Guest Post By Audrey Smilgys, Senior Solution Consultant, Protech Associates, Inc.
From TIME magazine and the Huffington Post, to the New York Times and your overly vocal uncle who just joined Facebook, there is a lot of criticism about millennials.
They’re too lazy, self-entitled, short-sighted, narcissistic, etc.
But millennials aren’t just a bunch of teens and twenty-somethings glued to their smartphones at your neighborhood Starbucks – they now command a lot of buying power and make up the majority of the workforce.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015 marked the year millennials became the largest part of the U.S. workforce at 36 percent. By 2020, they’re expected to reach 43 percent. So all criticisms aside, you can’t deny their growing influence. It’s why companies and organizations across industries are trying to figure out how to best market to them.
Professional associations are no different. But when asked to join an association, a lot of millennials are quick to reply, “What’s the point?”
They know they can go to Google or YouTube if they need to look up information. And networking? That’s what Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are for. It can be hard for them to see the value in memberships.
If your association is struggling to get millennials to join, look for ways to show greater value in a membership. Here are three tips to help:
- Take a Page From Amazon
Millennials want the Amazon experience – easy, complete access to everything they need, all online. How do you deliver this? By creating a self-service website and connecting it with the membership database and e-commerce functionality within your association management system (AMS).
With a few keystrokes on your website, millennials (and others) can join your association and update their member profiles. Afterwards, they can renew membership, register for events, and purchase products.
It’s easy and instant – just how they like it.
- Be a Go-to Resource for Information
Most associations only use their website as a bulletin board to post association-specific information like upcoming meetings. But your website can also be a place to provide valuable, relevant content for members and prospects. For example, instead of only holding one annual conference, you can live stream webinars or share downloadable videos throughout the year.
If you can be a go-to resource for hot industry topics and career advice, it will encourage repeat visitors and deliver lasting value to your members. Plus, if you make some offers member-exclusive, prospects will be more inclined to join.
This can be especially helpful with bringing in millennials who are on the fence about joining due to costs. In fact, in a survey by Buzz Marketing Group, 45 percent of millennial respondents said association membership is too expensive. But, if your association can help them land their dream job, they’ll realize the value you provide far outweighs the membership fee.
- Offer Month-to-month Subscription Memberships
Associations normally only offer annual memberships. But millennials don’t like long-term commitments – it’s why they’re not buying cars and homes. They’re used to month-to-month subscriptions like Spotify, Pandora, and Netflix.
Consider giving millennials the option to join your association on a month-to-month basis. This doesn’t radically change your business – it should just be a simple change in the billing section of your AMS.
What’s more, not locking them into any long-term commitment could actually increase loyalty because they maintain control of their relationship with you based on the value and services you deliver.
As more Baby Boomers and Generation Xers retire, millennials won’t just be a part of the workforce – they’ll be the workforce. So to survive into the future, associations need to evolve with the times and offer a member experience in tune with this next generation of professionals.
To learn more ways you can boost millennial membership, download our tip sheet, “How to Make Your Association More Appealing to Millennials.”
About the Author:
Audrey Smilgys is a senior solution consultant at Protech Associates, Inc., the first and leading provider of cloud-based association management software (AMS) powered by Microsoft Dynamics® 365. Want to know more? You can hang out with the ProTech team at the upcoming AMS Fest!