A local professional association is struggling with its marketing. Recruiting new members has not been easy: prospects tell recruiters that they don't see enough value in the membership. Ordinarily, that should be easy to solve.
There's a major twist in the story. The association has two kinds of members, and they are very different.
One type of member is business owners, preferably located in a specific area of the city. They most often seek an opportunity to network. Another type are residents who live in the specific area. They most often seek information about plans for development in that area. Trying to create a meeting format that satisfactorily addresses both sets of needs has proven nearly impossible. Hence, prospects of both types say they don't see enough value.
I have seen this effect over and over. It is very prevalent in non profit associations. They try to grow as large as possible by diluting their target and accepting "marginal" possibilities. The trouble is, it is harder to market to and satisfy the needs of divergent customers.
In the case of this association, the current solution is to tweak the agenda and recruit with brute force---door to door contacts in the specific area of the city, all in hopes of getting just enough new people to advance the association's metrics. I think the solution is to be realistic: pick the primary target and build agendas and offerings that suit that target. Otherwise, admit members of other types at a lower rate and no expectation they will be "served." An organization must focus to efficiently find and serve customers, and there is no room for mixed messages.
Bottom line: does your business (or organization) have a two-target problem? can you really afford to serve two very different customers?
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