Receive the Most Non-Dues Revenue Possible

Posted on November 15, 2017 in Associations, Chambers, Feature Updates, General, Membership, Nonprofit

Bringing in non-dues revenue is an essential part for many organizations to offer the best membership possible. It is also important that each organization implements the right kinds of non-dues programs so they are not wasting precious staff time and money…

This week we are looking at non-dues revenues, and making sure the ones you implement are the right fit for your organization. Recent posts from both, Thursday Buzz: Rethinking Non-dues Revenues, and Association Success- Less is More: Non-Dues Revenue by Jordan Garth both suggest that the quality of your non-dues revenue channels matter more than the quantity.

Trim The Fat

“Products must be more enjoyable, more discoverable, and meet the needs of your audience.” – Jordan Garth

Most organizations have their own ways of bringing in some non-dues revenues, whether that be selling documents, merchandise, e-books, conferences, etc. But it’s important to make sure these channels are bringing in enough revenue to be worth it.

Association Success, suggest to Cast a critical eye over the projects meant to bring in revenue at your association using the 80/20 rule.

“Is 80% or more of your revenue coming from 20% or fewer of your products? Carve out projects, whether they are e-books, sponsorships, or conferences, that don’t fulfill the 80/20 rule. Following the philosophy of minimum input for maximum output avoids the dilution of business and highlights the best your association has to offer. Efficiency is key.”

Create An Online Store

There is an awesome how-to video, “Small Store”, on Membee’s Help from the Hive page that goes into detail about how to get your store all set up. The Help from the Hive documentation also has the list of steps you need to follow to get all set up.

Although your Online Store is technically an “Event” it can be a permanent member of your site!

It’s super easy to add new merchandise and edit their description and prices. Below is a screenshot of how your store will look once you follow the steps from the Help from the Hive page.

Sell the “Featured Listing” Designation

This feature is advantageous to members when there are a large number of members in the same category or where a common search term returns a large group of members on your directory’s Search Results page.

When you activate this feature in a member’s directory listing, their listing will stand out on the Search Results page with a gold star and “featured” text just like the screenshot below:

In your directory’s widget, you can customize three things related to Featured Listings:

designate the text displayed beside the member’s name (the default is “Featured”)
designate the icon image that is displayed
designate the map pin color for featured listings

The best practice here is to treat this feature with a greater degree of exclusivity when compared to selling additional listings. After all, if every member returned on the Search Results page is “feature”, it defeats the purpose of some members standing out from their competitors.

Sell Popular Search Keywords to the Highest Bidder

The Sponsored Listing feature is very appealing to members who are looking to truly separate themselves (literally) from their competition inside your member directory.

This feature allows a member to “pop to the top” on the Search Results page, separating and highlighting their listing from all other members who met the terms of the site visitor’s search.

It’s extremely easy to find out what keywords are the most searched, follow steps below:

Select “Directories” on Membee’s right-hand side
Type in your Directories name, Ex. “Online Listings”
Scroll down to the “Keywords And Categories” section
Select date range, select refresh, and results will appear similar to the below screenshot:

In this example “Bank” is the most searched keyword, now you can go ahead and sell that keyword to the highest bidder and set that bidder up as a “Sponsored” listing in the directory.

Sponsored listings appear with a red star beside their name in the directory, and appear right at the top when the keyword is searched. In the screenshot example below the keyword “Hotel” was used, and The Cedars Resort bought that keyword.

You can see how the sponsored pin appears in green so it stands out on the map. You can select and change pin colours in the Directory Widget in Membee.