Association Marketing: 11 Strategies to Boost Membership

Associations help their members build community and grow personally and professionally. But associations themselves need to experience consistent growth, too! 

Getting your association’s name out there and recruiting new members can be challenging. But with the right association marketing strategy, you can drive substantial membership growth for your organization.

In this guide, we’ll cover the basics and benefits of association marketing, plus what you need to know to build a successful association marketing strategy. Let’s get started!

What is Association Marketing?

On the simplest level, association marketing is the act of marketing your association to the public to attract more members. But there are many layers to association marketing. At its best, it does more than add new members to your ranks—it also helps strengthen your member retention and engagement efforts.

Association marketing is a strategic process where associations use various methods (more on those in a bit!) to promote their benefits and value, drive awareness for their mission and programs, and build trust and credibility with the community.

What Are the Benefits of Association Marketing?

If you want your organization to grow and thrive—and of course you do—association marketing is worth the investment. When you have an association marketing strategy that promotes your organization’s value effectively, you can see many benefits, including:

• Steady growth and sustainability. Consistently attracting new members through association marketing provides the revenue you need for sustainable operations.
• More engaged members. Effective marketing reaches potential new members and reminds current members about your offerings, encouraging them to remain active and engaged.
• Increased brand awareness. Drawing attention to your organization’s brand can attract new partners or sponsors, position you as a leader and authority in your industry, and make your target audience aware that your organization exists—even if they don’t join immediately.
• A stronger sense of community. Association marketing brings people with shared interests and goals together, which builds a loyal community of members, fosters a warm sense of belonging, and encourages a long-term connection with the organization.

Association marketing is a powerful tool for increasing your membership base, encouraging engagement among current members, and positively influencing your organization’s reputation within your industry and community.

With these benefits in mind, consider the following methods and strategies that you can use to market your association and connect with potential members.

6 Types of Association Marketing to Explore

There’s no shortage of marketing approaches, but you’ll need to experiment to determine which resonates best with your target audience. In this section, we’ll briefly explore six methods you can consider for your association marketing strategy.

• Email Marketing: Segment your email list and send targeted emails highlighting your association’s purpose, achievements, and membership benefits.

• Digital Outreach: Use platforms like LinkedIn to discover people in your industry who may be interested in your association or participate in industry-related online groups.

• Content Marketing: Create valuable pieces of content that establish your association as an industry expert and attract potential new members to your email list.

• Social Media: Use your social media presence to provide value to your online audience and promote the value of being a member of your association.

• Events: Free or low-cost events are a great entry point for potential new members to witness the value your organization provides.

• Paid Advertising: Pay for ad space through local businesses or invest in digital ads on platforms like Google, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

Now that we’ve covered a few types of marketing you can try, let’s dive into specific ideas you can use to build an association marketing strategy and run your first campaign.

How to Create an Association Marketing Strategy

The right marketing strategy can make all the difference when it comes to growing your association and reaching your target members. First, there are a few things you need to define (your marketing objectives, goals, and target audience), and then you can get to the fun part: experimenting with new ideas.

First, Define Things

Start by getting clear on what you need to do and who you’re trying to reach.

1. Define Your Marketing Objectives

It’s easier to move forward with strategic ideas when you’ve clarified your purpose. When you’ve identified your “why,” you can ensure that your strategies and messaging align with these objectives and serve the purpose that you need them to serve. For example, are you looking to add new names to your marketing email list, increase event attendance, improve your email newsletter engagement, encourage current members to tap into their network, etc.?

2. Establish Your Marketing Goals

You may be thinking, “Didn’t we just do that?” Not quite—creating your marketing goals means adding details to your marketing objectives and clarifying exactly what it looks like to accomplish them. While your marketing objectives ask, “Why are we doing this?” your marketing goals ask, “How will we know we’ve done this?”

Ensure your association marketing goals are S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). “We want to increase our membership base” is a marketing objective; “Increase our membership base 30% by December 31, 2025” is a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

3. Outline Your Target Audience

Similar to donor personas, member personas can help you visualize the type of people that your marketing needs to resonate with. Use your membership database software to analyze demographics and determine which age groups, profession types, etc. typically join your association.

For example, you may notice that your organization tends to attract senior professionals, so you’d tailor your association marketing materials to emphasize your management skills program and network-building opportunities. 

Show What You’re Working With

Use these ideas to shine a spotlight on your membership’s benefits and value.

4. Collect and Share Social Proof

Few things make someone want to say, “I’m in!” than hearing success stories from their peers. Get testimonials for your happiest current members, write case studies, and share success stories. These stories—which you can share anywhere, including email campaigns, blogs, and social media posts—help you show (and not just tell!) how your association delivers value to members, establish credibility, and build trust with your target audience.

5. Organize Accessible Events

You want to help potential members get an introduction to your association without too much effort on their part. Hosting free or low-cost events like webinars, lunch-and-learns, professional networking mixers, and panel discussions with industry experts are great ways to do this. You’ll provide instant value to potential members and offer them a look into the type of value your association offers.

6. Utilize Paid Ads

Paid advertising certainly requires an investment, but it can pay off by getting your organization in front of many more new sets of eyes. Targeted online ads—such as social media or Google ads—allow you to reach the specific demographics you want to target. Include quality visuals that attract attention and clear calls to action that drive traffic to your website or membership sign-up page.

Get Creative

Make your marketing personalized, targeted, and engaging.

7. Launch a Member Spotlight Campaign

A member spotlight campaign is a great association marketing tactic because it subtly shares member testimonials while doubling as a member appreciation strategy. These campaigns feature individual members and spotlight their contributions to the organization and professional achievements. You can also mention how your association has helped them grow professionally or achieve professional success.

8. Create Content Marketing Materials

Content marketing involves creating and sharing content that is not overt marketing material but is instead intended to provide value and generate interest. For a member association, this content could include blog posts, educational videos or courses, infographics, whitepapers, or other resources that help your target audience with one of their specific pain points or address a specific need in their industry.

This content not only positions your association as a trusted thought leader but can also inspire people to become members to access more resources.

9. Run Targeted Email Campaigns

Sending a marketing email blast to all of your contacts may work, but it won’t be as effective as sending tailored messages to different segments of your audience. For example, if one segment attended a free lunch-and-learn event about how to market yourself for a promotion at work, a targeted email campaign to them might highlight the career advancement resources available in a member resource library or upcoming career advancement workshops that only members can attend.

Your emails to prospective members should be personalized to their specific interests and include language that is different from what you’d use in an email campaign for lapsed members or new members.

Involve Others

Bring others into your association marketing efforts to help spread the word.

10. Offer a Referral Program

Chances are good that your satisfied members would love to help market your association and sing the praises of all the membership benefits they receive—especially if there’s a treat for them on the other side! You can incentivize your current members to refer their colleagues or friends with discounts, freebies, merch, or other exclusive perks.

11. Partner with Similar Organizations

Are you buddy-buddy with other organizations that have a similar purpose? Offer to collaborate and help extend each other’s reach! Similar organizations or supportive local businesses may be open to cross-promoting programs, co-hosting events, or sending marketing emails to your respective lists. Partnerships can help you increase the number of potential members you can reach, strengthen your credibility, and build awareness of your association’s offerings.

Take Your Association Marketing to New Heights

Associating marketing is a vital tool for achieving your organization’s goals, from growing your membership to keeping your community engaged. Consider a trusted CRM platform designed specifically for organizations like yours to take your marketing efforts to the next level!

Neon CRM for Associations includes a suite of tools you can use to streamline your marketing, keep member data organized, and make leading a membership-based organization smoother and easier. Let us show you around—join us for a demo!