“They’re not the only game in town anymore,” a peer recently told me, “I bet they’re having to learn how to compete like most private companies do.”<\/p>\n
We were discussing associations and the challenges of pitching membership. We live in a time of great abundance. The people that you’d like to become members have more options than ever. To pitch membership effectively, you must not only address their desires with a relevant offer, but you must also differentiate your association from every other alternative. Because of this, it’s critical that your membership offer displays an element of uniqueness.<\/p>\n
Why Uniqueness Matters<\/p>\n
Consider buying a car. In 1908, if you wanted a car, the Model T was the only option available. In 2023, you can buy from a wide variety of cars and trucks. They all fulfill the purpose of transporting you and your cargo from point A to point B.<\/p>\n
So why did you buy the car sitting in your driveway?<\/p>\n
You Might<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Because we have lots of options, cars are sold on what makes them unique from each other.<\/p>\n Membership is the same. Possible members have lots of options to connect, network, learn and get many of the other benefits you offer from other sources.<\/p>\n Because of this, your membership offer must address how the value you provide is unique.<\/p>\n Two Tests<\/p>\n There are two tests to determine if you’re membership offer differentiates effectively.<\/p>\n Integrating Into Offer<\/p>\n The benefits in your membership offer must be relevant to who you’re targeting. Relevance does the lion’s share of the work. But to win out over other relevant competitors for a potential member’s attention, you’ll need to differentiate using uniqueness. To make a cooking analogy, relevance is the dish and uniqueness is the seasoning.<\/p>\n Relevance and uniqueness are the two bottom layers of Steward’s, “Member Magnet Framework.” The final layer is to address risk and I’ll cover that in the next article.<\/p>\n John Hooley<\/p>\n <\/strong>President, Steward<\/p>\n John is a graduate of 10,000 Small Businesses, a certified Customer Acquisition Specialist, and a Zend Certified Engineer. He speaks and writes on connecting digital strategy to association goals. Outside of work he’s an avid traveler, climber, diver, and a burgeoning sailor. He also volunteers with Rotary and Big Brothers Big Sisters.<\/p>\n Topics<\/p>\n Subscribers only<\/p>\n Our most useful insights go out to our email list only two times each month. Subscribe below to get access.<\/p>\n We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “They’re not the only game in town anymore,” a peer recently told me, “I bet they’re having to learn how to compete like most private companies do.” We were discussing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_promoted":"","_job_location":"","_application":"https:\/\/remoteOK.com\/remote-jobs\/remote-differentiating-membership-offers-steward-1133823","_company_name":"Steward","_company_website":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_filled":0,"_featured":0,"_remote_position":0,"_job_salary":"","_job_salary_currency":"","_job_salary_unit":""},"job-categories":[186],"job-types":[16],"job_listing_tag":[],"class_list":["post-325537","job_listing","type-job_listing","status-publish","hentry","job_listing_category-software-development","job_listing_type-full-time","job-type-full-time"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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