Associations have come through the pandemic with a stronger membership base and more diverse tools to communicate with it, according to a new report.

Marketing General Incorporated’s 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report [PDF], released last week, found that only 21 percent of associations surveyed said they experienced a decline in membership in the past year—the lowest percentage in the survey’s 16-year history. Moreover, nearly half—47 percent—said their membership increased.

Marketing General Senior Vice President Tony Rossell said associations are reaping the benefits from innovations they implemented during the pandemic, and solidified their value proposition. “We’re seeing a consolidation of those gains,” he said. “So there’s either stabilization or continued growth, which is really encouraging.”

The good news is particularly good because much of the membership growth, according to the report, is coming from new members. Roughly half of respondents (51 percent) reported increases in new-member acquisition in the past year. Much of that comes on the back of increased efforts around digital advertising: 49 percent of individual membership associations say they use paid digital advertising to recruit members, a ten-point increase from 2023, and they consider paid digital advertising a highly effective recruitment tool (21 percent, on par with 20 percent reported in 2023). 

49 percent of individual membership associations say they use paid digital advertising to recruit members, a ten-point increase from 2023.

Results also show that associations reporting increases in membership over the past year and the past five years consider paid digital advertising to be one of their most effective methods for gaining new members. The range of tools used vary, however, from social media to banner ads to search-engine marketing. Rossell said each association will have to experiment to determine what’s most effective. 

“Digital advertising is probably one of the biggest innovations, but the challenge is that to use it properly, you need to keep your eye on what’s working and what’s not working,” he said.

Similarly, the report found that associations are also tinkering with how they communicate with current members. That’s been particularly important with communicating with younger members as more Baby Boomers enter retirement. “Thirteen percent of associations say they’re now using texting for marketing communications—that was one percent a decade ago,” Rossell said. “People are finding that they’re not going to get younger people to respond to emails, but if I text them and say, ‘Early bird registration for the conference is closing, click here,’ you get people’s attention that way.”

Despite these efforts, survey respondents expressed concern over whether their value proposition is hitting the target. Only 13 percent say they have a “very compelling” value proposition, despite consistently steady renewal rates of 85 percent across the industry. More associations say they struggle to communicate the value of membership. 

Rossell said associations should redouble their efforts on that communication. “People join for perceived value, and if you don’t understand your value proposition, you’re going to have a harder time with acquisition, with getting new members,” he said.

The Marketing General survey is based on the responses of 804 association professionals, conducted in January and February 2024.

[iStock/runeer]