Did a Mistake Happen While B2B Marketing?

Much to my chagrin, it just happened to me.  Recently promoted, I embraced my new role and decided to start with an email marketing campaign to attendees from a conference I attended recently.  A lot of time went into preparing a series of targeted messages, stressing the value of creating a membership renewal process, member engagement and keeping your database clean.

A fellow team member researched each organization on my list, so I could select the best organizations to target from the entire list of conference attendees.  Since I had not met these people at the conference, the plan was to send introductory messages with educational resources about our company's services, with appropriate follow-up calls.

I was so excited press the “send” button (on my birthday to boot), only to find out a few hours later that data was corrupted during the list upload.  Somehow the marketing automation software used to deploy emails changed about 20% of my recipients' first names to "Sylvie".  Yes, all those important association Executive Directors, many of them men, received a "Dear Sylvie" message.  I was HUMILIATED!

Getting over the initial shock (and avoiding my first instinct to crawl under my desk and pretend this was not happening), I had a great conversation with my boss and realized that these circumstances were beyond my control.  Still, something needed to be done.

I have now come up with my apology note, that will accompany the correct message (as it was supposed to look), advising that there was a technical glitch and that while it was unfortunate, there are some great lessons to learn here.

What are the lessons? Everyone is human, things happen.  No software solution is perfect.  Even after testing, some things may go wrong.  And while the software Help Desk people heard an earful from me, they cannot 100% guarantee that it is going to work 100% of the time.  The human element is always there, and with that, come mistakes.  I hope now that I will get more respect owning up to it instead of pretending it didn't happen. Oh, and I think it’s time to start taking the day off for my birthday…

Occupy Wall Street: What Will It Mean for Associations?

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement and how it could affect the hospitality and meetings industry.   While the media have decreased its coverage of demonstrations, it would appear this social phenomenon is not going away.

On MeetingsNet.com, Dave Kovaleski describes how Occupy protester targeted two Chicago meetings of the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Futures Industry Association and how the American Bankers Association was preparing for demonstrations at their annual convention in San Antonio, TX.

So what could this mean to membership driven organizations?

• With this movement targeting corporate greed, any association with well-known corporate members could become a target, as evidenced above.  This could curtail attendance as some members stay away for fear of exposure.  Sponsorship revenues may be negatively affected as some associations’ stakeholders become more sensitive to the financial relationships between their professional association and for-profit entities, or sponsors themselves grow afraid of bad press.
• But the Occupy Wall Street movement may not be bad for all associations.  Earlier in October delegates from Massachusetts Nurses’ Association convention actually joined an Occupy demonstration in Boston and reportedly garnered great media coverage.
• Some associations may be called upon to take a greater advocacy role to protect the interests of individuals and the public at large.  Members may be looking more closely at their professional association’s involvement in corporate social responsibility programs.
• With the general public's increased mistrust of larger organizations, associations may face increased scrutiny of their financial affairs.  Proposed increases in membership dues may be more closely scrutinized.  The allure of alternative revenue streams from affinity programs may need to be weighed against the negative views held by some members about these relationships.
• Finally this movement may force groups to use social media whereas they previously would not have been inclined to do so.  This may not only be as a means to communicate with their audiences; using Twitter and other social media to listen to relevant conversations may also help associations maintain their relevance.

So, Association Executives, what do YOU think this #OWS movement will mean to you and your organization?