Attracting & Retaining Members.

Why Join AOPA?

Why indeed? "It costs increasing amounts of money to fly, so why should I spend my precious funds just to join an association?" Unfortunately, this is a common question from prospective and renewing AOPA members around the globe.

AOPAs must advertise their advantages and prove their worth every day of the year to be able to obtain and retain members, the lifeblood of each organization. The proof of membership advantage falls into three categories:

• What does the organization do for members on an ongoing basis?
• What are the association's accomplishments?
• What has the association done for general aviation lately?

Additionally, there must be some mechanism available to get the answers to these perennial questions to potential and existing members in a timely manner. Brochures, posters, email messages, event presence (air shows, exhibitions, etc.), newsletters, press releases, magazine articles, and endorsements from well-known aviation personalities are all means that should be exploited on a regular and ongoing basis.

People join associations for three reasons:

• They want to be associated with others who share their same interests.
• They want to have those interests represented to organizations who can improve the enjoyment of their interest.
• They want to be informed about what is happening in their area of interest and what their association is doing to improve their lot.

These are relatively simple demands of an organization that purports to act as a gathering place, advocate and informer. How well does your organization meet these demands? How could your AOPA do a better job at these tasks? These should serve as primary goals for your organization. Above all, keep asking, "Why should anyone want to join and stay with my AOPA?"

Actions Speak

Attracting, retaining and regaining lapsed members is one of the principal tasks of each AOPA. The simple truth is, without members the reason for an association disappears. But how do we attract members? Marketing campaigns, advertisements, direct mail requests, and a desk at local airports and airshows are obvious means of attracting members — but these are all costly methods that do not always yield rewarding results.

Research has shown that organizations attract and retain members best through their actions to assist and inform their constituency in achieving their collective goals. So it is actions rather than advertising campaigns that bring members to your door.

Experience indicates that the following actions are most prized by members of aviation associations:

• Constant interaction with civil aviation authorities to reduce regulatory restrictions
• Lobbying/advocacy with legislative and other government bodies
• Assisting members with specific needs, including: aviation information, regulatory violations, pilot and medical certificate issues, manufacturer/supplier disputes, purchase/sale decisions, and flight planning information
• Working with local groups to preserve and maintain airports
• Providing services that assist members in the pursuit of their hobby/profession
• Reducing costs and fees associated with flying

Once you've initiated or completed an action, you must find a means of telling prospective and existing members about your good works. Many organizations rely on newsletters and magazines, but time and expense may limit your ability to reach a significant number of pilots. Better yet, get to know members of the aviation press and media within your country; provide them with press releases describing your association's deeds. If you do this well, your association will literally sell itself.

Remember: action first, then tell everyone about it.

Reach Out and Touch a Prospective Member

Each affiliate tries to increase its membership to provide a larger organization, more representative of the total number of general aviation pilots within its country — and the increased dues revenue helps carry on the work of the association more effectively. But how to accomplish this?

While direct mail campaigns and advertising in aviation magazines work well, the time and resources required can be considerable. Perhaps the best means of attracting members is the personal approach — whether a casual meeting at your home aerodrome or contact made at your association's booth at an airshow, the ability to "speak aviation" with a prospect is invaluable.

Your ability to relate to the prospect, sympathize with their needs and desires, and communicate your association's advantages makes this approach work. If done correctly the entire "sale" takes just a few minutes — but you must be familiar with the issues and relate to their needs.

While mass mailings, advertising and speeches will provide a number of new members, the personal touch yields the best and longest-lasting results. Considerations:

• Make yourself available where pilots can be found
• Know the issues confronting pilots in your country and locally
• Have a brief sales story ready for the prospect: why your association knows their needs, a few examples of your association's successes, and why they should join (you must ask for their membership)
• Provide a brief brochure describing the principal advantages of your organization
• Ask for their membership!

Seeking Members from Outside Aviation

Obtaining and retaining members is often the largest and most significant job we have — without members we have no association, little authority for interaction with state regulatory authorities, and few funds with which to conduct the organization's business.

Most of our members come from the ranks of existing and student pilots, all seeking to maximize their investment of time and money in an enjoyable pursuit. Yet with a declining population and fewer student starts, the potential pool for membership is shrinking, so our marketing skills and presentations must be all the more effective and convincing.

But there may be another answer: why not draw more people into the pilot ranks? Many people know little of general aviation and, more importantly, that piloting an aircraft is not just for supermen or superwomen. So how do we get information to those who have the potential to become pilots?

Studies over the years in many parts of the world reveal that flying attracts those who welcome a challenge, are adventurous and high-achieving, and are always looking for a new activity — and who have the means of funding it, at least to a basic degree.

Interestingly, other activities parallel flying and share the same demographic and psychological profile as pilots — boats, snowmobiles, sports car racing, personal watercraft, skiing, mountain/rock climbing, and furniture building among them. Shows and exhibitions, rallies, races, training courses, and competitions are prime locations to make contact with these potential pilots: set up a booth, put up posters, place advertisements in event programs, and make presentations. This requires prior knowledge and planning, often up to a year in advance — so plan ahead, and work outside of aviation.

What Others Do

At a recent World Assembly, a panel of delegates was asked to relate what their association had done to obtain and retain members. Notable responses included:

The Power of the Media

We often hear that term, but most people think of the news media's influence as negative. What if that influence were used to reflect positive news events? Contrary to what most pilots may think, the news media can be a great friend to general aviation — covering and reporting on:

• The economic benefits your airport provides to the community
• The services general aviation provides to the public: traffic reporting, crop-dusting, emergency medical transport, even news reporting
• Local pilots who volunteer to fly patients and blood on emergency call
• Interesting locally based aircraft (antiques, classics, warbirds) and newsworthy pilots, such as elderly or handicapped pilots

General aviation has many good news stories to tell, and proper cultivation of the news media can be a great asset in reaching the public. So how do you get your story to the news media so they'll convert it into a positive article or evening news segment? Sponsor an aviation day.

General Aviation: Serving Every Aspect of the Community and Nation

An ideal headline — and one that appeared in a local newspaper the day after an AOPA affiliate held an aviation day for the news media at its headquarters (located at an airport). An aviation day for the news media enables you to:

• Tell your story at your own pace, on your own turf, without interruptions and conflicting priorities
• Bring the news media to the airport or hangar, letting them see firsthand what the story is about
• Educate a captive audience, give them informational materials, and let them hear from aviation experts — even take reporters flying if resources allow

This tells the good news about general aviation and aerial work, creating a positive image with the media and, through them, the public — and puts your organization's name in front of pilot populations, which should bring new members to your organization.

Information and Influence

Obtaining members, serving them, and keeping them are the essential tasks for our associations. First, understand why people join: because they have unmet needs in a specific area of interest, falling into two categories:

• Insufficient information about subjects of interest
• Inadequate influence regarding specific issues

It's our job to fulfill those unmet needs: to provide information and act as the representative for the group's interests. Information provided must be:

• Targeted to the group's majority interests
• Well-crafted to provide the right type of information
• Brief enough to hold the member's attention
• Followed up when needed

Similarly, influence must respond to the needs of the majority, use appropriate means, and provide some hope of successful intervention. Given this, does your association inform members about the most important issues facing general aviation, and provide credible influence on the critical issues?

Information and influence feed one another: information about an issue leads to action by the association, which is provided to the membership through information. A healthy, continuing information-action cycle spells success for associations.

Finding and Keeping

Obtaining and keeping members is a continuous quest for all associations — certainly true for the IAOPA community, since members form the lifeblood of each affiliate. A group of IAOPA European Region affiliates once met with general aviation commercial providers and the IAOPA Secretariat to develop methods of finding new members and retaining existing ones. Suggestions arising from that meeting:

• Exploit image — from ultralights to bizjets. Reexamine current marketing efforts: the traditional member in a suit and tie may not reach deeply enough into the market. Combine dated marketing with new opportunities — snappy slogans, adventurous photos, and reaching out to the ultralight crowd.
• Emphasize independence. AOPA's independence from undesirable groups, commercial influences, and government ties is a great selling point and should be maximized in marketing efforts.
• Advertise in other association newsletters and periodicals. Actively pursue opportunities to advertise in industry newsletters; they often welcome the chance to show a connection with active, effective groups like AOPA. Opinion and editorial pieces may be welcome too.
• Partner with sales people and flight instructors. Explore partnerships with industry sales people and flight instructors, who have built-in audiences of potential members.
• Develop incentives to join. Free aeronautical charts, books, pilot gadgets, flight program discounts, and other incentives to flight students and pilots have frequently worked well.
• Safety programs and handouts. Free safety seminars and handouts keep the AOPA brand in the market while showing civil aviation authorities that the association works for safe flying operations.
• Show how to lower costs. Create and distribute fact sheets on how to reduce flying costs — make the point that AOPA helps all pilots with the cost of flying.

Imagine Flying!

One of the best allies we have in obtaining new members is the human fascination with flight — a near-universal attraction that can easily be used to your association's advantage. Consider messaging built around statements like these:

• You've been dreaming about it since you were little — the exhilarating sensation of flight.
• You've gazed into the sky and watched airplanes whisk their passengers to far-away lands. You've always dreamed of flying — but thought it would take too much time, cost too much, or that only daredevils became pilots.
• Flying opens up new worlds: flying to the beach for the day, flying friends to a nearby town for lunch, visiting family without hours in a car — even a career as an airline or corporate pilot.
• Thousands of people from all walks of life are learning to fly right now, for a variety of reasons — business, career, family, or the sheer fun of it.
• Getting a license is easier and cheaper than you think — a local flight school can provide all the details.

By forming coalitions with aircraft and parts manufacturers, flight training organizations, and aviation magazines to get people interested in flight, your association can both grow and make general aviation stronger. But you must first find ways of reaching out to the public to help them discover aviation.

Let Others Spread Your Good News

Publicity is essential for associations. If your target audience doesn't know your organization exists or, worse, what it's doing for their interests, attracting new members and keeping existing ones is very difficult.

Most associations get word of their activities to members through newsletters, email, and magazines — important work, but the effort and expense is high, and word of your good works may not reach potential members with the right emphasis. Hearing news from an established, independent news organization usually carries greater credibility and appreciation than hearing it from your own in-house media.

News media are in the business of selling their product — they need interesting, current items that appeal to at least a portion of their audience. A national aviation magazine may try to cover all aviation-relevant activities in their region, not just general aviation, so your news must compete with a wide range of other interests and be newsworthy enough to reach the top of the editor's priority list. Writing an effective press release follows well-established principles you can find covered on a number of publicity- and PR-focused websites.