Promoting your code of ethics to boost member recruitment and retention  

Your association’s code of ethics can be a valuable member benefit and a powerful tool for member recruitment and retention.   

Here’s why it’s so important to members and how you can promote it. 

 Tirrah Switzer, Product Marketing Director, Community Brands

Your association’s code of ethics is a valuable benefit for your members. It might even be more important than you think. And, promoting it can give a boost to your member recruitment and retention. 

Let’s take a look at why your code of ethics is so important to members and how you can promote it for your association. 

The importance of your association’s code of ethics
In the 2021 Association Trends Study by Community Brands, code of ethics ranks number five in the most important member benefits. What’s more, since 2016, studies from Community Brands have found that professional standards or a code of ethics has ranked as a top driver of membership renewal.  

In the studies, members have listed these reasons for why a code of ethics matter so much: 

• It provides a common set of rules or standards for all in the profession to adhere to.
• It defines best practices for the profession. 
• It provides a basis to meet compliance requirements for the profession.  
• It provides a legal standard for the profession.  
• It provides a “seal of approval” that those outside the profession can look for when using/selecting our services.  
• It helps as a watchdog for the profession. 

Promoting your association’s code of ethics
Because it’s such a valuable benefit to members, your code of ethics can be a powerful tool for member recruitment and retention. So, isn’t it time to market it? 

Here are six ideas for promoting your association’s code of ethics: 

1. Include value statements about your association’s code of ethics in your member recruitment communications and materials. Focus on the reasons listed previously for why members say a code of ethics matters.
2. Highlight your association’s code of ethics in your member onboarding process to let new members know about it right away. 
3. Make sure the code of ethics is easy for members to find on your website and in your online member community.
4. Include a section in your member newsletter that reminds members of the importance of the code of ethics and where to find it.
5. Periodically remind members of the process for reporting and resolving potential code of ethics violations.
6. Review and update the code of ethics each year with input from some of your members. Then, get the word out to members (via your member newsletter, online member community, member events, and other communications) that it has been updated. Be sure to:

• Restate the significance of the code of ethics.
• Call out what has changed.
• Remind members how to access it.
• Remind members of the process for reporting and handling potential violations. 

Your association’s code of ethics is a valuable benefit for your industry and your membership base that can be a powerful tool for member recruitment and retention. Be sure to not only keep it updated, but also get the word out about it.  

Learn more. 

Discover more marketing tips that can help your association with member recruitment and retention: Watch the on-demand webinar, Top Marketing Trends to Try in 2022.