Are you doing marketing for an association and struggling to gain new members? If yes, you are in the right place, as this post will provide you valuable insight into how you can find and capture new leads for your association’s membership.
For associations, it is a catch-22 situation when it comes to finding new members.
It is challenging to find out exactly where to market and attract potential members. Therefore, it is imperative for you first to identify channels that can help you find and capture leads. Let us look into it.
5 Channels to Find and Attract New Members
Here are five major channels that can help your association find and capture new members
1. Converting Your Website Visitors to Members
It is not always possible for you to identify each website visitor and speak to them individually. However, you can always get their contact information for conversation. You can do so by capturing their name, phone number, or email address.
This is another way to grow your prospective clients’ list and proactively engage with them on a personal level. However, there is a catch to this; you must find ways for your visitors to provide you their details willingly.
You have to remember that users are reluctant to give their information freely to receive marketing content. However, there are ways you can get their information.
For example, you can ask people landing on your web page to provide their contact information to receive information from your association. You can also share your publications with the non-members via newsletters, digests, etc.
Offer an incentive to the potential members for sharing their contact details. For this, place a form on your association’s website offering them something of value in return for providing their contact information. These may include free downloadable content such as a tutorial, guides, and other informational material.
2. Data Is Your Guide
Data is the ultimate guide for any business to determine where to find their customers and cater to their needs. This informational data can offer you valuable insight into your potential markets, your target audience, and what they might consider helpful.
For this, you will need to analyze several aspects of your business website, such as highest viewed pages, products with the most repeat traffic, and other sections of your website getting more attention. This way, you will get to find out what does and does not work to attract clients.
You can use this data to customize your website to entice more visitors to your association’s website. This is a ratio game, meaning the more visitors landing on your webpage, the more chances to find and capture leads.
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3. Using Content for Engagement
Good content is vital to entice new clients to your website. However, you will need to offer them more as a reason to come back for more. This, in return, will increase your chances of them becoming a lead.
You can offer them value such as a newsfeed with the latest updates about the industry, a newsletter with the latest trends and free downloadable stuff, and an exclusive blog for association members.
4. SEO is Your Savior
SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization of your content to draw new leads. You must incorporate the SEO strategy with every content to improve your association’s brand image’s overall quality. The consistency of your SEO content across all platforms such as websites, emails, newsletters, blogs, and social media posts will establish your association’s integrity.
Luckily associations are rich in memorable keywords. You can create a helpful blog and utilize the most common terms used in your niche. Every time a local user searches for these keywords, Google will show your content amongst the top results.
This way, you will be able to attract increased traffic to your association’s website, resulting in finding and capturing new leads. To optimize your content to be SEO-friendly, always ensure that your content’s title accurately describes its intent and is keyword-rich. Moreover, you must always use industry-related keywords in your headings.
5. Using Social Media to Your Advantage
If you are an association looking for a budget-friendly channel to find and capture new leads, then social media is an ideal candidate. You can use these free for all platforms to communicate with potential clients and existing association members. For this, you can use social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, etc.
In case you wish to connect with experts in your specific niche, LinkedIn can help you. You can find potential clients, experts and join other competitor’s conversations or start your own. Social media engagement is a very cost-effective way to build your association’s online community.
You can even find and capture new members based on demographics such as prospects’ age, gender, profession, location, interests, etc.
The Takeaway
Finding and capturing new members can be a challenge for associations. However, engaging with your audience on a personal level, finding them on the right social media platforms, and boosting your SEO-friendly content can prove to budget-friendly options.
