TELLING THE ADVOCACY STORY: MOVING MEMBERS FROM “ME” TO “WE”
For some association leaders and practitioners, advocacy remains a “black box.” While advocacy has always been one of the most powerful ways that associations engage their members, some associations struggle to link and communicate that work back to their members in a way that shows them that “My association is fighting for me!” In a previous article, I […]
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT ON REBRANDING: HOW AN ASSOCIATION TOLD ITS STORY
In the association space, we often think that advocacy means fundraising for the organization and lobbying to members of Congress on behalf of the organization’s and members’ mission. Advocacy can also mean telling your organization’s and members’ stories through branding and at the Society For Marketing Professional Services,that is exactly what we did. On behalf of our […]
CRM: CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
CRM is one of the most effective ways to manage sales prospects and then segment them into any number of categories. It is a database driven technology that allows your sales staff to track prospects through the sales process and develop promotional campaigns specifically targeted to companies within each segment you manage. Using a CRM […]
SMART SOURCING A NEW GENERATION OF ASSOCIATION TALENT
The freelance economy is bringing a wave of disruption that will have world-wide impact. Sixty million Americans are freelance workers, and that number is growing. A typical contract employee is comfortable with limited supervision and adapts easily to a variety of environments and cultures. Whether freelancers work from home, at a client site or move fluidly […]
THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THE CHANGING FREELANCE ECONOMY
he American workforce or rather the workforce around the world is seeing trends of independent workers increasing in numbers, Millennials with strong entrepreneurial spirits wanting to take matters of financial stability into their own hands, increased virtualization of association offices, increased technology-enabled efficiencies and time savings, etc. I think this is a natural evolution of […]
SEGMENTING YOUR MARKET – A CASE STUDY
In Segmenting Your Market – An Overview, we introduced the topic of how associations have more than just diverse members, but how industry suppliers or similar communities present a varied market to be examined. The following charts illustrates an example of this: As the chart illustrates, each of the five industry suppliers executes their own marketing […]
ENGAGING YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN YOUR ASSOCIATION
Young professional members are the future of associations, so it is vital to keep them involved. As a young professional (YP) myself, I can tell you that what we want most from associations is a sense of community. This includes being able to make personal connections, use available programs and services to fill gaps in our professional […]
SEGMENTING YOUR MARKET – AN OVERVIEW
Most of us today are accustomed to receiving advertising from companies that are based on our behaviors in the marketplace. For example, when we search for a product on Amazon, we are offered similar or complementary items based on our previous purchases and searches and our behavior in the marketplace. This is the result of […]
ASSOCIATIONS NEED TO GET BETTER AT GOVERNING
Every year, thousands upon millions of hours and dollars are wasted and volunteers and staff get burned out all because of boards that are flying blind without a clue on how to really be a board. So why do we have so many poorly performing boards out there especially since so many of them clearly want […]
WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR JOB
In Washington D.C., we often define our identity through our jobs as association executives. But what happens, as happened to me last year, when you lose that job and are suddenly looking for a new position? Well you go through the stages of grief (you know the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). […]