Tony Rossell at the Membership Marketing blog has listed the “25 Most Important Lessons in Membership Marketing” based on their recent survey of membership marketers. It’s an interesting list, and what I found most intriguing is how a well-implemented and well-managed membership and customer database (think AMS) can support (nay, is required for) several of the issues raised.
For example, item #16 reads: Successful membership means instituting and implementing consistent processes and procedures for renewals, testing new membership techniques and messages, and always pursuing lapsed members.
A good AMS will support all of this. Membership renewals can be automated, lapsed members can be easily identified, and response rates for different promotions can be captured and analyzed in a well-designed AMS.
Another example. #22 reads: Success depends on building relationships with our member companies, “drilling down” and developing relationships with multiple contacts at the member company and regularly communicating the value that the association provides to each member in multiple ways.
A good AMS will support both org and individual records, and the relationships between and among them. A well-managed system will allow you to easily see “how deep” your reach is into your member-organizations. Or even if you have individual members, these relationships can show how deeply you penetrate a given organization with individual members.
The whole list is well-worth reading.