Acquisition is the process by which prospective members are identified as leads, introduced to the features of membership and specified sales content, nurtured through an educational process on the value and benefits of membership, and then closed on the membership sale by being asked to join the association. To attain our minimum goal of 5% net growth, our acquisition model must be prepared to generate at least 15% of our total membership or 2,550 new members this year, yet to reach our stretch goal of doubling our membership this year, we will need to average 1,250 new members per month.
Prospecting/Lead Generation – The methods we have used to identify prospective members have varied over the years. The most common method has been through referral by supervisors or colleagues as prospects came to work in the industry. While this remains a reliable source of new members, it has proven insufficient to meet our membership growth goals. Cold, broadcast marketing emails have proven entirely ineffective and only serve to sour prospects on the possibility of membership altogether. Therefore, we must dedicate ourselves to identifying and attracting prospective members using inbound marketing techniques.
Inbound marketing is a process of offering content and features that will attract, engage, and delight prospective members and make them want to join the organization. This process can also be envisioned as a flywheel, which we will call The Growth Flywheel, where these actions convert strangers into prospects, prospects into customers or members, and then into promoters of NAIFA. As someone who has taken the time to read this far and considers yourself a part of our effort to grow, you have already identified yourself as a promoter - congratulations and thank you for that!
The Growth Flywheel is powered by identifying and attracting financial services professionals who are not yet members and engaging them through a sales funnel to delight them with the features and benefits that NAIFA has to offer. As part of this effort, we will begin building a national database of prospective members, which will be divided into two groups. The first group, whom we will designate as “qualified prospects,” are warm leads that we have had some degree of success in engaging through The Growth Flywheel. They will be maintained through our customer relationship management (CRM) program, allowing us to carefully cultivate their development into members. The second group will be those who have not been as receptive to our efforts to engage and delight them. They will be considered “unqualified prospects” and maintained in a separate system where they can be revisited with new or different approaches, as time and resources allow.
Value Proposition – It is fundamental to offer a clear explanation of the benefit of NAIFA membership to prospects and members, so they understand plainly that their professional livelihood depends on what we do, and failing to belong is as reckless as choosing not to avail themselves of the very products they offer their clients. We proudly promote that “together, we can take on anything;” however, we cannot take on everything. It is tempting to continuously add more content in hopes of adding more value, but we must be careful not to confuse and overwhelm them with features and benefits that offer little actual value. How many times have you considered a product that you did not have the time to understand, setting it aside to come back to it at some point…some point that never came? We will focus our attention on what matters.
We have returned to our brand promise – Advocate. Educate. Differentiate! Everything we do and offer advances one of these three promises, which we will more clearly define and explain. We will also use a marketing mix of these three elements into a comprehensive, year-long marketing campaign discussed below, telling our story to members and prospects, and emphasizing the value of membership. Lastly, we will continue to clearly distinguish between “features” and “benefits” of membership. Membership features are the services we provide at NAIFA available to anyone in the industry, whereas benefits only provide value to our members. Features are important, because not only do we have a duty to our future members that do not yet understand our value proposition, but also as a means of creating awareness, engaging, and delighting them to convert them into loyal members. However, we must also make it clear that the members’ benefits are well worth the investment.
We should also spend a moment speaking about the issue of the value of membership. Much is made of this in every sector as costs go up, as they inevitably do, causing us to reevaluate the membership decision. It was Roy E. Disney, Walt’s brilliant nephew credited with saving the company in the 1980s, who said “Where value is clear, the decision is easy.” The truth is that NAIFA membership has tremendous value, and candidly, much more than our dues reflect. We can and must do a better job of articulating where the money goes, how it advances the interests of our members, and what the return on that investment is to our members. By more clearly and directly answering these questions, we are confident that we can prove the valuation of our membership.
Member Personas – We are only as effective as our ability to understand and meet the needs of our members, doing so in a manner and method they appreciate. Increased utilization of AI and other tools will continue to help us do this for each member, but we must also be able to generalize categories of members with similar preference sets so that we can communicate and deliver the value they want in the form and function of which they wish to receive it.
Member or buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of a target customer’s needs, preferences, and behaviors. Over this year, we will identify several such personas, utilizing the data we know about our members. Enhanced by wide-ranging volunteer feedback and member interviews, we will begin to build sales funnels and channels specific to each of these personas.
Campaigns – One of the primary ways we can generate leads and prospects to fuel The Growth Flywheel is through a comprehensive membership marketing campaign enacted over the course of the year. This campaign will rely upon advertising, social media, staff, Chapters, volunteers, and members getting the word out in every way possible, highlighting the message of that campaign to attract, engage, and delight prospective members.
Our 2026 membership campaign will be known as Experience NAIFA! This campaign will orient prospective members to features and benefits of membership through the lens of being part of a collective experience that gives you the single greatest advantage you can give yourself to succeed in the financial services industry. The core of the messaging will be as follows:
Belonging to NAIFA isn’t just another line on your résumé — it’s a career-defining experience that accelerates your growth, expands your influence, and connects you to a community of purpose-driven professionals dedicated to excellence and service. NAIFA is where your ambition meets momentum — where financial service professionals succeed and thrive.
A Network That Elevates You
From Local Chapters and Affiliates to a nationwide community spanning all 50 states and U.S. territories, NAIFA brings together trusted advisors who share your drive, your challenges, and your commitment to client success. This is more than networking — it’s forging lifelong strategic relationships with peers who inspire and uplift.
Advocacy That Protects Your Future
As the voice of financial services, NAIFA gives you access to unmatched advocacy at every level of government. Through its Advocacy Action Center, Congressional Conference, grassroots training, and State Legislative Days, NAIFA equips you to shape policy, influence decision-makers, and stand up for your business and your clients. This isn’t just representation — it’s real impact.
World-Class Education & Professional Development
Grow your confidence and competence with exclusive educational programs, continuing education credits, and prestigious designations like the renowned LUTCF. Dive into immersive leadership experiences like the Leadership In Life Institute (LILI) and stay ahead of industry trends with resources from NAIFA’s Knowledge Centers.
Tools to Market Yourself & Expand Your Reach
NAIFA doesn’t just support your practice — it helps you showcase it. Get listed in the consumer directory, contribute content to trusted blogs and knowledge centers, or step into the spotlight through the NAIFA Speakers Bureau. Leverage ready-made marketing tools like Life Happens content and calendars to deepen client relationships and grow your brand.
Recognition That Reflects Your Excellence
Your hard work deserves celebration. NAIFA honors achievement across all stages of career with accolades like the NAIFA Quality Award, 4 Under 40, YAT Leader of the Year, and lifetime honors, including the John Newton Russell Memorial Award, that highlights your dedication and expertise.
Benefits That Give Back
From affinity programs offering valuable member perks to a community that genuinely supports one another, NAIFA membership enriches your professional life — and makes the journey more rewarding every step of the way.
In short: NAIFA isn’t just a professional association — it’s an experience that transforms the way you work, learn, connect, lead, and advocate. If you’re passionate about elevating your career, serving your clients with integrity, and being part of something bigger than yourself, NAIFA is the place where your next chapter begins.
The Experience NAIFA campaign will have its own branding and run continuously throughout the year to reach, engage, and attract prospective members to NAIFA. Building on the lessons learned during our previous campaigns, we will be using all our brand messaging of Advocate. Educate. Differentiate! throughout the year, but in varying proportions that reflect NAIFA activities and events as they occur. The first phase of the campaign will run from January through May and will feature 60% messaging on Advocacy, 20% messaging on Education, and 20% messaging on Differentiation, emphasizing NAIFA’s role in advocacy when Chapters are holding their Legislative Days in their State Capitol, Congress is most engaged in action, and culminating in Congressional Conference. The next phase will last from June until September and will focus 60% on Differentiate and 20% on the other two segments, highlighting how NAIFA membership sets you apart from the crowd. The final phase will run from October through the end of the year and will elevate Educate to a 60% focus and 20% on each of the remaining messaging points, focusing on all of the ways that NAIFA makes its members the best at what they do and building on the excitement around our new partnership to promote the Protectors Conference.
Sales Programs – The number one reason that someone fails to join an organization is because they are not asked. All our programs are designed with solely that purpose in mind – to make sure prospective members are asked and encouraged to join their professional association
Individual & Chapter Sales – The majority of NAIFA members today belong for the same reason that most all our members in history joined – they started in the industry and someone gave them a membership application, told them to join, and they did. This approach has changed with the times, and it is more common today that someone expresses value to a prospect and recommends they should join, but the concept is the same.
In the association world, when we meet and discuss membership with other industry professionals, we say, “People don’t join organizations, they join people.” The single fastest way to get a prospect to join is if someone they know, like, and trust explains the value and asks them to do it. All plans and technology aside, this will always be our absolute best strategy for acquisition. Our challenge and opportunity are to better engage our members, Chapters, volunteers, and staff to make it easier and more common for them to do this and continue to accelerate the process. We will accomplish this by making it more straightforward for members to do this, with turnkey solutions and easy-to-remember messaging, while consistently tracking our results.
Agency Presentations – If individual sales are one-to-one pitches, then Agency Presentations are one-to many sales efforts. As with any sales environment, they work best when done in person, but in the absence of that opportunity, virtual presentations can also work. Ideally, the leader of the group is supportive of the sales effort and will offer words of encouragement to their subordinates to act on the opportunity. Part of our strategy will be to collect more information from our members on these opportunities and/or work to create them. NAIFA has a carefully curated, turnkey presentation and will be conducting training on how to deliver it.
Group Memberships – Group memberships can either be a one-to-many or one-to-even more type of operation. NAIFA currently has three mechanisms for group memberships. The first is the 100% Agency Program, which provides some discount in membership rate and marketing/promotion benefits in exchange for an agency or organization committing to having all their licensed professionals acquire and retain membership. The second is the Financial Security Champion Program, which operates within similar standards as the 100% Agency Program, but recognizes that in some larger organizations, the above standard may not be achievable or practical. Lastly, other group memberships may package additional benefits. These programs are immensely valuable because they enable us to bring in memberships and revenue in bulk. We have made meaningful improvements to these programs by standardizing the opportunity and are exploring additional ways to increase their adoption.
Influencer Networks – Influencer networks are our opportunity to go from one-to-viral in our marketing channel. Much like social media influencers have become central to the marketing strategies of major corporations, we are working to partner with luminaries of the financial services industry to cross promote NAIFA to their networks, and their services to our members. While still in its infancy, this effort could be particularly helpful in increasing awareness and engagement with new audiences of potential members.
Agency Presentation
100% Agency Program
Financial Security Champion Program
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National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
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Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 877-866-2432
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