‘In the IOT (Internet of things) space, no-one can hear you scream.’ As mentioned at the recent Member’s Data solution day, for decades, membership bodies have written for people. Guidance notes, technical standards, policy papers, research all crafted for a professional to stay informed. That reader is changing. Just look how you surface information [...]
A perspective on deployment productivity in the membership sector Every few years the membership sector talks itself into believing the next platform will be the one that fixes everything. Having spent a career alongside associations large and small, through the desktop era, client-server, the move to cloud, and now the arrival of capable AI, [...]
Most discussion of generative engine optimisation (GEO) frames it as a new burden for marketing teams. For membership organisations, the framing should be the opposite. You are already sitting on exactly the kind of content AI search rewards. Why GEO is good news for membership organisations When a prospective member asks an AI tool [...]
For trade associations and membership organisations, a website is far more than an online brochure. It's often the first place prospective members go to learn about your organisation, the hub for member communications, and a powerful tool for supporting recruitment, engagement and retention. As member expectations continue to evolve, many organisations are reviewing whether [...]
Traffic is falling. Enquiries are slowing. Yet search rankings often look perfectly healthy. This is the pattern membership digital teams are reporting across the sector. The reaction is usually the same: look for a technical problem. Fix something. Publish more. The problem is not technical. And publishing more may be making it worse. Why [...]
The membership sector is adopting AI faster than almost any other technology in its recent history, but the data foundations those tools depend on have not kept pace. The 2026 MemberWise Digital Excellence Report shows AI adoption climbing from 5% to 26% in a single reporting cycle, with ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot now part [...]
Quick answer: Prospective and existing members are increasingly making join, renewal and upgrade decisions with AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews) before they reach your website. The membership decision is now AI-mediated, and often answered without a site visit at all. The organisations adapting are restructuring content so AI systems represent them [...]
For many small and mid-sized membership organisations, the phrase “digital transformation” can feel intimidating. It often brings to mind expensive consultancy projects, complex software implementations and months of disruption all requiring budgets and internal resources that simply aren’t available. But the reality is that digital transformation has changed. Today, it’s less about large-scale technology [...]
Picture the scene. Your mentoring programme is running. Senior members are paired with junior ones. Relationships form, feedback is positive, the admin team reports good uptake. By every visible measure, it’s working. And yet, when you look at your renewal data, the pattern is familiar. Younger members - the ones the programme was designed [...]
Mentoring is an excellent, focused, and practical way to expand your knowledge, insights, and professional skills. Many membership organisations provide mentoring initiatives for their members because they deliver a clear "win-win-win" outcome: Win 1: Members gain practical support and insights from one another. Win 2: More established members can "give back" by volunteering as [...]
