Using Member Research to Map Out What We Need to be Doing

“No. No. No. We define the goals of the research before we pick the method!” she said. This was probably the hundredth time this research agency account executive heard, “I would like to conduct a survey” from someone like me. What I really meant was “I would like to conduct customer research” but I had mistakenly substituted the word survey instead. This is a mistake most of us make. Survey is a substitute for member research both in our language but also in implementation and this presents a problem for associations.

Each method of member research is specialized to answer certain kind of questions. Surveys are good at one kind of question, our data another, mining online communities another, and so on. Most often we turn to our data and surveys to get answers about our members but those methods, too often, are not designed to answer the kind of questions we are asking.

If we divide up all the member research methodologies they tend to fall into two groups. One group measures what we are doing and the other helps us map out what we need to be doing.

Measuring What We Are Doing

The typically quantitative methods: surveys, data and some feedback tell us how the association is doing. Or more precisely, member research like this tells us about what the association is already doing. If you want to know which of your benefits most members like the most these kinds of methods are designed to do just that. Here are some more questions that surveys and data can answer for you:

• Who are our members?
• What benefits do members use the most?
• How would members rank the topics that we cover in order of preference?
• Who are our most engaged members?
• Where do members spend the most time on our site?
• Members who attend the conference also __________.

This kind of information can help us refine our offerings. For example, members who attend the conference also tend to buy our benchmarking survey report. Perhaps we should test introducing more of the report findings at the conference? Or we find that members rank Topic E very high and it is not a topic we cover often so we add more articles in our media calendar.

The what-we-are-doing-type member research is valuable but let’s not stop there. There is a whole new level of member insights to uncover with the what-we-need-to-be-doing-type member research.

Map Out What We Need To Be Doing

At some point in our data sleuthing we may find that we have more questions than answers. Each time we uncover a new fact, like two years ago benefit A was top of members’ preference but now benefit D is top, we wonder why? We may notice that surveys and data are raising tons of new questions but not answering them. There are answers to those questions and a different methodology can help us.

Member phone interviews, focus groups, mining online communities and observation can give us the data we need to start mapping out what we need to be doing. To figure out what we need to be doing we ask questions like these:

• Why did members join our association?
• Why are engaged members engaged? 
• What problems do our members worry about and why?
• What are our members’ goals and why?
• How do members articulate the value of the association?
• What do new members expect from their membership?
• What pain points exist for members working with this association?
• How are competitors meeting their needs?

These questions are answered by the more qualitative methodologies. Unlike their closed-ended-answer cousins data and surveys, these methods are more detailed, give context and will tell us stories. These stories are the building blocks for us to figure out what we need to be doing in the future.

Data and member surveys can get you started on your fact-finding mission. At some point you may find yourself asking “why?” more often than not. When you start asking “why?” why did members make this decision, why aren’t they satisfied or why is this group of members engaged, it is time to start exploring how qualitative member research can get you the answers you need.

Are you curious about member insights based association marketing, innovation or strategy? Find more articles like these from Amanda Kaiser, qualitative member researcher, at www.SmoothThePath.net or on Twitter at @SmoothThePath. 

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Small staff? No problem! 4 Tips for Keeping Up with Content

We’ve all been there before: Reading a great blog post or sitting in a conference breakout session where the writer/presenter is talking about all these fabulous ideas you can implement as part of your marketing strategy. They sound great! They’re going to help with so many leads! So many new members!

But wait, how much do those fancy new strategies cost again?

And furthermore, who is going to implement those?

There are some really great content marketing ideas out there and some wonderful companies and organizations that have (what seems like) unlimited resources to carry them all out. But we’re not all in that same boat.

And so, this post is for you—the solo marketer for your organization (or one of the mighty few that are charged with all things marketing). Ideas for keeping up with content at a pace (and budget) you can handle.

Create a routine

This may sound simple, in theory, but we’ve all been there before. We say we’ll do something and, if we don’t write it down, it doesn’t happen. The same holds true with content marketing.

Make content a routine and stick to it. Set aside certain times during your day or week (really, block them off on your calendar) for content. Think about:

• Setting aside 10 minutes a week for Twitter research and use that as a source to develop ongoing blog content, shared social media posts or topics for newsletter articles
• Giving yourself 15 minutes a day: Log in to your online channels (ie: blog, social media, etc.) for 5 minutes at the start of the day, middle of the day and end of the day to check for conversations, mentions or comments that need approving or responding to. 
• Developing a monthly content calendar that has all of your channels (including print, if needed) for content. I have a few included in my “Best Practices in Social Media” eBook.

Understand your audience

Even when we sit in the latest-greatest workshop about up-and-coming trends in content marketing, those particular tools may not be best suited for our audiences. You know your audience best. Embrace that and own it.

• Define your target audience. There is no need to please everyone and honestly, you want to put the bulk of your resources where the bulk of your audience is
• Choose the top 3 (or less) relevant channels where your audience is most apt to engage with your content and focus your efforts there.
• Ask for ideas! User-generated content is great because it allows us to engage our audience AND it takes some of the work off of your shoulders for always needed to think of new, innovative and interesting content to post

Strategize

Are you putting content out there just for content’s sake? Content marketing is for the long haul. Think about some of these questions, make note of the answers, and keep them in mind anything you do anything that is content-specific.

Make sure your content marketing tactics fit with your organization’s overall objectives and goals. If it doesn’t, skip it and move on to another tactic. Content is fast-paced; it’s OK to move on when something isn’t working.

Be Consistent and Patient.

Rome wasn’t built in a day (yep, I used that analogy). But really, it’s important to remember that. You are only one person (or the mighty few) and it makes more sense to be phenomenal at a few things than it does to be mediocre at everything. Results will take time. While you’re waiting:

• Don’t be afraid to re-purpose content. The article that everyone loved in your member newsletter? Turn that into a short blog post, a 2-minute video slide show, an infographic or a meme.
• Plan ahead. This is where content calendars come in to play. If you know you have a huge event coming up next month, allow yourself time to schedule your content in advance so that you don’t lose any momentum you’ve built
• Utilize scheduling apps. For instance, SproutSocial is an application that can be helpful in keeping content consistent and track ROI.

BONUS: When in doubt, delegate. There may be others on staff that can help with content strategies throughout the month. Ask your executive director to send you bullet points of the top 5 things they learned at a recent conference (and turn that into a blog post) or, ask your intern to take pictures of your latest new member breakfast (and share on Facebook).

It’s OK to start small and grow as your resources grow. There are lots of content marketing firms out there
that can help you get started with strategy as well and then give you the reigns to take over. Do what’s the best fit for your organization (and sanity!) and all will fall into place.

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.  

51 Shades of Gray (Hair)

One of the associations that we work with celebrated their 51st anniversary in 2014 at their Annual Conference and Trade Show.  After the big 50th Anniversary Extravaganza blowout in 2013, staff had to work hard to ensure that the 51st Anniversary was just as exhilarating, so that we harnessed the positive momentum moving forward.  While we were successful in making our 51st Anniversary Conference effective and exciting, we also noticed a trend that we may have been purposely overlooking.

As we started looking around the room at the 200+ attendees at the conference, we quickly realized that it was a room with 51 (or more) shades of gray hair.  Our members are aging!  This means that eventually (soon), they will be retiring and passing their businesses on to their sons and daughters or selling them to current employees or outside parties.  And many of these new owners will be younger and new to the industry and the association.  While we’ve enjoyed 50+ years of continued support from our current members, we can’t just assume these new owners will embrace the same principles of joining and supporting our association.

In order to ensure the continued success of the organization, we are going to have to strategically recruit and retain these younger up and coming members.  As our staff and board discussed this new “look and feel” that would be transcending on the association in the next few years, we knew we had to quickly get ahead of the game and create some new services and benefits that would have these newbies not only joining, but embracing and enjoying our association’s activities and services!

Here are some quick tips we’ve found that helped to encourage the younger generation to participate in our association:

Tip 1:  Technician Subscription – We developed a Technician Subscription Program that would allow up-and-coming professionals to try out and participate in our association without investing a lot of money and time.  Our Technician Subscription Program allows participants to receive all association communication (including the quarterly magazine), attend one educational seminar at the member rate and participate in other member benefits for a one year period; all at a very affordable rate.  We even offer quantity discounts off multiple technician subscribers from the same company.  Since we weren’t sure of the success of this venture, we decided to offer this as a subscription service rather than a membership type, which would have required a change in our bylaws.  Since its inception, we now have 28 new technician subscribers, many of whom are under 40 and excited to be a part of our association!  We see these 28 technician subscribers becoming true new members in the near future!

Tip 2:  Social Media Presence – Social media has become very important to the success of associations in today’s world.   Per USA Today, a recent study conducted for an online casino found that one in four people spend more time socializing online, via sites such as Facebook and Twitter, than they do in person.  This means that 25% of the population would rather spend time communicating online than communicating in person.  With this statistic (and the many others found online), we knew that we had to accelerate our social media presence in order to attract and keep our younger generations of current and potential members interested and excited about our association.  We did research and developed a weekly marketing plan to ensure that information was posted to our social media sites 2-3 times per week at a minimum.  We also worked hard to ensure that different information was posted on each of the venues so that visitors didn’t see the same posts on all of the social media sites.  Finally, we created an email newsletter called Agents of Change that we use to remind our current and potential members to visit our social media sites on a regular basis.  With this new focus on social media, our online presence has grown tremendously!

Tip 3:  Mentoring program – We are currently developing a mentoring program, where we will partner a more experienced (gray haired) member with a newer (younger) member or potential member.  They will communicate via social media, email, phone, etc. throughout the year and then meet in person during our Annual Conference.  Our goals with this mentoring program are two fold and include the sharing of a wealth of industry knowledge from the well-oiled professionals with the newbies and also the importance of supporting their industry trade association.  Only time will tell how successful this mentoring program will be, but we’ve already had some good support on both sides!

Tip 4:  Seminar Topics of Interest to Younger Audiences – Like most trade associations, many of the educational seminar topics we offer are driven by the rules and regulations of the state requirements for continuing education for our industry.  But we are lucky in that some of our required educational requirements include Business Practices, which can cover an array of topics.  With our new goal of attracting younger members, we have recently offered seminars like website marketing, online reputation management and online marketing to grow your business.  In 2015, we plan to offer even more topics (both in person and online) that are of interest to the younger audience and play upon their preferences to communicate and learn differently.  We have received very positive feedback in our post-seminar surveys about these new topics!

Tip 5:  Member Grandstanding –  In today’s world, we all love to share any and everything about ourselves on our personal social media sites, but very seldom does this information get shared with your association.    We are now encouraging our members and subscribers to brag about themselves and their accomplishments and to share this information with their association.  We are creating areas on our website, social media sites, in our magazine and other member communications to allow other members and interested parties to learn more about the association, members and industry.  This information adds a human touch to the association, but also may inspire others to share and do great things!

By implementing these tips and continuing to make many other enhancements to our association and the way we communicate with our members, our goal is that the younger generation becomes just as enamored with the association and 30 years from now becomes our new “50+ Shades of Gray!”

Thanks Amy for providing this post!

Why not raise your dues? Some strong - and weak - reasons to keep them frozen

It’s not at all uncommon for an ED or CEO of an association to tell me that they’re raising dues for the first time in a decade or so.

We all know that some products have been dropping in price, where there’s intense innovation in design or production (data storage; low-quality t-shirts). But for most goods and services, we expect them to increase somewhat, don’t we? Do you pay the same for a haircut or an accountant or a movie ticket as you did 10 years ago?

So why are associations so shy to raise dues regularly? They’re often concerned that this will seem like a massive change to their board and their membership. They are often right about the board, but not always about the membership – there’s not usually any kind of significant response at all.

There are indeed some good reasons to avoid raising dues – but there are also some weak ones, which are worth challenging if you hear them.

Six pretty good reasons to keep dues where they are:

1. The bottom has really fallen out of your profession or your industry. If the economics are very challenged, e.g. if members are losing their jobs or going out of business, perhaps this is not the time for an increase in dues. (That said, it may be that this signals a structural change in your industry which may lead the way to a higher-dues association with fewer members, made up of the industry survivors – or the need to connect with other elements of the industry to sustain the organization.)
2. You’re really struggling to prove any sort of significant value for members. Maybe significant parts of your membership value proposition have disappeared (e.g. a member benefit that used to be unique to you is now available from a competitor), or you have had some kind of noticeable and significant drop off in service levels. This is clearly a crisis that has all sorts of ramifications, but perhaps this is the time to focus on the fix, rather than a dues increase that you won’t be seen as having earned quite yet.
3. There’s cheaper competition. This should lead the association to look at its cost structure and fundamental assumptions about operations, because if there are alternatives that are structurally able to offer the same services more cheaply, in the medium to long term that spells doom. 
4. Your costs have gone down. If there’s been some kind of structural, permanent change to bring down the costs of your provision of services, maybe it makes sense to pass some of the benefits to the members in the form of frozen (or maybe even reduced?) dues. 
5. Dues were set very high and you need to spend a few years normalizing. The question I would ask here is, how do you know they’re really high? By what benchmark?  
6. You’ve got a revolt on your hands. If the organization is in some kind of existential political crisis that goes way beyond business as usual, this is probably not the time to focus on dues. 

4 reasons that aren’t so strong:

1. Sheer inertia. I would suggest evaluating dues every year. They should be a part of your budgeting process, and absolutely part of strategic planning. Inflation alone means prices of your goods and services (rent, salaries, insurance, contracts, etc.) are going to be up around 2% per year - over a decade that means your revenue and your costs are mismatched by over 20%. And if inflation goes up (despite a long period of low inflation, some of us remember different times), this drive gets more intense. 
2. You think you provide good value to members, but you aren’t telling that story well, so you are hesitant to ask for higher dues. The solution to that is to tell the story – communicate the value provided to members, in members’ terms. And then, look at raising your dues! 
3. The Board isn’t functional enough to have that conversation rationally. Or the board and staff relationships are acrimonious and there isn’t the time or opportunity to initiate these discussions. These are obviously significant and broad problems. Perhaps the need to do increasingly urgent things like raise dues will provide some of the impetus to actually address those underlying organizational dysfunctions. 
4. Non-dues revenue is often spoken of as a panacea for many things that ail associations, including the hesitance to raise dues. There is an expectation that non-dues revenue could make raising dues unnecessary. Now, this may be a good point. Some organizations can keep dues low through non-dues revenue, and that may be a sensible trade-off to make. But in many other organizations, increasing or even sustaining non-dues revenues isn’t all that practical. Don’t avoid raising dues before you’ve got the non-dues revenue actually flowing in.

Not raising rates handicaps your ability to throw money at any of your problems. Good organizations can wind up starved for the funds they need to do what they need to do. Raising rates is a completely viable option if you need to raise funds for the strategic options you want to pursue.

You do have to demonstrate value if you want to raise rates – and that’s the best way to sustain your organization anyhow. But if you do in fact deliver that value, don’t be shy to get paid for it.

Meredith Low provided this guest post.  She is a management consultant, focusing on helping organizations and companies understand how, when and where to grow in the context of fast-changing environments.  Her work with associations includes leading strategic and tactical planning, performing assessments to position conferences and meetings for growth and durability, and assessing the needs of members and other stakeholders.

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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 

Shouldn't a strategic plan actually include a strategy?

Imagine we were going to sit down and take a look at the strategic plans of, say, 10 associations we know well.

Would we be able to match the plan to the organization?

We should be shocked – but I wouldn’t be surprised – if the answer was no.

Given the effort associations put into their strategic plans, why do they often sound interchangeable and generic? Why is it so difficult to discern the actual strategy underlying them?

Let’s first note the difference between a strategy and a strategic plan. The strategy answers the question of how you are going to succeed. What choices are you going to make to achieve your mission?

The strategic plan, which often takes on a bureaucratic mind of its own in the non-profit world (not that the corporate world is immune from this), describes how the strategy will be delivered. Roger Martin, a leading business thinker, has described a strategic plan as “a budget with prose.”

Strategy represents a set of decisions. The strategic plan is just a tool, the document that captures those decisions, with their nuances and implications. The plan is a tool, but it’s not the decision-making itself.

I can think of a few reasons why strategic plans are so generic, some of which are easier to tackle than others:

• The organization lacks strategic capabilities, whether among the board, the staff, or both. Strategic planning remains at the operational/tactical level where the team is more adept and comfortable.
• There are internal political issues which mean the strategic issues don’t get fully discussed, or agreement isn’t reached. Vague strategic language may be used as a compromise, which really just kicks the can of resolving the political issues down the road. 
• Insufficient time was allotted to the strategic planning process, or decision fatigue set in, so the strategic plan was rushed to completion.

Now, if the strategic plan lacks sufficient clarity to really articulate an actual strategy, what does it really matter? Surely you will just get on with implementation and figure it out somehow.

And the answer is yes, you will implement something or other, but it’s certainly not going to be a strategy that you can clearly evaluate, measure, or adapt. And the wrong people will be making strategic decisions.

Your staff and volunteers will make day-to-day decisions about how the association does business, but they won’t be executing on an aligned strategy, with the risk they are investing in the wrong activities and paying attention to the wrong things. There may be a strain on your senior staff as they try to guess the intentions behind the vague strategic statements.

Strategy is about choice, and about action – associations need to make these choices clearly and explicitly, execute on them effectively, and communicate them purposefully. A strong strategic statement should correspond to the actual situation you face, be identifiable and executable, and be subject to scrutiny through measurement as to whether the strategy was effective.

Without those features, it’s not really a strategy. It’s just words on a page. They may have cost a lot in time and money to write (and which may be called a strategic plan), but which will not realize the value that a real strategy can create for a committed organization.

So, how does your strategy hold up to scrutiny?

I’m looking forward to discussing these topics at the Engaging Associations Summit on July 24-25 – hope to see you there.

Meredith Low provided this guest post.  She is a management consultant, focusing on helping organizations and companies understand how, when and where to grow in the context of fast-changing environments.  Her work with associations includes leading strategic and tactical planning, performing assessments to position conferences and meetings for growth and durability, and assessing the needs of members and other stakeholders.

Managing through the Marketing Sea Change

Meredith Low provided this guest post.  She is a management consultant, focusing on helping organizations and companies understand how, when, and where to grow in the context of fast-changing environments. Her work with associations includes leading strategic and tactical planning, performing assessments to position conferences and meetings for growth and durability, and assessing the needs of members and other stakeholders.

Marketing is undergoing a radical shift, from qualitative to quantitative. The characters from Mad Men would be completely befuddled in a modern marketing department, and not just because of the computers, but because of the fundamental approach to marketing has changed.

But we don’t even have to go that far back. I have a good friend who got through her entire marketing MBA, in the early years of the 21st century, without ever once opening Excel.

These days, that doesn’t sound remotely feasible, nor would it be at all smart. (It wasn’t then, either.)

It’s projected that within the next few years marketers will drive more technology spending than the IT department. Companies like SAP (an enterprise software company) and IBM are shifting their focus to sell to the Chief Marketing Officers, as the CMOs grapple with both their information generation and demand.  Notice in this video series that not only is SAP the sponsor, but the CMOs are focusing on the impact of new technologies and social changes not just on their target market but on their own operations as well.

Associations are facing the same fundamental shift in membership marketing and engagement, but on a different timeline. Because many associations are addressing relatively constrained markets within specific industries or professional designations, they’ve been relatively insulated from the speed of change in the marketing world.

This may turn out to be an advantage, since associations then have more time to see the changes coming and adapt intelligently. However, this change is so radical, this still means a rapid and possibly difficult transition.

So, how can we be effective in managing membership marketing and engagement in this new context?

Are we asking the right questions?  

We should be figuring out our priorities at the marketing level based on our fundamental strategies. Do we want more members, a deeper relationship with our members, or both, or something else entirely?

New technologies can make different things possible (e.g. scaling up an intense member engagement model with fewer resources), so those innovations should be uncovered and understood in the strategy-setting process. But innovation can’t take place in a vacuum, either. Without understanding what’s desirable, we just get lost in what’s possible and run the risk of pursuing the latest shiny object.

Are we getting all the answers we can?  

There are myriad sources of data that associations aren’t taking full advantage of already. As Associations Now points out, building member tracking into design means we can understand how they engage with us and what they think of us without having to survey them.

Are we keeping track?
As marketing gets more data-driven, this raises the question of reporting. Consider whether a comprehensive dashboard would be a useful task, so that people can see how things are going on one page or screen. Often we’re going to one source for one piece of information, and another source for another, which can be time-consuming and makes comparison very difficult. A dashboard can free up time and mindshare for bigger-picture items. It takes time to pull together, but is often worth the investment.

Are we buying too many black boxes?  

As with anything we’re unsure of, it’s tempting to let others – employees, but especially vendors – take care of the problem for us, without delving too deeply into the guts. There are those who believe that everyone should learn to code. This may be going a bit far, but given that many of the new marketing tools involve new platforms, new technologies, new ways of working, it’s important for those making decisions about them to at least take a look at them.

If we find ourselves getting a bit vague about something that’s taking on increasing strategic importance, it’s time to get our own Twitter account, or have the vendor really walk us through how the database really works, or ask our analyst exactly how they decide who gets which email. A vendor or employee who can’t explain what they’re up to can create huge issues down the road. 

The no-new-normal new normal 
The marketing revolution is far from over. For all of the changes that have happened in the broader world of marketing in the past decade, the next decade shows no signs of being any less turbulent. It’s a challenge for organizations but also for individuals to keep adapting and learning. What’s exciting about it is the broader scope of opportunity to make marketing more effective, relevant, and integral to the success of the organization.

Engaging the Passive Learner

Why is engaging the passive learner important? Just as learning can be contagious, one passive learner can spread their apathetical outlook on to peers, colleagues, and friends. Your organization may have thousands of members, or maybe only a few hundred, regardless you cannot hunt down every single member that is not actively participating in your online education programs.

What you can do is create an engaging environment where members will want to return, time and time again, for continuing education and professional development.

Here are some ways to foster engagement in your online learning:

Create a learning community. As an association, you already know a thing or two about what it means to be a community.  Bring some of the elements that encourage networking in your association into your online education. Integrate discussion boards and social media into your learning management system (LMS) or course assignments to help create a social atmosphere, and a place where members want to visit and participate in the discussions.

Stand-up learners should standout. Be sure to recognize and reward those members that regularly participate in your learning community and demonstrate the types of behaviors you want others to mimic. One way to recognize top contributors is to create a weekly spotlight for the member that logged in the most or contributed valuable information. Recognition and rewards brings me to my next tip, competition.

Create friendly competition.  Personally, I strive on competition and rewards, and if there is a contest, I am usually the first in line. At the same time, I also catch myself slacking off or putting off an assignment from time to time. That’s right folks, the “competitive lazy member” does exist and there are probably several in your association.  Here is a tip for enticing those learners who may need an extra push – create a contest which rewards the member with the highest “pulse” score or the member who recruits the most friends to join the learning community. Gamification has been proven to increase engagement and loyalty for business and programs of all types, gamify your eLearning and watch as members compete to earn their place on your “Leaderboard.”

Be supportive and responsive.  Make a conscious effort to open yourself up for members to voice their  questions or concerns. I know what you are thinking, “I do not have the time to take that many phone calls.” Instead, utilize the messaging center in your LMS or association management system (AMS). Usually a short and sweet response will satisfy the member, and it demonstrates that your association cares about its members. Just be sure you are consistent and quick to respond. This will give learners the reassurance that they are not in it alone and create a deeper attachment with your association and its online learning programs.

Provide self-paced learning opportunities.  The most important thing you can do for a member is let them learn at their own pace. Everyone learns differently, and while this can be hard to manage, it can mean a world of difference for the success of your online learning program. Something as simple as turning a live webinar into a recorded webinar allows busy learners to pause and come back to the information as they wish. This can be especially important for the learners that need extra time to absorb dense content or who like reviewing materials at a later date.

For even more tips on how to increase awareness of your association’s education products, check out “Five Ways to Market Your eLearning on a Budget”,  just one of the many helpful posts in Digitec’s Association eLearning Blog.

This post was provided by Sarah Lugo, the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Digitec Interactive. She comes from the nonprofit sector and has worked in communications for several associations in the past. Sarah loves working with eLearning since it allows her to express her passion for technology and enjoys of learning.

Image provided by cuteimage / Freedigitalphotos.net

Big Trends Impacting Events in 2014

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 offers tips and information to help the staff and volunteers of small organizations with day-to-day challenges. 

There can be a lot riding on your event. In fact, the findings from our Small Membership Insight Survey suggest that events are the second most important “critical source of income” for small non-profits and membership organizations. So whether you are planning a non-profit event or an annual membership conference, it might be helpful to take a look at some of the big trends that will impact events in the coming year.

To identify the top event trends, I read numerous posts and articles offering insight into the latest in meetings, conferences, tradeshows and events for 2014. (These included posts by Jeff Hurt, Barbara Palmer and Julius Solaris.) After reviewing these forecasts, here is my take on key trends impacting the events landscape.

Changing learning style

Research indicates that a peer-to-peer and hands-on learning formats are more effective than a traditional classroom or auditorium environment.  As a post on the AssociationsNow Blog suggests, you might want to try to create a “learning village”, with “decentralized learning formats where peers interact in smaller groups and more casual settings.”

Moving away from a solely “talking heads” format and looking at new ways of presenting information and encouraging different learning styles is particularly important if you want to engage younger generations in your events.  Millennials are particularly keen on a participatory learning style and want to be actively involved in the learning process.

This means that rather than having expert speakers talking at participants, events should start to incorporate, for example:

• Discovery
• Experiential learning
• Bite-sized information
• Interactivity

New networking opportunities that appeal to all generations

Networking with our peers is both a key reason most folks attend events and also why most members join organizations. Even web-focused Millennials recognize and embrace the value of face-to-face interactions. In fact, Jeff Hurt suggests that “peer to peer engagement before, during and after your event is critical to your conference success.”

But as many of the event trend blogs suggest, networking doesn’t always happen spontaneously in a traditional event or meeting environment. Event organizers need to find ways of creating a culture or environment for networking. This can be done through, for example:

• Focusing on networking and “facilitating connections” – by allowing for breaks in between sessions to continue questions, discussion and knowledge sharing among participants
• Offering gathering places – for networking and discussion of sessions (Check out the cool example of a meeting area or “onsite experience” included in Jeff Hurt’s 20+ Tradeshow Trends For 2014 and Beyond post.)
• Including break-out areas and “pop-up” sessions as part of the learning structure
• Virtual attendance – providing ways of connecting with and including those who are unable to attend to share in the learning

Technology-enhanced learning environments

We all know that technology is changing events and creating “a new normal”. Increasing use of Smartphones and mobile apps that enable remote registration and that help involve participants in your event are becoming the norm.  But embracing technology goes beyond mobile. Here are some trends you might want to consider incorporating into your events:

• Live streaming and live slide sharing
• Free wifi as “the new normal”
• “Recharge stations” – that can also serve as community hubs (offering networking opportunities)

Behind the scenes changes for event organizers:

Along with all of the new technologies and ideas for the actual event, there are also some trends on the horizon for event registration and planning. These include:

• Increased data capture, recording, reporting
• Real time analytics
• Sponsors/exhibitors moving from “branded spaces to branded experiences” 
• Mobile apps to manage registration

Has your organization embraced any of these trends yet?  Are there any missed?  Let us know in the comments below.

@Deirdrereid Has Advice for Emerging #Association Professionals

I never expected to work in associations. Frankly, they weren’t even on my radar. But I was leaving one career and in search of another. I took an association job just to have some stability and income while I figured things out. Little did I know, back in 1999, what a rewarding and fascinating profession I was about to enter.

Looking back, I wish I had asked for advice. It took me several years to find my way. If we were to have a “learn from my mistakes” conversation, it would go something like this:


Never stop learning. You will succeed in this profession if you live to learn. This is the most important piece of advice I can give you. Don’t shortchange yourself. Make time for learning even if it’s on your own time. Your older self will thank you.

Be observant. Listen to and watch people. You have to understand human behavior, both individual and group, if you want to motivate, manage and lead staff and members.

Give yourself time to think. You need time every week to plan ahead, set and review goals, and let your brain work its way around challenges and issues.

Develop a DIY professional development habit. Set aside time to read association management blogs and publications, participate in Twitter’s #assnchat (Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. Eastern), and attend association events. If your boss doesn’t give you the time or budget to do these things, do it on your own time. Put aside a small amount of every paycheck, even if it’s only $10, toward professional development. It’s an investment in your future, just like your 401K.

Join your state SAE even if you have to spend your own money. You’ll meet a network of peers that could become lifelong friends.

Look for mentors. Find people in your office or at another association who are active in your SAE or ASAE. They might not consider themselves mentor material so don’t even use the word “mentor” around them. A conversation with them could develop into a mutually satisfying relationship.

Find association peers. If you’re surrounded by colleagues who are only there for the paycheck, don’t be discouraged. Don’t follow them down their boring, soul-deadening path. Find people either in your office or other associations who are around your same age and career level. Twitter makes this so much easier now. Arrange monthly meet-ups. Make them your mastermind group.

Make friends all over the building. Avoid eating lunch alone. Don’t isolate yourself in a departmental silo. Learn about the work your colleagues are doing. How can you help them? How can they help you? What member stories can you share? What can you teach each other?

Pause and reflect before reacting. Expect stressful times. You might start the day expecting to work on specific tasks and projects, but find yourself dealing with other pressing problems, issues and people that weren’t on your list. You will constantly juggle a variety of deadlines and demands.

It’s natural to react quickly and emotionally to these stressors – those same reactions save us in life and death situations. But in the workplace, you must develop the habit of pausing before reacting, and thinking rationally, not emotionally. It’s not easy. Yoga helps, but I don’t expect you to practice yoga as a professional development tool – although it’s not a bad idea.

Become aware of your reactions to your own behavior (self-judging), other people’s behavior, stressful situations and change. If you learn to pause and reflect before reacting, you won’t stress yourself out so much and you’ll be a positive influence on the people around you.

Don’t be a workaholic. Never put in crazy hours because you think you should, except, of course, for those special times in the meeting, magazine or budget cycle that require it. You and your brain need time off to recharge. You know the people who are always boasting about how busy they are and how late they stayed in the office? They’re not paragons of virtue to emulate. They’re doing it wrong -- “it” being life.

Never be defined by your job. If you develop that limited mindset, retirement will be rough. Yes, your job is a huge, rewarding part of your life, but it’s just one part of your life. Make sure it doesn’t get in the way of the relationships and experiences that add color and passion to life. Find people, causes and hobbies to love. You’ll be a happier and more interesting, creative person and professional.

Deirdre Reid, CAE is a freelance writer who worked at the National Association of Home Builders and the California Building Industry Association. 
http://deirdrereid.com

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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.

Advice for Emerging Professionals

Like many of you who may be reading this post I fell into association management. My career started when I was 22 years old and I was lucky enough to be hired by an association executive who was also a wonderful mentor.  I have learned a lot of lessons and here are my top five hints for those of you who are embarking on this awesome career journey.

1. Learn about the history of associations.

This seems like “just a job,” and in some respects it is. Meetings, phone calls, emails can lead you to believe that associations are just another “company.” However, they aren’t. Associations have a long and unique history within the political system in the United States.  They are the embodiment of our rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press. We have a long, legal tradition underpinning our activities.  Our ability to influence the political system for both good and bad is immense. I am proud to have taken part as a bit player in the bigger game called “democracy.”

2. Do not take your eye off of societal changes.

Due to pressed budgets, small staffs and challenges within the specific industries or professions we represent it is extremely easy to become myopic and to take our gaze off of the larger society that we function within. This type of intense focus on our internal realities can help us mobilize and get things done, but it can also blind us to larger opportunities that are on the horizon for our members. Changes in science, technology, values and even pop culture are continual and our adaptation to these new modalities is one of the most important keys to our longevity and success.

3. Use the “royal we.”

The best piece of advice I ever got was, “Stop saying ‘I think…’”  The intent wasn’t to get me to stop thinking for myself, but to get me to embrace the fact that my job wasn’t about “me,” it was about “us.”  Changing my thinking from being “an individual actor” to “a part of the collective” was critical in my professional development.  It changed everything about how I talk, to how I think about the system as a whole and what it will and will not respond to. I still say, “I think…” but I’m very strategic about it.  When I use the term, “I think…” I always end with, “what do you think?” or “does that resonate with you, am I off base?”

4. Stuff envelopes.

Never, ever pass up an opportunity to do something mind-deadening and soul-crushing. Over my career I tried to never say no.  Jumping from a low level director position, directly into the executives chair should not be your goal.  Your goal should be to do everything you possibly can in every department someone will let you into. The crappiest data entry, newsletter production, running 5,000 individual invitations off of a laser printer (yeah, I don’t really recommend that one – thank GOD we had some fans in the office to prevent it from bursting into flames), whatever crazy task comes your way.  The reason is, when you are the executive you know exactly how long it takes to stuff 5,000 envelopes.  Not only will it help you allocate tasks, and push back to the board when they start overloading your staff, it will also help you recognize stellar staff performance. (You will also know when someone is goldbricking because you KNOW some task shouldn’t have taken that long.)

5. We are all emerging professionals.

This is a real profession.  It is a unique and fascinating environment. However, the learning never stops. I still consider myself an emerging professional even after all of these years. I am continually learning from my peers and honing my craft. This, like the “legal practice” or “medical practice,” is a practice. I can learn as much from someone who has only been in this profession for two years as someone who has been around for twenty-five. Get your certifications – CAE, CMM, CMP, IOM (whichever ones apply to you) and establish yourself as a player.  But then don’t stop playing. There is exciting stuff just around the corner every single day.  Emerge and keep emerging.  We are all in this together.

Shelly Alcorn, CAE is obsessed with the idea that associations can make a significant difference in the world around us. Her consulting is focused on removing barriers, increasing participation and doing things that matter. She blogs at Association Subculture and is the host for the Association Forecast Show. She also travels and speaks on how things in our everyday lives, like video games and popular culture - impact our ability to lead in the workplace. These ain't your grandma's keynotes. Just sayin....

In-person events are not a thing of the past. They just need better attendee marketing!

Scott Oser provided this guest post.  He is the President of Scott Oser Associates Inc, a US-based consultancy working with associations and non-profits to solve marketing, sales & membership and circulation challenges. 

I am sure you have heard many times how attendance at face-to-face meetings are down and that webinars, virtual conferences and social media are allowing a percentage of your potential attendees to no longer attend your face-to-face meetings, conferences and seminars.  While this may be true in some cases it is definitely not true at every organization.  I firmly believe that with the right programming and smart marketing face-to-face events can be as effective as ever.  This article is going to give you some tips to greatly increase your chances of having an incredibly successful meeting in the near future.

Plan! Plan! Plan!
No successful marketing effort starts without a plan.  Even if you have marketed the meeting or conference before you still need to devise a marketing plan.  The first step in developing your plan is to review what you have done in the past and determining what worked and what didn’t work.  It is amazing how much information you can gather just by reviewing what you have done in the past as it can inform you as to what you want to do more of, less of and the same amount of for the next meeting.  It will also help you identify any gaps that might exist that you want to fill with new activities.

Your Website Is Your Home Base
Almost everything marketing activity that you undertake should direct your audience back to your website.  Your website needs to be the hub that contains all of the different details that an attendee, an exhibitor, a speaker or any other audience that you reach for your meeting needs to know.  It is therefore critical that your website is well designed and very user friendly.  It is also important that your website is regularly updated and always up-to-date.

Don’t Be A One Trick Pony
Not every single individual you reach out to is going to respond to the same marketing medium.  We no longer live in a world where you will succeed by contacting your members only through direct mail or only through email or only through any one marketing tactic.  In today’s world where marketing is everywhere and people do have preferences it is important that you implement a multi-media approach to your marketing.   Of course you will want to use your data to determine what works best and use that most often but that medium still needs to be part of a marketing mix.

Use What You Already Have!
All associations are already communicating with their members in multiple ways.  We have e-newsletters, magazines, journals, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors, webinars, conferences, chapters, social media, etc.  Before you start paying for external opportunities to market your conference look at what you already have and determine how you can use those opportunities to drive attendance.  Your primary audience for your meeting as most likely your members who are already taking advantage of the items I mentioned below so this is a great, inexpensive way to get your message out.

Target! Target! Target!
Your attendee marketing is going to be much more effective if you define your target markets and message them accordingly.  There are going to be different pieces of your meeting that will appeal to different pieces of your audience so it is important to “speak” to these people about the areas they will find most interesting.  One idea I have seen work recently is literally promoting certain sessions and activities to a certain audience based on their role in their organization.  This is incredibly effective as it shows the prospective attendee that you understand who they while showing them something that will be of value to them.

Track! Track! Track!
I realize that this sounds really simple but there are still many associations that are not tracking the results of their attendee marketing efforts.  Tracking is essential because if we don’t track there is no way for us to know what is working so we don’t know what to do more of, less of or even to stop doing altogether.  Some ways you can pretty easily track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts is by putting source/promo codes on direct mail pieces, unique urls on ads and email blasts or even matching responses back to marketing efforts just due to the timing of the effort.  One of the goals of any marketer is to always improve the response rates and tracking will allow you to generate the data to do that.

There is the possibility that your face-to-face meeting will never have as many attendees as it did in the past.  That said, if you follow some, or all, of the tips suggested above you will definitely end up with a marketing plan that is more effective from a human, financial and response perspective.  You will also have a much better chance of ending up with attendance numbers that are exactly where you want to be.

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Making All Members Feel Welcome

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.  We thought this was an interesting perspective on multi-chapter associations and their communications.

Do you remember the first conference you attended? What about your first association networking event? Did you feel welcomed or feel more like a wallflower waiting for a dance invitation?

A recent AssociationsNow post - Perfecting the First-Time Attendee Experience - brought back some distant memories of my very first association conference.  As a junior association staffer, I was so excited to fly half-way across the country to attend my first industry conference. But once I arrived, I felt so lost and alone since I didn’t know anyone there. Try as I might, I felt like a new kid at high school where the cliques were very tight and unwelcoming.

In her post, Samantha Whitehorne reminds us that “conference newbies can be just as anxious to attend your meeting as they are excited, especially if they don’t know anyone.” And she asks: “how can you turn a first-time attendee into a meeting veteran?”  In response, Whitehorne offers links to some great examples of unique ways organizations are welcoming newbies and helping them navigate meetings, including:

• online guides:
• the American Homewbrewers Association offers a First Time Attendee Guide
• the Society of American Archivists also offered a guide for New Members, First-Timers and Students 
• “first-timer orientation forums”
• “network cafes” 
• orientation luncheons - such as the one the Global Business Travel Association offers specifically for first-timers.

Make meetings "network-friendly"

We also offered up some tips for Creating Network-friendly Membership Events a while back, including ideas to help spark connections and ways to stimulate an "atmosphere of connectedness" at membership events. Some ideas that might help all of your members, especially newcomers, feel more welcome and take advantage of networking opportunities include:

• Plan Pre-Event Preparation: Put articles and tip sheets on “networking know-how” in your magazine, newsletter, and convention packets.
• Put Networking Know-How in the Spotlight: Give attendees at your events the rules and tools for making networking an art, not an accident. Schedule a keynote or opening session that shows attendees how to make the most of the meeting.
• Make Nametags Novel: Print the first name as LARGE as you possibly can. As a conversation starter, add a colored ribbon or sticker to designate “first timer” or “award winner.”
• Maximize the Mix & Mingle: Include some short, structured one-on-one or small group activities to encourage mixing and meeting. Choose an upbeat, energetic, well-known person to lead the session.

Don’t forget to welcome new volunteers too

While it’s important to make new members and event attendees feel welcome, don’t forget your new volunteers - especially those who are helping out for the first time at your conference or annual meeting. They should be welcomed, introduced to your entire staff and volunteer team as well as receiving an orientation to the venue and the event. After all, your event staff and volunteers are your goodwill ambassadors, so you want them to feel comfortable and connected so they can model inclusive behavior.

How you can make new members or attendees feel welcome?  Offer up your suggestions in our comments below.

Image courtesy of Lavoview / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Does your 2014 planning really reflect your priorities?

Meredith Low provided this guest post.  She is a management consultant, focusing on helping organizations and companies understand how, when, and where to grow in the context of fast-changing environments. Her work with associations includes leading strategic and tactical planning, performing assessments to position conferences and meetings for growth and durability, and assessing the needs of members and other stakeholders.

“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” - US Vice President Joe Biden

“Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” - James W. Frick

Quotes like this are easy to find online and they’re absolutely correct. But only partially.

Budgets do indeed tell us a lot, but they aren’t the whole picture when it comes to planning.

Everyone has examples of fine-sounding strategies, priorities that seemed impressive but fell apart because nobody had the resources to get them done. But not just financial resources – to really make things happen, we also need to devote our time, attention, and ability to dedicate themselves to what was needed to really make things happen.

Time is arguably a more precious resource than money. To really understand our priorities, our schedules and our to-do lists can be just as illuminating as our budgets – and can show us earlier whether we’re on track or not.

So how can we make sure we’re spending time as well as money on the things that really matter for our success?

Book it. Are the big, immoveable objects already booked into the schedule? A critical board meeting, a vacation, a publication date, a conference, a family wedding… Anything that involves non-refundable deposits tends to stick, so those are things which – for better or for worse – are probably going to happen.

Lock it in.  Once you’ve signed a contract (or written a check), you’re more likely to look at something as a sunk cost, and not back out. I recently spent a few months contemplating how to tackle a particular project in my own business – but lo and behold, once I signed a contract with someone who could focus on the task, it actually got done.

Plant the flag. Can you go public with a specific commitment? Even if it’s just within a smaller group of people – your management team, your board, or your spouse, you might get a lot of value by saying (more than once) exactly what commitments you’re making, or how you want to spend your time. And this may benefit everyone in terms of focus.

Find some company.  Plenty of people find that having a running buddy helps them actually get up at o’dark thirty to get on the road. Do your colleagues also find it a challenge to carve out the time for your real priorities? Can you help each other?

Make it a habit. Look at everything through the lens of your priorities. An agenda should spend more of its time on the key priorities. Look at what the real estate on a communication is devoted to.

Make it visible. Reporting results does tend to galvanize action. It’s like insurance against our future selves, who may be less industrious, brave, or quick-acting than we might have hoped. So we can use some kind of reporting of progress to keep us focused and make sure we are using our time the way we were hoping we would when we planned out our week, our month, our year. This can be as sophisticated as a time-tracking system that’s shared across the whole organization, or as simple as a weekly stock-taking that’s jotted down.

What is 2014 going to be like for you?  Is that what you want it to be?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net