Since August 1, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the Florida Farm Bureau Association. This is an association with approximately 145,000 members, with the goal of growing to 155,000 members by October 2016.

The Florida Farm Bureau is made up of county farm bureaus throughout the state. Each county farm bureau has volunteer leaders who are responsible for hosting local events, welcoming members, and conducting their own member recruitment and retention programs.

While a lot of my work is creating member welcome packages, writing renewal letters, and designing member recruitment campaigns, most of my efforts are focused on training.

I had the opportunity to speak at the Florida Farm Bureau Annual Meeting to present my latest membership recruitment materials and provide volunteer leadership training to volunteers in the county bureaus.

One of the highlights was the reception I received for my new member stickers, the “Farm Raised, Farm Proud, Farm Bureau” membership stickers. One of the key member retention secrets I teach is that members want to be part of something larger than themselves. While there’s been a lot of bad publicity directed toward farmers and farm-raised produce, I’ve made a point of encouraging members to stand up and be proud of farm-raised people and products.

This is generating a lot of pride among members. They are excited to be part of an organization that advocates for them. I expect “Farm Raised, Farm Proud, Farm Bureau” member stickers, pins, and promotional items to become a viral member recruitment tool.

Become an advocate for your members. It’s a great way to get your members excited, to retain them longer, and to create an opportunity for viral membership growth.

About Robert Skrob

The problem with subscription membership programs is that members quit, I fix that problem. For more than 20-years I have specialized in direct response marketing for member recruitment, retention and ascension in diverse subscription members environments including non-profit associations, for-profit publishers/coaching, subscriptions and SAAS companies. For an evaluation of your current churn rate and how I can improve it, contact me here. I discover there are often two or three quick wins you can implement within a week to lower churn immediately, let’s talk about your quick wins.