2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6

AWARD WINNING IDEASN A T I O N A L C L U B A C H I E V E M E N T C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N I N G E N T R I E S

MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Each year, Ad 2 Orlando continues its mission to provide members with new opportunities for career

development, networking and an avenue to give back to the local community. We believe that

membership is the helm of Ad 2 Orlando. With a strong membership base, one that is continually growing

and engaged, the 2015-2016 Ad 2 Orlando Membership committee turned our efforts to meet the goals

outlined in the following objectives.

OBJECTIVE 1: INCREASE RECRUITEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS FROM 50 - 75

Aggressive goals were set by our Membership Committee to increase our professional membership base

by 25% in the 2015 - 2016 club year. We strongly believed that Ad 2 Orlando had significant benefits to

offer young professionals, as well as creative and marketing professionals in our area. Our goal for the

year was to increase our current professional membership from 50 members to 75. To achieve this goal,

we developed new operational procedures to engage members, integrated different program types and

strategized on engaging messages to target untapped groups of young advertising professionals.

EXECUTION:

Ad 2 Draft Day - Membership Recruitment Event: Ad 2’s annual membership kick-off event is our

premier opportunity to drive membership. This year, we changed the approach, and the name, to better

identify our goal: recruitment. We went with the name “Draft Day,” to better aligned with our shifted focus.

Much like a sports draft, we wanted prospective members to know that we wanted them on our team and

were ready to put pen to paper. Last year’s membership kick-off was hosted at Red Light Red Light, a

beer parlor with 26 rotating drafts, 2 beer engines and 250+ bottles (including a selection of vintage

beers). The feedback had been so positive we decided to hold this event at the same venue this year.

Leading up to the event, the Creative team worked to brand the event, so as to aligning it with sports

drafts and draft beers. We promoted the event via four e-blasts (Exhibit 1.2) a Facebook event page and

organic bi-weekly social postings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram (Exhibit 1.3), and paid

promotions on LinkedIn (Exhibit 1.3a). Additionally, we worked with a freelance video team to create a

promotional video interviewing board members. We focused the content of the interviews on the benefits

of Ad 2, why we joined and specially addressed why people should come out to Draft Day. This was also

promoted on social prior to the event (Exhibit 1.1).

To incentivize more in-person event sign-ups (versus online registrations), we offered a $5 membership

discount and we created a new member Ad 2 Swag Bag, which included a reusable tote and pen, a

branded t-shirt, sunglasses, koozies and buttons (Exhibit 1.4). The Ad 2 Swag Bag is now given to every

new member who signs up at our events.

During the event, our team set up a table the bar entrance to greet and engage with guests as they first

arrived. By utilizing Square readers, attendees could purchase a membership right there at the event. We

also placed our new one-sheeters (Exhibit 1.5) out one tables for prospective members to review and find

out more about Ad 2. Members wore nametags that identified them as such, so new and prospective

members knew who then could ask about joining. This helped encouraged discussions on the value of

being associated with Ad 2. Our goal was to ensure that no one felt left out or excluded. Board members

also had their business cards on hand to encourage continued discussions for new members to ask

questions and get involved in committees (Exhibit 1.6).

Co-Hosted Events with AAF: Increasing our Ad 2 Orlando interaction with AAF-Orlando was pertinent to

keeping our relationship ongoing. This year we partnered with AAF on Beers with Peers, a networking

event focused on fostering relationships between seasoned professionals and young professionals. We

hosted three Beers with Peers events, increasing the number of opportunities from years past for Ad 2 to

network with our AAF counterparts. Through an allied presence, AAF was able to help Ad 2 Orlando

reach a broader demographic for a potential new membership, in which we were able to gain 2 new

members and 2 renewals (Exhibit 1.7).

Potential New Member Follow Up: One of our primary goals this year was to personalize the member

communication process. The membership committee established a new on-boarding process to ensure a

personal email was sent to non-member attendees, allowing us to extend a personal welcome to them

after attending an event. It was important to us that they felt welcomed and open to attending an event in

the future or learning more about how to get involved (Exhibit 1.8).

Job Board: We receive an average of 3-5 job listings a week from local companies and our job board

continued to be the number one most visited page on our website this year, with over 6,000 unique visits

and an average time on page of 3:33. This benefit is communicated to our followers on social and e-

blasts, helping draw professionals into to our website to engage them with Ad 2 (Exhibit 1.9).

Digitize Sign-In: As part of our digital initiatives, we created an online sign-in sheet for events. The

previous branded printed sign-in sheets did not allow us to collect enough information for proper follow-

up. By turning the hard copy sign-in sheet into a Google Doc, we were able to crosscheck whether

attendees were members, when their membership was expiring, sign them up for our e-newsletters, track

purchased raffle tickets, and more (Exhibit 1.10). Through this new process, we renewed a total of 10

members on the spot at events.

RESULTS:

Ad 2 Draft Day - Membership Recruitment Event: 29 people attended Ad 2 Draft Day in total. We

gained 7 new professional members, 1 new student member and 2 professional renewals. Of the total

attendees, more than 51% were non-members upon arrival. At the end of the event, 53% of those non-

members converted (Exhibit 1.11). We also amassed 9 new emails to add to our email list. This reflects

our goal of growing our professional membership base.

Beers with Peers - Co-Hosted Events with Partners AAF: In total, the three events we co-hosted with

AAF-Orlando attracted over 150 people - 51 Ad 2 Orlando members, 39 Ad 2 Orlando prospects, 2 new

members and 2 renewals (Exhibit 1.7). Of the attendees, professionals amassed more than 90% of the

crowd each time. Additionally, the money co-raised by Ad 2 and AAF during these events was used for

the 2016 educational scholarship.

Potential New Member Follow Up: By sending out emails to semi-interested parties, we were able to

capitalize on their interest. The early engagement also ensured that they could turn to us with any

questions and kept Ad 2 Orlando top-of-mind (Exhibit 1.8).

Job Board: During our term, we received 58 total posts, 40 of which were full-time positions (helping

draw in our professional-centric audience) and 19 of which were internships. These numbers reflect more

than a 300% increase in job board submissions. Thanks to our promotions, both via word-of-mouth and

social, the Ad 2 job board page was the most visited page on our website, gaining 3,643 page views (a

40% increase) during the year (Exhibit 1.9).

Digitize Sign-In/Register New Contacts for Enewsletters: Thanks to new technologies, we were able

to register 40 additional people for our eblasts. It also allowed us to accurately charge/exclude guests at

our paid events.

Our current membership consists of 130 due-paying members (75 professional, 40 UCF affiliate

members, 15 students). In less than one year we went from 49 to 75 professional members (meeting our

membership goal), which reflects a 53% increase in professional members from the previous board year

(Exhibit 1.12).

OBJECTIVE 2: INCREASE MEMBERSHIP RENENTION AND ENGAGEMENT

We understood that engagement and a sense of belonging are keys to keeping our members active and

involved. Therefore, another one of our 2015 - 2016 objectives was to streamline and automate the

welcome and renewal process. We did this through the creation of automatic email alerts. This would give

us an easier way to focus on personalized communication. In the long run, we expect this change will

help increase our retention rate. It also gives Ad 2 Orlando credibility – like signing up for a major

retailer’s email list, we too are now sending immediate confirmation of enrollment.

EXECUTION:

New Member Welcomes: We wanted to take advantage of our first point of contact with new members,

as early engagement ensures members get involved, and it was important to us that they felt welcomed

and had all the necessary information to make the most of their membership. To do so, we automated a

personal email that is sent out immediately after a new member registers on our website. The email

includes information about upcoming events, how to join us for a board meeting, signing up for a

committee, our social handles and how to learn more about making the most of their membership (Exhibit

2.1).

Approaching Expiration Membership Email: Thirty days prior to a current member’s membership

expiring, we set up an automated email to be deployed. It served as a reminder to renew, and illustrates

that we appreciate them being a member. In this email we mentioned two of our upcoming events in

hopes they would want to take advantage of them as a member, before inviting them to renew their

membership online (Exhibit 2.2).

Day of Expiration Membership Email: On the member’s day of expiration, we send out another email,

this one geared toward retaining membership. It served as a reminder to renew, highlighting the

membership benefits available to them and thanking them for being a member. This email included a soft

sell to renew (Exhibit 2.3).

Past-Due Membership Email: Our last automated email is set to go out 30 days after a membership has

expired (Exhibit 2.4). This email focused on what the former member missed in the last 30 days and

beyond. The email drove to our website for more information and to renew and/or to stay in touch.

RESULTS: Our day-of reminder email had a 58.3% open rate and our post 30-day reminder had a

29.6% open rate (Exhibit 2.5). This shows a high interest among members to continue membership. More

importantly, we engaged members even after their membership expired (and convinced them to renew).

Automating these emails reminded current members of the benefits of being a part of Ad 2, and made the

renewal process easy by driving them right to the webpage. Through these efforts, the club was able to

retain 13 members, 100% of which were professionals (Exhibit 2.6).

OBJECTIVE 3: FOSTER INCREASED MEMBERSHIP PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT

The 2015 - 2016 Membership Committee felt compelled to build upon Ad 2 Orlando’s branded slogan

“We’re Next”. The committee strived to optimize the membership experience by implementing a new Ad 2

Orlando website to increase engagement and assist in keeping members interested and involved with our

organization. Knowing that engagement and a sense of belonging are keys to keeping our members

active and involved, we increased our personalized communications via the following mechanisms: email,

social media, membership feedback requests, membership spotlights and more. By doing this, we were

able to understand what our members were looking to get out of their memberships, and we successfully

built and maintained meaningful relationships by bringing the human element into the picture.

EXECUTION:

Updating Membership One-Sheeter: This year we had a goal to define our membership benefits in our

marketing materials. We reconstructed our membership one-sheeter to match brand standards and better

communicate our benefits (Exhibit 1.5). We defined the benefits of becoming a member, who we are and

how to join. Our new one-sheeter was a better selling point compared to our past information sheet which

primarily touched upon our committees.

Incentives: Across all programs this year we sold raffle/drink tickets to guests. For $1, members and

non-members received two tickets, or for $3 they received five, and members who brought a guest

received an extra raffle ticket. This added a fun element to events and gave everyone an opportunity to

participate. Prizes for the drawings included Publix and Target gift cards, a $50 Redlight Redlight gift

card, Sweet! by Holly gift cards, local attractions tickets and more (Exhibit 3.1), along with promoting the

swag bag items for in-person sign-ups (Exhibit 1.4).

Membership Mid-Year Survey: After the holidays, we sent out a mid-year club check to see how we

could better engage our community (Exhibit 3.2). We posed 15 questions ranging from the quantity of our

e-blasts to what would make companies cover membership dues. In hopes of a higher participation, we

offered a $50 gas gift card and sent the survey out across social channels and email (Exhibit 3.3).

Email and Social Media Marketing: We actively sent content to our Communications team for the

“Membership” section of the monthly e-newsletter welcoming new members, celebrating birthdays, jobs

and member anniversaries and social media Follow Fridays and Member Mondays (Exhibit 3.4).

New Ad 2 Website: Through our new website we have made information more accessible. A new

member spotlight section now exists on the homepage. We also prioritized blogging to provide valuable

news to visitors, in addition to having an events section, which allows our brand to “follow” users through

different interaction points when signing up for events (Exhibit 3.4 b).

Affiliate Membership Program: Ad 2 Orlando continued to develop our relationship with our college

affiliate, UCF Ad Club. With their affiliation, UCF Ad Club members benefit not only from the national AAF

membership benefits, but also benefit from participation in local Ad 2 Orlando events. This Affiliate

Membership allows UCF Ad Club members to pay an additional $10 to their school membership dues and

receive all of the benefits of Ad 2 Orlando membership. The opportunity was presented to students at

their first UCF Ad Club meeting of the year by the Ad 2 Education team in hope that students would sign

up for both clubs (Exhibit 3.5).

Membership Specials: In an effort to increase engagement and sign-ups, we offered several

opportunities for members to join at discounted rates. We ran these deals on Black Friday and at Draft

Day (Exhibit 3.6). We promoted these discounts via social media and e-blast communications.

Membership Video: Video as a promotional tool has been on the rise and has been a driver for

engagement with our audience. We felt through using video we could showcase the fun memories and

beneficial experiences our board members had through the years. It served as convincing testimonials for

others to join and was shared across social and email (Exhibit 1.1).

RESULTS:

Incentives: Through selling raffle/drink tickets at events we raised over $120 (Exhibit 3.7).

Membership Mid-Year Survey: We had over 20 positive responses on information received in the e-

blasts, favorite events and what programing/social events our members would like to see in the future

(Exhibit 3.2). We also gathered information about raising dues from our survey. While exactly half said

they would like to keep dues at $70, 40% said they would pay $80 and 10% said they would go as high

as $90.

Email Marketing: This year, we distributed 76 campaigns to 6 segmented lists. Our total average open

rate for 2016 was 29.27%, a 5.77% increase from last year and well above the industry average (Exhibit

3.8). We also automated membership reminder emails (pre 30-day, day-of, and post 30-day) (Exhibit 2.2

– 2.4). To date, our day-of reminder email has a 58.3% open rate and our post 30-day reminder has a

29.6% open rate (Exhibit 2.8).

Social Media: Our #FollowFriday campaign has featured 4 board members and garnered 156 total Likes

on 12 different Instagram posts (Exhibit 3.9).

Website: Our new website design has presented a 29.65% reduction in bounce rate, a 63.52% increase

in pages per session, and an 88.48% increase in average session duration (Exhibit 3.10). This data

implies that not only are users finding relevant information, they are also interested in other content on the

website. This increased engagement across our website assisted in keeping members interested and

helped them stay involved with our organization (Exhibit 3.11).

Affiliate Membership Program: The Affiliate Student Membership program for the University of Central

Florida cultivated 40 members.

Membership Specials: Cumulatively during our specials, we garnered 11 people (Draft Day and Black

Friday Sale).

Membership Video: The videos posted to Facebook had the most engagement of any posts during our

term (Exhibit 1.1).

CONCLUSION:

The results of our membership development efforts are evident in many ways. Ad 2 Orlando was able to

transform our collegiate membership in just a few short months, as well as stimulate immediate active

participation for new and expiring members. This club year, we successfully maximized opportunities to

attend events and cultivated personal relationships with our members. As a result, we exceeded all of our

goals and are ready to close out another great club year. It is our hope that we have provided future

membership committees with a solid foundation to continue with these initiatives and catapult Ad 2

Orlando to the next level.

Objective #1 Increase recruitment of professional members from 50 – 75 members

Exhibit 1.1

Exhibit 1.2

Exhibit 1.2 (cont.)

Exhibit 1.3

Exhibit 1.3 (cont.)

Exhibit 1.3 (cont.)

Exhibit 1.4

Exhibit 1.5

Before: After:

Exhibit 1.6

Exhibit 1.7

Exhibit 1.8

Exhibit 1.9

Exhibit 1.9 (cont.)

Exhibit 1.10

Exhibit 1.11

Exhibit 1.12

Objective #2 Increase membership retention and engagement

Exhibit 2.1

Exhibit 2.2

Exhibit 2.3

Exhibit 2.4

Exhibit 2.5

Exhibit 2.6

Objective #3 Foster increased membership participation and involvement

Exhibit 3.1

Exhibit 3.2

Exhibit 3.2 (cont.)

Exhibit 3.3

Exhibit 3.4

Exhibit 3.5

Exhibit 3.6

Exhibit 3.7

Exhibit 3.8

Exhibit 3.8

Exhibit 3.9

Exhibit 3.10

Exhibit 3.11

Exhibit 3.11

Exhibit 3.11 (Cont.)

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