-Year Survey Results 65

66 6.3 Survey findings presented at Mid-year Retreat 66