Top Tips for Increasing Group Membership - More Ideas!

• To attract a wide range of people a group should have a mixture of long, medium and short walks (i.e. 12+ =, 8-12 and 5 and below miles long). Not everyone wants to just do one type of walk a mixture will ensure the maximum amount of people are attracted to your club.
• The pace / grade of a walk needs to be advertised. Some people like to walk fast others slow. What is important is that people are aware what pace a walk will be.
• Themed walks are very popular with people e.g. Bluebell walks.
• A mixture of urban / city walks also goes down well.
• Walks with an advertised attraction e.g. visit to cave or stately home also attract people.
• Evening strolls are a good idea to attract people who work - these tend to start around 7pm and be around 3 miles.

2. Walks etiquette

• At the beginning of the walk always give a brief introductory talk on the walk i.e. how long walk is, time of lunch etc.
• It is important to make new people feel welcome so make a point of going up to them and giving them some info on the group. You could introduce them to some people as well!

3. Advertising your walks / group

This is key to a successful group. If you have a good walks programme but no one knows about it then you will not get any new members.

• It is important that it is as easy as possible for new people to know about the walks that you are carrying out. The web is the key to this - people find out about new clubs via the web.
• Ideally walks should be put on the Ramblers walks finder - this is a specific piece of software which the Ramblers designed for groups.
• At least your next 5 walks should be displayed on your website. When people find your walking group on the web they want to know what walks you do and how they can go to them. Therefore full details of the walks should be put on the website.
• People need to be able to find your website when searching on the web. Putting as many links to your website from other websites is an effective way of doing this. Good websites to do this include local online newsletters (e.g. SE1 in Lambeth) or on websites that people look at locally. You can also put links online on Gumtree and Timeout.
• Running a stall at a local event can also be a good way to get new members, leaflets can be given out to the prospective new members.
• Putting on walks on walk festivals also highlights your group e.g. Ramblers festival of winter walks
• Having a good website also helps. This is the first impression people get of the group so it is important that this looks good!
• An idea is to brand your group as "the local walking group for e.g. Lambeth and Southwark" emphasizing the local aspect of the group helps.

4. Getting new walk leaders

• People will join voluntarily if they like the group. It should be made clear to new people that they can come on a walk with the group up to 3 times before deciding whether to join.
• t should be emphasized on a regular basis that the group relies on volunteers to make the group work and that it is always on the look out for new walk leaders.
• If someone complains that the group only does long walks for example then encourage them to put on a short walk.
• There should be regular appeals for new walks leaders e.g. every programme.

5. Socials

• Socials create a good bond in the group.
• An idea to attract new people is to have a new members evening where people can be introduced to the group.

6. Weekends away

• Organising weekends away is also a good idea and lets members of the group walk in different areas of the country.
• The Met Walkers introduced a "weekend lite" concept. Everyone who attends the weekends away organises there own accommodation and travel all the organiser needs to do is put on the walks! People are more likely to carry out a weekend away as a result.