Increasing paid memberships

[Greenway]

A lot of time at each quarterly meeting is spent discussing our limitations in manpower and budget. This boils down to the few dedicated people that do most of the work getting burned out because there is so much more that can be done to promote this sport and save and reopen trails, but the time and money are not there.

The root cause of this is a lack of members. Of the tens of thousands of people that like to drive the two-tracks in Michigan, we only have a few hundred paying members..

My question to you is: What can we do to increase membership? How do we get the word out? How can we convince people that their sport is endangered? How can we get more volunteers to pick up a project here and there to help everyone? How can we get them to write the checks to join?

[fishyOO7]

Not really a way to get more paid members, but we could make a group on LinkedIn. I was just looking on there for it.
Advertising? Publish the number of paid members and the number of registered people on this site and the average number of hits a day. Then the companies know the amount of traffic their advertising dollar gets. I know that would help my company to try to donate for a year.
Try to get the media involved more. If we are doing a trail clean up, call the local TV / Radio station and invite them to ride along - Free advertising.

I can't talk much, all I do is pay my dues because I recognize the benefit of the organization, but I don't attend the meetings or help with anything else.

How do the snowmobile associations do it? They are the ones that groom the trails and all that stuff and that takes money and volunteers.

Make it more than just about rules / regulations of the state. Have more GLFWDA rides. If you make it fun, then hopefully more will join. Make membership a requirement to be a part of the trip. I know you do the trail rides the day before the meeting to try to add the fun element to it, but what about making the meeting during the lunch break of the trail ride? (again, never atteneded so please excuse my ignorance on what happens or how long it lasts).

Try to get the corporate sponsors to do a demo of their product during the meeting, especially some new technology that might drive more attendence.

Sorry, I have lots of ideas, but not good at following through. Young family and work take a lot of time.

[phittie1100]

I think on Sunday you hit on some good ideas Gary - we use "spotted cards" to advertise for our club, no reason something similar wouldn't work for the Association. WLB is a Jeep-only club so we only target Jeeps, but GLFWDA benefits not only anyone with an ORV permit on their truck but as Pat B has mentioned outdoors men and women in general benefit from opur activities when they use the forest roads or NFS roads across the state. That opens up a lot of opportunities to stick a card on someone's windshield - Dunham's, Jay's, Frank's, any of the outdoor expos, etc.

The other thing you mentioned that I think is easy to do is convert Bob's post from earlier this year into a downloadable PDF doc. I have a similar doc I am currently using for UFWDA club solicitations, called "What Does UFWDA do fo ME? Turning everyone in the Association into a PR tool for GLFWDA is relatively cheap and easy.

Craig has some good ideas in the post above too - when is the last time any of us called our State Rep to see if they wanted to tag along on one of our outings? And just this past Sunday we discussed moving our Quarterly meetings earlier in the weekend when we schedule the meetings in conjunction with an event held by one of our clubs.

[oz97tj]

Ive been saying it for a while. MORE TRAILRIDES!!!!

People wantto wheel and there are boatloads of people out there who are learning the ropes and need guidance and also who are nervous about exploring on their own. Tapping into these people would be huge!

What about working with some jeep dealers? Every new jeep gets a trial membership and a handful of literature to read telling them who we are, what we do, and where to find us on the webbernet. Even just working with one or two high volume jeep dealers has huge potential. Could also be good press for the dealership.

What about working with jeep directly? Somebody has to know someone that is part of jeep. Why don't we help on Drummond at the jambo? Maybe we could do some informational stuff with jeep directly? Maybeeven instructional videos like straps and winches and general offroad stuff? Basics. Jeep makes money off wheelers but doesn't do a whole lot to educate.

[lpm606]

Reaching out to dealers is an idea that I brought up with WLB a while back and they said they had tried this previously and the reactions ranged from lukewarm at best to a flat-out cold shoulder. Now this was asking if they would be amenable to handing out a club brochure to jeep buyers - a bit different than asking them to distribute GLFWDA materials and giving a free trial membership... The membership idea has some real merit. If we could get a dealer to allow us to automatcally enroll jeep buyers in the association for say six months, they would recieve their membership package plus two issues of the boondocker - enough to give them an introduction to what is happening with the association. Maybe enough to get them interested in renewing for a paid membership after the 6 months is up. I like it the idea.

[WhiteRhino]

Dealers are in business to make money and the competition is very tough. GLFWDA brings nothing into their business that will help them sell vehicles. Bottom line, why should they?

Harsh but it's reality.

[oz97tj]

Dealers are in business to make money and the competition is very tough. GLFWDA brings nothing into their business that will help them sell vehicles. Bottom line, why should they?

Harsh but it's reality.

Nobody ever said they ill make money off it. What they so get is good press along with helping the cause. Manu dealerships are involved in motorsport promotions.

[lpm606]

I think if they can get a "casual" jeep buyer to fall in love with the sport and become a committed jeeper for life they do see a real benefit. I am on my third Jeep vehicle. If I had not gotten involved with a local club and GLFWDA would I be on my third Jeep? Doubt it. I think that is a great selling point. I am also guessing that folks who wheel their jeeps even a little bit are probably putting more miles on them (mostly going to and from events) and a more wear and tear on their vehicle and this can mean more in $ for their service departments as well. Maybe that's a stretch, but who knows?

Jeep as a company, is a silver level sponsor of Tread Lightly! Does this directly help them sell cars? I think not. Does it intangibly create a better climate for getting more Jeepers on the trails? Probably so. Does it let them promote themselves as a company that cares about their customers, their sport we enjoy, and the outdoor playground we play on? Sure! Would a local dealership similarly want to get behind a GLFWDA membership for their customers for some of the same reasons? Possibly.

I doubt the sales pitch of "GLFWDA brings nothing into their business" would work, but perhaps sturcturing someting along these lines might get some buy-in.

[WhiteRhino]

Please don't think I am here to throw cold water on any ideas that may help. I just know that dealers were contacted in the past without much response. Maybe times have changed and it's time for a fresh look.

[hemrides]

One thing that, for now, prevents me from getting out more is my job. I spend a lot of time at it and hate telling folks I can help when I know I can't. When my retirement starts in 2013 I plan to become more involved. A second item is that I'm just a stock TJ and like a slow pace, class 1-3 type trails. I like finding lakes, doing a little fishing, etc. I still use my TJ for daily transportation. I know you offer rides, like the Troll Fall Color tour, that are good for me, but I wonder how many other folks are in the same position as me...then I always remember what my wife tells me. I don't feel comfortable attending rides that will be more aggressive, and slow people down.

When I was involved with an ATV club we asked ATV dealers if we could put club fliers in their dealerships to help spread the word. I think business card with the club name, website info would work. I would be able to drive them around to dealers if that is a direction. We could create a standard BC template the folks could download and print. This would also eliminate distribution issues. A member of What Lies Beyond club, put a card like this under my wiper blade a few years back. It made me look them up and become a member of the forum.

I think Oz has one of the better suggestions, more rides, and I would add more gatherings. Maybe try a monthly, quarterly, etc., weekend gathering at some local restaurants so people can meet and get to know each other. For those of us stuck in the metro areas we could make the gatherings a short ride and lunch. I know it's only on the pavement, but it gets folks out.

My 2¢

Dave



My 2¢

Dave