Discover how to avoid recruitment pitfalls and expand your association's impact by tapping into unexplored audiences with Tony Rossell, Senior VP of Marketing General Inc, and Host Farhad Khan
About This Episode
Let's understand how to plan and execute a thriving membership program and what is required to achieve long-term membership resiliency. Our guest, Tony Rossell answers these questions and more during this exclusive podcast interview. Listen in as Tony shares practical guidance and reflections from his book, Membership Recruitment, which explains why an effective membership recruitment program is the key to association growth, financial health, and mission success.
About Our Guest
Tony Rossell serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing General Incorporated, a Direct Marketing Agency in Alexandria, Virginia.
A frequent writer and speaker, his recently published book, Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission, offers a practical guide to help membership professionals. He is the past chair of the ASAE Membership Council. In his work at MGI, Tony launched the annual Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report and developed the membership framework he calls the “Membership Lifecycle.” Over his 30-year career, he has consulted with hundreds of associations helping them diagnose and solve their membership marketing challenges.
Full List of Questions We Asked Tony
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Can you tell us a bit about your book on membership recruitment?
Many technology companies are moving towards a recurring revenue model and I think associations are sitting on a goldmine with their loyal membership. Why do so many associations struggle to grow their membership?
You talk about the economic driver for member marketing and why the investment must generate a return. Can you tell us more about it?
You also talk about the value proposition - why should a prospect join and the power of a strong message! Can you tell us more about creating the value proposition?
Is there any formula for value proposition that you follow?
How would you create a member recruitment program for an association, say the association has some budget and some staff capacity to take on something new?
How do you get buy-in from management to work on the recruitment program?
Can you share some recruitment programs that have worked great for your clients?
Where can associations find their target market?
You developed the membership framework called the "membership lifecycle". In that lifecycle is there a way of sunsetting certain memberships so that we don’t chase after the wrong prospects?
How do you find out who are not the right members for your association?
Since we build membership websites for associations can you tell us about the importance of a membership website?
What are your thoughts about public website and membership site or a members only area?
You have an annual benchmarking report for membership marketing. How has covid-19 impacted association membership and will there be any long lasting effect on associations?
You have a marketing benchmarking report for member recruitment. Can you tell us more about it?
Audience Questions
How do I find out where potential members hang out?
How to get the buy-in from the decision-makers in your organization to invest in IT and digital marketing?
Beyond financial benefits of membership, how best to sell the less tangible benefits of your association?
How to do grab the attention of your prospects when there is already so much noise? How do you reach out to try and attract new members without coming across as spam?
Does membership recruitment require different tactics for gen z vs older age cohorts?
How fluid are most recruitment campaigns that you've helped to create? Are they planned in advance with every step concretely established, or, are they adaptive based on the results of prior actions?
Can I use training opportunities to bring in new members, what does that look like?
In the new digital world, how do renewals cut through the clutter and are calling and mailing invoice campaigns still effective for renewals/retention?
For A/B testing emails, how much time you let pass before you decide which one to choose? Is one day sufficient?
How do you align the membership and marketing arms if they are led by different people and have different priorities?
What are your top three most successful membership recruitment procedures/campaigns?
What is the recommended size of a membership team, and what are the specific roles to play when executing a membership?
Closing Questions
Key takeaway for the audience?
Can you share a personal habit that has contributed the most to your success?
How can people get in touch if they have any questions?