Attribution is a huge buzzword in the marketing space right now, and for good reason. For many companies, metrics-driven challenges (such as generating leads and proving ROI) continue to be the biggest challenges in their organizations, and they lack tools to help them track concrete results for their spends.

Similarly, members of associations struggle to attribute the results of their association membership fees. Without attribution, members don’t see the value and your association might be on the chopping block for their investment in coming years.

According to the 2016 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report by Marketing General Inc., 35% of trade associations cite “difficulty in proving ROI” as the reason it’s hard to retain or grow membership numbers, and it’s cited as the top reason for non-renewals by 40% of trade associations. 32% of associations overall cite “difficulty in communicating values or benefits.” This is a struggle particularly since the majority of memberships are paid by the attendee’s organization; if the attendee doesn’t see value, the organization won’t continue to pay.

Answering these questions can help your members start attributing value to their membership today.

1. How many prospective leads have they met or gained through their membership? Could they have met those same leads without the membership?

This could be leads they’ve gained through a listing feature on your association’s website, or leads they met in-person at your event. Both count toward the ROI of their membership. Providing a simple way to help association members log this information and calculate ROI will be invaluable to proving the return on their association spend, and most likely one of the easiest calculations to make.

2. How many contact referrals have they gained through their membership?

Has someone recommended the member as a result of meeting them through your association? Those referrals are even more important than leads through the site or an in-person meeting; word-of-mouth is a stronger indicator of a future purchase. Like prospective leads, give your members the tools they need to calculate referral revenue to attribute ROI.

3. How much revenue have those contacts, leads, and referrals brought in throughout their membership in your association?

This is the big one - what is the actual revenue gained through contacts made as a result of their membership? Being able to track this back to your association is what will almost guarantee a renewal. In addition, it’s a pretty great case study subject for your next membership drive.

4. What business best practices have they learned through your association?

According to the 2016 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, 25% of members join to learn best practices in their field. What problems did you help members solve this year? What best practices did you educate them on so they could use them in their day to day businesses? These have value that should be accounted for.

5. Of the business best practices they’ve learned, which ones have they actually implemented? What have been the results?

This will be the actual tell of value for education: what actually worked? If a speaker came in and resonated well, addressed a pain point, and enabled your member to fix something they had previously not been doing well  - that’s where the value will be attributed.

6. Which educational speakers did they get to hear and learn from?

Limited access speakers - people they wouldn’t normally hear directly from or learn about except through your association - are of a high value. This adds value to their membership.

7. What peer friendships have they gained through your association?

According to the 2016 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, 55% of members join to network with others in their respective fields. If you association is providing time and space in which to network with other industry peers, this yields a positive result. However, keep in mind that members must be engaged for this benefit to occur and for value to be attributed. If necessary, encourage more engagement in your own membership marketing efforts to maintain retention of current members.

8. What coaching opportunities have they had access to through your association members?

If your association specifically provides coaching opportunities (from retired professionals or university educators), excellent. If not, did the member meet someone they admire and choose to incorporate them as a business coach or mentor for their future career aspirations? That connection through your association is valuable to members.

9. What community benefits have they gained by being a part of your organization?

Whether your members receive discount benefits, access to members-only events, or enjoy other community benefits from your association’s standing, those also count toward an attributed value and should be included.

10. What trust have they built with prospective clients through their membership?

If membership in your association is a sign of good standing in the community (such as a badge or certification), that helps with membership retention. Additionally, providing educational materials for members to provide to their own clients is a great help to them; it addresses what membership means and why it sets your members apart, particularly for trade associations.

11. What benefits in legislative work does the member have as a result of their membership?

Many associations are involved in legislative work, including educating members, organizing rallies, working with legislators, and more. What benefit does this provide to your member that will encourage continued membership and support in the future? This is a value that should be attributed to membership in your organization.

Associations can help members answer these questions by providing tools to their members free of charge. This is one of the principles of the inbound marketing method that we help businesses and other associations like yours to enact. By providing relevant, educational content to members and prospective members, you can build a better community and become an invaluable resource to your association’s members, ensuring that they attribute value to their membership in the process.

Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, providing unique information or opportunities that your members can’t get elsewhere will confirm the benefits they receive from your organization.

Find out more about how having a sales and marketing expert in your corner can help with your association membership goals, as well as provide a great educational speaker for your association members.