5 Ways To Increase Sponsor Value

Companies get approached all the time to invest in various sponsorships.  Budgets do not allow them to participate in every opportunity that crosses their desk, and they have to pick and choose who they decide to partner with.  

Sponsors are constantly on the search for events that will showcase them in the best light:  providing exclusive access to participants, in unique ways, and are looking for partners who truly understand that ROI needs to be received on both sides of the relationship.

What could you do to better engage your potential sponsors?  Here are a few suggestions:  

1. Engage your members:  And then, advise your sponsors.  Get to know your members, how they want to be communicated with by your sponsors, and then share the information in advance.  Your sponsors will be better prepared to remain relevant.  In turn, they will obtain the respect of your membership base, and become more effective in their communication practices.
2. Tell your sponsors about the unique marketing opportunity:  Whether your potential sponsors are looking to partner with you for B2B or B2C purposes, demonstrate that you know your membership base (and their business) – via research, or testimonials. Sponsors want the details - are they an influencer/decision-maker, how they want to be communicated with, and what their buying cycles look like.  Just offering visibility or industry recognition no longer justifies spend. 
3. Become a Partner:  Do not just ask for a cheque.  That is not a partnership.  Associations with successful partnerships provide access to their members.  Sponsors are able to directly communicate with them (which is why your research is key).  By becoming a partner with the companies you are looking to have sponsor/exhibit, you should focus on their success.  This can easily be done by offering value – help them track their ROI with tracking tools, reporting and member feedback.
4. Become your sponsor’s voice:  Your members will listen to you.  Whether you are sending an e-newsletter, or through social media, you are in the unique position to be leveraging your sponsor’s ability to solve problems – whether through a product offering, time-enhancing solution, or through research that they have done that will benefit your membership.  Associations should be offering to share content through their various channels.
5. Help them build relationships:  Being present is very important to sponsors.  And it goes well beyond the conference.  Add value to your marketing plan by offering to introduce the sponsor to your chapters, join a committee, or attend local events.  

Working to engage and develop personal, meaningful relationships is time consuming...what else are you doing to increase value?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

#PlanHybrid Sponsorship & Marketing Refresh FREE Webinar July 30

Do you wonder each year how to make your event dollar stretch just a little further? For many events, sponsorship is the lifeblood that allows the event to happen.  But the sponsorship landscape is changing dramatically and it’s no longer sufficient to have the usual “metals level” (gold-silver-bronze) sponsorship program.  Learn from our experts how they created rock star sponsorship programs for their clients and how you can do the same for your organization.


At the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

• How to attract potential sponsors when there are 2 audiences.
• Understand how sponsorship can grow your event.
• Design a sponsorship program that appeals to the new realities of the marketplace
• Gain new sponsorship ideas.
• Learn how to better recognize sponsors in this digital era.

Interested in attending?  Register here.

Webinar Speakers:

Justin Gonzales, Marketing Communications Manager, DoubleDutch

Justin Gonzalez manages marketing communications for DoubleDutch, the leading provider of mobile event apps. At DoubleDutch Justin creates disruptive communications strategies that drive business results by leveraging the power of marketing technologies. Utilizing social media, advertising, content and automation tools, he is passionate about creating engaging digital experiences that connect consumers to brands in ways that build strong relationships and loyalty.

Doreen Ashton Wagner, Greenfield Services Inc.

Doreen is the Chief Strategist and Co-Founder of Greenfield Services Inc., an association management and business development firm dedicated to the needs of membership-based organizations and the meetings industry.

Located in Alexandria, ON – half-way between Ottawa and Montreal – the company’s clients include the Association of Power Producers of Ontario, the Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners, the Hotel Association of Canada, and the Co-Operative Housing Federation of Canada.  Greenfield helps meeting and event professionals with Event Marketing, Exhibit & Sponsor Sales, and Engagement Programs.

In addition, Doreen and her team produce unique research and events exclusively for association executives.  For three consecutive years their Pulse Report benchmarked the membership marketing and engagement practices of Canadian Associations.  In July the company will be hosting its second annual Engaging Associations Forum, a thought-leadership conference designed to elevate the education level and facilitate conversations between association peers.

Fully bilingual, Doreen graduated Cum Laude from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She has been President of two Chapters of Meeting Professionals International, in Toronto and Ottawa.  In 2013 Doreen was inducted into the M&IT Hall of Fame as Industry Innovator.  Before creating Greenfield Services Inc. 17 years ago, she was Vice President of Marketing for The Sutton Place Grande Hotels Group, and held varied sales positions with Inter-Continental Hotels, Four Seasons, Park Plaza, and the Château Laurier Hotel.

                                               
Mahoganey Leigh Jones, CMP, DES

Mahoganey Jones is a Certified Meeting Professional and Digital Event Strategist with proven success in planning meetings and events that boost revenues and increase brand awareness. She founded Event Specialists in 2004 to help associations, government departments, and private companies to become strategic in the production of their meetings and events. From program development and accreditation to the logistics and execution, Mahoganey is able to efficiently manage all aspects of various size events. Through research and creativity, she successfully began producing hybrid events in 2012 to meet the demands of her clients. Mahoganey currently sits on the PCMA Canada East     Chapter's Education Committee and the Canadian Innovation Conference powered by PCMA's Planning Committee.
                   

Manage Your #Association Database

Maintaining a database can be a challenge. And if ensuring that data is entered consistently and that
no duplicates are created wasn't enough, data becomes obsolete at a rate of 30% or more per year.

Factors like economic activity and an industry’s rate of innovation will affect the rate of change - for
instance, a list of judges may remain current longer than a list of entrepreneurs.

Acquiring new data - new prospects, members, or sponsors - is costly, so it makes sense to maintain
your database:

1. Have a documented data layout and make sure all users know the rules. If your database allows organizations’ names to be abbreviated, what is the usual format? Will you follow Canada Post address formats (“St” rather than “Street” or “St.”) and possibly save money on mail distribution?
2. Make ONE person responsible. If one person is responsible, and empowered to enforce the rules, the job will get done.
3. Act immediately to correct obsolete data. Immediately pull and update records with undeliverable email or street addresses.
4. Plan to conduct annual audits. This applies more to non-member data like prospective members, exhibitors, or sponsors. Plan to audit at least 10% of your data (or a minimum 100 records). If more than 15% are out of date, plan a clean-up exercise.
5. Have clients, members or stakeholders update their own information. During your membership renewal process, ask people to review their data online to minimize your costs. But don’t assume the information is 100% correct. Review it before it goes back into your CRM, especially if you have established formats.

Want more tips?  We have 11!  Click here to download the full document.

Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My favourite posts of 2014 for #Association Executives

There was several great posts that were published this year.  Here is a snapshot of the thought-leadership that came out this year (my Top 10):

1. What members want: The new meaning of value - The problem with your young association members is that they’re always changing. Each generation is a little bit different; they value experiences differently.  Thanks to XYZ University for this post!
2. Your non-members: Friends or Foes? - this post divides non-members into four categories; and suggests that non-members are very definitely our friends and a careful, measured and thoughtful approach to engaging with them will bring tangible results, perhaps not today or tomorrow, but in the future.  This was posted on the CSAE Ottawa-Gatineau blog.
3. How to Develop a New Product Pipeline For Your Association - Innovation is scary for many organizations because it is not something many are in the habit of doing. Create a practice or a habit of innovation and it becomes much much easier. This post provides 11 key steps in the process.  Written by Amanda Kaiser (Smooth The Path).
4. Why You Need to Tell Your Association Members`Stories Before Your Own - Guilty by association. We are the company we keep. If your association is the sum of your members, you need to be telling their stories first.  Originally posted on the MemberClicks blog.
5. Your Choice: Change or Irrelevance - This post is short and timely.  It suggests that many organizations are well on their way to irrelevance, and provides three things you can do now to avoid it.  Thanks Andy Freed for your thought leadership!
6. Facilitation: plan, and have faith - what can we do – facilitators and clients alike – to make it more likely that a facilitated session will go well? Meredith Low provides some thoughts, tips, and best practices here.
7. The Death of the Mall and Other Association Lessons - great analogies here on the Association Subculture blog - You don't need to obsess about entropy but you do need to challenge your ethos in the face of it.
8. Membership Practices of Associations with High Retention Rates - this post, featured on the Abila blog, offers up 12 practices that associations who have high retention rates are currently doing.
9. When Opinion by Committee Can Lead You Astray - how could I have a top 10 list without Jeff Hurt?  In this post (which, by the way, is one of many of his posts that I think are great) says 'When we are designing a conference or planning the next steps of an organization, we need to be aware of the challenges of relying only on the opinions of a committee. Especially if everyone on that committee has the same belief. We need to seek diverse thought that challenges our conventional thinking. And encourage honest open discussion.'
10. ROI to R.O.M.E - What is R.O.M.E.?  Return on Member Engagement.  Only when board/staff engagement and member engagement are high do innovative solutions surface through a “we” collaboration. Moving to a “we” focused community is about inclusiveness and being open to the possibilities that might surface.  Thanks Dan Varroney for sharing!

What blogs did you see this year that changed the way you think?

How to set your association apart from the rest

As an association, you want to be known as the best. You want everyone in your industry to think about you as the go-to source for information. You want to be different. To stand alone. To be great.

To successfully set your association above the rest, an understanding of your differentiators is key. Those differentiators can be found by defining your target market (which in many cases comes down to the specific industry you serve), competition, niche and position.

Getting noticed through all the other noise and resources available to your members (and potential members) can be daunting. Prioritizing your marketing efforts will help. To start, ask yourself a few questions:

Who’s your target audience, really?

Your target market is not “everyone” and it may not even be everyone in your industry. Think about who you struggle to reach and who you have an easy time reaching. For your association to be successful, who are the most important audiences? If you struggle with member retention but have no problem with new members, your focus should be on identifying how to communicate with those members who are leaving your organization. If you are full of Baby Boomers but struggle to engage younger generations, your focus needs to be on marketing your association in a way that is appealing to younger members.

Identify your top target and some secondary targets for your association and get to know who those people are. These are the people you’re going to need to engage and build relationships with.

Find out what they care about, what’s important to them regarding your industry and your organization, and what makes them tick in general. You need to understand who they are and why they would considering joining your association (or why they are a member already). Narrowing down and understanding your target markets will help you craft better messages that solve your audience’s specific problems and meets their specific needs. This is what will get you noticed.

Who’s your competition?

Before you can stand out, you need to know what you’re up against. Take some time to research your other associations and see how they compare. Think outside the box here. Don’t just look at associations that are in your industry, look to those that are doing is well and who you’d love to emulate.

What marketing tactics and tools they are using? How can you utilize similar concepts in your marketing strategy? Do some comprehensive research to figure out who your competition is and why they matter. Everyone has a competitor. Get to know them.

What is your niche?

Once you’ve researched your competition, get a solid understanding on what makes your association stand out. What can you offer that is unique? That no other association is offering? More than likely, you’re doing things differently already; identify what those things are and what sets you about. Then talk about it!

What’s your position?

Establish who your association is and what you want it to be known for; set your position. What are the essential qualities that set your association apart? Your position should distinguish you from other companies like yours. Your position will be reflected in your brand, but it’s a tool you should use internally.

For example: Home Depot’s position is that it’s the hardware department stores for the do-it-yourselfers. Their brand reflects this in their tagline “You can do it. We can help.” Home Depot has positioned themselves as the store for everyone, not just contractors and professionals. They’ve set themselves apart by being the place to go for DIY home improvement. The spirit of that position is clearly reflected in their brand’s tagline and the types of content they post online. This same exercise can be executed for your association as well.

Be consistent in your messaging

Once you have answered the above questions, spread a consistent message across all your marketing channels. Use your website, print media, social media, video to show your target market who you are. Repetition of a meaningful message will grab your market’s attention and help build your association’s brand awareness. Be consistent, but don’t be afraid to monitor and tweak the message based on what’s working for you and what’s not.

If you want your association to stand out, you need to start with what your members and potential members want and then establish who you are. Understanding your competition, your target market and what makes you unique are the first steps in getting noticed. Building your association’s brand based on market research and self-awareness will help you stand out in the marketplace. Now, go get ‘em!

BIO 

This guest post was submitted by Melissa Harrison, founder and CEO of Allee Creative, LLC, a content marketing and branding firm in the Twin Cities. Melissa has more than a decade of experience in content management and strategy, branding and design, working with organizations to build strategic social media and online content strategies. Listed as one of the “Top 36 Content Marketers Who Rock” by TopRank and Content Marketing Institute, Melissa believes that organizations must adapt to what customers want, which includes using social media and creative online content to provide relevant, consistent information, in order to survive. 

Melissa is also a four-time recipient of the Hermes Creative Award and a regular speaker on the topics of branding, content strategy and social media. Melissa is also certified by Google Analytics Academy in Digital Analytics Fundamentals. Follow Melissa on Twitter. 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / Freedigitalphotos.net 

Association Strategy: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice

Filling in the “air sandwich” between strategy and implementation is one of the biggest challenges facing associations, consultant Meredith Low of Meredith Low Consulting told participants at the 2014 Engaging Associations Summit.

Not all associations invest in strategic development. But even for those that do, Low said there’s a crucial difference between setting a broad direction—what she described as “making choices to succeed”—and “capturing and enabling” those choices in a coherent strategic plan and then actually making them happen.

The difference determines how effectively an organization addresses and prevails against strategic challenges it may have worked very hard to understand. And when strategy fails to produce tangible results, it can give the whole strategic planning process an undeserved bad name.

We’ve Heard It All Before

It’s easy to spot a generic strategy that is vague in aspiration and short on delivery, Low said. Try to imagine any association that hasn’t set out to “achieve effective engagement with members and key stakeholders.” To “create and deliver cutting-edge educational opportunities.” To influence public policy, promote and support research, or “strengthen and promote the field through partnerships and collaboration.”

Don’t look now, but that language may not be very far from your strategic plan.

Here’s the problem: When a strategy is that general, it can mean almost anything. So when it comes to implementing the plan and evaluating the results, it actually means next to nothing. Low said the strategy process only works when it delivers specific, targeted goals that point toward actions an organization can and will take – and those they won’t.

By asking the right questions, sharing knowledge, consulting widely, then formulating narrowly, Low said an association can answer the most pressing questions it faces and, crucially, craft a compelling story about what it will do to meet its goals. A clear strategy “can lead not simply to a report on the shelf but, instead, to a stronger, more resilient organization.”

Time Horizons Matter

Low contrasted the 12-month time horizon we often have in a volunteer association president and the longer-term focus that is essential for the organization as a whole and the sector it represents. Although there’s room for mid-course adjustments, she said it’s a mistake to reopen a strategy every year.

“It’s a time investment to get to a commitment,” she told participants, so organizations should be purposeful about developing their strategies and resolute about protecting them, at least broadly: If you shift gears every year, she said, “you don’t have a strategy.” But at the same time, at the level of precisely how the strategy gets implemented, you have to have flexibility to respond to an evolving environment and to the changes within the organization – as you build capacity, as you learn, as you bring in new perspectives.

Click here for highlights of the 2014 Engaging Associations Summit and a sneak preview of the 2015 event.

Sponsors Matter! Associations need to better engage...

Let's face it.  Without sponsors, may things associations try to achieve could not happen. Whether it is an event, industry research, or perhaps a new program that you are looking to implement, sponsorship dollars really help your bottom line.

I know, nothing new.  But at a time where engagement is driving attendance, purchases and relationships, why are we still treating sponsors like a commodity?  Instead, I suggest changing our views.

Sponsors are those that help pay for breaks, or who only want their logo placed on banners and marketing material.  People who invest should be considered partners – they have chosen you for a reason.  You provide them with access to people they want to do business with.  In turn, they want to be positioned as thought-leaders, resources, and experts in your industry.

In this piece, I will provide you with two personal examples - what to do, and what to avoid.

Let's start with what to avoid:

• Sponsorship Prospectus:  The prospectus has been used for years to show how sponsors can “pay to play”, and get branding access at a higher level to your delegates.  But they are basic, showcasing where their logos will be used, and what specific meals and sessions they could be paying for.  Going forward, if you need to have a prospectus, be clear that this is a starting point, as you want to customize their experience.  
• Assumptions:  Just because they sponsored last year, it does NOT mean that it is a "done deal" for future sponsorship opportunities.  Relationships need to be nurtured.  This can be done through email nurturing programs, which update sponsors on the latest developments with your organization or event, as well as timely “touch base” calls.  If you are simply reaching out when it is time to ask for money, you are not doing enough.  There are a ton of other opportunities available to the sponsor, and eventually they will drop you in favour of someone who is paying attention to them.

Instead, you should try:

• Customization:  For Greenfield’s Engaging Associations Summit, we are truly creating change.  This does not just mean change for the participant, but change for the sponsor as well.  The Summit will have fewer sponsors than the typical conference/event, and sponsors are going to have exclusivity in their industry.  What does this mean for them?  No competition.  This, along with our "basic" sponsorship coverage, extensive social media exposure, and the opportunity for small group presentations, our sponsors are finding that they are really getting value for their dollar.  AND we are checking in and getting their buy-in every step of the way!
• Alignment with your values:  When we started reaching out to potential partners, we cast a wide net to see if the industry would support what we wanted to achieve.  And it did.  But some things are more important than the all-mighty dollar.  We wanted people who get it, and want to create change and engage. There were MANY of them.  Because we insisted on offering exclusivity, and spoke in-depth with each potential partner, we were fortunate enough to be in a “first come, first serve” position.  And we look forward to welcoming our partners to our inaugural event!

When was the last time you reviewed your sponsorship approach?  Do you have anything unique that you try to achieve with your sponsors?

5 Marketing Tips for the New Year

It might be February already, but there’s still time to think about what you’re going to do that’s new, fresh and exciting in the New Year when it comes to marketing.

The following are 5 marketing trends that you should take into serious consideration (and implementation) when it comes to your organization’s marketing this year:

1. Engage on an emotional level with your audience

It’s not about you, it’s about them. Seriously. Your customers are only in it for one thing–themselves. And this isn’t a bad thing. Whether you sell a good, a service or membership, you should want your audience thinking about themselves; this is how they will engage.

Your challenge this year? Think outside the box in terms of what you can offer your customers, members or audience when it comes to  personalized support, products and experiences. Pay attention to big data to help you figure out just what your customers want. Heck, any data is going to help you boost engagement and figure out what triggers emotional responses from your audience.

Track whatever you can and use this information on a routine basis to make informed business decisions. Get personal. Get emotional. Your customers will appreciate it.

2. Content marketing. It’s a must.

It’s no longer good enough to just be “on” social media or to have set up a blog (that might not be updated on a regular basis).  Content marketing is a must and need to be incorporated into your organization’s entire marketing strategy (check out some of my tips to get started here).

2014 will also see changes in terms of paid and earned media. Organic content is great, but think about setting aside some of your marketing dollars for digital advertising and promoted posts when it comes to your content marketing strategy. A solid mix of organic and paid content will push you to the frontline and only add to continued brand recognition for your organization.

Think beyond the likes. What makes your organization different? How can you be more creative? How will you truly appeal to your customers? This year, your content needs to be about engagement, conversions, originality and consistency.

3. Combine traditional and digital marketing. Think teamwork.

Digital marketing, traditional marketing, sales, brand marketing–whatever you want to call these pieces, they need to work together. Your entire organization needs to not only understand your overall business goals, but what the sales and marketing goals are–regardless of the channels being used.

In addition, everything you do should be tied to digital. It’s fine if you need to keep your printed brochure, but edit it in terms of online content. Is there a mention of social media? Do you make it easy for your readers to find you other places online? And when people do find you online, do you have a means to track where they came from?

Always be thinking about integration. Your team. Your brand message. Your channels.

4. Get mobile.

Mobile marketing is here to stay. All organizations need to think about how and when their customers access information online (hint: it has to do with tablets and smartphones) and produce content that supports the “always on” mentality. Mobile makes up the majority of email open rates (so even if you finally got that business e-newsletter going, you now have to make sure it’s primed for mobile viewing…is it?)

Responsive website design. Text messaging. Easy share options. Social networking widgets. Visual content. All of these pieces should work together to create engaging experiences that showcase your brand in its best light while, at the same time, making it as easy as possible for the consumer.

5. Multiple paths to purchase

There is no longer a flat sales funnel. Your organization must really think about multiple points of entry and strategize your marketing according to this. Think emotional engagement. Think outside the funnel.

The purchase funnel we all learned in Sales and Marketing 101 is no longer. The way for brands to communicate on an emotional level and provide value to customers is to choose the right (multiple) platforms and engage on the customers’ levels. What they want. What they need. How they connect.

And because of this, there is no one direct path to purchase. There is no one ultimate tool that persuades a purchase.

All of a company’s efforts–traditional and digital–solidify additional connections and emotions that lead to engagement, trust and ultimately, the sale. It truly is a multi-path-to-purchase cycle. There is nothing flat about it.

This is what your leadership must understand. This is how you will engage your C-suite and get them on board with everything you need to be doing in 2014 and beyond.

Are you ready?

BIO
This guest post was submitted by Melissa Harrison, founder and CEO of Allee Creative, LLC, a content marketing and branding firm in the Twin Cities. Melissa has more than a decade of experience in content management and strategy, branding and design, working with organizations to build strategic social media and online content strategies. Listed as one of the “Top 36 Content Marketers Who Rock” by TopRank and Content Marketing Institute, Melissa believes that organizations must adapt to what customers want, which includes using social media and creative online content to provide relevant, consistent information, in order to survive.

Melissa is also a four-time recipient of the Hermes Creative Award and a regular speaker on the topics of branding, content strategy and social media. Melissa is also certified by Google Analytics Academy in Digital Analytics Fundamentals. Follow Melissa on Twitter.

Member Recruitment Gone Wrong

On January 6th, a professional association in the scientific industry sent a direct mail piece to recruit new members.  The offer was actually quite good – before the deadline, you could join the association at 50% off the membership fee, with a free conference registration.  Since they are an organization offering corporate memberships, the savings were potentially over $2,000.  The piece was designed well, and captured attention.

Unfortunately, they either purchased a list from an online source, or have had this list for quite some time, and never removed records that did not have potential.  Why?

• First off, my colleague got the offer.  Not only does our company have no potential for membership, but we also never would have as individuals in our past careers.  The direct mail piece was addressed to my colleague who spent her career in hospitality sales & marketing.  
• Our contact information was not correctly inputted, with minor spelling mistakes in our company name, and her last name was WAY off.  
• On top of all of this, we received this on January 6th, and as of today, there has been no follow up.  

I cringe at the thought of how many people they mailed this to, addressing it to the wrong people, the wrong company type for their target market, and the investment spent to print pieces being sent to a really bad list.  Not to mention the fact that the lack of follow up does not really make a prospect believe you want their business.  It comes across as junk!

Why would any professional organization risk being seen in this light?  It sounds like desperation marketing...

What could be done differently to boost your ROI on recruitment efforts?

• Create a Unique Strategy:  What we are finding (and have found for years) is that not only does it take a unique strategy and marketing plan to get the return you want on any recruitment efforts, that the quality of the data you have on non-members is as crucial to your efforts as the beauty of the marketing piece.  This mailing was appealing, but was likely driven by the same type of marketing plan geared towards current members.  When it is time for renewal, they send a notice.  Little follow up is done, and membership numbers remain relatively the same, or drop as a result.
• Work from a Clean List:  B2B research has shown that in any given year, data can become obsolete at a rate of 30% per year or more.  The ratio really depends on your member demographic.  For example, in the hotel industry, sales & marketing managers can change properties quite frequently, even multiple times per year.  However, if they are physicians, perhaps their turn-over ratio is not as significant.  No matter the turn-over rate in your industry, a clean list is a smart first step to any and all marketing programs.  
• Follow Up!:  Sigh….It always amazes me that those spending thousands of dollars creating a really smart, visually appealing piece with a clear call to action, that contains contact information of not only the association, but the member services representative, and they literally did nothing to help build the relationship afterwards.

How do your recruitment efforts differ from other marketing?  Have you built in the right strategy to increase your ROI?

Canada's Anti-Spam Law Comes Into Effect July 1... Now What?

You may have heard that Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) will take effect on July 1st, 2014.  Now that the government has announced the date by which sanctions begin, associations need to assess how it applies to them, and what to do about it.

The best advice that I can give to those who are not sure where to start is to think strategically, and start from the beginning, so you are not scrambling close to the deadline to ensure that you have tracked everything correctly.

What is CASL?

This legislation applies to any commercial electronic message that promotes your organization or even just informs recipients. Examples include emails or texts that:

• Promote a product or service;
• Invite recipients to sponsor, attend or exhibit at a conference or event;
• Solicit a prospect to join your organization.

Not only do you have to be careful about what you are sending, but you have to be careful about who you are sending it to.  That's because the law says you can only send an electronic message if you have the recipient's consent first:

• Express consent is the communication agreement you have with an individual member, exhibitor, or sponsor. If these contacts have bought or something from your association in the last two years, they are deemed to have explicitly agreed to receive electronic communication from you.  Any recipients whose last transaction is more than two years ago must be contacted for express consent.
• Implied consent on the other hand is a tentative agreement between you and a prospective member or other stakeholder.  They may have attended an information session, or dropped a business card off at your booth at a tradeshow.  This agreement has an expiry date, which after July 1st, 2014, is just six months from the date of the initial contact.  After six months, if you don't have express consent, you must stop communication.

Obtaining Consent:  Get express consent wherever possible, and once you have it, have the mechanisms in place to confirm, and obtain communication interests and preferences.

Managing Information in Your Database:  In the event of a complaint, you will have to provide the data to back up your claim of consent.  Ensure that your CRM is capable of keeping a field to indicate whether consent was express or implied, and the date it was obtained, along with any other information relating to the recipient's preferences.

Identification and Ongoing Communication Requirements:  Ensure that your messages contain the correct contact information required by the legislation, whether it is sent by you or your third party provider.
Unsubscribes and Revoking Consent:  If a recipient of your messages wants to revoke consent (i.e. wants to unsubscribe), the process to do so must be easy and clearly laid out.  To ensure that the process is seamless, we recommend ensuring that your email marketing software is connected to your CRM.

For more information on the Anti-Spam Legislation, please visit fightspam.gc.ca, or download our Tips and Best Practices for Associations on preparing for CASL.

Top 13 #Association Posts on @GreenfieldSrvcs Blog in 2013

The team here at Greenfield is busy wrapping up the year.  We have been truly lucky to work with great organizations this year, learn new skills, and have the opportunity to contribute to the industry through our research and the knowledge shared on the Membership Engagement Blog.

In the spirit of sharing, we thought we would wrap up 2013 with a re-cap of our top-read blog posts this year - and we dug through our stats to put them in order of popularity:

1. #Association Goals & Objectives [Infographic]:  Our first infographic on the Membership Engagement Blog, this post showcased some key statistics derived from our 2013 Pulse Report on Membership Marketing & Engagement practices.  This infographic highlights key goals, and key concerns based on the associations who responded.
2. Are You Using Social Media to Engage Members?  This post was inspired by research and whitepapers produced by Avectra, a US-based provider to associations.  In this post, we encouraged an understanding that "the true value of social media investment comes from figuring out how many of those followers - or fans, connections, private online community members - are engaged in ways that align with your association's goals.  
3. Smart & Steady Wins the Race: This post was inspired by Shelly Alcorn, CAE.  Her original post suggested that when times get tough, association executives' narrow their focus to looking for the one solution that will solve all their problems.  In contrast, we encouraged a smart and steady alternative (other than slow & steady - does that even exist anymore!) - by understanding what your members need and want, building reliable revenue sources, and adding secondary revenue streams.  
4. Social Media Marketing - So Much More Than Just Technology: this post I believe hit home with our readers because it talks about creating strategies that are thoughtful, strategic, authentic and engaging versus jumping in hoping it works.
5. Using Twitter for Events - Part 1: Preparation - my colleague Gwynydd Murray, our Social Media Coordinator, created this three-part series.  In Part 1, Gwyn encourages association's to truly be prepared for social media at events, including hard copies of important info, event hastags, and a low-tech contingency.  
6. Where to Look for Member Engagement:  This post recommends that we recognize the opportunity that is just beyond our reach, and allocate our resources accordingly.  Communication & member engagement models are changing fast, and the future belongs to associations that can make the transition.  
7. Using SEO to Make Your Website Searchable:  my colleague Jeff Chabot, our Web & E-Marketing Coordinator, created this post.  Jeff talks about what SEO is, and what it can do for your online brand.  He also suggests five things that associations can look at to increase their SEO ranking.
8. Using Twitter for Events - Part 2: Mastering Your Tools - Gwyn's second post highly recommends that we don't just install the app to our smartphone and start tweeting.  Instead, we should become well versed in what the app can and cannot do, and prepare for it.  
9. How to Listen to Your Members All Year Round:  In this post, we talk about member surveys.  While they are great for benchmarking, a continuous conversation is needed to truly listen and engage members today.  Social media can help - and we have offered up six steps to build your online presence into the continuous conversation that you and your members need.
10. Effective Associations: Making Your Conference a Powerhouse - in this post, we talk about what it takes to make your conference the powerhouse it deserves to be - by getting participants to the table, giving participants what matters most, and the investment that matches the return.
11. Declutter Your Communications with Your Members in Mind:  This post was inspired by Naylor LLCs study on communications.  They reported that most associations are pre-occupied with cutting through the clutter, but they are unclear on their strategy on how this will happen.  Our response to this study supported their findings in this post.
12. Using Twitter for Events: Part 3 - Engagement:  In Gwyn's final post in her three part series, she talks strategically about using Twitter, and reminds us all that Twitter exists to engage; before, during and after the event.
13. A Dangerous Disconnect on Member Retention:  Our final post in the top 13 discussed the strategy and marketing around member retention.  For the second year in a row, our Pulse Report showed that associations lack staff, strategy and resources to conduct a well-rounded retention marketing campaign.  

We hope that you enjoyed reading our thoughts and opinions on our blog this year.  Thank you all for your continued support!  We wish you all the very best this holiday season; we look forward to engaging with you in the New Year!

Tourism Richmond (BC) Presents 2013 Pulse Report Highlight Session

Greenfield Services is thrilled to announce a very special collaboration with Tourism Richmond, BC.

On November 14th, Greenfield's Chief Strategist, Doreen Ashton Wagner, and Director of Client Solutions, Meagan Rockett, will be co-presenting a session on the six essential strategies that successful associations implement to maximize stakeholder engagement and revenues from meetings and conferences.

This session is based upon the findings of Greenfield's 2013 Pulse Report, which surveyed 173 Canadian Associations to assess their membership marketing and engagement practices.

Taking place over lunch at Sassafraz in Toronto's Yorkville district, we look forward to sharing research results and imparting best practices to help association executives improve their engagement levels with meeting attendees, exhibitors and sponsors. And improving their revenue in the process.  We thank Tourism Richmond for sponsoring this thought-leadership session.

Attendance is by invitation only.  If you are interested in attending, please click here to indicate your availability, and we will be in touch with you.  For questions on the event or The Pulse Report, please email Meagan Rockett.

About Tourism Richmond

Richmond, BC is the perfect place to host your next meeting or event with 24 brand-name hotels and offers diverse, multi-functional, multi-purpose meeting and event space. This 2010 Olympic Venue City is home to Vancouver International Airport (YVR), and the Canada Line rapid transit line

Want to learn more about Richmond, BC, Canada as a meeting location? Click to watch a video on Vimeo of their meeting facility experience.

For more information about Richmond, please contact Deidre DeVico, National Sales Manager, at 604-821-5480.

Is #Sales Really a Dirty Word in the #Association Space?

On September 19th, I was part of a panel discussion at the CSAE National Conference & Showcase, talking about membership engagement and non-member marketing.

My activity on social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn had led me to believe that the term “Sales” in the association space is not popular; in fact, some people believe that they are not selling anything.

But during the panel discussion when I said that as association executives, you are always selling, and that we need to shift our mindset away from it being taboo, there were a lot of nodding heads in the room.

So, was I wrong in my thinking?  Are association executives in a place now where they recognize the funnel that is in place for membership recruitment, retention and engagement?  Or are we just scratching the surface?

Looking forward to your thoughts and comments below.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Associations Scramble to Do More with Less

For the second year in a row, research by Greenfield Services shows that Canadian associations are scrambling to build strong, effective organizations without the resources to do the job.

That means they’re living out an axiom that we forget at our peril:

Beyond a certain point, you don’t do more with less. You do less with less.

Greenfield’s 2013 Pulse Report painted a stark statistical picture of the day-to-day struggle facing too many organizations. The research showed that:

• The majority of associations with 2,000 or more members “were trying to deliver exceptional service on budgets of $5 million or less,” and one-third of them with 10 or fewer staff. 
• Two-thirds of associations with fewer than 250 members (67.7%) were operating with five or fewer staff, and more than four-fifths with 250 to 750 members (81.6%) had 10 or fewer staff.
• Between 2012 and 2013, difficulties meeting members’ specific needs and insufficient staffing became even more prominent as the biggest member engagement challenges facing Canadian associations. 
• Between 30% and 40% of respondents expressed concern about their associations’ lack of strategy, budget, or member-driven research to support broader member engagement.

It all adds up to “a necessary fiscal prudence that might still be starving organizations of the resources they would need to attract larger memberships,” the report stated.

The Cost of Saving Money

Every organization should operate as efficiently as it can. But after years of scraping by on the barest possible budgets, many Canadian associations are scraped raw. They’re so lean that they can’t afford to invest in the educational programming or member engagement strategies that will help them thrive, rather than just surviving.

And after a while, a bad habit becomes a vicious circle: substandard outreach erodes member engagement, so that retention rates drop or remain stagnant…just in time to drag down next year’s programming budget.
The cost of saving money is crystal clear in the responses to the Pulse Report survey. Two-thirds of associations see membership growth and retention as a top priority, and nearly half want to boost their revenue, visibility, and member participation. But fewer than half identified the ability to demonstrate member ROI as a top priority—indicating that they either lack the strategic focus to deliver on members’ needs, or just can’t afford to get the job done.

The ‘Insurmountable Dilemma’

For the second year in a row, a question about membership retention strategies showed that associations weren’t doing nearly enough to open year-round conversations with their members and make a strong case for them to renew.

“With traditional funding sources drying up and established membership models shifting, it’s no surprise to find Canadian associations in search of more revenue,” the Pulse Report noted. “But with the Internet creating multiple new opportunities for professional development, networking, recognition, and any of the other benefits that associations have traditionally offered, associations will only attract and retain members by offering superior levels of service and engagement.

“For many associations, this may create an insurmountable dilemma: as long as current resources are insufficient to fund quality programming, that programming will fail to draw enough member participation and revenues to support a more robust, responsive organization.”

Greenfield Services Inc. released the 2013 Pulse Report at the National Conference of the Canadian Society of Association Executives, September 18-20, 2013 in Winnipeg. Contact us today to receive your own copy by email.

A Dangerous Disconnect on Member Retention

You know it’s time for a new strategy when research points to a big, dangerous disconnect between standard practice and best practice.

That’s exactly what’s happening in one of the most important areas of association management. But despite two years of data pointing to gaps in most associations’ member retention strategies, there’s little sign of change on the horizon.

In its 2012 Pulse Report, Greenfield Services found that only 13.6% of Canadian associations scheduled seven or more member touchpoints as their renewal dates approached. In the 2013 Report, that total improved only marginally, to 15.4%:

Touchpoints for Membership Renewal, 2012–2013
	2012	2013
1-3	52.1%	45.2%
4-6	23.1%	32.3%
7-9	6.8%	7.3%
10+	6.8%	8.1%
None	5.1%	3.2%
Unsure	6.1%	4.0%

If only associations could hope to get the same member retention with a more modest outreach plan. But the message from established sales and marketing strategy is clear: it takes eight to 10 touchpoints to break through the clutter of competing media and priorities with a message that requires a decision and action.

The Hope and the Reality

It isn’t that associations aren’t keenly interested in member retention. On the contrary, two-thirds of the association executives who responded to the 2013 survey cited membership growth and retention as a top priority.

After two years, the problem is clear: the vast majority of associations lack the staff, budget, and strategy to run the strong, effective member retention programs they need and want. 

They’re reaching out too infrequently. And they’re starting too late. More than three-quarters of 2013 respondents said their organizations began renewal outreach no more than three months before a membership was set to expire, compared to 71% last year.

2013 Pulse Report respondents knew they had a problem: among their most serious member engagement challenges, they listed insufficient staff, lack of a strategy or plan, and lack of member-driven research. But many of them were also dealing with tough budget realities that had forced them into a continuous cycle of trying to do more with less. (More on that in next week’s blog.)

The Plan Your Retention Plan Can Be

A retention plan only works when members are satisfied with their association experience, so year-round engagement is the cornerstone of an effective outreach plan.

But here’s the good news: once the retention program begins, associations can use a variety of tools, techniques, and media to capture members’ attention. A single touchpoint might be an email, a phone call, a text message, a direct mail letter or post card, a survey, a contest, a magazine ad, or social media messaging.

With more outreach methods available to them than ever before, we've been encouraging our clients to review their marketing plans and vary their messaging between established and emerging marketing methods, rather than relying exclusively on familiar tools like email and direct mail. The tone of member renewal campaigns can and should evolve, as well, with more emphasis on “pulling” people into voluntary, enthusiastic participation in a thriving association community, rather than “pushing” them to buy their association membership as a product. 

Greenfield Services Inc. will release the 2013 Pulse Report at the National Conference of the Canadian Society of Association Executives, September 18-20, 2013 in Winnipeg. Contact us today to receive your own copy by email.

How Market Penetration Shapes Associations’ Success

Of all the data we gathered for Greenfield Services’ 2013 Pulse Report, here’s the segment that says the most about the challenges and opportunities for Canadian associations:

Nearly one in five survey respondents had no idea what proportion of their potential members had actually joined their associations, and another 41.5% reported market penetration rates of 50% or less.

This problem isn’t new. But it’s hard to think of a more troubling statistic for anyone who has set out to build a strong, member-centric organization.

An association is most effective when it can legitimately claim to be the voice of its community, whether that community is an industry, a group of professionals, or a collection of like-minded individuals.

The most effective associations are most likely to retain enough members to build a solid financial base.

And the most financially stable associations are the ones with the time and resources to focus on long-term strategy and member return on investment (ROI), rather than short-term survival.

But if your organization hasn’t reached a large enough share of its prospective members, or hasn’t even defined its membership base, you’re back at the beginning of the curve.

A Familiar Problem

Greenfield first documented associations’ market penetration problem in its 2012 Pulse Report. Last year’s survey found that:

• 20.6% of associations had market penetration rates of 25% or less
• 22.1% had signed up 26 to 50% of their potential members
• Astonishingly, another 22.1% were unsure of their market penetration rates.

Market Penetration Rates, Canadian Associations, 2012–2013
	2012	2013
<25%	20.6%	29.3%
26-50%	22.1%	12.2%
51-75%	14.75%	17.7%
76%+	20.5%	23.8%
Unsure	22.1%	17%

With two years of Pulse Report data, the changes in associations’ market penetration rates show good news and bad.

We tracked a five-point drop, from 22.1% to 17%, in the number of associations that didn’t know what proportion of prospects they’d reached.

The proportion of associations with market penetration above 50% increased from 35.3% to 41.5%.
But the organizations that were hurting were in worse shape in 2013. A nearly identical proportion—42.7% in 2012, 41.5% in 2013—reported market penetration rates of 50% or less. But within that group, many more were reaching no more than 25% of their potential members.

Ask the Right Questions

If your association has low market penetration—or even worse, if you don’t know how to define your market—it’s time to invest in the in-house time or external resources to solve the problem. Not because we say so, but because your organization’s health and survival depend on it.

Here are some of the questions to ask:

• What are the top four, five, or half-dozen audience segments that make up your membership?
• Are you missing other audiences that should be a part of your membership base?
• What is the total size of each audience within your geographic territory?
• What is your current market share for each group?
• What additional percentage of each audience is already known to you—as prospects, subscribers, workshop or e-learning participants, lapsed members, or in any other capacity?
• How can you assemble a comprehensive prospect list, and what’s the best strategy for reaching out?
• Do you have the in-house resources to conduct an integrated membership marketing campaign, or do you need outsourced support?

Greenfield Services Inc. will release the 2013 Pulse Report at the National Conference of the Canadian Society of Association Executives, September 18-20, 2013 in Winnipeg. Contact us today to receive your own copy by email.

Do You Have a Membership Content Strategy?

Lori Halley provided this guest post.  She is the Blog Writer (Engaging Apricot) at Wild Apricot, cloud software for small associations, non-profits and clubs. With a background in associations and non-profits, Lori tries to offer tips and information to help the staff and volunteers of small organizations with day-to-day challenges.

You’ve probably seen and heard a lot of chatter about content marketing. But what exactly does this term mean and how does it apply to small membership organizations?

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as: “a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”  But in the case of associations and other membership organizations, your “target audience” for whom you are “creating and distributing” content, consists of your existing and potential members and supporters.

By their very nature, membership organizations are involved in content marketing without even realizing it. But it’s not purely a marketing strategy - content is part of your raison d’être or mission. After all, your members expect your organization to keep them abreast of information in your field. Research, such as our Small Membership Insight Survey, indicates that one of the key reasons members join associations is for professional development and to learn best practices and information about their field. As Becky Rasmussen (of AMR Management Services) suggested in a slide presentation last year, “associations should be great content marketers...you have established relationships, a wealth of content, a foundation of trust” so what’s holding you back?"

You may have lots of content - but do you have a strategy?

Your organization may be the king of content for your sector - offering publications, newsletters, webinars, workshop presentations and website content. But while you use content to engage existing members and build your membership, what you may not have in place is a content strategy or an editorial calendar to strategically manage all of this great content.

Why do you need a content strategy?

An article - Map Out Your Content Strategy - that appeared in Associations Now a few years back by Lauren Kelley, offers a good answer to that question: "Content without strategy is just content... Without a strategy, associations can get stuck in a content hamster wheel: They're perpetually scrambling for content at the last minute, and it can end up being substandard."

In the article, Kelley suggests that a content strategy can help membership organizations promote consistency of message and save time. Steve Drake (SDC Group) summed it up nicely in a post last year: “Too often... our content is produced without any content strategy and without a common core. And, as a result, associations fall short and don't get the full return/results for the resources invested on behalf of our members.”

Where to start?

If you are just getting started with developing a content strategy, where do you begin? Here are some suggestions for getting started that I gleaned from the Associations Now article:

1. First – identify your goal(s) and “key performance indicators” or create a “Content Marketing Mission Statement” - as Kristina Halvorson, CEO of Brain Traffic suggests: "define what your key performance indicators are within your organization. What is it that you are trying to do as an organization? How is your content going to support those goals?"
2. Then take a look at your “content assets” – content from your website, newsletters, forums, blog posts, journals, annual reports, etc. – clean out your virtual closets.
3. Weed out anything that is, as Halvorson suggests “ROT (redundant, outdated, or trivial), and organizing whatever is left”
4. Start with a simple calendar: "Inventory all the different communications channels you have, including offline, online, and social media," and use your calendar to map out the topics you plan to cover and the frequency with which you'll disseminate the content."

If you are just getting started with developing a content strategy or have some insight for your peers, share your ideas in the comments below.