How does your association make sure your chapters are all communicating from the same page? When chapters sing their own songs, they unintentionally send mixed messages that undermine your association’s brand and confuse potential members and sponsors.
Sheri Singer, president of Singer Communications, showed us how to tackle this dilemma in our webinar, Launching Your Association’s Chapter Ambassador Program: Ramp Up Member Engagement. She outlined the steps for launching a chapter ambassador program that helps members consistently amplify your association’s reach and impact at the local level.
Ambassadors are members who are trained as spokespeople for the chapter and association. They share consistent messages about the purpose and the value of your association and chapters to prospective members, revenue partners, media, policymakers, and the public.
Ambassadors participate in activities that match their interests and skills, such as:
The impact of an ambassador program on your association and chapters is well worth the investment in ambassador training and resources.
Ambassadors learn how to align their messaging with HQ. They carry these messages to local audiences:
Because ambassadors speak with one chapter voice, they spread a greater awareness and understanding of the chapter and national mission, activities, and member value. They don’t muddy your verbal brand with varying definitions and descriptions.
An ambassador program cultivates a broader base of members who are trained to communicate with external audiences. It expands the number of spokespeople beyond the usual suspects, which makes leadership jobs more sustainable since they no longer have to do everything themselves.
Ambassador messaging tells a story about what the chapter intends to do for members in the local community—messaging that aligns with HQ’s but also emphasizes the chapter’s specialness. Prospects and new members hear consistent, clear, and persuasive reasons to join and get involved.
Ambassador programs help chapters identify new volunteers who wish to contribute their enthusiasm and charisma. It’s a win-win for chapters who benefit from new talent and for members who get a career-boosting experience.
An ambassador program retrains long-term volunteers to stay on message or get up to date with current messaging.
Nowadays, members are wary of over-committing their time. The microvolunteering opportunities offered by an ambassador program give members an easy way to contribute and become invested in their chapter’s success.
Because an ambassador program is a new concept for chapters, members may not understand its potential for enhancing their membership experience.
An ambassador program has something for every level of member commitment and experience. Media interviews, policymaker meetings, and podcast appearances are more time-consuming contributions that enhance a more experienced member’s status.
Microvolunteering opportunities, such as posting on social platforms, being the face of chapter fundraising opportunities, sending recruitment emails, or checking in on new members, are just as valuable to the chapter’s success.
Ambassador activities offer some members a crash course in leadership development and a chance to practice career-advancing skills they cannot pursue at work, such as public speaking, media interviews, and meeting with state or local officials.
The ambassador’s role gives members a reason to connect with others in the chapter and community.
Start with chapter staff, if you have them. In volunteer-run chapters, start with potential champions, such as officers, board members, committee chairs, and past chapter board chairs. Introduce the program and its benefits for ambassadors and the chapter. Ask for their feedback and thoughts so they feel more invested in the program.
You don’t need many ambassadors at first. Sheri said three members are enough. Once the program launches and members understand the benefits and available support, the buzz and interest will spread.
Forget pre-Covid messaging, which no longer resonates with members and prospects. Sheri recommended two kinds of new chapter messaging: key messaging and sub-messaging.
Key messages explain in broad language the chapter’s purpose—why it exists and what needs it fills. Look for themes in the chapter’s mission, website language, values, and news release description.
Sub-messages support the key messages. They’re specific to a chapter activity, like state legislator visits or chapter events. Sub-messaging is more effective when ambassadors add their own story, for example, why they go to lobby day or what they get out of monthly meetings.
Ask chapter board members and committee chairs to discuss good candidates for the ambassador role. Members are the best recruiters, unless staff have personal relationships with candidates.
Draft a recruitment email and phone script for current and past chapter leaders to send to candidates: “Congratulations, Sue Brown has nominated you to be a founding member of our new Ambassador program.” Describe the responsibilities, time commitment, and benefits of the role.
Promote the program everywhere—newsletter, social, online community, and website—to get the buzz going. Describe the impact of the program on the chapter and the benefits for the ambassador. List ambassador macro- and micro-activities so members see the type of commitment required.
After the program has been running for a while, create recruitment videos in which ambassadors explain:
Phone videos are good enough.
Don’t turn anyone down. Instead, place them in a suitable job for their skills and experience.
Since the ambassador role may differ greatly from the member’s full-time job, they need to develop the confidence and skills to do it successfully.
Offer live and on-demand online training and in-person training at national events for new and veteran ambassadors. A message training expert, like Sheri, can teach ambassadors the skills they need.
Because the media and political worlds continue to change, ambassador training must reflect current practices. Media training teaches ambassadors how to anticipate questions, set boundaries with the press, and feel comfortable saying “I don’t know” and then following up. Advocacy training teaches them how to reach out to and work with policymakers.
Ask experienced ambassadors to become mentors to new ones. The ambassador’s role seems intuitive, but they need structured training, resources, and support to develop and maintain the required skills.
The toolkit serves as an onboarding resource for new ambassadors and a retention tool for returning ones. It explains everything they need to know to be a successful ambassador. Keep the toolkit in the members-only portion of the chapter website and update it as needed.
A chapter ambassador toolkit includes:
Sheri suggested including step-by-step guides on how to:
Include samples of articles, blog posts, op-eds, presentations, email signature text, and news releases. Provide scripts for communicating with journalists or elected officials, as well as a media tip sheet.
Offer ambassador messaging training every year. Regularly change the training format to keep it engaging for returning ambassadors.
Include ambassadors in chapter communications from HQ so they feel valued and in the loop. Ask ambassadors to help promote the program by writing testimonials and recording videos for the chapter newsletter and website.
Keep ambassadors as engaged as they want to be. They can help alleviate the chapter leadership workload by taking on delegated tasks and making leadership “jobs” more sustainable.
To ensure continued support for the program, measure the impact of different ambassador activities.
No one will quibble about the time spent developing resources for a chapter ambassador program when you see the impact it makes on the chapter’s and HQ’s goals and on the ambassadors themselves. With Billhighway, tracking program progress becomes easier because you’ll have access to custom reports and data that provide visibility into chapter performance and member engagement before and after program implementation.
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