4 Tips for Generating More Non-Dues Revenue from Advertising
Non-dues revenue is crucial for associations because it provides financial stability and supports various programs and services that benefit members. Relying solely on membership dues is not usually sufficient to cover all expenses or to fund growth initiatives. Having non-dues revenue reduces your dependency on memberships for all of your funding, making it easier to meet your organization’s and members’ needs.
For most associations, offering an advertising program – through which industry partners can highlight their products, services, and expertise – is a significant and impactful strategy for generating non-dues revenue. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN), for example, sold ads in their community and generated an additional $110,000 in non-dues revenue after partnering with Association Revenue Partners.
For your association’s advertising program to be similarly successful, think about:
- Investing in quality digital advertising space.
- Making engagement growth a priority.
- Promoting your available ad space.
- Striking a good advertising balance between bringing in sponsorships, leaving space to highlight your own programs, and not overwhelming and alienating members.
Let’s dive into each of these and explore some of the ways you can ensure your association’s advertising program benefits your partners, organization, and – most importantly – members!
Download Higher Logic's customizable Sample Advertising Prospectus to help you get started launching an advertising program!
1. Invest in quality digital advertising space
In the advertising and non-dues revenue world, you want beautiful, functional online spaces for your advertising. Whether you’re sharing ads via email, on your website, or in your online community, those ads should be obvious and optimized. In our digital age, online advertising is the best way to get your content and sponsors’ content in front of your member or donor base.
There are three factors that qualify a channel as a “quality online space”: high traffic, beautiful and functional design, and targeted content. Let’s explore a bit about each.
- High traffic: Advertisers prefer a billboard on a busy highway than a billboard on a dead-end dirt road. You want your channels to be well-trafficked, with high participation and engagement. When offering advertising on your emails, ask yourself whether you have good open and click rates and how you could improve them. If you have an online community, is it showing signs that it’s healthy? This includes posts, discussions, logins, downloads, etc.
- Beautiful and functional design: A beautiful channel that’s easy to use and engage with will help you increase traffic, but aesthetic appeal isn’t all that matters. Invest time and effort into making your channels user-friendly. If you don’t have someone on your team with user experience (UX) or user interface (UI) design chops, consider hiring or consulting with an expert – like our Higher Logic Design Services team, to make your website and online community really glow.
- Targeted content: The word “targeted” is music to any advertiser’s ears. If you can offer targeted advertising capabilities to advertisers, displaying certain ads based on members’ data, they’ll love it. Think of how social media networks allow advertisers to choose who they’d like to show their ad to based on demographics, interests, engagement. These capabilities enable advertisers to get the most bang for their buck.
- Example: Say an advertiser wants to highlight a certification program. You could target their ad only to those members who’ve indicated interest in this type of certification (which you know from their past data), and then show them the ad where they’re most likely to see it: your website, automated emails, or online community.
2. Make engagement growth a priority
What will potential advertisers or your marketing team want from the advertising spaces you’re offering? Views and engagement! The more eyes on their ad, the more value they get from the money they’re investing in promotion.
So, if you want to increase the interest and investment in your available advertising spaces, make increasing engagement a priority.
For example, if people aren’t opening the emails you send, have you considered creating responsive workflows with marketing automation, so that members receive content on things they’re interested in? The software accounts for their engagement level so you’re focusing your efforts on those who will be most receptive (again, that tailored content comes in clutch when pitching potential advertisers).
3. Promote, promote, promote
Once you’ve beautified your channels and amped up your engagement, it’s time for a little advertising of your own to secure paid advertisers (or, advertise your own programs).
Higher Logic created a Sample Advertising Prospectus to help you get started. We also have a few tips for getting advertisers on board:
- Start out by reaching out to the sponsors you already trust for your events, or connect with trusted partners in the industry.
- Research additional potential sponsors to see if other organizations might have something to offer your members.
- Set a cadence for how often you’re going to remind your existing and potential sponsor list of upcoming advertising opportunities.
- Keep your stats handy – when you can prove to potential sponsors and advertisers that you’re offering coveted real estate, it’s a lot easier to convince them to advertise with you.
- Be open to conversations with and feedback from trusted partners. If one of your best advertisers tells you they’re looking for something different from what you’re currently offering, it presents an opportunity to try something new.
Listen to our podcast episode with Bruce Rosenthal, a longtime strategic advisor and consultant to associations, for more ideas to form productive and profitable sponsorship and advertising relationships. Or check out our episode with Lucas McCann – who’s worked with over 1000 associations to increase revenue and cultivate industry partnerships!
4. Use your judgement for how much advertising is too much advertising
This is the caveat to everything I’ve said so far. When you’re advertising to your members, you don’t want them to ever feel bombarded by promotion. You own the space; you can limit what you include and how much advertising you allow. If members get frustrated with the advertising, you could see a negative impact on engagement which, in turn, will have a negative impact on advertising interest. It’s a tension you need to manage with care, and mastering advertising in your online spaces can take some trial and error.
To help, think through what advertising space you have and what your members want. Will the ad you’re considering selling offer value to them?
And if you haven’t allowed promotion in the past, start small and see how it goes. Maybe start by only offering ads in the sidebars of your online community or one ad space in a weekly newsletter. The nice thing about this type of approach is that the rarity of the ads increases their value – people may be willing to pay more if the spots are limited.
Your goal should be to make the best use of the space you have without overwhelming your members and ensuring you’re still providing them value.
Strengthen Your Association’s Non-Dues Revenue Channels
Your next step?
Consider where you’re doing well or not so well in each of these four areas. If you can get to a good level on each of them, you’re well on your way to increasing your non-dues revenue.
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Having income streams beyond member dues is key to keeping your association sustainable. Explore tips and resources to help you create and maintain a successful non-dues revenue strategy.
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Customizable Advertising Prospectus
This easy-to-use template will help you create an advertising prospectus to support your non-dues revenue goals.
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