Streamlining Membership Management: A Simple & Affordable Approach for Small to Mid-Sized Chambers and Associations

Managing membership and recurring billing efficiently is essential for small to mid-sized chambers and business associations.

These organizations often find themselves stuck choosing between inefficient processes like Excel and manual invoices or expensive and unwieldy systems designed for larger organizations.

In this how-to guide and associated webinar, we highlight simple activities that every organization should follow and time-saving opportunities enabled by software. However, membership management should not be seen merely as an administrative activity. It should be considered the flip side of the marketing coin.

By leveraging our automated cross-promotion tools, including our self-updating calendar, self-updating directory, self-updating job board, and Express Email Newsletters, memberships can get more out of their membership like never before.

These tools provide opportunities for increased exposure and engagement, allowing organizations to maximize the value they provide to their members and increase membership. Now, let's dive into the key takeaways from the Membership Management webinar and explore the features and benefits of Locable's membership tools.

Related: Watch the webinar: Unlocking Efficiency: Simplifying Membership Management and Recurring Billing for Small to Midsized Chambers

Features & Benefits of Locable's Membership Management & Billing Tools

Locable's membership management and recurring billing tools are designed to streamline processes, reduce manual effort, and consolidate activities into one user-friendly platform. This enhances efficiency for understaffed organizations like small chambers and main street associations.

A key benefit is the ability to easily create and manage flexible membership plans with options for different renewal frequencies. Plans can be set to automatically renew on a customized schedule rather than forcing everyone to renew simultaneously once a year.

Locable also integrates with Stripe for simplified payment processing and charges no surcharge fees on payments collected.

The membership management features include robust CRM functionality to track contacts, companies, membership plans, and more. Businesses can even claim their own Locable account to control core data like hours that synchronize across your directory, calendar, and other tools automatically. Locable also provides membership reporting capabilities to export, filter, and analyze member data without complicated configuration.

The system focuses on delivering commonly-needed reports in a few clicks rather than forcing users to pull multiple complex levers.

Other valuable features include the ability to create tiered directory listings that showcase members based on their membership level and cross-link website content to directory profiles. Locable also automates content creation and distribution to easily generate member profiles, event previews/recaps, email newsletters, and blog posts that require minimal effort.

The automated calendar and directory features sync events, listings, and other real-time data via integrations with Google Business Profile, community partners, and members' websites.

The system even allows visually showcasing sponsors with badges that recognize their support across relevant website sections. Overall, Locable's membership tools focus on automation, ease of use, and impactful features to enhance membership management for lean organizations.

Locable saves you time, reduces manual processes, and provides valuable capabilities like CRM, billing, reporting, content creation tools, and robust directories to streamline and improve membership programs.

Action Items for Effective Membership Management

• Evaluate your current membership management processes and tools. Are they streamlined and user-friendly? Do they provide automation to reduce manual work? 
• Select a membership management platform that offers comprehensive features like payment processing, CRM, custom membership plans, email marketing integration, listings, calendars, and more. Consolidating activities into one platform saves significant time and effort.
• Take advantage of automation within your membership platform. Set up options for custom renewal dates, automated recurring billing, triggered emails, and syncing data to reduce repetitive administrative work. This maximizes productivity.
• Create valuable content like member spotlights, event promotions, and profiles to consistently engage your audience. Share this content on your website, in emails, and through channels like social media.
• Leverage email marketing to easily distribute content to members. 
• Use directory listings, tiered if desired, to showcase members and sponsors. Sync this data to other platforms like Google to expand exposure.
• Recognize active sponsors through website badges and exposure. This encourages ongoing sponsorship and conveys member value.
• Survey members periodically to identify needs and recognize achievements. Adjust membership structure and offerings accordingly.
• Streamline and simplify all member touchpoints. Complexity is the enemy of engagement and satisfaction. Member experience is paramount.

By taking initiative to optimize membership management processes, leverage supportive tools, and create engaging experiences, organizations can maximize member engagement and get far greater return on their efforts.

Key Takeaways for Small to Midsized Membership Organizations

Membership management is essential for organizations like chambers, main streets, and business associations to effectively engage members and streamline processes. Locable's membership tools provide valuable solutions tailored for small to mid-sized organizations.

The webinar highlighted key features and benefits of Locable's membership tools including:

• Automation to reduce manual effort
• Consolidating activities into one user-friendly platform
• Quick and easy creation of membership plans with flexible renewal options
• Seamless integration with Stripe for payment processing at low rates
• CRM to track member data with businesses controlling their own profiles
• Customizable reporting and easy data exports
• Tiered directory listings to showcase members
• Tools to create engaging content like member profiles and event promotions
• Email marketing to easily distribute content
• Automated calendar and directory syncing with Google
• Opportunities to recognize sponsors

Billing and membership management is critically important but can also be time consuming and disheartening, it doesn't have to be this way.

When you take valuable time on these low-level activities you're taking away from things that are more impactful and rewarding like meeting with businesses, telling local stories, and connecting people with resources.