Don’t Plunge into Dues Renewal Season Without a Plan for How You’ll Sell the Message

Key messages: words that describe a benefit of belonging to your tribe..

The goal of communicating at dues renewal season is to remind or explain why you’re worth it when you ask your customers (members) for money.

Your value proposition helps you do this all year long. But what if you don’t have one? Here are some guidelines to get you started to develop one or more key messages.

First, let’s distinguish a value proposition from key messages: Key messages are short benefit statements – developed internally – that you want members to hear over and over. They say what you do well. You’ll have multiple key messages that can adapt to different situations. A value proposition is your umbrella message – the “one big thing” your association represents that’s different from anyone else. It links to a problem a member faces and it comes from members’ direct input.

Here’s how Indiana REALTORS® tapped into their state’s key message “We’re #INthis together” during 2020’s COVID shutdown. A partnership between Business, Education and Industry this campaign that ensured the member and the public that they could rely on the state to solve whatever challenges faced them. Through this key message, Indiana REALTORS® and the state promised they’d work together to communicate, plan and respond to the COVID challenge.

Three steps to developing a strong key message:
 

 1.  Pull out and look at your dues renewal email or posts from 2020. (Go get it. I’ll wait.)

 2.  Be honest and ask yourself, does this communique – in clear simple words – explain the return on a member’s investment of $200 or $600, or $1200 per year? What makes you worth it?

 3.  If it’s not strong enough or relevant to them, scrap it and update it dramatically so that you convince them that your association is the only option for them – your most important customers.

If you develop key messages for dues renewal, and it feels a little like a generic promise and doesn’t create a strong, emotional link between your strengths and what members need most, a value proposition process can help you discover your words. Purchase the book Breakthrough Value to learn how to follow 7 specific steps to discover your own unique member value proposition.