It is no secret that membership in clubs fluctuate like the stock market. Sometimes that can be discouraging for the existing members of the club.


Consider following these steps and successfully rebuild your cub in eight weeks:




Week 1 – Club Assessment : Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your club. Answer the questions in moments of truth and determine your club’s weaknesses. Ask the question, “Why should we save our club? What are our strengths? Who do we appeal to, who would be attracted to joining our club? What is our market?” (Profile demographic, ages, occupations, geographic).



Weeks 2, 3 and 4 – Improve Your Club Meetings. . . so much that people will be compelled to join you. Using the club assessment from week 1, work immediately to improve your club meetings. Focus on meeting planning and meeting execution. A well-planned, well-run meeting is your club’s best marketing tool.



Weeks 2, 3, 4 – The A-B-C’s of Tapping into your Market 
(A) Business cards provided to your friends, acquaintances and coworkers.
(B) Inexpensive advertising – Flyers posted in the right places. Creating a club identity on a website.

(C) Public service announcements placed in newspapers, newsletters, radio, and local cable channels.



Weeks 3, 4, 5 – Finding and Establishing Partnerships


What organization(s) in our proximity have members that need what we have? Create a Community Contact Team and plan demo meetings.



Weeks 6, 7, 8 — Provide a Service to Capture New Members.


Promote and schedule educational sessions that people in your market attend. Success/Leadership modules and Speechcraft serve this function. Provide the course for the cost of becoming a member of your club.



How can YOUR District help you?


1. Have an experienced Toastmaster perform an impartial club assessment.

2. Present an improving club meetings educational session.


3. Presenting “From Guest to Member,” educational session.


4. Coaching the club to create marketing materials and a Club Community Contact team.


5. Providing a Toastmaster (working on AC Gold) to present a Speechcraft or other Success/Leadership module.


6. Request a club coach be assigned from the District to help with all of the above.




Taken with permission from 
David McCallister, DTM – Lieutenant Governor MarketingAugust 2007 Voices, District 25 Newsletter

 

By Julie Cosgrove