One of the most challenging aspects of running an association is balancing the never ending workload with limited resources and time. Day to day operations of managing your members, planning events, collecting dues, updating your website and more, can quickly occupy all your time, leaving little room to develop a successful marketing strategy. Though the daily responsibilities of managing your organization are important, establishing a thoughtful marketing plan is critical in promoting membership growth and increased revenue. Below, we map out methods to an improved marketing campaign.
Steps to start your marketing campaign:
One reason an association’s marketing efforts struggle is because they often “[try] to say too many things to too many people”, says Chloe Mark, strategist at ArcStone, AMO’s sister company. Though your efforts are respectable, your eagerness to share can be overwhelming and confusing for prospective members. To avoid this confusion, Mark recommends first going through a “discovery” phase. This thoughtful reflection of your association’s purpose will help “produce more significant results” (Mark).
As you go through this initial review, it’s easy to get bogged down in your current efforts and feel uncertain of where to begin. We recommend choosing one strategy and mapping out the goals to achieve it – considering both timeline, workload and the desired results.
If you’re having trouble establishing those goals in the first place, start by asking yourself these exploratory questions:
Questions to ask:
- Which type of member are we trying to reach? Who is our audience?
- What does our audience think of our current site and content? Are they engaging with it?
- What marketing strategies have worked in the past? What hasn’t?
- How do we want a prospective member to feel on our site?
- What action would we like them to take?
To formulate an effective marketing plan, you should have specific answers for all of these questions. Work through these questions with your team and come up with clear answers that target the audiences you’re trying to reach. Once you’ve established those answers, prioritize your goals and come up with an action plan.
Another way to accurately track your efforts is to install Google Analytics (GA) on your site. This platform tracks metrics like pageviews, bounce rate, average time spent on site, pages per visit and number of new visits so you know what pages are performing well. These numbers not only tell you what is working but also show what isn’t – giving your marketing campaign direction and focus. If you haven’t used GA before, check out this article from ArcStone, Google Analytics 101: Standard Metrics to Watch for a quick review.
While the development / discovery phase of a marketing campaign can take a lot of time, the results from potential campaign could mean an increase in membership and revenue – two critical variables needed to sustain an association.