Modes of Membership

The Latest Trends to Best Serve Your Members

Key takeaways:
Work to eliminate barriers - both perceived and real - to membership.
Customize benefits to serve members’ needs.
Track member demographics to serve a diverse membership.
Understand and focus on your target market.

It’s free to join the chamber in Douglas County, Georgia. By becoming an introductory member, a business gets access to the chamber’s full menu of products and services including swag, an online business listing and access to resources and events. While this model may go against traditional thought, President & CEO Sara Ray said that free can be valuable. “It’s added even more value to what we do as chambers by giving people the opportunity to choose where they invest,” she said. “You can’t put a price tag on events or people being proud that they’re members of the chamber.”

Is the future of chamber membership free? That’s still to be seen, but eliminating barriers to joining a chamber, whether perceived or real, is just one of several trends taking shape in the membership world. 

Trend: Eliminate barriers and create inclusivity.  

The Douglas County Chamber isn’t the first to go free. SWFL Inc. and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce have free membership options, too. Ray says it’s about creating a balance between membership and being inclusive of all businesses. Everything from the language to the onboarding process was intentional. “Everything they do, they pay more to do it,” Ray said of the introductory members. “It’s always better to be an investor.”

The onboarding process was designed to be almost completely automated to ensure the team’s workload wouldn’t balloon. “We can’t guarantee that we’re going to get anything out of these businesses in terms of revenue,” Ray said. Since launching the introductory membership in July, 200 businesses have joined. Ten percent have become paying investors. Ray said they’ve seen an increase in sponsorship revenue, attendance at networking events and increased engagement. Current investors reacted positively – they had more businesses with whom they could work, talk and interact.. The county started investing in the chamber because they are inclusive of all businesses.

In Grand Rapids, the chamber is rethinking how they serve minority-owned businesses that may face hurdles in joining. While it’s not free to join, Omar Cuevas, the chamber’s vice president for investor and corporate relations, worked with a local manufacturer to help subsidize the cost. Over three years, a qualifying business will get annual membership dues covered at 75% for the first year, 50% for the second and 25% for the third. “Market research indicates that if you’ve been a chamber member for more than two or three years, chances are you’re staying around,” Cuevas said. “Any perceived or real barrier to entry is addressed and removed.”

Trend: Go custom when you can.

The Derby Chamber operated on a system like many other chambers – tiered dues. However, with a membership size of 300, the team of three felt they could better serve their members by creating custom packages including membership, sponsorship, programs, event tickets and other add-ons. Every business starts with a classic membership, no matter the size. How much they commit to spending throughout the calendar year determines if they end up a gold, silver or bronze investor. “We’ve found a lot of bigger businesses don’t like being asked over and over all year long for sponsorships,” said Lindsi Berry, the director of marketing and community engagement. “They want to pick everything at once and cut you a check.”

In October of each year, Berry touches base with the gold, silver and bronze members to let them pick from the chamber’s partnership catalog. By picking these items up front, the chamber throws in extra perks including the chance to choose their items before classic members. For extra flexibility and choice, the chamber allows gold, silver and bronze members to pay annually, quarterly or monthly. Since the chamber knows how much they’re going to spend, it takes the guesswork out of budgeting and even helps determine a new event’s success. “It helped automate our process,” Berry said. “It helps us plan for future events. It helps us know right off the bat if it’s going to be successful.” Berry says about 80 percent of sponsorships are chosen this way. The rest are shared with classic members to choose a la carte at the start of the calendar year.

Trend: Know your membership demographics.

Grand Rapids asks its members to self-identify demographics to make sure they are making progress toward goals in diversity, equity and inclusion. While it may feel uncomfortable asking for this information, gathering demographics and knowing your members puts the impetus on the chamber to do something with the data beyond basic reporting. “We really wanted to be intentional about serving a diverse business community,” Cuevas said. “The more information we have, the better it is for us to know how we’re doing and hold ourselves accountable.” For example, the Center for Economic Inclusion is focused on scaling businesses owned by people of color in Grand Rapids. By knowing demographic information, the chamber will know which businesses they need to help in order to grow revenue and create jobs. As an added bonus, the chamber can provide a list to larger companies looking to diversify their spending with minority-owned businesses.

Timeless: Understand your target market.

Some things never go out of style. Understanding the businesses your chamber wants to target for membership can make a big difference when it comes to retention and engagement. Through data, Cuevas and his team target growth-minded businesses with at least 20 employees that live in the Grand Rapids metro. “We have different onramps to the chamber superhighway,” he said. “Even on those onramps, the majority of our marketing, our billboards, if you will, are targeting those ideal members.”

In Derby, the chamber has positioned itself as a community partner, providing free membership for nonprofits and retirees and unlimited representatives for its classic members. “We want as many people involved in the organization as possible,” Berry said.

And by creating a no-cost introductory membership, the Douglas County Chamber now has a pipeline of warm leads of businesses ready to get involved. “Sometimes people just know what they want and they’re okay paying a little bit more,” Ray said. “They’re able to come in and receive the specific things that they want. You can’t ever be all things to all people. This is a great opportunity to add value to membership.”

Additional Reading:

From the ACCE blog: Win Back Dropped Members (November 2021)
Online learning: Certificate in Chamber Management: Membership & Revenue Development
Networking: Join the Membership Development Division