Moose?  Who’s heard of Moose?  Well, as it turns out, quite a few people have.  In fact, 1.1 million men and women are currently members.  But like many other membership-based organizations, the Moose often finds itself riding through the peaks and valleys of member recruitment.   Generally, its membership drive relies on existing members sticking around year after year and reaching out to recruit their friends to join, too.

While this has proven effective on a grassroots basis, it’s not necessarily the most effective membership-recruitment approach at the macro level.

Enter Heard of Moose? (www.heardofmoose.org) This pilot public education campaign is the first of its kind for the Moose, and it was no small task.  It incorporates paid advertising in the Tampa market – encompassing buses, bus shelters, billboards, online and newspapers – public relations; social media AND grassroots marketing. And while there may not be a magic bullet for effective recruitment outreach, we’ve identified a few commonalities that you might want to consider before launching your next campaign.     

• Get your Board…on board. 

Start at the top – don’t just get approval, build excitement!  Beyond their initial approval of the financial investment, gauge their interest, rally for their support and get them involved. It took us about one full year – and many Powerpoint presentations – to get the Board to green light Heard of Moose?

• Assume nothing.

Without a doubt, THE most important step in any membership recruitment campaign is determining your existing reputation.  Throw away any preconceived notions of what you THINK your audience believes. Hearsay can only go so far.  Does your target audience actually know what your organization does? Do they think your organization is worth their investment?  Is it relevant?  Even with a limited budget, our research uncovered many existing perceptions which impacted Heard of Moose?

• Get friendly with your audience.

Now is the time to study your target audience.   Gender? Age? Income level? Social media use?  Connection to your mission? Demographics play a key role in recruiting members.  As organizations increasingly “compete” for time and resources, it’s important to consider the realities of your potential members.  The Moose has since restructured part of its membership program to build greater emphasis on its “at-large” membership option—a more flexible, general approach to its traditional structure.

• Take the plunge. 

If you’re launching a recruitment campaign, don’t tip your toe in the water; dive right in.  Effective campaigns require an investment of time, energy, and of course, dollars.  On average, it takes seven “touch points” for a person to notice and connect with an advertisement.  Saturating a market with clear, consistent messages for a defined period of time will undoubtedly increase success.  The Heard of Moose ads use the same four images, the same color scheme, the same font, and even the same call to action (“go to HeardOfMoose.org”) in every placement, whether it be an online banner, a billboard, a newspaper ad or a bus.

• Measure once, in many ways.

How will your organization know if its goals are met?  Has there been an increase in new member applications?  Increased engagement from existing members?  Increased media attention?  Conversations on social media platforms? A diverse set of metrics more accurately defines campaign success, rather than simply looking at the number of new people joining your organization.  Levels of awareness and knowledge are difficult to attach metrics, so a balance between numeric-based results paired with testimonials (e.g., email responses, Facebook comments, etc.) is vital.  As Heard of Moose? unfolds, tracking and reporting continue to play key roles in measurement.

The Moose strives to get its message out as an organization based on service to youth, elderly, and its communities, in a changing society.  This pilot campaign is testing the waters and setting new standards, not only for the Moose, but for other membership-based organizations as well.

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Lynda Baldwin

Lynda Baldwin is a principal at Communication Strategies Group, Inc., an award-winning communications firm representing clients across industries from Moose International to Girl Scouts, from multi-tiered health systems to professional service firms.  CSG  provides strategic communications counsel and support to achieve clients’ business goals. For more information go to www.communication-strategies.com.

About Moose

Moose International, an international organization of roughly 1.1 million men and women, is dedicated to caring for the young and old, bringing communities closer together and celebrating life.  The men and women of the Moose conduct community service programs valued between $75 million and $100 million annually throughout North America.

Member-based organizations are fighting similar battles. Many potential members are wondering “why join if we can network on LinkedIn?” From associations to chambers, finding that mix of the right dues level coupled by exclusive events worth becoming a part of an organization for is a continuous stressor. SCD group featured a couple of interesting posts on this – Reinventing Membership as a Revenue Tool for Associations and Five Issues Impacting the Future of Associations and Nonprofits.

Where is the appropriate line? How do you decide what content is available to all and what privileges people will pay for? It’s something each organization needs to reflect on, revisit and make public. If you decide to offer 90% of your content and activities to everyone (regardless of membership) and lock 10% down for members only, you must communicate what that 10% is. We are a curious species. Create teasers, entice your audience to move forward with you to this “walled garden” of exclusive activities and content. If they don’t know about it, they won’t desire to be a part of it. American Express had the idea when they created the ad campaign of “membership has its privileges.” Create a desire, an incentive to join, a “need” for what you plan on charging for. Show a little something, without revealing a lot. Without this sort of “seduction” a freemium dues model will not work.

Auto-pilot and canned responses kill the human element necessary to succeed in customer service. When you’re faced with a question that you cannot answer to the member’s satisfaction:

1. Be sensitive to the underlying factors behind the question. Financial difficulties? Bereavement situation? Don’t brush it off. It’s as much a part of the question as the actual solution.

2. Explore how this question applies to your membership at large. Is this a one-off question or an inquiry you hear frequently? Can you put something in place that will help ameliorate this problem going forward? Think about it after the call. If you cannot implement these changes, seek out the person who can. (NOTE: if you are able to make some changes, contact the member back once they are implemented even if it won’t help their situation. Explain that their question has changed the organization for the better.)

3. Ditch your go-to verbiage. While canned language may seem to help you through a difficult question, it rarely wins anyone over. For instance, if someone is calling to cancel a membership because of the death of a loved one, don’t close the conversation with “Have a good day.”

Being present in the conversation, even during a difficult one, is key to making an impression on members especially when your answers are not to their liking.

Since innovation has been a topic of interest to associations and other member-based organizations, we’re wondering if you’ve had the same experience?

Innovation time may take away from production (or event planning) time in the short run but in the long term, assessing and reassessing the way you conduct business and your offerings is beneficial to your organization. It keeps it vital and attractive to potential members.  The benefit to staff and process remaining the same over time is consistency but it’s also a downfall as there is a tendency to continue on auto-pilot. The staff and board have spent years formulating best practices and now they work, automated like a factory line. It’s efficient but not sexy. If it’s been years since the topic of best practices has been visited it may not even be the most efficient way of doing business. Has software been introduced that could simplify your daily tasks? Are there new types of events you could be offering or can you introduce new features into events (like Twitter that will improve your communication and connection to and with members?

Innovation doesn’t have to be free time given to employees to pursue their own joy. It can be as easy as conversation. When I’m brainstorming for topics or content on this blog, I call upon my co-workers. I talk to gamers. I talk to HR. I talk to support. I like to hear their thoughts on what they think we do and how we help people. I ask about their hobbies or what they did over the weekend. I never know where a blog post idea will come from. The same can be said of innovation. Talking to members about how they use your association, chamber or organization can give you a very different perspective from that of your board. We get mired in our own positions but may have incredibly original ideas for a problem we’re seeing for the first time.

Innovation, when done optimally, will never end and by that measure, it can be frustrating to those overseeing the process. But evolution of our organizations is what will continue to make them thrive. Sadly, there is no equation for that, no line process. You must talk about new things/possibilities and understand that some will be a good fit and others not. Sometimes you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two until implementation.

Talk to everyone about innovation but avoid using the term. It’s limiting, like when someone asks your favorite color. It’s hard to communicate that in a way that the listener can feel. “I like blue” is very different from pointing at the ocean, toes in the sand and saying “the blue of the Atlantic Ocean is my favorite color.” There’s so much more to that experience.

Who are you talking to about innovation and ideas today?

Every employee or volunteer has a secret identity as well. There are things they do in their “off time” that can help (or hurt, but that’s a different blog post) your organization. Uncover these secrets by getting to know them and you might be surprised at how much stronger these hidden skills make your organization. Did you know your membership director writes novels on the side? Who better to tell the story of your association? Did you know your alumni director used to run a catering company and her culinary skills could be donated as part of your next auction? Uncovering the specifics behind what makes your people special not only helps your organization make the most of its resources, it also allows people to do something they love to help a group they believe in. Sometimes they don’t offer the service because they don’t see a tie-in between their hobby and your needs. Explore these possibilities with a little creative thinking and a lot of communication.

Your interest in them will make them feel valued and their uncovered skills will bring more depth to your offerings.