A person in our Chamber Professional’s Group on Facebook threw out the idea of doing a flash sale for 10% off annual membership.
I don’t think this is the best strategy.
It tells a negative story to the community that membership isn’t worth its full value.
A better solution would be to offer add-ons or bonuses for those members who join within a given time period.
Bonuses, Not Discounts
For instance, anyone who joins within the month of December receives a bonus ad in the newsletter or gets included in an email blast to the entire chamber membership.
You charge them full-rate for the membership but they get the bonus, which is sometimes worth as much as the annual chamber membership.
You could also partner with the local newspaper to offer a free ad in the paper for anyone who joins the chamber during the specified time. The newspaper loves this because it broadens its reach and may convert someone into a paying customer after the free ad expires.
The new member loves this because the cost of the ad offsets the annual investment in the chamber.
The chamber loves it because it entices new businesses to join for the added “free” exposure. Plus everybody continues to have a positive perception of the chamber.
By the way, you could do a 10% discount but it’s probably not large enough to motivate people and if you do a much larger discount of something around 50%, then it really harms your brand. You don’t want to look desperate, because you’re not. For this reason…
Offer bonuses, not discounts.
