Know Your Audience
The Gardener has taken some time off to deal with a real gardening problem: the enormous weeds that threatened to turn his front yard into a jungle.
Last weekend, however, I was fortunate to serve as one of the facilitators at SPJ’s annual Scripps Leadership Institute in Indianapolis.
There I had the chance to talk with 50 up and coming student and pro leaders about what it will take to grow their chapters.
We talked about a great many things: dues, programs, strategies and best practices. We talked about how retaining members is just as important as recruiting them.
Central to our conversations was an idea that has become increasing important to my thinking over the last two years on the subject of membership development: the importance of knowing your audience.
In my view, there is a spectrum of journalists whom we can and should try to convince to join SPJ.
At one end of this scale at what I call the “altruistic” journalists, those for whom the core values of what SPJ stands for are central to their reasons for joining.
On the other end of the spectrum are the “pragmatic” journalists, those who believe in their profession but who always require a tangible answer to the question “what do I get for my money?”
In small group sessions in Indianapolis, I asked each of the pro chapter participants to explain why they belonged to SPJ. Their answers were heartening. They cited:
-SPJ’s setting the standard for ethics.
-Our work on behalf of a federal shield law.
-Our support of diversity in the newsroom.
-Our commitment to journalism training.
-The networking that SPJ provides.
It’s not surprising that the future leaders of SPJ would be among the folks who you would find on the altruistic end of the scale.
However, I pointed out to them that in recruiting new members, often they will be talking to prospects on the other end of the scale. Inevitably, one of them will ask, “well what do I get for my $72?” It’s best to have a ready answer.
One such answer is training. Having the right new media skills is becoming increasingly important to finding a job in U.S. newsrooms.
A journalist who knows how shoot video, do audio slide shows, report and write online stories and maybe even blog is someone who is increasingly in demand.
And yet, it’s my distinct impression that many newsrooms lack the time or the budgets to provide such training.
That’s where I believe SPJ can provide a valuable role that can help us bring in new members in bunches.
By hosting such training sessions for fees equal to one-year’s dues, I believe we can provide an answer that will resonate with even the most pragmatic of journalists: join us and we’ll help you improve the skills to need to advance in a multi-media newsroom.
Some caveats: I’m not suggesting that we give up on recruiting members for whom the core values such as ethics, diversity and freedom of information are paramount. Those reasons should come first. And those members tend to join and stay for a long, long time.
But what I am suggesting is simply this: know your audience and adjust your membership pitch accordingly.
I’m aware that “pragmatic” journalists have a tendency to drop their membership one year later unless they are given a compelling reason to stay.
But that’s where the equally important strategies of member retention come into play.
Over the course of that year, if chapters provide a steady stream of reasons to be a member (i.e. programs, mixers, discounts, ect.) we’ll be able to hang onto a fair percentage of these pragmatic journalists before their memberships expire.
Who knows, we might even nudge them a bit closer toward the altruistic side of life.
Next week, I’ll outline a training protocol that has enabled Colorado SPJ to nearly double its membership in two years.
SPJ by the numbers
Membership this week 9,407
Membership last month 9,326
Membership last year 8,743