It's Not About Price, It's About Value: Making Membership the Obvious Choice
About This Episode
In this episode, we talk with an experienced association executive about how to assess the value of your membership. We talk about creating valuable member benefits, the best ways to find out what members want, and how to engage members. See below to learn more about our very special guests, Aviva Rotenberg, and see a full list of questions we asked our very special guest.
About Our Guest
Aviva Rotenberg is the executive director of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. Prior to this, Aviva was the executive director of the Canadian Bar Association and helped establish their online professional development arm. Aviva is a lawyer, MBA and speaker.
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Full List of Questions We Asked Aviva
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
In our discussions earlier, we discussed that creating value for your members is more important than the cost of membership — can you tell us a little more about that?
How would you define value?
Would you say that a member of a professional association would be able to apply what they learn from their professional association and make their money back?
How do you go about understanding your audience’s needs?
To gather information about your audience, do you have any particular tools you like over others?
How can we offer services and benefits that the audience can’t get elsewhere?
How would you promote an initiative to your audience?
Do you have any preferences or suggestions for how your “champions” can help promote your initiatives?
Do you have any particular way that you build your community?
We often notice that our associations advertise their member benefits are advertised on their website, but members are not using the benefits. At a closer look, we find that the benefits are not easy to engage with. What are your recommendations to avoid this?
Do you have an example of a member benefit that was made easier to use for your members?
How much more time was spent making the service easier for members?
Do you think there is an opportunity for associations to look at their member benefits and repackage them in a way that is more interesting to members?
If an association is looking to increase their member engagement, where would you start?
What are some things that associations do that devalue the value of their membership?
What can we do to market our membership without being too sales-y?
How do you sell advocacy as a member benefit when prospects know they will benefit from your advocacy whether they are a member or not?
In the eyes of membership, how do you make the appropriate connection between the cost of membership and the value of membership? We often find that members want a lot of add-ons without an increase in fees.
If your current membership and your target membership are different, how do you balance your resources?
How do you find the right price point for your organization's membership fees?
In 1983, our dues were $30 a year. 40 years later, our dues are $36. Our board is very hesitant to raise dues. What can we do?
What is your biggest takeaway for our audience?
Can you share a personal habit that has contributed the most to your success?
Get Started
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Special acknowledgement to our guests for providing powerful insights into membership management.
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