You’ve used National PTA’s resources to plan out your membership campaign. You’ve got your elevator pitch down cold and can tell someone why it’s important to join your PTA in under a minute. You know that the main reason people don’t join PTA is that they aren’t asked to join. You’re as ready to recruit members as you can be, but don’t forget to answer this one last critical question: When someone decides to join your PTA, is it easy for them to do so?
Start with a Storefront
The membership table is a tried and true way to get people to join PTA, but it requires people to show up where the table is when you are staffing it. Setting up an online storefront with the ability to purchase memberships means that you have a virtual membership table open 24/7 with worldwide reach. That means that the mom rocking a baby waiting for it to fall back asleep at 2am can remember that she wants to join the PTA and do so. That means that grandparents that live in another state can join your PTA to support their grandchildren’s school.
Setting up a storefront is easy with MemberHub (an Illinois PTA benefit), and they have online webinars and resources to walk you through the process. Your district or region director can help you as well. And once your store is set up, you have a digital link to make it easy to join your PTA.
Sharing Your Membership Link
Your link to purchase a PTA membership should be everywhere. Include a QR code on all your hardcopy pieces—National PTA has a short video on how to create a QR code. Here are some places you can share your membership link through a QR code:
- On a PTA bulletin board at school
- On physical flyers sent home in the “backpack express”
- On posters advertising an upcoming PTA event
- On a sign welcoming people to your PTA event as they walk in the door (make it a big QR code so it’s easy to scan as you walk by)
- Pasted into National PTA’s ready-to-use membership flyers
Digital links to purchase a PTA membership should be easy to find wherever someone may encounter your PTA online, including:
- On your PTA website
- In your PTA’s “bio” section on all your social media
- At the end of social media posts (“Help support this and other great events our PTA puts on by joining…”)
- Your PTA officers’ and chairpersons’ e-mail signatures
- In text messages sent out via MemberHub or other text messaging service your PTA uses
- In PTA e-mail announcements
Retaining your current members and growing your membership are critical to your PTA’s long-term success. Make sure joining your PTA is always just a highly-visible, always seen link away.
One Voice Illinois 