Think outside the box!

When we think of organisations we "belong" to, we might think of gyms and health clubs. Perhaps upon further thought we get to something like roadside recovery - the AA or RAC or Green Flag. Once your thinking has started down those avenues, maybe health insurance might pop into your head. Hmmm, if health insurance counts as an "organisation", what about home insurance - and you get that through your bank perhaps so actually, although you've never thought that you "belong" to your bank's organisation does your bank offer certain benefits that you are just not claiming?


And there are plenty of other organisations that you do belong to but you just don't think of as "membership organisations". "Mumsnet" is a great example. With many, many thousands of members, they have amassed a great number of benefits and discounts for their members. It costs nothing to join and they do have exclusive offers for their members which are emailed out weekly. I received my email only yesterday - I read it, thought - "oo, good discounts on offer there!" and promptly forgot what they were! But iMember will remind me - either by way of the mobile app if I'm out and about or if I click on "my benefits" on the website www.iMember.co.uk they are all clearly listed. Alongside, of course, all my benefits I can get from the AA, from the Running Bug, from AXA PPP, from Barclays....the list is endless.

So don't think - "iMember won't be able to help me, I don't belong to any organisations". Think outside the box, go and check out our website, get signed up and start enjoying the rewards you are entitled to!  

Avoiding Badly Targeted Rewards and Promotions

Like most people, my inbox regularly fills up with promotions, discounts, vouchers and special offers for things I don't need, want or have an interest in. That said, things have got better. Our acquiescence to personal data profiling has actually meant that that promotions aimed at us are more relevant than they used to be. See the ads down the right hand side of your Facebook page for a good example, but marketeers are still missing an important point. Just because I have searched for something on Google, or bought something from a particular store before, only tells half the story.  Because I once bought an umbrella at Superdrug doesn't mean I want to collect a thousand more loyalty points to win a pound off another one. Oh, and Facebook, please note that because I am 53 it definitely does not mean I am interested in funeral costs!

The other half of the profiling picture is to recognise that I am more than my shopping and searching. Yes, Facebook and Google are very good at monitoring what I am talking about, but there is more. I have chosen to belong to a number of organisations (so keen is my enthusiasm, I am actually prepared to pay for the privilege in most cases), which reflect my passions, my needs, and ambitions. These are trade unions, professional bodies, clubs and societies.  These tell marketers much more about who I am than my retail habits.  If rewards and promotions are to be effectively targeted at me then take a look below the shopping surface and look at who I am, by seeing what I belong to.

Time is precious - we'll not take up more than a few minutes of yours.

So when my phone rang and it was a chap from Scottish Power on the other end wanting me to swap utility suppliers my heart sank. But I was feeling magnanimous so thought I would listen to what he had to say. A lengthy 22 minutes and 59 seconds later my three year relationship with British Gas was over and Scottish Power were my new suppliers of gas and electricity saving me well over £300 a year, the nice chap said.

Good day's work I thought!  

It's so easy to save money and get discounts and benefits but it's just finding the time to shop around and get those deals. And you can't buy time (believe me I've looked in all the shops and it's just not for sale!). That's the wonderful thing about iMember - it's not an unsolicited phone call that just takes up too much of your day - it's just you and a few minutes on our super friendly website www.iMember.co.uk listing the various organisations to which you belong and that's it - JOB DONE - #tick.

With thumbnail icons on your home page at iMember we'll remind you of every benefit and discount you are entitled to simply because you're a member of an organisation. If you're out and about and you have downloaded our free app to your mobile phone, you will receive notifications of benefits when you are within a certain radius of one.  

There are thousands of discounts out there that you are entitled to just because you are a member of a particular organisation but finding the time to discover them all and then remembering them is just a task too far in most of our busy lives. Thanks to iMember you don't need to be spending the time searching for your entitlements, you can just enjoy spending the money we'll be saving you by reminding you of all your membership benefits.

iMember according to Bridget Jones*

"So I'm back. Yes, I know it's been a while and a-LOT has happened. The world has changed; Mark Darcy has gone - (no, really gone, as in not ever ever coming back); I've got two beautiful children; I don't have an answer phone any more; I don't write a diary - I blog. A few things are still the same - Daniel F***wit Cleaver is still in my life (thank goodness actually); AND my friends who I love with all my might, are still around. I am "workless" and endeavouring to face life with a big smile on my face. Am rather terrified of this technical world we live in but embracing it and it's advantages all the same. 

I was introduced to iMember by Tom (hurrah, still a singleton!) - he knows all about the latest internet stuff - at first I thought it was a dating agency - NO THANK YOU!! - but actually it turns out it's a real gem! You go to their website iMember.co.uk and list all the organisations you are a member of and then the website tells you all the membership benefits you are entitled to. You wouldn't believe the stuff I've been missing out on:- wine discounts from Laithwates via Barclays; 2 for 1 deals in restaurants and great days out with my babies from the AA; a pile of discounts from Mumsnet; and my poor rotting gym membership at David Lloyd no longer rots (no, I don't use the gym...) as I use the fabulous benefits that membership brings me. I may even renew my membership with the British Guild of Travel Writers so I can enjoy their benefits - I really was a good travel writer back in the old days!

Anyway - must dash to get the children from school; we're going to devour a huge box of cupcakes from rachael's kitchen. I got 15% off the price simply because we have private health cover with AXA PPP. iMember - what would I do without you?"

(*written by Alexandra Brown)

Is summer over? No need to be glum......

Could this be our last weekend of summer sunshine? 

Those crisp mornings and subtle leaf colour changes really makes it feel and look like autumn and winter are heading straight for us. But - always look on the bright side of life, thoughts can turn to your well earned ski break. 

Amongst the thousands of organisations listed on the iMember website is the Ski Club of Great Britain. For an annual membership from as little as £23 - your membership of the Ski Club offers you fabulous discounts on holidays, equipment, clothing plus a whole host of in-resort offers such as ski-guiding and plenty of off piste action! 

So why is iMember plugging the Ski Club of Great Britain? Well once you have joined them - pay a visit to the iMember website - join us (for FREE!) and then take a look at the hundreds of benefits you are entitled to as a member of the Ski Club. Far too many benefits for you to be able to remember and here's the brilliance of it - YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER! Once you are signed up to iMember and you have down-loaded the mobile app (for FREE), you will be reminded whenever you are shopping in one of your benefit shops that you are a Member and then you can claim the myriad of discounts you are entitled to. 

Quite honestly - the Ski Club is worth joining even if you don't ski! The benefits that membership attracts are incredible. And this is just one of a mountain of membership benefits you can get through organisations that you possibly already belong to. Don't delay - get signed up to iMember now! www.iMember.co.uk 

Why do only a third of HR managers belong to their professional body?

Economist John Philpott has done some interesting research into what is happening in the HR market. It is worth a read and can be found here. In summary, he has found that people employed as human resources managers or directors in the UK account for more than 400,000 people in the workforce, and is growing. But what caught our eye, was his observation that "at most only 1 in 3 people working in HRD in the UK is a CIPD member".

CIPD is the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is the world's largest Chartered HR and development professional body, with over 135,000 members. . Philpott's analysis has prompted an interesting debate highlighted by XpertHR on their blog around whether this says more about HR professionals lack of interest in personal development than it does about the CIPD.  Of course, no-one will miss the irony of HR professionals fearing growth and change. Tempting as it is to debate the complacency of a profession that used to be the all-seeing hub of an organisation (now replaced by the Corporate Comms function), it is the role of the CIPD that interests us.


Anne Tynan makes a point we have been reiterating for some time: "If a professional body has no regulatory functions, members of that profession will exercise the same type of consumer choice as they do for other areas of their life: they will purchase services strictly according to their perception of their own needs"

Incidentally CIPD offers a great range of fringe benefits to its members, including discounts on shirts, flowers, gyms, golf and breakdown cover (see more here), but membership requires more than this.  Having a regulatory function is merely code for having to belong to an organisation, and that clearly gives the same advantages to a professional body that a closed shop does to a trade union. The challenge then is for professional membership organisations to demonstrate their relevance and the benefits of membership.

Getting your gym membership fee back

Gyms make their money off people who sign up with enthusiasm in January, keep going through February and then slack off.  By now, most of us are probably regretting joining up, feeling a little bit embarrassed to admit being stuck in a 12 month contract, and generally hacked off with the waste of money.  

The obvious answer is "Go to the gym!", but if you can't do that then the best way to make the most of a bad situation is to recover some of your costs.

Gyms are great at offering additional membership benefits. To entice us to sign up, there is often a whole panoply of goodies on offer.  Forget the free sweat towel, and look at the discounts. You never need go to the gym again to make that membership pay for itself.

Of course, it all depends on what package you have signed up to. A David Lloyd family bundle costs £293.85 a month, and you would have to be going some to recoup that, but a typical off-peak monthly gym membership comes in at around £70-£80. So, how do we get that back if we aren't going to the gym, and they won't let us break our contract?  Live it up a little at their expense.

With David Lloyd membership, just as one example, you can get your money back fairly quickly with some of these benefits:

• cheap breakdown cover, saving you up to 45% on The AA;
• 25% of your bill at Gourmet Society restaurants; (always struck me as a bit of an odd offer for a gym to make, but there you go);
• half price MOT from Halfords;
• 10% of shirts and blouses for T M Lewin;
• Discounts at UK attractions & theme parks, like Alton Towers, or Chessington;
• Great rates on foreign currency exchange

This is all stuff you're buying anyway, so you can quickly recover some of your membership fee. 

 

If you really want it all back, then move on to some of the more luxury things. Discounted theatre breaks, Tuscan villa holidays, special offers on family portraits and even exclusive rates on hiring a Ferrari can all be yours to justify that membership to the gym you never go to.

Of course, if you are still going to the gym (well done!) then make the most of the fringe benefits, and you can get your membership almost for free.

For a complete list go to http://imember.co.uk/organisation/1016