Recruiting toolkit (4 of 5): who joins music groups and why?

Once you have a better understanding of your current members, it's time to look at how you can use this information to understand who your potential new members are.

Who might join your music group?

In Part 1 of this toolkit, we listed some example steps a person might take before joining a music group. We are going to re-visit these now.

Your new member may have:

enjoyed singing at school but never taken it beyond that.
ten years later, went to a concert a friend was performing in that reminded them how much they used to enjoy singing.
read an article about how good singing is for your wellbeing a year later.
had a conversation about it with a friend that week.
got busy and forgot about it for four months.
read another article.
saw a local concert advertised later that month.
decided to search online for local choirs and found one that looked appealing.
decided to go to a rehearsal but something got in the way, or they had a crisis of confidence.
had another conversation with a friend and decided to commit to it.
went to a rehearsal.
joined a choir.

As mentioned before, whatever steps an individual takes to join a group, your recruitment job is to try and be in in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the circumstances and influences.

But you might be thinking - well, if people’s motivations and combination of steps are so varied, how do make sure we are in the right place at the right time? To get this answer, you need to first understand your potential recruits - what do their lives look like, what do they need and why would they join your group.

Who are they?

Anyone looking to join a music group has their own needs - you simply can’t get everyone. But of all the people looking, some people’s needs will match your needs (see Part 1), and the things that your current members love about your group (see Part 3). These are the ones you can reasonably expect to recruit. So, let’s have a look at who those people might be.

Personas

We have developed five personas for people who might be looking to join a music group, all with different motivations and barriers. It isn’t an exhaustive list, but we know from research and talking to members that they are typical.

You can download a pdf of these personas here.

Recruitment personas

The New Mum
	Age: 29 Gender: Female Occupation: Nurse, currently on maternity leave Background: Mother and baby groups have reminded her how much she loves singing, but she can’t stand 'Wheels on the Bus’ Looking for: Meet new people, establish identity beyond 'new mum' Musical experience: Low - sings at home
The Returner
	Age: 45 Gender: Male Occupation: IT Project Manager Background: His three children are now teenagers, meaning The Returner now has more free time and is looking for a music group to join Looking for: A personal challenge Musical experience: Medium - played saxophone at school and university but hasn’t played since
The Leisure-time Musician
	Age: 54 Gender: Female Occupation: Architect Background: Lives on her own, used to be in a community choir Looking for: A musical challenge Musical experience: High - good singer - played violin and trombone to grade 8
The Retiree
	Age: 63 Gender: Female Occupation: Retired military scientist Background: Recently retired and looking for ways to enjoy her new-found free time Looking for: A new challenge & Meet new people Musical experience: Low
The Socialiser
	Age: 33 Gender: Male Occupation: Broadband engineer Background: After a sports injury, The Socialiser can’t play football anymore, so he is looking for a new group to join Looking for: Part of a team & Regular activity Musical experience: Low - plays guitar a bit - can’t read music

You can download a pdf of these personas here.

Exercise - find your personas

Of the five personas, your group may only appeal to two or three. Look at where the traits and needs of the persons overlap with who your current members are and what they like about your group. These are your most likely new members recruits.

You might find there isn’t much overlap – in which case you can look to develop your own personas based on what you know about your current members. If you do develop some new personas of your own, please feel free to share them with us!

By the end of the exercise, you should have a identified a few personas, plus the traits and motivations that make them a likely potential recruit and why your group is good fit for them.

Summary

In Part 5 we will look at how this information will become the foundation of your marketing message. The aim is to communicate these key aspects to potential recruits so they can visualise how your music group could enhance their lives.

Read part five

We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.