Getting your value proposition right as a member association

For many associations, this is where things get tricky. You do so much for your members, but in your attempt to connect with an increasingly diverse membership, your message might get lost. And when messaging is too broad, trying to appeal to everyone, it often resonates with no one. 

That’s why strategic communications matters more than ever. It’s what turns awareness into engagement and members into advocates. But before you put any content into the world, you need to be clear on your value proposition. What makes your association essential? Why should members engage? What do they get from you that they can’t find anywhere else?

Why your value proposition matters

Your value proposition is the answer to a crucial question: why should someone join or stay with your association? It’s what makes membership feel essential rather than optional.

The latest Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report is clear. Increasing member engagement and reaching emerging generations are the two biggest drivers of growth.

Younger members, in particular, have different expectations from those who have been with your association for years. They consume content differently, seek different types of support, and evaluate membership through a new lens. If your value proposition doesn’t reflect their needs—or clearly articulate why membership matters to them—it’s no surprise they disengage.

A strong value proposition is the foundation of engagement. It ensures your association isn’t just communicating, but truly connecting.

Crafting a value proposition that resonates

Strategic communications doesn’t start with a newsletter, a social post, or an event campaign. It starts with knowing exactly what you want to say and who you need to reach. A clear and strong value proposition is the foundation for everything that follows. Without it, even the most well-intentioned member engagement activity won’t cut through.

Defining a clear value proposition starts with understanding four key elements that converge in what we call the sweet spot:

• Who you’re talking to – Understanding your audience’s needs, challenges, and motivations.
• What your audience needs – Identifying their pain points and what would make membership more valuable to them.
• What you have to offer – Articulating the unique benefits of your association.
• What no one else is doing well – Finding your competitive edge.

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Every association has its sweet spot, and it’s here where great value propositions are developed. When you get it right, your messaging shifts from being just another email in an inbox to something that feels relevant, timely, and indispensable. Yet, 48% of association executives say the number one reason their value proposition is not more compelling is an inability to clearly or effectively articulate it. 

Many associations are looking to engage younger audiences as they think about the future of their membership. But relying on assumptions about what they need or why they aren’t engaging can lead to ineffective tactics and communications, and can even put members off. Deeply understanding audience needs, behaviours, and preferences is key to meaningful engagement, especially as audiences evolve.

The Australian Physiotherapy Association’s (APA) student member numbers had been steadily declining—a trend it needed to reverse to maintain a strong pipeline of practising physio members. Engaging this audience required deeply understanding their challenges and priorities, and how they felt about the APA and their life at university more broadly. When the APA unpacked who it was talking to, it could position itself in a way that was relevant and compelling.

You may have exactly what your members want, but if your messaging doesn’t reflect their priorities, or it’s not showing up in the right places, it won’t resonate. Aligning your messaging, audience insights, and channels ensures your value proposition makes sense to the people who matter most: your members.

The next step: tailoring your message for different membership segments

Even within a single audience, different members have different needs, but less than half of associations are tailor messaging based on member or market segments. The core value proposition might stay the same, but the language, positioning, and emphasis should shift to reflect where your members are in their journey.

Associations that actively tailor their messaging are more likely to see membership growth. Compared to stagnant organisations, those reporting growth are significantly more likely to conduct research to understand their prospects, as well as personalise messaging to specific segments. Still, more than half of associations aren’t tailoring their messaging. 

Segmentation can be based on career stage, discipline, industry, or other factors—and it’s just as important for retaining existing members as it is for acquiring new ones.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) recognised that its existing members skewed towards their 40s and 50s, while younger nurses had different needs. To engage early-career nurses, it discovered what was important to them and introduced a “new to the profession” welcome kit, discounted dues, a private online community, and a mentor program. By focusing on providing value to different audience segments, ANA accelerated the impact of its recruitment campaign,  increasing membership from 90,000 to over 150,000.

When you take the time to understand different segments and adapt your messaging accordingly, you can drive greater engagement, stronger retention, and long-term growth.

The same principle applies to your association. Whether your audiences are segmented by career stage, discipline, or industry, taking the time to tailor messaging to their specific needs will always drive better engagement than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Making strategic communications everyone’s business

Once you’ve built your foundation, the next challenge is ensuring that communications are not just a function of the comms team, but a shared responsibility across the organisation.

If teams operate in silos, even the strongest value proposition can get lost. When everyone’s focused on their own initiatives without seeing how their work connects to the broader member experience, members get hit with a flood of information that isn’t prioritised, leading to disengagement rather than connection.

Take advocacy, for example—often a core pillar of an association’s value proposition. Yet we hear time and again that the comms team only hears about advocacy priorities when they’re asked to draft an announcement at the last minute.

That’s why aligning internal teams is critical. 

Engineer’s Australia set out to improve strategic communications by ensuring content planning was fully integrated with its advocacy agenda. An annual strategic meeting brings the right people together from the start. Strategic advocacy priorities are mapped, and campaigns are developed to support this agenda. Everything is presented to key stakeholders to secure buy-in before execution. As a result, EA communicates a unified narrative that positions engineers as key players in tackling major challenges like sustainability and climate change.

When communications are aligned from the start, your members receive a clear, consistent story about your association’s value. Alignment is always a work in progress, but it’s what keeps an organisation pulling in the same direction.

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