As Rotary Clubs, we are always looking for the silver bullet that attracts new members and helps to keep our present membership engaged with our Club initiatives and meetings. We have written, discussed and met to see who has the best idea on ensuring membership growth … even if it is only +1.
Past articles have discussed the ABC’s of Member Retention … this time we discuss “S” … how sexy is Rotary??? Some are already shutting down because of the “S” word … while others are intrigued, and wondering who would be brave enough to link sexy with Rotary. To all, read on. You will be surprised.
If being sexy attracts attention …
Ok, for clarity, I’m not here being lewd or lascivious toward the topic, I’m here to be pragmatic. As a human need, sexy grabs attention and is as important as air, water and food proven by the fact that we can only live one generation without it. Like other physiological needs, when it is abused or abandoned things go negative, but when it’s respected and nurtured, life is good. The point to be made, if your Rotary Club has lost its appeal, you will be abandoned.
Madison Avenue has always said, “Sex Sells,” so how can we take advantage without being lewd, offensive or patronizing to make our Club meetings and events sexier???
Rotary is similar to local chambers of commerce. We are always working on finding the next best way to market to the human needs. Let’s address the obvious first step on this topic which is attraction. When two people are attracted to one another, the process begins … and isn’t the first step in marketing the same? Don’t we identify what’s most attractive about the products and services being offered? At Rotary don’t we discuss our purpose, our aim, our plan, our goals? This is the courtship. This is the dance where we find out if we are attracted to each other.
The media has chosen to call this attraction being sexy, so I’ll run with it to ask the question, “What’s sexy about the Rotary Club?” And, if that term doesn’t work for you then ask, “What’s attractive about the Rotary Club?” Other questions to ask include: What’s exciting? What’s interesting? “What’s intriguing? What’s appealing?
When we identify what attracts our current members to be part of Rotary, we must consider those reasons for marketing and attracting new members. Imagine the collective “Now this is sexy!” when your Rotary Club has a net membership count at the end of the Rotary year because you decided to be sexier.
Stay tuned for the next installment of ABC’s of Member Retention.
Rod Henry
District 5870 Membership Committee
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The content of this article was inspired by a recent issue of ChamberMentor.Com and is used and edited with permission of the author, Patrick McGaughey