by Christa Farr Evans, CCM, Director of Strategic Solutions, VCT
Today’s members have unprecedented pressures, responsibilities, and obligations that makes catching their attention – and then keeping it – a tremendous challenge. Consider that the average country club member spends less than 10 minutes reading their club newsletter. With limited time and a short attention span, it’s important that you capture their attention right away, and deploy member-centric strategies to keep them engaged for the long-term.
In this article, we’ve included 10 tips to help your club build a stronger strategic member communications plan:
10. Include a Powerful Welcome Message: Grab your members’ interest right from the beginning, and make them feel that they are valued by adding a personal touch from an important team member.
9. Deliver Fresh Content: Keep members coming back, issue-to-issue, by using fresh and timely material. If content needs to be re-run, try and give it a “fresh coat of paint” so to speak, by changing the title or picture, and by making minor content updates within the article.
8. Provide an Interactive Experience: Draw your members into your communications by giving them something “to do”.
7. Make it Easy with Clear Linkage: Make signing-up for events more convenient and effortless for your members.
6. Be Memorable with Layered Content: Make your publications more helpful to the members by suggesting other articles that may be of interest to them, and by linking to those articles directly from the publication.
5. Be Direct: With the shortening of members’ attention spans, especially online, there is a need to keep articles between 300-700 words.
4. Make it Fun by Leveraging Interactive Media: Videos, podcasts, and photo slideshows are essential attention-grabbers.
3. Make it Vital with Lifestyle Content: Make your communications program an essential part of your members’ lives by adding third party or “value added” content.
2. Be Worthwhile with Great Photos: Images are an important part of grabbing your members’ attention and convincing them to read your content.
Drum Roll Please….
1. Be a Relevant “Must Read”: The epitome of serving your members is to provide them with exactly what they are interested in. Utilize communication technology to deliver content that is of interest to every individual.
Click here to read the full article in the January edition of Activate!
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hrista Farr Evans, CCM, is Director of Strategic Solutions at VCT, the industry leader in member communication managed services and ePublishing solutions for private clubs. As a former club manager, Christa intertwines practical operational experience with current industry knowledge and trends for real-world insights. For the past 10 years she has assisted private clubs with strategies in maximizing cutting-edge technological solutions. Christa contributes regularly to the Activate! eMagazine and may be reached at 617-566-7055, ext 228 or via email at cevans@vctcorp.com