Nonprofit & Public Sector / Faith & Community Organizations
Community organization marketing, from the recruitment letter to the welcome packet
Community organization marketing from MBI is the membership work an association mails and advertises: a membership-recruitment letter, postcard or flyer campaign that asks people to join, a renewal letter that asks a member to renew, a Facebook membership-recruitment campaign whose reply is captured through a form or a microsite, and the mailers, letters, flyers and welcome packets printed behind them by one team that plans, produces and delivers the work.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamMembership marketing
What does community organization marketing include?
The short answer
Community organization marketing covers two campaigns an association runs. One is a membership-recruitment letter, postcard or flyer campaign in the mail. The other is a Facebook membership-recruitment campaign whose reply is captured through a form or a microsite. MBI plans, produces and delivers both, and prints the pieces the mailed one goes out as.
One team. MBI is one company that plans, produces, and delivers campaigns from a single team in DeLand, Florida; data, print, and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
FTC guidance states three requirements - "Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive", "Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims" and "Advertisements cannot be unfair" - and states that an ad is deceptive if it contains a statement, or omits information, that "Is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances" and is "material", which it defines as important to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product.
Federal Trade Commission, Advertising FAQ’s: A Guide for Small Business
direct mail marketing services direct mail and digital marketing
Meta ad · Facebook
One-sheet · Printing
The three jobs
What does association membership marketing do?
The short answer
Membership marketing at MBI is the work behind the three jobs an association's mail can do - membership renewals, registration and advocacy response. The mailers, postcards, letters, flyers and welcome packets carry them, and the Facebook membership-recruitment campaign runs its own reply path. One team produces and delivers all of it.
The five formats. The print formats for this vertical are mailers, postcards, letters, flyers and welcome packets.
Three jobs, and a reply path
Direct mail
How does membership recruitment direct mail ask someone to join?
The short answer
A membership-recruitment campaign goes out as a letter, a postcard or a flyer. MBI designs the piece, prints it, addresses it and mails it, so the recruitment mailing and the printing behind it are one team's job rather than three suppliers' handoffs. Mailers and welcome packets are produced the same way.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.2.1 sets each postcard claimed at a commercial card price at not more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long or 0.016 inch thick, requires cards more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, or both, to be a minimum of 0.009 inch thick, and requires an aspect ratio (length divided by height) of 1.3 to 2.5, inclusive.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201
Postcard · Direct Mail
Renewals
How does a membership renewal letter campaign ask a member to renew?
The short answer
Renewals are one of the three jobs an association's mail can do, and the letter is one of the five formats it runs on. MBI produces the renewal letter, addresses it to the member and mails it. In a qualifying mailing USPS requires each address to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date.
The one dated requirement. The only dated requirement this page may state is postal: an address in a qualifying mailing is updated within 95 days before the mailing date.
USPS Move Update (DMM 602.5): "Each address, except for mail bearing an alternative address format (under 3.0), in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices is subject to the Move Update standard", and "Each address and associated addressee used on the mailpieces in a mailing must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date, with one of the USPS-approved methods"; the approved methods include Address Change Service (ACS) and NCOALink.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5
Letter · Direct Mail
Facebook and Instagram
How do association Facebook ads capture a reply?
The short answer
The campaign carries a membership-recruitment message, and the reply is captured through a form or a microsite rather than left as a click. MBI builds the creative and that form or microsite. Whether Facebook suits a particular organization is worth proving: the pattern holds for associations, not for every kind of community group.
Where the reply goes. A Facebook membership-recruitment campaign for an association captures the reply through a form or a microsite.
Meta's Advertising Standards prohibit ads promoting products, services, schemes or offers using deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information, and state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
Meta, Advertising Standards
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing
A reply, not a click
Meta carousel · Facebook
Reel · Instagram
Landing page · Web
Printing
Where does membership welcome packet printing sit among the five formats?
The short answer
Five formats: mailers, postcards, letters, flyers and welcome packets. Those are the print formats an association's membership campaign can use, and MBI's commercial and variable-data printing is in-house, so the recruitment postcard and the welcome packet are printed and mailed by the same team.
In house. MBI's printing is commercial and variable-data printing, in-house.
Packet · Printing
Kit · Printing
Questions
Questions an association asks before it mails
Searched for community organization marketing agency, association marketing or association membership marketing agency? Same work, same answers.
Which two campaigns does MBI run for a community organization?
Two. The first is an association membership-recruitment letter, postcard or flyer campaign. The second is an association Facebook membership-recruitment and lead-capture campaign, and it keeps its own reply path. MBI plans, produces and delivers both from a single team, and prints the pieces the mailed one goes out as.
What does direct mail do for a community organization?
Three jobs an association's mail can do: membership renewals, registration and advocacy response. The pieces behind them are mailers, postcards, letters, flyers and welcome packets. MBI designs each piece, prints it, addresses it and mails it, so one team answers for the artwork, the paper and the mail date.
How does an association capture a reply from a Facebook ad?
Through a form or a microsite. A Facebook membership-recruitment campaign captures the reply that way, so the inquiry is collected on the form rather than left as a click. MBI builds the creative and the form or microsite behind it.
Is Facebook membership recruitment right for every community group?
Not automatically. Facebook membership-recruitment with form or microsite lead capture is an association pattern, and it is not established across every kind of community group. MBI treats it as a channel to prove against your own membership rather than a default every organization should buy.
What is an association actually paying for in a membership mailing?
Producing the membership-recruitment postcard and mailing it are the two costs behind any quote, and seven decisions move those two numbers, among them quantity, format and finished size, paper and weight, and postage, mail class, and sortation. All seven are set out at /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost, so no list price can stand in for them.
Does a member who has moved still get the renewal letter?
Only with the address updated first. USPS requires each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices, or USPS Marketing Mail prices, to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date, using an approved method such as NCOALink; mail bearing an alternative address format is excepted. That update happens before the renewal letters drop.
Does Facebook set rules for what a membership ad says?
Yes. Meta's advertising standards say ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information, and that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations. MBI builds the association's membership-recruitment creative inside those standards.
Get started
Start a membership campaign.
Say which of the two campaigns it is, and which piece it should go out as. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.