4 Ideas for Recruiting Members that Don’t Involve Email

Marketing your chapter via email is an easy and inexpensive strategy for recruiting new members, however, relying on email alone can reap less than satisfactory results. Round out your membership drive by adding alternative strategies that will reach potential future members. Here are four ideas to get you started:

Marketing emails can get lost in the shuffle of a busy workload, but a personal invitation from a friend or colleague stands out. Encourage your members to bring a friend, colleague, or boss to an upcoming chapter meeting by offering a registration special or a giveaway drawing for those who bring guests. Providing a flyer or chapter business card for members to hand out at the office is a great way to simplify the process and leave a physical reminder with potential new attendees.

Remember the good ol’ days of snail mail? Put together a list of businesses in your area that are not represented among your members and send them a letter, addressed to the Payroll/HR Manager, introducing your chapter. Include your chapter’s contact information (including website, if applicable) and a concise summary of all the educational opportunities you have to offer for payroll professionals.

LinkedIn is a great tool for recruiting. Simply type the name of your city and “payroll” into the search bar and voila – you’ll have a list of payroll professionals in your area. Connect with potential new members and send them a message with a brief and friendly introduction to your chapter. Here’s an example:

Hello, I’m the [officer title] of the [chapter name] of the American Payroll Association. I noticed that you do payroll in [city] and I thought I'd invite you to an upcoming meeting we’re having on [date] about [payroll education topic]. Registration is half-off for first time attendees and dinner is included. Here is our website if you would like to learn more: [chapter website URL]. Have a great day!

There are several ways to promote your chapter through social media. On Facebook, you can “boost” posts, which allows you to select a target demographic and total budget. If your chapter has a sizeable following, consider holding a social media challenge in which followers are incentivized to share/retweet one of your posts or make posts of their own with a chapter hashtag. While these campaigns aren’t likely to go viral, they may reach friends of friends (or followers of followers) who will take interest in your chapter.

Has your chapter tried any of these strategies? Share and network in the comments below!