Alan Bromley Marketing Officer, BCSS Background & Objectives - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Alan Bromley Marketing Officer, BCSS

Background & Objectives

• The RHS is aware that plant society membership numbers are falling

– Some societies are in danger of folding – Others have expressed serious concerns about long-term viability

• Overall objectives of this survey:

– To establish the issues and challenges facing UK plant societies in terms of membership recruitment and retention – To see what could be done to encourage mutual support between the societies, share successful ideas, and provide some assistance and tools to address the issues

• Findings to form the basis for a workshop in early 2017

– Key points highlighted in this presentation

2

Method & Analysis

Method

• Qualitative, not quantitative
• 17-point questionnaire
• Telephone survey/interview/discussion

Analysis

• 20 responses (19 calls)
• Overall interpretation of responses  general conclusion

Final report

• Written report available – to be distributed after this meeting

Participating Societies & Respondents

Australasian Plants Society Jeremy Spon (Membership Secretary) British Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS) Alan Bromley (Marketing Officer) British Hosta & Hemerocallis Society John Carr (Chairman) British Iris Society John Mullen (Membership secretary) British Pteridological Society Yvonne Golding (Secretary) Cottage Garden Society Clive Lane (Secretary) Cyclamen Society Vic Aspland (President) Delphinium Society Roger Beauchamp (Membership Secretary) Fritillaria Group Alice Munsey Hardy Orchid Simon Tarrant (Publicity Officer) Hebe Society Steve Harding (Chairman) Herb Society Malcolm Dickson (Chairman) Mediterranean Plants & Gardens Heather Martin (Chairman) National Dahlia Society June Nash (General Secretary) National Sweet Pea Society Tom Atherton (Membership Secretary) National Vegetable Society Neil Hope (National Membership Registrar) National Viola & Pansy Society Alicia Guild (Secretary) Pelargonium & Geranium Society Gwen Ward (Membership Secretary) RHS Fruit Group Gerry Edwards (Chairman) Saxifrage Society Mark Childerhouse (Secretary)

Q1: Membership benefits

Publications

• 85% (17/20) have a regular publication; eg, newsletter 2-4 times a year
• 35% (7/20) produce a more substantial annual publication or yearbook
• A few produce other publications such as guides, lists of varieties, and books

Other benefits

• Branch meetings
• 45% (9/20) distribute seeds to members
• Visits to nurseries and gardens (including members’ gardens)
• Not all benefits are exclusive to members

KEY POINTS

• Free information on the internet – how can societies offer something extra?
• Is face-to-face interaction (social networking) as important these days?
• What should societies offer exclusively to members rather than make freely available to everyone?

RHS Plant Society Show: Exit Survey

Offers & Publications

• Discounts for members
• Offers for plants and more shows
• Free membership & seminars
• Freebies
• Annual journal
• Monthly newsletter
• Competitions
• Info & Library services
• Tips of the month/to do list
• Free exhibitions/seminars
• Discounts in garden centres, special offers
• Discount entrance to gardens

Gardens & Plants

• Garden visits
• Free/discounted plants
• Seed & plant Exchange scheme
• Free samples & seeds
• Access to best quality or unusual plants
• Discounts on buying plants
• Access to an extended range of varieties
• Special seeds
• New varieties
• Trying new plants & seeds
• Gardening tips and exclusive plant viewings

Info & Networking

• Talks on growing/propagating
• Demos and contact by post, tips etc.
• Access to expert advice/information
• Increase/share knowledge
• Access to information, talks, website
• Knowledge, experience and assistance of
• ther members
• Meeting like-minded people at events
• Exchange plants and ideas with other like-

minded people

• Shared chat & opportunity to meet other

gardeners

• Networking, sharing experience
• Sharing knowledge

Plant care & Info

• Info sheets on how to grow plants
• Learn more and be able to grow plants

more successfully

• Learning more about different varieties &

cultivation

• To learn more about nurturing plants
• Feeding specific plants
• Learning about plants

Q2-4: Membership numbers

• Recent:

– 40% (8/20) decreasing – 50% (10/20) static – 10% (2/20) a modest increase (small, relatively new societies)

• Long term:

– 70% (14/20) have seen a decrease over 10-20 years – 20% (4/20) seeing an upward trend (2 are ‘eat what you grow’)

• The more specialist the society the more they are struggling
• Age:

– All skewed toward 60+ which is increasing – Few younger members joining

KEY POINTS

• Should we accept that growing is a hobby for the retired?
• Should societies target younger people – is there a long-term benefit?

Society governance

• Little or no succession planning by societies
• Committees change little, officials cycle their roles, few new committee

members recruited

• Involvement in committees unattractive to younger (working) people

– The ‘recently retired’ seen by some as potential saviours

• Resistance to change embedded in most societies

– Long-standing feuds mentioned on several occasions

KEY POINTS

• Are committees seen as the domain of older, more experienced members?
• How can we change the attitude of old-timers?
• Is there an argument for ‘pared-down’ governance?

Q5-8: Recruitment, publicity & marketing

• Gardening shows (including those at RHS gardens), website, word of mouth

– Only one society has made a concerted effort to recruit and this was on a regional basis

• Incentives to join are generally limited to welcome packs
• No specific approaches to publicity

– Most societies have a leaflet of some kind

• Advertising limited

– A few have reciprocal arrangements

• RHS support in providing venues for shows/events appreciated

KEY POINTS

• What methods are most cost-/time-effective and are societies doing

enough?

Q8b: Internet

• Societies slow to take advantage of the internet
• A significant proportion of members do not use a computer/email (~35% in the BCSS)
• All the societies have websites, but of variable quality

– Quality does not necessarily correlate with a society’s size

• Website construction and maintenance a challenge

– Those with web designer members (or partners) succeed – Cost is prohibitive – Content population and updating often as much of a challenge – Minority of websites have online forums, some of which are members only

• Website generally viewed positively in terms of recruitment

– But not all have online sign-up

KEY POINTS

• What should society websites offer that’s not already available elsewhere?
• Should part of a society’s website be for members only?
• Can there be centralised support for website design and creation?

Q9: Social media

• Virtually none of the officials in the survey use social media personally

– Social media handled by ‘younger’ members

• General view that social media does not result in recruitment

– But no evidence for this and it may be the view of non-users

• Facebook the most popular, followed by Twitter, with a few other social

media

– Facebook set-up varies

• Non-society Facebook pages seen as competition

KEY POINTS

• How effective is social media – can it be measured?

Q10: Junior members

• Not relevant to all plant societies
• Of those asked, not something that many offered

– Several offer family membership

• Notable exceptions are:

– National Sweet Pea Society has been encouraging schools to grow sweet peas – Pelargonium & Geranium Society has given schools cuttings (and is considering a schools membership) – BCSS offers junior membership at a much reduced cost

• Unaccompanied minor at meetings and on field trips was raised as an issue

KEY POINTS

• Is a specific junior membership package worth the effort?
• Will juniors retain their interest into adulthood?

Q11: Overseas members

• Majority of societies have small proportion of overseas members

– Nothing specific is done to recruit them – One society does used overseas members to coordinate field trips in their countries

• Membership benefits largely the same
• Additional postage costs an issue

– One society intends to offer online viewing of its journal through a password- protected page on their website

KEY POINTS

• Do overseas members add anything to UK societies, apart from additional

funding?

Q12: Social change

General consensus

• Gardening/growing hobbies becoming less popular due to a number factors:

– Smaller gardens – Increased apartment living

• Other distractions and demands on people’s time (eg, television, sports)
• Other means of social networking
• Information freely available on the internet
• A general view that plant-related hobbies are the domain of the retired

Additional comments

• Younger, inexperienced people are less comfortable mixing with older and

highly experienced

• Many plant types require long-term commitment

Q13: Branches

• Few societies are organized on a regional basis

– In those that are the regions/branches are largely autonomous but do organize local shows/events

• The largest networks are in the BCSS, Cottage Garden Society, National

Vegetable Society

– BCSS branches are being lost at the rate of 1-2 a year

• Society affiliations are important to some societies, such as alpine plants

KEY POINTS

• Is face-to-face contact key to the continued success of societies?
• Should societies be doing more to encourage this?

Q14, 15, 17: Retention

• No data on length of membership and retention

– Most societies have core group of long-term members

• More ‘churn’ seen among newer members

– People who join on impulse at shows tend to stay for a shorter time

• Ageing is main reasons for non-renewal: infirmity, moving into a retirement

home, or death

• Follow-up on others has limited success:

– Mostly loss of interest, too technical – Membership fee increase sometime used as an excuse

KEY POINTS

• How do we avoid excessive ‘churn’?
• Do we need to do more to support new members?

Q16: Payment methods

• PayPal a huge benefit to societies

– Recurring payment system used by a few but with mixed views

• Direct Debit is used by a small proportion

– One society only has 60 members paying this way – Only one or two were aware of third-party DD systems

• All mentioned the cost of such payment methods

– Most see the cost as worth it – Some pass the cost on to members

• Standing orders inflexible and problematic when membership fee increased

– Asking members to amend can result in cancelled membership

KEY POINTS

• Is PayPal sufficient?
• Do we need to explore Direct Debit options more?

THANK YOU ANY QUESTIONS?