Tomorrow's membership organization

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!

TWITTER

• 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

TOMORROW’S MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION

Kyle J. Sexton | kyle@fastchamber.com | FastChamber.com