When I talk with software vendors who are new to the association space (or at least new to me!), I always ask them: “What is your customer sweetspot?” What I mean by that is, what does your ideal association customer look like? Associations come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s very unusual that a software vendor can serve all segments of the association market.
The same is likely true for your membership. Do you know your member sweetspot? Do you know the profile of the type of member you can provide the most value to? Many of my clients do by default, because they have a very defined audience (e.g., four year colleges in the US).
But many others are serving a huge profession or industry, and thus have a huge potential audience. But just like the software company that can’t be all things to all associations, most associations can’t be all things to all potential members.
The good news is, if you’ve collected the right kind of data on your members, you can probably pretty quickly define who the profile of your “best” member. Then you’ll know your sweespot, and can focus your energies there.