Experts in Membership Marketing

The 2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Study is LAUNCHED! FREE Copy of the Report to Everyone Who Responds

2012-01-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

It's that time again!

Here is an opportunity to benchmark your organization against more than 600 other associations. For the fourth year in a row, Marketing General Inc. is conducting the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey.

I hope you will participate using the attached survey link. https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=132743300922

For the past four years, our study has provided critical comparative data on how organizations recruit members, engage new members, and renew their members.

We expect similar insights from this study, with a focus on the key strategies that are working in the marketplace right now and comparisons among associations of like size and industry.

Use the attached personalized link to complete the survey. It should take about 10 minutes. https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=132743300922

To thank you for your participation in this best practices research project, MGI will send you a FREE copy of the final report from this study: The 2012 Member Marketing Benchmarking Report. Your participation is much appreciated. No specific responses will be reported from any individual or association without their specific written consent.

Please click on the link below to start the survey.

https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=132743300922

Thanks in advance for participating!

Erik Schonher is Vice President for Marketing General Inc and oversees several clients and projects to include the 2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey and Report.

Could Your Association Use Another $100,000? Here's a possible answer...

2012-01-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

List Management is a great way for an association to generate non-dues revenue. The success of any campaign rests squarely on the viability of the list, so there is always a market for a good list. At MGI alone, MGILists manages over 80 association lists, providing associations an alternate source of badly needed revenue.

Postal lists are still the most often offered by associations. Some associations make well over $100,000/yr on rental of their lists of members, product buyers, convention attendees, expires and several other "selects." Offer email addresses and an association may actually triple this amount.

While some associations are hesitant about renting their list, more and more Executive Directors and association leaders understand that their members names are already on other lists; and, many of these same leaders agree that they have a responsibility to provide their members with new opportunitities which can be presented to the members by allowing the list to be rented. This potential (and acheived) revnue is used to pay for programs that enhance the members experience, drive engagement and ultimately have a positive impact on the assocation overall.

So, if you are searching for a List Management Company (and there are many who offer wonderful services), here are some questions that they may ask you during the proposal process.

1. What is this year's revenue goal for list sales?

2. What were your actual list earnings in the last two years?

3. Are list royalties taxable or tax exempt under your current agreement? (they might be tax exempt but you need to speak to the list manager or your accountant to make sure)

4. Has your list revenue remained fairly stable, with multiple repeat customers?

a. Have longtime mailers continued mailing in established patterns, or have you seen changes in their quantities and/or frequency?

b. Are you seeing new mailers testing the list?

c. Do you have a lot of publishers mailing to your list?

d. Are most list orders through brokers or from end-user mailers?

e. Do most list orders take the full file or barely satisfy your 5,000 name minimum?

5. This one might seem a little controversial, but give this some thought: Are your mailers asking for an email channel or are they happy with the postal channel? I am not asking whether you will make email available, only whether your mailers are satisfied with the postal product or are they looking elsewhere for solutions, which means your list manager needs to recruit new mailers to replace those who go to email sources.

6. Most of all, what are YOUR expectations that we must meet or exceed to make it worthwhile for you to change from status quo?

If you have any questions or observations, please post them for all to read.

New Study Illuminates Design Ideas for Facebook

2011-12-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

New information on how Facebook pages are read was offered today in an article by Sarah Kessler of Mashable.
In a study that tracked eye-movement over the page, the #1 item that got the most attention was "title." Yep, your position in the company where you work.

The other top areas were your profile picture, who you know (your "friends"), and basically the content at the top of your page.

As we progress to better understanding how to use social media in the development and management of our membership marketing programs, these tid-bits help us to best leverage these channels to maximize the impact of our messaging.

I'd be most interested in hearing from any of you as to how you're using FB, LinkedIn or any other social media platform and if you've tested design.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher of Marketing General Incorporated.

Smart Phones are becoming a Smart Move for Associations

2011-11-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading "Retailers Adapt as Mobile Holiday Shopping Booms" in the Sunday Washington Post online.

As per the article, "Best Buy has 63 so-called connected stores in which employees have been given mobile devices and are encouraged to use their own smart phones to help shoppers research products and check inventory.

"Employees are empowered to make the decision to match a competitor price on the spot," a spokeswoman for Best Buy added."

After such a long time since my last post, why am I leading with this? Good question. Because...

Aside from the fact that associations should be utilizing smart phones when managing the day-to-day chaos of an Annual Show, think about how Smart Phones can be used to drive revenue at that same show by:

Allowing sponsors to buy links as their booth shows up on the map or sessions are offered by their representatives
Providing links to association products that align with specfic sessions and/or booths
Increasing attendee (and maybe non-attendee) engagement through Twitter, FB and Linked In at the show as attendees comment on booths, sessions and maybe even...fashion ("good grief, can you believe she wore flats with that?"). Maybe even have an awards program with votes for the best booths, or even the King and Queen of the Show? Yet another sponsorship idea. Cha-Ching!

This simply goes to enforce what I've been telling all my clients and anyone who will listen...The AUVP (Association's Unique Value Proposition) is that of Information Concierge for their members, prospects and stakeholders. We don't need to be the first to offer information, we need to be THE FIRST TO OFFER CONTEXTED INFORMATION so it is relevant to the member and they can use it!

If you agree or disagree, let me know! Look forward to reading your comments.

Donna Tschiffely, ED for DMAW, Warns of 2012 Postal Increase

2011-10-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

I just received an email from Donna Tschiffely, DMAW Executive Director, in regard to proposed postage increases. Here is what she wrote:

"You may want to start re-examining your 2012 postage budgets...

This past Tuesday, the USPS filed a notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) details of its plan to increase postage rates by an average of 2.133 percent on each of the market dominant classes, including First Class, Standard and Periodicals. If approved, implementation will begin January 22, 2012.

Increases will include:

First Class Full Rate will increase by 1 penny to 45 cents (2.468% increase)
Non-Profit Letter will see a 1.867% increase
Postcards - 3 cent increase to 32 cents
Average increase for other Standard Mail Products will be 2.864%
Average increase for catalogs and other flat-shaped mail is 2.209%

The PRC has 45 days to review the proposed increases to ensure they comply with the legal requirement that the increases for each class of mail averages no more than 2.1% as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

DMAW's phone number is 703-689-DMAW (3629) if you have any questions. There website is http://www.dmaw.org/

Erik D. Schonher is Vice President of Member Strategic Planning for Marketing General Incorporated, a leading marketing agency providing strategic and tactical services to associations and not-for-profit organizations.

Industry Service Announcement: DMAW Session on QR Codes

2011-09-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

INDUSTRY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

DMAW

QR Codes: Unlocking the Power of Print

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20

12 noon - 2:00 pm

SEIU Conference Center

1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW

Washington, DC

Limited to 45 people

$45 - Members

$60 - Not-yet-Members

QR codes - those black and white Rorschach-test-like squares are popping up everywhere. From retail store windows to magazine ads and now even direct mail, we are seeing them more and more. What exactly do they do, and more importantly, are they effective?

QR Codes, which stands for Quick Response, are 2D barcodes which can be scanned using smartphone reader apps and then the mobile browser directs the consumer to a link site. Ultimately, the code can help drive your donors, members and customers to take a number of different actions to support your direct marketing goals.

Want to find out what they can do for your direct marketing program?

Register for the DMAW October Luncheon: QR Codes: Unlocking the Power of Print

You will learn how QR Codes:
• Allow for ways to embed content, drive calls to action, and unlock the power of the printed page
• Can be tracked
• Are created for better readability
• Are scalable - from simple static codes that can be generated in moments for little to no cost to Sophisticated 1-to-1 codes that unlock the power of data and personalization.

You'll also learn some mobile marketing trends, adoption rates and best practices, as well as review some examples of brands that are using QR codes in both fundamental and innovative ways.

SEM, SEO & PPC: Key Terms in Making Your Website Effective

2011-09-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Digital or "E" Marketing has fast become a cornerstone of our communications platform. From awareness building programs that include lead generation, to acquisition programs using lead conversion tactics and followup emails, to engagement programs that are geared to increase member participation on blogs, downloads and education sessions, to renewal programs, digital marketing is here to stay!

Much of the success of Digital Marketing is maximizing the searchability of your website. In a conversation I had with Todd Michaels, Director of E-Biz at MGI, he provided what I thought to be a clean and clear overview of SEM which I thought you would like to review.

Todd told me that Search Engine Marketing (SEM) encompasses all aspects of making your website visible to the major search engines. The most common SEM tactics includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) Advertising and Paid Inclusion/Placement (PIP). SEM can be considered to be those tactics employed off of your website to better improve its overall rankings with the major search engines.

PPC Advertising, when run effectively, is an excellent tool to drive traffic to your website and also help improve your bottom line SEO effectiveness, when run in conjunction with each other. They can be effectively used for the purpose of generating leads for membership acquisition campaigns, to generate conference awareness, webinar promotion and also magazine subscription trials for our association clients. It is important to note that any PPC approach be grounded in sound direct marketing testing principles, campaign measurement and analytics and solid PPC account structure.

Paid Inclusion/Placement can be both a solid SEM and SEO tactic. For PIP campaigns, we research those websites within our clients niches, finds those with both the strongest links and overall SEO health, but also those websites highly trafficked by visitors to the websites of our clients. Implementation of a successful PIP campaign gives a quick boost to overall SEO and also allows for deep-linking into the websites of our clients. PIP can also include paid and free listings with all search engines, big and small.

Have you optimized the searchability of your website? Are you using PPC to generate traffic for your programs? Are you using PIP campaigns to stimulate web awareness? Let us know how you are using these tools.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated and can be reached by phone at (703) 706-0358 or email erik@marketinggeneral.com

Good News! Membership is Rebounding as reported by the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Report.

2011-09-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

As reported by the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Report, released last week, over 600 membership marketing professionals and Executive Directors surveyed indicated that all three of the primary metrics that measure the 'vital signs' of association membership marketing are back to, or exceeding, 2009 levels.

Overall Membership...UP!

Overall New Member Acquisition...UP!

Overall Renewals...UP!

ALL UP over 2010.

So what does this mean to you? Strategically, a couple of things...

First, since these metrics are cumulative, meaning trends in new member acquisition and renewals determine the overall membership trend, they can give you a quick diagnostic of what is working for your association.

Second, as indicated in the report, our industry is reporting a positive trend in each of these metrics. Comparing your own metrics to these 'industry benchmarks,' can help you possibly determine if your supporting your member acquisition &/or renewal programs properly.

As a possible example, if you found your overall membership is unchanged, your renewals are up but your new member acquisition is down, and your goal is to grow your overall membership, you may want to consider reallocating some staff time &/or money from renewals to new member acquisition.

Another example might be if you find that your overall membership is down, member acquisition is flat and renewals are down, then your association is going against the overall industry trend and you may want to consider revamping your overall approach.

As many of you are preparing for 2012, knowing what to look at, with knowledge and understanding of the basic trends in an industry, can help you quickly identify the effectiveness of your programs and their impact on your overall membership efforts. These 'strategic tricks' are invaluable to your success and the success of your association.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated, and can be reached by phone at (703) 706-0358 and email at Erik@MarketingGeneral.com

What information should I be collecting for my membership marketing program?

2011-09-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to speak and lecture quite a bit around the country on membership marketing. One question that I get more than any others is "What Information should my association collect for membership marketing?"

First step, start by looking at your members. Simply put, new members will "look" like current members.

Next, to build a profile of your existing members, you must have more than just the basic contact information for each member.However a word of caution…before you tie up resources and start any initiative to collect information, you need to figure out what you’ll do with the information. You must ask “How will this information help us with our Mission?”

Members are essential to the completion of every association's Mission.

Therefore, as every association needs members, they must figure out how to attract new members and retain current members. This database needs to provide information that you can use to understand what your members want, how they want to communicate, what they respond to, and a host of other metrics that will help you develop and refine your member acquisition, engagement and retention programs.

Since associations come in many forms, trade, individual, some mix of both, lets take a 5,000-foot-view of what “types” of information you might want to collect:

- Information that can be used to find lists of non-member association prospects.

- Information that will provide insight into why your members joined the association.

- Information that will help you understand why members renew.

With this context set, in addition to basic contact information, here are some suggestions of specific information you will find useful in developing and refining your membership marketing plans:

· Join date (and a separate rejoin date in case they expire but rejoin a year or two later)

· Source (where they came from)

· Number of years in the industry

· Title/responsibility

· Offer (what membership offer/message did they respond to)

· Expectations (reason for joining)

· Product purchase history

· Engagement activity (committee participation, comments on Listservs, conferences/webinares attended, etc.)

There are obviously more, and to some point, they are dependent upon each association. However, if you collecting even 3 or 4 of the above, you’re doing better than many of your peers.

Your association's database may not have everything you need to effectively market to non-members, but that doesn't mean you can't ask for it. With the right information in hand, your membership marketing can be much more effective. Just be certain that you don't waste your association's resources or your members' time by asking for information that isn't truly useful.

Let me know what information that you’re collecting and how you’re using it.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated. If you have any questions concerning the content, Erik can be reached by phone at (703) 706-0358 or email at Erik@MarketingGeneral.com

It's about Member Indispensability

2011-09-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Dr. Adina Wasserman is a first-class researcher whom I'm very pleased to have worked with on a number of research projects. Her experience is second to none and her ability to take a piece of data and transform it into a usable piece of information is to be applauded.

In my own work, and during our conversations, Dr. Wasserman points out that member satisfaction levels, while providing a good benchmark for comparative evaluations over time, are not the best indicators of member engagement with the association. While satisfaction is certainly a part of member engagement and loyalty, we do not believe it is the driver.

I've seen this in many studies where current members and expired members both rated their experience with their association as being "satisfactory."

She recommends associations shift to an Indispensability and Needs Assessment study, which allows association members to assess the importance of the benefits and services offered, and then evaluate the quality of delivery of those benefits and services. This is called Gap Analysis, or the statistical comparison between the degree of importance and the perceived level of delivery. This research offers evidenced-based data pinpointing where an association is performing well and where it is not, and whether attention and resources should be focused to maximize programs or abandon them. We have both found, in our work together and seperately, that this methodology gives the most effective understanding of what the membership wants and expects from its association.

If you're thinking of performing a membership study, remember that its the member's loyalty to and dependence on the association that determines your renewals and ultimately your financial position.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated. If you have any questions concerning the content please feel free to call him at (703) 706-0358 or email him at eschonher@marketinggeneral.com

How Often Do You Increase Your Membership Dues? - Results from the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Report

2011-09-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been asked by several Executive Directors and Membership Marketers how often they should raise their dues?

This is obviously an important question and one that is unique to each association given its market, its penetration within the market, number of competitors, current dues rate and when the last dues increase was performed.

However, its been our experience that a small (10% or under) increase will, in most cases, have little to no impact on your membership numbers.

Respondents to the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Report seemed to fall in line with this as well. When asked:

"How often does your association raise membership dues?"
"When was the last time your association raised membership dues?"
"What was the average percentage of your last membership dues increase across all membership catagories?"

We found that "...30% of the associations reported that they will raise membership dues in 2011 and 71% will increase dues rates between 1% and 10%."

"How often does your association raise membership dues?"

17% responded "Annually"

4% responded "Every other year"

58% responded "As needed"

9% responded "Never"

12% responded "Other"

FREE Download of the 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report Now Available

2011-09-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Finally Here!!

I'm happy to announce the release of the 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. A free download of the full report is available, with site registration, using this link.

This marks the third year that Marketing General Incorporated (MGI) has surveyed associations to better understand the strategies and tactics used to recruit members, engage new members, renew existing members, and reinstate former members.

Each year new aspects related to membership marketing our explored in our research. This year the report features new data on the practices in increasing membership dues, engaging members with products and services, membership chapters, and the key impediments that hold back membership growth.

However, beyond cataloging membership practices, the Benchmarking Report also takes these practices and cross-tabulates them with the membership results associations are experiencing. The comparison of practices and outcomes in membership provides strong directional information on what tactics and strategies might be added or dropped to help improve an organization’s membership program.

I hope that you find the 2011 Report of help as you seek to maximize the membership results for your organization.

Adding a Membership Catagory? A Suggested Approach Driven by Data!

2011-09-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

This week we’re fortunate to hear from my friend, Kristi L. Van Buren, Manager Member Services for the Community Associations Institute.

Kristi is a big believer in data-based decision making. This is to be expected given that she earned a master’s degree in public policy from George Mason University, and has a been working with non-profit organizations and trade associations for over 10 years with five years specifically in membership marketing, and . And if that wasn’t enough, she was recently awarded a scholarship from the ASAE Foundation towards obtaining a CAE certification.

In today’s post, she talks about the process her association is going through to create a new membership category and presents how her team is approaching it.

“How do we quantify items that seemingly cannot be measured? How can we produce useful generalizations regarding diverse member populations? Economists are trained to forecast results by collecting, researching, and analyzing data using various sampling techniques and mathematical models analyzing and quantifying human behavior to make predictions about future behavior.

Isn’t this what we as association professionals try to do every day? Are we using data effectively to help us guide our organizations? While experiential and anecdotal information has a part in creating the policies that guide an association, it cannot be the sole factor supporting the decision-making process.

Have you ever known a program or product to be created from one vocal member’s suggestion? Despite the fact that an organization is equipped with a tremendous amount of information within their AMS, sometimes the focus on member service supersedes actual data when creating programs and services. With member service on the forefront, we reactively aim to please but should not let this drive our decisions when empirical data indicates an alternate path towards reaching organizational goals. Coca-Cola, Apple, or Sony would never launch a product without extensive market research, and as non-profit professionals we should similarly utilize many of the techniques that generate success for our for-profit friends.

Currently, my organization is in the process of creating a new membership category. Our team expects great success and we are very excited about this initiative which makes it easy to get caught up in “what could be.” Our optimism and excitement reinforces the need to realistically research and address all variables so we do not overlook any potential challenges.

In order to maximize positive outcomes for our membership and the association, we have:

1. Created and interviewed a focus group: What do they want? What have we overlooked?

2. Completed an environmental scan to determine our potential universe of new members: Are there enough prospective members to justify the program?

3. Conducted research on cost and offerings of similar and different associations and interviewed some of their staff: How can we build from their success and not reinvent the wheel? Who of our “competitors” has already implemented this category?

4. Completed a cost-benefit analysis to justify the resources: What is the actual cost?

5. Projected results: How do we measure and identify success?

6. Planned to pilot this program: What will this tell us? Who will participate? Can we make changes based on findings prior to a broader launch?

By asking these questions and answering them with empirical data, we have the best opportunity to mitigate risk. While this process has required an investment of effort and time, data-driven program development will allow us to provide better benefits to our members, rather than attempting to respond to anecdotal or “knee-jerk” changes in our membership’s requirements.

How would your next program be different if all related decisions were data-driven? I challenge you to consider the following before your next product launch or marketing campaign:

1. Use your current data and collect more data.

2. Ask a lot of questions and find data to support the answers.

3. Explore possible scenarios that oppose your instinct to best prepare for potential issues.

Especially in this economy, we have to be smarter than ever. Being an expert does not necessarily mean that you know all of the answers; it means you know how to pursue and rely on empirical data to make the most informed decisions.”

Has your organization added, or even consolidated, a membership category? Perhaps your experience offers another perspective? Please give us your comments.

Experts in Membership Marketing is published by Erik Schonher, Vice President for Marketing General Incorporated. He can be reached by email at erik@marketinggeneral.com or by phone at (703) 706-0358.

The 2011 Membership Benchmarking Report is finished!

2011-09-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let you all know that I've just reviewed the final PDF of the 2011report and it is being sent to the printer. We should be sending them out in the next week or so.

If you've requested a copy, we'll work to get your copy to you as soon as possible.

If you have yet to request a copy, please forward your name, association and email address. I'll make sure that you receive a copy.

Have a wonderful Labor Day everyone!!

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated. If you ever have any questions regarding the content of this blog, please feel free to contact Erik at (703) 706-0358 or via email at erik@marketinggeneral.com

Linda Chreno reports on ASAE Annual Conference session: What We're Learning from What We're Reading

2011-08-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Linda Chreno is well respected in the association world. With 20+ years of membership marketing and association management experience, and a voracious hunger for new technology and utilizing it to deliver superior association products and member experiences, she delivers a unique perspective of 'early adoptor' and 'experienced professional.' Therefore, I am pleased to call her a friend, compadre...and now CONTRIBUTOR to this blog.

She attended the recent (and very fun) ASAE Annual Conference in St. Louis, MO, where she spoke on web marketing for smaller associations. As we all did, she also attended a great session presented by Mark Anderson, Kristin Clark, Joan Eisenstodt and Jeffrey Cufaude. Here is her take on that important session:

"I attended a session at ASAE in St. Louis entitled: Readers Anonymous: What We're Learning from What We're Reading. The session was where Mark Anderson, FASAE, CAE, Kristin Clark, CAE, Joan Eisenstodt, and Jeffrey Cufaude MAI shared highlights of what they were learning from what they were reading. The session was remarkable and very insightful. Loved when they shared that they are reading many books at one time and they can learn from any book that they read!

As membership marketing professionals, we need to be alert for ideas that we can incorporate into our marketing and/or membership plans – from whatever the source including books that we are reading, Facebook posts, Twitter comments, and our own participation in other organizations.

For instance, in ASAE, diversity is a huge issue and focus point. The DELP program offers a group of diverse individuals the opportunity to deeply delve into the association management community through education, networking, and recognition. Does your association offer a similar program? For Rotary International, there are clubs in areas with a diverse potential membership base. At a recent District Rotary Membership program, attendees were provided with ways to attract and engage members from diverse cultures and then to embrace them within the club. One factor that was extremely insightful for me was that the clubs were not expected to “change” the members but expand the club to include them. This might mean understanding the differences in the cultures – what a great educational opportunity for everyone!

I just started reading CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS: Tools for talking when the stakes are high. "Step out of the content of the conversation" is one of the suggestions - for seeing body language, the location of the conversation, etc. Too often we listen for what we want to hear and then speak on that instead of actually hearing the words and their meaning. Is that what we do with our members?

Another example might be the recent NETFLIX pricing re-structure. Although a for-profit company, their customers are similar to members – paying a fee for a benefit. When Netflix changed the pricing, there was a very vocal response to the change. Can associations learn from this – how should it have been communicated to customers, how should customers reactions been considered, etc. Associations often change a program or a benefit –and they change because of a small number of members’ opinion, a Board decision, or a staff decision – without verifying that the membership or community as a whole wanted the change. And even is the change is required, are members allowed the opportunity to voice their concerns before implementation – or does it happen after the fact?

As association professionals, we need to be alert for new ideas, new concepts, and new opportunities from a variety of sources. Don’t be afraid of considering incorporating something from outside the association world into your association planning – you might be very pleased by the results."

If you attended the session, or attended another session that you feel strongly that others should learn about, please comment or let Linda or Erik know. We'd enjoy hearing your opinion and maybe even giving you the opportunity to post it on this blog.

If you'd like to reach out to Linda, here is her contact information:

Linda Chreno, CAE, IOM

Direct: 510.352.8197 - CA

Direct 703.706.0339 - VA

Twitter: lindachreno

E-Mail: lchreno@marketinggeneral.com

Web: www.MarketingGeneral.com

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik D. Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated. You can reach Erik by calling (703) 706-0358, erik@marketinggeneral.com, FB & LinkedIn.

Membership Marketers Must Know The Numbers!

2011-08-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

I recently spoke on Membership Engagement at the 2011 ASAE Annual Conference in St. Louis. At the conference I shared the following quote from The Fournaise Marketing Group:

“73% of CEOs think Marketers lack business credibility and are not the business growth generators they should be: they are still too far from being able to demonstrate how the…marketing strategies and campaigns they deploy grow their organizations’ top line in terms of more customer demand, more sales, more prospects, more conversions or more market share.”

- 2011 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program

In short, to effectively communicate our understanding our association's business/marketing needs and make our requests meaningful to them as we build our budgets and programs, we need to use the "language" that our Executive Directors, Presidents and Board Members (who in many cases are CEO's in their respected industries) understand. While at one time, for us in the membership marketing world, that language included ROI, Response Rate, Renewal Rates, Membership Tenure, Lifetime Value, Membership Stassis and Maximum Acquisition Cost, it now also includes open rates, clickthrough rates, lead conversion, number of impressions, page views, purchase history, channel management and more.

Additionally, these numbers make it easier for us to make the decisions we need to improve our strategies and ultimately our business. Data driven decision making must be measured and evaluated in as objective way as possible. Identifying meaningful data patterns and creating custom scoring models provides the business intelligence by which our industry has always been defined.

If you have any questions on what to look at for your association, or how to calculate it, please let me know. If you'd like a FREE Membership Dashboard, I have one that we've developed for our clients and I'd be happy to send it to you.

If you have an instance when you used data to drive your business decision making, please share it with everyone on this blog.

Experts in Membership Marketing is published by Erik Schonher, Vice President of Marketing General Incorporated.

6 Tips to Make Membership Research Work.

2011-08-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Dr. Adina Wasserman, Director of Research for Marketing General Incorporated, is a very talented and experienced researcher whom many associations owe for their success. She is also the talent behind MGI's Membership Benchmarking Survey, an annual study conducted by MGI of what is working and not working in association marketing and membership development. The results of the 2011 MGI Membership Benchmarking Survey will be released at the end of this month. Let me know if you'd like a FREE COPY and I'll be sure to send it to you. For those of you attending ASAE later this week, an Executive Summary will be available at the MGI Booth or email/call me and I'll be sure to email it to you.

Dr. Wasserman just sent me a few insights for associations who are considering conducting research and I wanted to share them with you. If you would like to discuss these ideas with Dr. Wasserman, you can reach her at (703) 706-0373 or awasserman@marketinggeneral.com

1. Use your budget wisely. Research is often the first thing to get eliminated in a downturned economy. This is the wrong direction to take. Research is important in a good economy, but it is imperative in a slow one. Maintaining or increasing market share, renewing members, and slowing attrition, becomes more difficult when the economy is slow, making it that much more important to understand your members’ needs. The association which can successfully meet their members needs and provide professional assistance in a challenging economy will be better able to stave off the effects of an ill economy.

2. Negative is sometimes positive. Don’t be afraid to hear the “negative” feedback from your members. How can you fix a problem if you don’t know it exists? Having your head in the sand will not make the problems go away. Welcome any negative feedback as an opportunity for guided improvement. Have your members lead you directly to your problem areas. X marks the spot, right?

3. The Board can be blind. We often hear that the BOD knows their membership well, and knows what their members want. This may be true, but there are often gems of information that the BOD is unaware of that can only be elicited from member feedback. While it is certainly useful to gather Board members’ perceptions of what their members want, do not use this information to the exclusion of member feedback, as there are often times when the BOD is out of touch with what the members really want.

4. Don’t under-survey. When conducting an objectives meeting with a client, we often hear that they have never surveyed their membership, or that their last survey was four years ago. It is impossible to stay tuned to your members’ needs if you don’t ask what they want. We recommend at least a yearly membership survey to understand member needs and challenges. Furthermore, a yearly (or at the very least, bi-annual) survey allows an association to also see if priorities and needs have shifted among members or member groups within the association. Being able to react to shifts in an appropriate timeframe lets the members know you are listening.

5. Don’t over-survey. On the flip side, some associations are almost “too in-touch” with their members. Survey fatigue can be a problem when members are inundated every month or every other month with surveys, resulting in reduced response rates and member irritation. This often happens in associations where many different departments work independently of one another and do not share their survey schedules. One way to combat this is to have departments make their survey efforts known to all the other departments so everyone is aware of who is doing what research and when. Another suggestion is to randomly survey different blocks of members so that every member doesn’t receive every survey.

6. Timely incentives are key. If you are offering an incentive for participation in ANY research, make sure that the incentives are sent in a VERY timely manner. For drawings, congratulate winners on your website to let members know that the incentive drawing has been completed. Late incentives can cause resentment and irritation among participants.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik D Schonher, Vice President for Marketing General Incorporated, who can be reached at (703) 706-0358 or at erik@marketinggeneral.com

Online Video Viewing Continues to SURGE!

2011-08-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

As cited in a BtoB (http://www.btobonline.com/) July 27 article, according to Magda Media Futures, "Online video viewing continues to grow, with 23% of Americans watching a video online daily, compared with 13% in a similar study conducted a year ago."

They go on to indicate that "...57% watch online video weekly, up from 50% of the population last year. Males ages 18 to 34 watch 7.8 hours of online video weekly, compared with 5.6 hours per week among all viewers."

http://magid.com/sites/default/files/pdf/metacafe.pdf

As more people begin to 'expect' video as part of their lifestyle, are associations prepared for yet another retooling of their channels of communications? 10 years ago websites with 20 pages and flash were new and exciting and listserves were the 'next great thing.' They then could cost $25000 to $50000 to develop, design and implement. Now, they simply are expected.

15 years ago, when I dabbled in music video production, we could put a music video together for $15000 to $50000. Today, those types of videos wouldn't sell much - simply the technology has gotten better and cheaper...and most importantly, PEOPLE EXPECT MORE!!!

Associations went kicking and screaming into the digital world, and really many associations are still combating the transition from an 'analog to digital world.'

But a digital world it is and that is where our members live.

The point being, lets embrace the video technology and get ahead of this curve. We are the curators of information for our members, so lets provide it through ALL CHANNELS that they deem appropriate.

I'd enjoy your thoughts on this and examples of what your association is doing to use video in their marketing and member engagement programs.

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik D Schonher, Vice President for Marketing General Incorporated.

The inferred power of Twitter!

2011-08-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

I'm in Chicago visiting with clients today and tomorrow. After catching the 7:00 AM flight this morning from BWI and a day full of meetings, I was happy to catch dinner and spend some time with my good friend, Dean West, President of Association Labs and one of his associates.

We finished our dinner and began to consume "adult beverages" as we spoke about the days events and philosphized on the association marketplace.

Our waiter, in a hurry to clean our table, spilled an entire glass of red wine on Dean. Simply knocked it over. Now, the wine was Dean's associates, not Dean's. As the waiter went away and quickly returned with a cup of hot water (and I think lemmon), we kidded him saying that "...everything would be ok as long as Dean gets another drink."

The waiter offered "free dry cleaning" and implyed that he couldn't offer a free drink. In fact, he suggested that he should replace his associate's glass of wine as he was 'the damaged party.' Dean immediately produced his i-phone and told the waiter that he was about to be put on Twitter.

Truth of the matter...he never hit record.

Low and behold, Dean received a drink...but no dry cleaning. Oh well, we considered it a win anyway.

Interesting that the threat of social media was necessary to produce what we all (hopefully) would assume to be a natural customer service response.

So the question is, when your members call about a problem or a concern, is your staff solving their problem or do they wish they could pull out their i-phones?

Let me know what you think of this post.

Experts in Membership Marketing is produced by Erik D Schonher, Vice President for Marketing General Incorporated.

Keep BUNDLED Memberships from being Bungled Memberships

2011-07-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

I just returned from Vancouver where I spoke at the CESSE Annual Conference. What a fantastic conference in a fantastic city.

One of the two sessions I spoke on was "Creating Irresistible Bundling Packages for Ultimate Member/Customer Value." I was fortunate to be speaking with my good friends Richard Fischer, Naylor LLC, and Jim Warren, FMA.

As I lead off the session, my portion was composed of what "bundling" is and recommendations of "do's and don'ts" which I'll now share with you.

What is Bundling?

Bundling refers most commonly to the “inclusion or addition” of other memberships, products or services to the basic membership offer. It “is” a tried and true way to recruit more members and sell more products

Why Consider its Use?

Allows an association to add “immediate real or perceived value” to the membership offer, helps overcome possible objectives to join – (value add), and helps sell other products or services at the point of the initial membership sale. It also Helps differiate your offer vs. competitors and can be used for market or product expansion.

Items Typically Bundled?

Additional memberships, books or publications, conference ttendance (#1, MGI Benchmark Survey) and just about anything of value can be considered.

If you're unsure as to what items to bundle, a quick look at the results of the soon to be released 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey indicated that organizations with members in the following activities were more likely to have renewal rates over 80% compared to organizations that did not offer these programs:

attendance at annual convention
attendance at a professional development meeting
attendance at a webinar
volunteering
participation in the private social network
participation in young professionals program
purchase of a book or directory, certification, insurance, or other miscellaneous non-dues product or service

Picking the wrong bundle can harm the offer, so before you choose, a good rule of thumb is to:

Ask Members or Prospects What They Want
Look at Buying Trends, Can 1+1 =3?
Know the economics – “don’t give away the store”
Understand that "An offer to good to believe” may not be believed
and as always...Test, Test, Test

I want to thank Rick Whelan, President of MGI, for his advice and counsel on this information. If you don't know Rick, I suggest you find a few minutes and introduce yourself. He is a great guy to work with and "bat ideas around." Tell him that I sent you.

If your association offers bundled memberships, perhaps you'll describe what they are and your experiences with them?

Experts in Membership Marketing is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President & Strategist for Marketing General Incorporated. He can be reached at (703) 706-0358 or via email at Erik@MarketingGeneral.com

Membership Acquisition - Some Practical Advice

2011-07-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in some ideas on a variety of tactics to drive your membership at any stage of the Membership Lifecycle, take a look at my most recent article "Member Acquisition - Some Practical Advice" in CalSAE's The Executive.

Here's the link:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/CSES0411/#/8

Early Results from the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey: Memberships are on the Rise!!

2011-07-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Results of the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey indicate that overall membership growth, the primary indicator of association health, is on the rise in comparison with results from the 2009 and 2010 Membership Benchmarking Surveys.

                                                 2011          2010        2009

Percentage Increased Overall        49%          36%         45%

Percentage Unchanged Overall     16%          14%         16%

Percentage Declined Overall          34%         48%          35%

Not Sure                                      2%            3%             5%

While there are many possible reasons, growth in new member recruitment appears to be the big driver in membership growth. Of responding association executives, 57% report the acquisition of new members increased over the past year. These results are significantly better compared to previous years (both 2009 & 2010).

A Report of Overall Renewal Rates for Associations

2011-07-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

The results of MGI's 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Study will be published next month! In anticipation of this, I wanted to share with you a smattering of the results. As we're all interested in renewal rates and given the last 36 months, I figured you may be interested in how, as an industry, our renewal rates are doing.

• In the current study, there is an increase in the percentage of associations reporting overall renewal rates of 90% or higher. This percentage shows a substantial rebound from the precipitous drop between the 2009 and 2010 study.

• There is a similar decrease in the percentage of association reporting renewal rates between 80% to 89%, suggesting that some of the associations reporting an 80%-89% renewal rate in the 2010 research, may have been able to increase their renewal rates past 90%.

• There is an increasing trend in the number of associations reporting renewal rates between 70%-79%.

• Small associations with up to 1,000 members are significantly more likely to report renewal rates above 90%, while associations with more than 1,000 paid members are significantly more likely to indicate renewal rates between 70% to 79%.

• Organizational/trade associations are significantly more likely to report renewal rates above 90% compared to individual member associations or those with both types of members (36%: trade vs. 16%: individual; 14%: both).

• Association industries most likely to show renewal rates at 90% or higher include:

Finance/Accounting (41%)
Manufacturing (43%)
Education (23%)

• Association industries most likely to show renewal rates between 80% and 89% include:

Building/Construction (45%)
Scientific/Engineering (44%)
Healthcare (37%)
Professional Services (31%)
Philanthropic (30%)

If you have not already signed up to receive a copy of the results, please email me your request with you name, association and email address and I'll gladly put you on my list.

Observations from THE FRONT LINES - by Caroline Fuchs

2011-06-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

There are only a few people around who have the experience and knowledge that I believe can benefit every membership pro - one of those people is Caroline Fuchs. As she's written for this blog before, I asked her to put together a few thoughts for those of us preparing for 2012 Planning.

Here is what she provided.

Membership Management is Deliberate

The future of twitter is a sexier subject, but many of the conversations I have about membership eventually turn to more mundane but absolutely core topics. I hear about the database that is poorly managed or that research on member needs is outdated or non-existent. And when it comes to recruitment, engagement, and renewals…you mean I need a plan?

Managing the membership process for retention and member growth is a deliberate process. Make sure you have the following items in place:

Annual Membership Marketing Plan—how else will you know what you’re doing each month? A plan means you’ve thought about strategy, tactical implementation, and the necessary resource allocations. Then make it simple and chart out the monthly activities. Work your plan, evaluate the results and adjust accordingly.

Remember to include baseline membership metrics, a scan of the competition, clarity on your prospects (who and where will you find them?), recruitment/engagement/renewal strategies, resources needed, an implementation schedule, and an evaluation plan.

Database Management—do you know your current members? It all comes down to the database. Is it adequately designed? Are you collecting pertinent data? Do you retrieve and analyze that data to support marketing and other decisions? And don’t forget to document your process for data entry, report generation, and database maintenance.

Membership Reports—you’d be surprised how many organizations don’t generate a monthly report. Include overall data on new members, relevant data by membership segment or dues category, and the status of membership activities related to recruitment, engagement, and renewals. These reports tell you what works, what doesn’t, and highlight trends. Build a report and run it regularly.

Member Research—know the level of member satisfaction with the organization and with specific products and services. Then identify future needs and possible trends with a member needs assessment. If you don’t ask, you don’t know. And if you don’t know, you can’t innovate.

Retention Engagement/Renewals/Recruitment—this is not Field of Dreams, you must communicate, communicate, communicate. Have a plan! Ok, I recognize that each area deserves an in-depth discussion, but we’ll save that for another time.

Implementation—this should be in your annual plan. Do you know who does what and when? Line up your resources and share the schedule. Make it happen.

Evaluate—constantly. And use that information to adjust your original plan. Flexibility is key.

Now that you’ve covered these fundamentals, you can relax. Just kidding. Now get to work on your social media and networking plan.

If you want to respond directly to Caroline, here is her email address.

Caroline H. Fuchs, CAE
cfuchs555@gmail.com

Summer Offer from the Post Office: Postal Discount Extended to Non-Profit Mail

2011-05-25T05:06:00.000-07:00

te...Important Update...Important Update...Important Update...Important U

Several weeks back the USPS announced that they were going to have a summer promotion with a 3% postage discount, but it would only include 1st class and Std A class mail. It has now been announced that the promotion will be extended to include non-profit mail as well.

A couple of things to note:

1) The promotion only applies to mail that uses a mailing permit indicia - mail with live stamps does not apply.

2) Must print the indicia onto the envelopes.

3) Many vendors will have indicia’s that you will be able to use as long as you have the appropriate Non-Profit Point of Entry established (does not apply for 1st class or Std A).

4) Let your vendors know of your desire to take advantage of this promotion when the job is submitted so the proper paperwork can be prepared and submitted electronically.

5) Please see the notes below for additional information and specific requirements.

Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Approves 3% Mobile Barcode (QR Code) Promotion Postage Discount.

The promotion grants a 3% postage discount for First Class and Standard Mail pieces (including Non-Profit Mail) that bear a barcode readable by a consumer smart phone during July and August 2011. The requirements are less complicated than earlier promotion discounts.

Here are some of the features:

• The test begins July 1 and ends August 31, 2011.

• First Class Mail, Standard Mail, and Non-Profit letters, cards, and flats all qualify.

• The QR code may be printed on the outside of the piece or within the mail piece.

• The discount is up-front...claimed on the mailing statement, not a rebate.

• No advance application/approval is required....but test your QR code to be sure it's readable and directed to a mobile optimized website.

• The QR code must be used for marketing purposes reasonably germane to the mail piece.

• Mailings must be entered using permit imprint payment with electronic documentation.

For further information on mobilbarcodes, click on the link below:

2011 USPS Mobile Barcode Promotion Facts

Preliminary Results from the MGI 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey & a FREE OFFER

2011-05-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

As we prepare to publish the MGI 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey (for introduction at the 2011 ASAE Annual Conference in St. Louis, MO), I wanted to share with you one of the more interesting results:

Associations who reported that they had a membership strategy with a priority on:

New member acquisition had an average total membership growth of 4.2% over the past year.
Retention had an average total membership growth of 1.1% over the past year.
Both acquisition and retention equally had an average total membership growth of 2.4% over the past year.

These results indicate something we all know, if your goal is to grow, you must invest in that growth. Single-mindedness pays off.

As we continue to look at the results of the study, I’ll continue to share excerpts as we discover them. If you did not participate in the study but wish to receive a copy of it when it is published, please let me know and I’ll make sure that one is sent to you after the ASAE Annual Conference.

Have you found the same results with your own program? What have been your experiences? Let me know.

SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY READERS

FREE 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION

Finally, we'll all soon be embroiled in 2012 Strategic Planning and Budgeting. I'd like to offer you a free 30 Minute Consultation to help you identify your successes and challenges to develop and refine your ideas for next year. If you're interested in taking me up on my offer, please email me (erik@marketinggeneral.com) or call me at (703) 706-0358.

Seth Godin may have a few ideas on "Indispensability."

2011-05-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

Recently many of my clients and the people I speak with have been asking about “Indispensability.” What is it? What does it mean? How do we go about becoming “…indispensable to our members?”

I think this is a two-step answer. First, I think that it helps to first realize that our members want to become “indispensable” to their organizations, boss, and clients. So we should ask, “How do they become indispensable to their organizations/boss/clients?”

Starting from this point, Seth Godin’s latest work “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?” (published by Portfolio/Penguin) offers a recommendation of what an individual’s indispensability may look like. He proposes (on page 218) that these seven characteristics are“…one way to think about the list of what makes you indispensable:

1. Providing a unique interface between members of the organization

2. Delivering unique creativity

3. Managing a situation or organization of great complexity

4. Leading customers

5. Inspiring staff

6. Providing deep domain knowledge

7. Possessing a unique talent”

In the workplace, I think we can all appreciate the work the individual must put in to maximize each of these characteristics for themselves. At a certain point, these behaviors elevate the individual’s performance from simply doing a job to an art form – and this is a major thrust of Godin’s book. Those individuals who want to become ‘indispensable’ must become artists who find their inspiration from their own desires to do better.

But isn’t that what members are doing when they join? In most cases, are they not taking a personal step to become more knowledgeable and connected so they can become better?

So, now that we understand at least one definition of “indispensability” (as presented above), when you ask how to make your association “indispensable” to your membership, you need to ask how does your association:

• Go about helping your members achieve each of the seven characteristics?

AND,

• Go about executing each of the seven characteristics for their boss…the industry?

If you have any thoughts or questions, I hope you’ll post them. Maybe you can provide examples? I look forward to hearing from you.

WHAT!? Already!? Get ready for Membership Market Planning - 2012

2011-05-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Good grief! It's not even June yet. C'mon...

It's true folks, we are entering the time when most of us are beginning to develop our plans and budgets for 2012. Many times people ask me about developing a strong membership marketing plan so I thought I’d offer a quick and easy system for you to use.

Developing a plan is usually pretty easy if you simply answer the famous “Who, What, Where, When, Why and How?” questions:

“Who” is the market?

What are the characteristics of the audience you want to promote to?
Is it simply one market or can the market be further segmented?

Highest vs. lowest return
Location/geography
Male/female
Age
Buyers vs. inquiries vs. 'never heard of ya'
etc.

What are their “needs” or “pains” that are to be addressed

“What” is the product?

Membership? Conference? Catalog? Sponsorship? Etc.

“Where” does the market congregate?

You need to know where to find your market prospects

Catalog
Website
Association
Conference
Etc.

“When” is the best time to contact the market?

Is there a “buying cycle?”
Has there been an adjustment in the economy of the market that increases a current need or introduces a new need?

“Why” do we need to market?

In most cases, this is where you define your “criteria for success” as well as your financial justification for the plan:

Increase/maintain market share
Increase revenue
Increase sales
Product launch
Etc.

For many of us in the membership marketing world this is where you'll also need to review your membership benchmarks:

Renewal Rate
Average Tenure
Lifetime Value (LTV)
Maximum Acquisition Cost (MAC)
Steady State Analysis

“How” are we going to market?

What channels historically offer us the best ROI and what channels should we test?

Direct mail
Email
Web
Telemarketing
Personal sales

These are the building blocks that will help you build your plan. Don’t forget the importance of ‘tracking’ your campaigns so you can continually enhance your programs based upon quantitative results.

Of course, always build consensus among everyone who will have impact upon your plan.

What are the elements you look at? Do you have a plan that you'd like to share? Let us know.

Good luck!

Did you catch Kiki's interview with Eric Lanke?

2011-05-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

If not, take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FocW9CFH7E4

Erik Schonher is vice president and strategist for Marketing General Incorporated, the country's leading association and membership marketing firm.

Guest blogger Caroline H. Fuchs gives some good advice

2011-05-02T02:20:00.000-07:00

I'm fortunate to know many very smart and very talented people. Two such people, Caroline Fuchs and Andrew Goldschmidt, presented at the ASAE Marketing and Membership Conference last week. There session was so good that I asked Caroline if she'd be kind enough to write a brief summary of that session for us.

As a quick primer, Caroline H. Fuchs is an experienced association marketing and membership professional who had successfully led staff teams at both professional societies and trade associations. As a marketing strategist, she helps organizations identify connections and uncover inventive and practical solutions in the areas of membership marketing, brand rejuvenation, communication enhancement, and product and service innovation. She can be reached at cfuchs555@gmail.com.

Membership on Caffeine

How do you show your passion for membership issues? You crowd into a chilly conference room at 7:00 in the morning to share experiences and ideas. That’s how more than 50 attendees of the ASAE 2011 MM&C Conference demonstrated their dedication—grabbing cups of coffee and participating in last Tuesday’s 7:00 a.m. Early Riser session titled “Under the Membership Tent.”

I was delighted to co-facilitate the group discussion with my colleague Andrew S. Goldschmidt, CAE, MBA, director of membership marketing at NACo-National Association of Counties. The session’s conversation covered a variety of topics, but there was not doubt that economy had taken its toll when renewals were voted as the first topic of the morning.

Here are a few of the conversations that stood out:

Renewals of 1^st Year members continue to be a challenge. Whether they initially joined through a conference or for certification, failure to convert into long-term members remains frustrating for membership professionals. Strategies combating the attrition rate included researching the needs of at-risk audiences, developing unique onboarding programs, and tracking participation and member ROI. Check out the dashboard report

Andrew Goldschmidt shared with attendees and the white paper I authored for SmithBucklin Corporation on Membership Management Standard Practices.

Retaining student members remains difficult. Several attendees mentioned the success they’ve had with mentoring programs. One program model matched mentors and mentees at the annual conference and found the affinity and goodwill fostered worth the effort of a rather labor-intensive program.

Bringing non-renewing or lapsed members back into membership reaps rewards. According to the 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report recently released by Marketing General, associations with renewal rates of 80% or above are extremely likely to continue to indefinitely contact lapsed members for membership reinstatement. Murmurs of interest around the room made it clear that this strategy would get renewed emphasis at a number of organizations. (The 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report will be published in August this year. If you'd like a pre-pub copy, please let Erik know)

Member Get a Member campaigns remain viable. Jim Kokkines, membership manager, Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) commented on the success they’ve found with the HFMA Member Get a Member program.

The use of social media in all areas of membership is growing. One participant from a trade association actively used LinkedIn to reach prospects while others used Facebook, Twitter feeds, and blogs to reinforce membership communications. An interesting discussion ensued regarding the value of member-only online networks versus open communities, but no clear path emerged. For additional thoughts on this topic, read the point-counterpoint article Social Networking Sites for Associations: Open Access or Members Only? in the ASAE Membership Section newsletter Membership Developments.

Amazing. At such an early hour, more than 50 individuals—powered by caffeine—willingly contributed and learned together. Thank you to each and every participant!

Email is loosing its effectiveness. So what's going on?

2011-04-29T04:20:00.000-07:00

In the past 10 years, the use of email as a marketing tool has grown. But that continued growth is doubtful.

Tony Rossell, a dear friend, mentor and associate here at MGI, recently posted on his blog (http://membershipmarketing.blogspot.com/) some interesting information on email which prompted me to dig a little deeper.

In the April/May, 2011 issue of Chiefmarketer.com, editors stated that: "People were impressed with the idea that email was practically free and that they could communicate with people just by pressing a button. But the reality is that the open rates are steadly decreasing - we're ssing open rates consistently under 10%, and three or four years ago they were in the high 20%'s" (p.22).

The 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review showed stated that "...email is waning: Total usage of web-based email dropped 9% in 2010 with more precipitous declines occurring among younger age groups, particularly teenagers. It’s clear that communication is shifting not only to other platforms, but to other devices."

Preliminary analysis of the results from the 2011 MGI Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey indicate that respondents reported only a small increase in using email to build awareness among prospects and little change in using email to engage or onboard new members and support renewal efforts from the previous year.

So, what is happening and where is the budget money being reallocated?

If you have kids, maybe you already know the answer...other online marketing channels. My 17 year-old son does not check his email anymore, nor does he really talk on the phone, nor does he really go to the movies. Its all about FaceBook, YouTube and Skype. These "other online channels" are now the preferred choice over email.

The 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review Report reports that "In Q4, Facebook widened the lead it took earlier in the year vs. Google and the three major portals, and now accounts for just north of 12% of time online—and it seems to be climbing. Three out of every 10 internet sessions includes a Facebook visit, and Facebook accounts now accounts for 10% of all pageviews in the US. “Facebook” was also the top organic search phrase in 2010 with nearly 2 billion searches on that term–3 times greater than the next most searched for term. In short, it’s a behemoth--and getting bigger."

Interesting point...YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.

The report continues by stating that "Video adoption continues to climb, and online TV is now mainstream: More people watched video, and those that did watched more of it. The video audience grew by 32%, and time spent grew by 12%. The average American watched 14 hours of video in December. Hulu continues to be a big story, attracting twice as much viewing as the Top 5 broadcast sites (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW) combined. The proliferation of both publishers and platforms is contributing to changing behavior—creating not only more video users, but more and more ‘cord cutters’ (people who consume TV content solely online.) Based on activity in the back half of the year the rate of change is likely to continue or increase, making video an increasingly important part of the digital experience."

I reported earlier in this blog that:

1 out of 8 couples married in the US last year met via Social Media.
Years to Reach 50 Million Users:

Radio........38
TV............13
Internet.......4
iPod............3
FaceBook...9 MONTHS

1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled on-line studies.
25% of search results for world’s top 20 brands are links to user generated content.
80% of companies are using LinkedIn as primary tool to find employees.

So there you have it. The money is moving to other on-line channels.

But is any of this really surprising? I don't think so.

As direct marketers we long ago realized the potential impact of those tools that EMPOWER our prospects.

100 years ago, people who lived in very secluded areas had little choice of stores to buy from. Montgomery Wards and Sears answered this call with their catalogs, EMPOWERING these people by giving them a greater choice in products and services.

10 years ago these catalogs were put on line and no longer did the prospect have to wait 30, 90, 180 or 360 days to get a catalog. They could go on-line to buy their products.

Today, prospects can go on-line to buy their products based upon the recommendations of their FaceBook "friends" and the recommendations of other people who have used the product. AND, if they don't know how to use the product, they can go on-line and find out. EMPOWERMENT!!

More associations are embracing Social Media to not only sell, but to educate and nurture. How are you using it? Do you have a Social Media plan? Let me know.

Tips to Getting Email Frequency Right!

2011-04-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Published in the April 20th issue of Marketing Pros (http://www.marketingprofs.com/), Ardath Albee was recently cited in "Three Tips to Getting Email Frequency Right" offering the following advice:

Accept that the length of the buy cycle is the length of the buy cycle. "If it's 8 months, trying to increase the frequency to complete the program in 3 months isn't going to change that," she argues. "Buyers will move at their own pace." Attempts to speed things up with additional email messages will likely annoy your leads and cause campaign fatigue.

Plan with a realistic view of your content-producing capabilities. It takes time to research, write, vet, approve and publish high-quality content. "Map your processes to a timeline so that you can meet the frequency schedule you choose to follow," Albee advises. "Better to space it out and do it well than to rush to publish based on an artificial schedule you cannot maintain over the long haul."

Coordinate the timing of email campaigns with each of your company's departments. "Unless you can isolate your targeted lead list," she says, "you need to look at the entire universe of email that they could be exposed to from your company and plan accordingly." You might think you're giving leads plenty of space, but they'll feel bombarded if they're also getting product announcements, corporate newsletters and webinar invitations from others in your organization.

The Po!nt: Take the time to clearly map things out. There's no simple formula for correct frequency, and yours depends on a host of variables—internal and external.

OK - non of this is truly groundbreaking or "HOLD THE PRESSES" important. BUT...do we actually implement them? These are good rules to e-live by.

Great article cited in Collloquy

2011-04-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

I always talk about the "power of ego" as an important tool in membership marketing. Here is a great article written by Aline Ostrowski Share and posted in Colloquy on 4/12/2011 that I think clearly addresses this and brings some clarity to the topic. If you're interested, here is the post address
http://blog.colloquy.com/2011/04/12/ego-power-of-status-incremental-business/

Ego + Power of Status = Incremental Business

by Aline Ostrowski Share

Although we all like to claim that we do not care about silly things like our position in society or our status among our colleagues, but admit it … we all have an ego that needs to be fed in some form. For some status is defined by designer clothing or a fancy car. For others, like me, it is all about the recognition of being a VIC (Very Important Customer). It is not that I think that I am better than anyone else, but it sure is nice to be recognized and rewarded for the continued business and patronage that I pay to select brands.

The truth is that it is not the status that makes me loyal to a brand. However, the experiences that the status enables makes me more loyal and makes me consolidate my spending. And the brands that do it right are those brands that take full advantage of a customer’s status to provide a set of experiences that continually endear customers. It is not status that drives loyalty, but the continual special experiences that foster preference and trust – two core elements of loyalty.

As a road warrior, I have the benefit of getting my ego stroked by my favorite brands. But the memorable experiences are those that come from being a VIC and the special thanks from these brands. Two quick examples to illustrate are:

My favorite airline works hard to keep me happy. As a VIC I get the usual perks of boarding first, the occasional upgrade to first class, and special offers to use my points. Recently, however, I had a mix-up in flights that was of my own doing – the response from the customer service agent was just delightful. And although I did not get home any sooner than I had hoped, I was wowed by the efforts that this customer service agent made to try to help me out.
When I check into my hotel of choice each week, I am greeted with smiles from the employees – they know me by name as if I were a celebrity. But the true test is when I go to another location of my favorite hotel, one that is not my home-away from home, and I am still greeted with the friendliness and appreciation that I am use to.

Great experiences and as a VIC I feel nice, but “did it impact my purchase behavior?” you ask? Yes it has – even I, a loyalty veteran, am influenced… not because of the points, but because of how I am treated. I paid extra for my spring break trip this year just to fly with my preferred airline, because I trust that should something go wrong that they will take care of me and my family. And when traveling for other company business, I choose my regular hotel chain first even though I may be across the street from colleagues who are in another hotel.

Everyone has an ego – what are you doing to stoke the egos of your VICs? How are you making them feel when they engage with your brand or through your loyalty program?

You can have the best program in the world, but it will only be moderately successful if you do not feed the egos of your VICs or potential VICs.

Let me know what you think.

Erik's Experts in Membership Marketing Blog is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President of Marketing General, Inc. For more information, contact Erik at Erik@marketinggeneral.com

Look for "AssociationTRENDS" Special Focus

2011-04-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

MGI sponsored an AssociationTRENDS update with a special focus on Membership. Rick Whelan, President of MGI, and Tony Rossell, Sr VP MGI, both authored articles including "What are the biggest impediments to member Growth?" and "Defining member value to optimize benefits."

The articles include results from the MGI 2010 Membership Benchmarking Survey and mentions some early results from the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey which will be released at the upcomming ASAE Annual Conference this August.

If you'd like a copy of the article, go to http://www.associationtrends.com/ or contact me and I'll forward one to you.

If you'd like a pre-release copy of the 2011 Membership Benchmarking Survey, contact me and I'll put you on my "Early Distribution List."

Erik's Experts in Membership Marketing Blog is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President of Marketing General, Inc. For more information, contact Erik at Erik@marketinggeneral.com

Use of Social Media in Membership Marketing

2011-04-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

We're busy putting together the results of the 2011 MGI Membership Benchmarking Study which will be released at the upcoming ASAE Annual Conference in St. Louis this August. As we take a look at the results I'll post those which I think will provide you with a little "inside information" in anticipation of the study's release. What is real exciting is that, given this is the third year for the study, we can begin comparing results from previous years to get a perspective on practice changes within our community.

In answer to the question of "...what social media is officially used by your association?" here are the results for both 2010 and 2011:

FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube have grown while ALL other social media measured are declining in popularity. Interesting to note is that in 2010, 8% of those associations surveyed indicated "No Social Media" while in 2011 the count dropped to 6%.

When asked which social media has been "...most effective in achieving your membership goals?" 51% said FaceBook, 27% indicated Twitter and 25% marked LinkedIn - Public (versus private).

Erik's Experts in Membership Marketing Blog is written by Erik Schonher, Vice President of Marketing General, Inc. For more information, contact Erik at Erik@marketinggeneral.com

UPDATED.....New Postal Rates

2011-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

A few months back I told you about the coming rate changes from the Post Office.

Welll...the new Postal Rates have finally been posted. Here is a quick summary of the three I consider most important for my work in membership marketing. If you'd like a complete grid outlining the rates, please email me at erik@marketinggeneral.com

1st Class postage remains at $0.44 a piece.
3rd Class Bulk is going up to $0.276 a piece (.003 increase)
3rd Class Non-Profit is going up $0.174 a piece (.002 increase)

Heading off to CalSAE

2011-03-26T15:19:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I leave to speak at CalSAE's Annual Conference - Elevate. I'm looking forward to it and hope to see many of you there. If you are, please come by and say hello. If you can't make it, I'll be happy to send you a copy of the presentation. Simply email me at erik@marketinggeneral.com.

Reporting to you LIVE, from 30,000 feet! A Truth to Successful Marketing: Multiple Touch, Multiple Channels & Multiple Cycles

2011-03-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

As I wing my way back from MN where I've been attending a 2-day meeting at our corporate headquarters in MN (ooooofta!), I thought it would be a good idea to write a quick editorial on a very important topic.

The offer and the list are still the most important elements of any member acquisition effort. However, the days of sending out one direct mail piece or making one phone call, and expecting that one effort to be singularly profitable are declining...if not simply over.

Today, to have a successful campaign you have to use multiple channels, email/direct mail/telemarketing/etc., multiple times during a singular initiative to even hope of being somewhat successful.

My experience with my clients finds that we can, on average, increase the response rate of a member acquisition program (by as much as 50%) by following up a direct mail piece with a series of emails.

We've also recommend the use of telemarketing as one of the final efforts in renewal programs, after a series of emails and letters.

Membership Marketing it is anything but "Business as Usual!"

2011-03-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate to be the Keynote Speaker for the AVECTRA Users Group Conference in Orlando, Florida, earlier this week. What a great conference and what a great community of professionals.

The focus of my presention was on the practical recommendations made by membership marketing professionals who attended a workshop I ran the day before. To set up these recommendations, I presented some pretty compelling information as to why we can no longer simply rely on one or two marketing channels and must incorporate the web and social marketing into our programs.

Here is a smattering of that information...:

1 out of 8 couples married in the US last year met via Social Media.
Number of Years to Reach 50 Million Users:

Radio 38
TV 13
Internet 4
iPod 3
FaceBook 9 MONTHS

1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled on-line studies.
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world.
25% of search results for world’s top 20 brands are links to user generated content.
80% of companies are using LinkedIn as primary tool to find employees.
January 27 2011 issue of Internet Retailer noted about Amazon.Com:

Amazon’s $12.8 billion in 2009 North American sales represented 8.6% of the nearly $149 billion in online retail sales for that year reported by the U.S. Commerce Department.

In the July 20 2010 issue of Internet Retailer noted:

Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon has sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books. In its Kindle update, Amazon did not offer any comparison between the sales of paperbacks and e-books.
Over the last 30 days, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 180 Kindle books.

As cited on http://www.pingdom.com/, over 72% of those people who access social netwrok sites are between the ages of 25 and 64. 54% are between the ages of 35 and 64. Most associations I work with will agree that their members fall between the ages of 25 and 64. Therefore, we can loosely assume that HALF of YOUR MARKET (or more) are using social networks.

If you don't have a social media strategy, you need one. People are now learning to buy product and successfully administer their lives using the Internet and Social Networking. Membership marketing for membership and trade associations is not the same as 10 years ago...5 years ago...even 6 months ago. It is evolving and its being driven by the Amazon.Coms and FaceBooks of the world.

As Darwin pointed out...

Adapt or Die. Your choice my friends.

FREE TO PARTICIPANTS - 2011 MGI Membership Benchmarking Survey

2011-03-03T04:28:00.000-08:00

For the third year in a row, Marketing General Inc. (MGI) is conducting in-depth research to benchmark the practices used by associations in recruiting, engaging, and renewing members.

Please take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire about how your association manages membership marketing. All individual responses to this research will be kept strictly confidential. No specific responses will be attributed to any individual or association without your specific written consent.

To participate please click on the following link: http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&url=http%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2FWhYZEt&sid=s273896269&uid=5445494192572735488&urlhash=TlnQ&redirect=&trk=sae_i_m_sd_val

To thank you for participating, MGI will provide you with a copy of our final survey report. The 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report will provide valuable findings and recommendations based on results from this year’s research and trend analysis from the 2010 survey.

Is it time for your Social Media Audit?

2011-02-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

During the past 24 months the utilization of social media and its incorporation into our marketing plans has grown ten-fold. To that point, perhaps now is the time to perform a Social Media Audit to determine if your association is using the tool the best way possible to tell your story and drive your goals?

As we've all performed marketing audits in the past, this kind of thing can be as simple or difficult as you make it. In my mind, the one important question you have to ask is "Are these tactics helping me accomplish my goals?"

Remember that I said it was a simple question.

First, are the results quantifiable? That will certainly answer the question quickly if they are. If not, can they become quantifiable? As I'm a numbers-guy, I always want numbers to help me manage my campaigns, but there are instances when numbers don't really count. If that's the case, bully.

Second, are the tactics/channels you are using keeping within the overall message/brand of the organization? Hopefully you made the decision on this when you developed the campaigns but things do change and upgrades and changes to the programs can sometimes go astray of the brand.

Finally, are you fully utilizing the uniquities of each channel? Video? Text? Messaging? Graphics? Is the copy maximizing the impact? Are the videos engaging and telling the right stories? Are you changing the content enough so it keeps people coming back for more?

These are my simple musings at 4:54 PM on a Friday afternoon. If you have other thoughts, I hope that you'll comment.

Speaking at the AVECTRA User Group this weekend - Come One Come All!

2011-02-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

Open Forum: What's Working and What's Not (User Workshop)Sunday, Feb 27 - 3:30-5:00pm

Join Erik Schonher, Vice President, Marketing General Incorporated, for a bare-knuckle discussion on what tactics and strategies are working in driving membership and non-dues revenues. Bring your questions AND some of your own learnings as this will be a working session whose goal is that everyone takes away one good idea. Erik will use your observations and successes in his lunch presentation on Monday.

A Key to Membership Promotion Success...Expires and Good Hygene (data hygene that is...)

2011-02-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

I'm speaking at the AVECTRA User Group meeting in Orlando on February 27 thru March 1. Needless to say, membership promotoin and data as topics are on my mind. To that point, the MGI Tipster just went out today and had some good advice and I wanted to share it with you today just in case you don't subscribe (if you don't, go to http://www.marketinggeneral.com/ and sign up for the FREE subscription).

"Data accuracy is key

Reaching back to former members only works well when adequate database hygiene practices are in place. Running records through the postal system's National Change of Address (NCOA), which updates names and addresses going back 48 months, should be done on a regular basis. It's not only a requirement for being awarded postal presort discounts, it helps ensure that the membership files are up-to-date and optimized.

Another way to track down lapsed members is to use USPS Ancillary Service Endorsements that give the USPS instructions on how to handle undeliverable-as-addressed pieces.

From a cost point of view, when all is said and done, reaching out to former members is almost always more efficient than recruiting prospects who have never been members."

Bad Quarter for the Post Office...But what does that mean to us?

2011-02-10T04:35:00.000-08:00

Frank Washkuch’s article “Postal Service fiscal Q1 net loss hits $329M, posted on February 9, 2011, in the online issue of Direct Marketing News article outlined some serious fiscal issues facing our beloved Postal Service. Here is a summary of the salient issues:

2011:
• net loss of $329 million in its first quarter, which ended December 31, 2010.

2010:
• Revenue from mailing services decreased 3.3% year-over-year to $15.3 billion.
• Revenue from shipping services improved by 1.7% to $2.6 billion compared with the same period.
• Shipping volume increased 2.4% year-over-year in the quarter to 422 million pieces.
• First-Class Mail volume was down 5.6% year-over-year to 20 billion pieces.
• Standard Mail volume improved by 8.7% to 23.8 billion pieces.
• Periodicals mail was steady in the quarter at 1.9 billion pieces.
• However, the USPS said it would have seen income of $226 million in fiscal Q1 if not for the cost of prefunding retiree healthcare benefits and noncash adjustments to the workers' compensation liability.
• The USPS lost $8.5 billion in FY 2010.
• The organization also warned that, without reform, it could default on some financial obligations to the federal government by the end of this fiscal year.

What does this mean to membership association professionals who count on the postal service as a channel to deliver member acquisition, engagement and renewal material?

For one thing, the services we mostly use – Standard Mail and Periodicals Mail - seem to be the ‘honey holes’ (using my Arkansas bass fishing reference) for the Postal Service. Very good! They won’t want to impede those channels with further restrictions or more complicated paperwork. This is also good for the mail houses and merge-purge vendors who help us prepare the lists and materials.

Shipping service revenue is also up. They may want to expand this which could open up new ways to deliver our material, possibly moving some of the Standard Mail here and maybe even fostering creative new printing products to help deliver that messaging.

On the other hand, if revenues in First-Class continue to sink (as many believe it will do), that lost revenue needs to be acquired from somewhere. Sure, they are implementing savings programs, you can save your way to profitability but you can’t save your way to growth…and like all ventures, if you don’t grow, you die.

Over the next 18 months I think that we’ll see some interesting new developments at the Post Office. New products, expansion of Standard Mail and contraction of First-Class Mail, new requirements to make mailing easier &/or less costly as we see basic rates increase.

Estimates on Changes in Promotion Spending for 2011

2011-02-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Richard Levey's January 26, 2011 post on Chief Marketer entitled "Acquisition Spending, Direct Mail on the Rise: Winterberry Report."

He reports that Bruce Biegel writes "...that mail as an ad medium has seen a resurgence of late, and will continue to do so." A very different story than was written in 2009 by this same group.

Of greater interest to me as an association marketer is that in 2010 marketers spent $154.4 billion for direct and digital advertising. In 2011, direct and digital expenditures will rise to $163.9 billion, taking money from "traditional channels" like TV, radio and space ad. Interesting to note that the within the 2010 rise digital spending realized the biggest jump—8.5%—winding up at $27.7 billion.

Biegel sees direct and digital channels as making gains, with overall spending on these channels expected to rise by 6.2%, racking up $163.9 billion in expenditures. Direct mail will grow by a healthy 5.8%, to $47.8 billion.

Among other channels, direct response broadcast is anticipated as jumping by 7.6%, to $25.4 billion, and digital spending will show the largest growth – 14%, to $31.6 billion.

When marketing budgets expand, however, digital mediums are claiming most of the increases. Email, search and mobile marketing led the pack when Winterberry asked marketers which channels were capturing new spending.

But WHY is this of interest to us?

Several reasons:
1) Those marketers with the biggest budgets are moving their spending from horizontal channels to vertical channels. Not "new news," but something to remember when we as association marketers. We must invest in the tools that will help us identify the horizontal markets within our horizontal market. That means invest in your CRM. It is that tool that will help you the most in being able to identify AND capitalize on the nuances within your markets.

2) Buying is a learned behavior. As more and more dollars are spent on selling products and educating markets through the mail and the Internet, more and more of our prospects, members and customers will come to DEPEND on these mediums to help them make their purchases. We know, when selecting lists, that a direct mail response list outperforms a compiled list...for the same reason.

Levey reports that Begel estimates that in "....2011, spending on (e-mail) will jump 18.1% to $1.6 billion. As a retention vehicle, e-mail remains marketers’ most cost effective medium. Search spending is also expected to increase by 13%, to $17.6 billion. And finally, spending on social media is projected to jump 35.4% to $1.6 billion. The year will also see leaps in analytic capabilities, mobile advertising (estimated at $1.2 billion which is a 30.8% rise from 2010’s level) driven by coupon use and improvements location-based targeting.

As a consumer, 10 years ago I would see an ad about a product, maybe ask one or two friends about it, call the company, maybe then place an order or send in the solo direct mail piece or the catalog I received.

Now, I receive the email/solo dm/catalog, look it up on line, ask my 500+ friends on FB, Twitter about it, STILL call the company, and then I'll buy perhaps using the catalog, phone, email/website or the solo dm piece.

In 2 years, I may do this all by my 'smart' phone.

HERE IT IS! I'm learning a new buying behavior. And if an association wants me to join or buy a product, since they don't know what my PREFERED BUYING BEHAVIOR IS, you better be equally good on all fronts.

25 Universal Secrets that Could Help You Drive Your Membership and Non-Dues Revenue

2011-01-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

My good friend and mentor, Tony Rossell ( Membership Marketing Blog ), sent me the following "25 Secrets." These are true gems for everyone who needs to have others accept and act on his/her ideas - Exec Director to Board, President to Client...even Parent to Child.

In that line of thought, perhaps even Association to Prospective Member.

These secrets are universal and I thought perhaps I'd share them with you all with the recommendation that you think about them when you develop your membership and product sales strategies.

Have fun and good luck...

1 Don’t sell me your product, sell me solutions.

2 Understand my business, understand my industry, and understand my market.

3 Understand your product or service thoroughly so that you know every conceivable way it might help me solve my problems or meet my goal.

4 Know everything you can about your competition. I have to make decisions about which product is best, and I need to know what makes yours the best choice for me.

5 Watch what you say about the competition. I want to know why your product is the best choice, but I don’t want you to knock the competition. Concentrate on your strengths, not their weaknesses.

6 Don’t give me a canned, generic pitch. Appreciate my unique qualities and challenges.

7 Have my best interest at heart.

8 Make me feel important. Make me believe I’ m the only customer you have even though I know it’s not true.

9 Have a purpose for every call.

10 Organize your materials so that when I ask to see information, you have it easily accessible.

11 Return my calls promptly. I expect that you’ll be as available to talk to me now as you were before the sale was completed.

12 Let me know how to reach you. If I can’t find you, I’ll go with someone else.

13 Help me solve a problem, even if it’s your fault, and I’ll most likely remain a loyal customer.

14 I’m looking for a sales rep I can consider a member of my Account Management, a partner, almost an employee. When you help me find solutions to run my business better, it’s easier for me to see you in that light.

15 Keep your promises. If you say you’ll get back to me, do it.

16 Anyone can make a one-time sale. It’s the follow-through that keeps me coming back for more.

17 If you don’t have an immediate answer, don’t try to fake it or make one up. I’d rather you say, I don’t know, but I’ll find out. Of course, once you say that, you must get back to me with the answer as soon as possible.

18 Let me know that you’re interested in my success. If that means that you sometimes recommend the competition or tell me I’m better off with the product or service I now have, I’ll respect you greatly and find a way to do business with you in the future.

19 Be my consultant. Show me how others in my field have been successful. Become a resource for me so that I can call on you when I’m in a bind and need advice even if it’s got nothing to do with your product or service.

20 Create added value. Price is not my only criterion. The extra service and special attention you give me is worth more than dollars in many instances.

21 Exceed my expectations. Let me know that you are willing to go beyond the norm, to make that extra effort it takes to ensure success mine and yours.

22 Don’t keep me waiting. If you’re going to be late, call me.

23 Exhibit a positive attitude and enthusiasm about your job and your product. If you don’t believe in yourself, I won’t believe in you either.

24 Don’t argue with me or be too aggressive. If I feel like I’m being pushed into a sale, I know you’re interested in your commissions, not your customers.

25 Be honest with me in all situations. If there are problems, let me know so that together we can begin to think of solutions.

Barry J. Farber, “Sales Secrets from Your Customers”, Career Press (April 1995).

The difference between Membership and Loyalty

2011-01-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

I often speak with corporate marketers about developing programs that increase the level of engagement between their customers and their business. Usually they end up saying something like "...we already have a loyalty program."

Well, a loyalty program is very different than a membership program.

Wikipedia defines a Loyalty Program as "...structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially of benefit to the firm."^[

The focus of the relationship is one dimensional being only based upon 'buying' or simply transactions.

Membership is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.

With membership, the customer also buys into the "mission" of the organization and is aptly '"rewarded" for this both by the organization as well as by his/her own good feelings of accomplishment. Membership uses the individuals need to be part of something bigger, to leave a legacy, to develop a loyalty that far surpasses anything a simple "loyalty program" can achieve.

This is what corporations should be aspiring to. Jimmy Buffet, KISS, Apple, the list goes on. These corporate brands have taken loyalty to the level of membership. Their customers 'identify' with them and THAT drives sales. The sales are indicative of the loyalty - but not the whole shabang.

Recommended Social Media Platforms Group by Number of Users

2011-01-07T04:36:00.000-08:00

Social Media has revolutionized our concept of direct marketing by faciliating the "one-to-one" value that direct mail and other more traditional channels provide to becoming more of a 'conversation.' So instead of simply presenting an offer through, say, direct mail and then waiting for the BRE to return with a check. We now have to present the offer, then respond to a question by the prospect which we need to respond to, which may lead to an observation by the prospect which we need to respond to, which may lead to another question or two by the prospet which we need to respond to, which hopefully will ultimately lead to a purchase.

WOW! What was once a very easy tactical initiative to drive sales with an easily calculated ROI, has now become the proverbial Kraken.

While this is ONLY ONE aspect of Social Media also consider the simple fact that the whole channel is continually changing. What was a good idea yesterday, will become 'old hat' by tomorrow. What is hot today will become so 'last year' in a matter of days.

To me, this is almost like skeet shooting in a cross wind.

The good side is we are an adaptable race. As we become more educated and more comfortable with using Social Media we'll more easily encorporate it into our campaigns and life will go on.

For now, however, if your job includes the monitoring, management and/or promotion of a company's brand through social media, you may want to consider educating yourself about and participating in all the platforms that might matter to your membership organization. The following are my personal recommendations for the average social media marketer to consider, grouped by users:

100 Million+ Users
•Facebook
•Twitter
•LinkedIn
•YouTube
•MySpace (though they're fading)

25 Million+ Users
•Reddit
•Flickr
•Yelp
•Wikipedia

10 Million+ Users
•Tumblr
•StumbleUpon
•Care2
•Slideshare
•Scribd
•DeviantArt
•Digg (fading)
•Delicious (fading)

Up-and-Comers
•Posterous
•StackExchange
•Namesake
•Quora
•FourSquare
•Hunch
•Forrst
•Dribbble

Special Offer for my Readers - 1/2 Hour FREE Consulting

2011-01-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

As a thank you to readers of my blog, I would like to offer you a FREE 1/2 hour of marketing consultation.

If you have a single issue you'd like to 'talk out,' want advice on developing a marketing and sales strategic plan, or want a conference call with your Executive Director or President or Board of Directors to discuss the state and future of membership marketing, I would be happy to talk with you at no charge.

If you care to take me up on this offer, and I really hope that you do, please call my office at (703) 706-0358 and we'll arrange a time that works for the both of us.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Will 2011 be the Year of Customer Service? YES!!!

2011-01-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

I just read an article that cited several references to the fact that there is a new found respect for customer service. Given the increased expectations of members and customers, customer service is more complicated and demanding then ever before...and it is more important than ever before!

We all know that the more positive experiences a member or customer has the greater the probability that they will renew or buy more product. However, and let's face it, in the not so distant past we really did not respect that aspect of the sales process. If you don't agree, remember that many times customer service representatives were (and still are in some cases) measured against the amount of time it takes them to get a caller off the phone. We hope its the successful resolution of a problem, but that's not always the case (as I've personally experienced).

Now, many organizations and businesses have recognized the positive connection between customer satisfaction (if not something even greater than satisfaction) and increased sales. In addition, the customer service professional is also the point person to up-sell the member or customer. If I may, I'll relate a personal experience from only a few weeks ago.

This past Christmas I had the absolute joy (yes, JOY) of ordering from Crutchfield Electronics (www.Crutchfield.com). If you don't know them, they offer a wide variety of electronic products. My son had to have a specific radio for his car (2005 RED Mustang convertible - I want to be him when I grow up). He showed it to me and I immediately (2 weeks later) went to the website.

Now, what I know about car radios could fill a thimble. I am not an audio-phile. So, when I went to the site I was simply overwhelmed. I called customer service. My agent was FANTASTIC. I told him what I wanted and we discussed the pros and cons in simple, mono-syllabic words that had a basis in common english. He even kept me focused on getting the best buy based upon what I told him I was looking for - and believe once I got going I looked at several radios that had nothing to do with what I first set out to buy.

In fact, I was so pleased with my experience with this guy, I actually did purchase a more expensive model, but it was the next model up from the one my son asked for.

They then delivered the product within 3 days! Which was really good and gave me two days to wrap it before Christmas Day (c'mon, we all did last minute shopping).
This guy's patience and investment of an additional 12 minutes increased my sale over $75.00. And now I'm writing about and Crutchfield is getting a little more advertising.

This guy was a pro. Crutchfield is a well run business.

Looking ahead to 2011, don't skimp on your customer service team. Look for people who want to talk with people and want to solve their problems. Don't hamstring them with measurements based upon saving money, but measure them on how they can make you money with increased customer/member satisfaction and upsells. Also, listen to them. They are in many cases a front -line to your customer/membership base and can be an early warning system in case there is a problem AS WELL AS letting you know when a great opportunity arises.

Goodbye 2010...Helllooooooooooo 2011!

2011-01-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

What an interesting year 2010 ended up being. I met a great many interesting and very intelligent people this year. Many I count as new friends. I also got to know better many of my old friends.

I want to thank all of my clients for entrusting me and MGI with your work. I hope you realize how much I appreciate and honor your trust.

As a personal wish to you all, I hope you achieve your aspirations for 2011. I hope you know that can always count on me to help if I can and that if I can't, I will do my best to point you in the direction of someone who can.

Have a great 2011 and I look forward to talking and working with all of you.

Regards,

Erik

Now is the time to start using a Membership Dashboard

2011-01-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

One of the best tools I've found is a Membership Dashboard. We developed one here at MGI and pass it out for free to anybody who asks for it. It is a great diagnostic tool which WILL help you understand the ebb and flow of your membership, the impact of your promotions and help you enhance the effectiveness of future programs.

Since it is January 2nd, now is the best time to start. So, in case you're unsure as to where to start, a good Membership Dashboard will contain the following information:

Total Members per Month

Current
Same month last year
Percentage increase/decrease

Members Acquired per Month

Current
Same month last year

Member Conversions per Month (1st year renewed members)

Current
Same month last year

Renewals per month (year 2+ renewals)

Current
Same month last year
Members Renewed per Month

Total Renewals per Month

Total eligible (to renew)
Total actual (that renewed)
Total count

When set up properly, you can also set the dashboard up so that it will graphically display the results. As a practical tool, it may be easier for you to show a graph to your leadership than a series of numbers. Just a thought.

As I said earlier, we have one which I will be happy to send to you (it also is set up to graphically display the information). Start 2011 by developing a tool you and your team will use.

What to Consider in New Product Development

2010-12-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate over the weekend to run a brain storming session on new product development for a client, a well respected association whose members work with post secondary students. As part of this session, I presented several considerations for an association/company when developing a new product. Given the reception of these considerations by the client and his board, I thought I'd share them with you today.

Do your customers/members want it? I realize this sounds a bit silly, but in truth it should be your first consideration. This product should also support the association's Mission as it will not only serve as a revenue source but also support the association's member value proposition and potentially impact your relationship with the member.

Can the product be profitable? I realize this may be a bit obvious, but there are products developed that are considered 'loss leaders' where an association/company will produce a product and sell it at a loss to support a larger initiative, say the association's Mission or driving sales of more profitable products.

Here you have serveral considerations: the goal of the product, the size of the market, costs associated with production and pricing.

First, in many cases you would be well served to make your product a 'continuity product,' like a subscription, insurance or membership. Here you can amortize the acquisition cost over the long term receipt of revenue (Lifetime Value). This also gives you a base market from which you extend the product line to new products and further driving revenue (how many NCIS' are there now, 3?).

Second, make sure you consider your staff's time in developing and maintaining the product. Needless to say, if your staff's time is taken up servicing a $19.95 product sale and they can't service the $250 product sale, you're loosing money.

Finally, can you identify your market? Not just outline who you think they, but actually get lists of them or clearly identify where they congregate (conference, webinare, seminar, list serve, websites, etc.). This will impact the cost of your product and, of course, your sale-price.

I would like to thank my dear friend and mentor, Tony Rossell, who provided me much of the material presented here.

Are you asking the right questions to develop your Winning Formula?

2010-12-14T08:59:00.000-08:00

I just read the first draft of a booklet being written by my good friend Viney Kumar. Many of you know him and if you don't I recommend that you at least google him and take a look at some of his writtings. A very smart and very genuine guy.

In this booklet, Vinay talks about a "Winning Formula" which is made up of the answers to three simple questions:

What are we selling?
Who are we selling to?
Where and how will we beat the competition?

I want to briefly focus on the first two questions simply because one, this is a blog and an "indepth focus" could write a book; and, two, trying to include the third question brings us to a second volumn.

We often think that the answer to these two questions is very easy and often may even get a bit confused - almost what came first, the chicken or the egg?

But I think this is where most associations and businesses get lost. They may loose track of who their members are or what they need.

The best example of this occured during the recession. Those associations that realized that their members were loosing jobs and, that what they were buying changed from conferences and education to looking for and finding a job, came out ahead.

Those associations that realized that the market was in greater need of the career services they can provide focused (after all, "association membership is the greatest career insurance that someone can purchase")on acquisition and many managed to stay even or grew. Many of those associations that financial retrenched and focused on saving money, simply lost a great opportunity.

While we seem to be in a 'recovery,' I want to simply point out that the reason the recession was so bad for many was that they simply did not continually ask themselves the first two questions:

What are we selling?
Who are we selling to?

So ask these questions every time you develop and implement a strategy. Use them as a strategic compass to help you find your way to success.

CalSAE - Winter Spectacular was...Spectacular!

2010-12-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick shout-out to my new friends at CalSAE where I spoke on the 2010 MGI Benchmarking Study and provided real life tactics and results to that incorporate the study findings.
I want to thank everyone who attended for attending and hope that you were able to take away a few ideas that will help you achieve your goals.
Gina and the crew at CalSAE did a fantastic job. I especially want to thank Jim Anderson, President and CEO of CalSAE, for coming by and saying "hello" and tell you that you have a great team and run a great show.
As a point of interest, I will be speaking at Elevate 2011 - The CalSAE Annual Show from March 28 - 30. That will be a great session and I hope you'll come by for it.
Hope to speak with you all sometime soon.

Membership Basics - It's in the Numbers

2010-11-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

In the world of membership marketing we use basic metrics to measure our progress. These metrics are:

Renewal Rate
Average Tenure
Lifetime Value (LTV)
Maximum Acquisition Cost (MAC)
Steady State Analysis

I've spoken on these many times and I'm sure you all have read something on them at one time or another. But as my high-school coach would always work us on the "fundimentals," I think a review of these metrics and how we calculate them is never really ever wasted time.

Renewal Rate

Measures the number of members that you keep over a specific period of time, usually 12 months.
Formula: (Total Number of Members Now - New Members gained over the last 12 months) / Total Number of Members Last Year
Example: (10,000 - 2,000)/9,500 = .8421 or 84.21%

Average Tenure

Measures how long a member stays.
Formula: 1 / (1 - Renewal Rate)
Example: 1 / (1 - .8421) = 1 / .1579 = 6.333 years

Lifetime Value (LTV)

Measures the average anticipated revenue from a member.
Formula: Assume Dues of $125/yr and Non-Dues Revenue of $100/yr, (Dues = Non-Dues Renvenue) x Average Tenure = LTV
Example: ($125 + $100) x 6.333 = $1,424.92 LTV

Maximum Acquisition Cost (MAC)

Measures the Net Lifefime Value of a member by deducting incremental costs associated with member services, cost-of-goods sold, etc.
Formula: Assume Incremental Costs = $50, ((Dues + Non-Dues Revenue) - Incremental Costs) x Average Tenure = MAC
Example: (($125 + $100) - $50) x 6.333 = $1,108.275

Steady State Analysis

By considering the number of new members acquired in relation to the expire rate, this metric projects ultimate membership size where the number of members coming in will be equal to the number of members leaving.
Formula: Annual New Members Acquired / (1 - Renewal Rate) = Steady State
Example: 2,000 / .1579 = 12,666 Total Membership
Please note that this does not give you the 'when,' just the 'how much.'

Reasons for Online Marketing

2010-11-11T14:23:00.000-08:00

Here are a few reasons why, if you're not online marketing or you are questionning the value of online marketing, you NEED to be online, marketing.

a. Search marketing is about seizing opportunities. Every organization should maximize opportunities to engage potential members/ customers online that are actively searching for relevant services an organization provides by instituting a comprehensive search engine marketing strategy including paid search marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).

b. Marketing speed and agility are important competitive advantages, especially with today’s focus on costs. Online and search marketing allows for on-the-fly changes that save time and money.

c. Unlike magazines and publications that publish ads on their own schedule say once per month, search is on your customer’s schedule, real-time, engaged in the “now.”

d. Online marketing allows you to connect and engage with potential members when they’re receptive, when they’re ready to receive your orgs message.

e. With search engine marketing your org will have the ability to target an audience on a country level all the way to a 10 mile radius within a specific metro area.

f. Instantly generate and track leads for membership, products and services. Know precisely the path of how and when they found you.

g. Real-time reporting keeps your org on top of marketing results providing measures for accurate decision making and optimization.

h. Online marketing allows you to stay on top of costs because reporting and analysis are constant. You will always be in up-to-date on cost-per-new member, cost-per-customer, cost-per-lead, etc.

i. Unlike traditional push marketing channels, search marketing lets you pay only for consumer responses like click-throughs – keeping marketing expectations and budgets on track.

j. Major happenings in your field/industry occur all the time. Is your organization prepared online to capture these surges of awareness? Be prepared online and your org will surge with these happenings.

k. Search engine marketing does not get thrown in the trash, lost in a stack on a desk, filtered out by someone else. With search marketing your orgs message is only delivered when your target audience is ready to receive it.

FREE Preview of MGI Tipster - Engagement is the key to Renewals!

2010-11-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Every month MGI puts out an email newsletter entitled MGI TIPSTER which provides, as the name implies, tips on membership marketing based upon research or our experience over 30 years of working with hundreds of associations. However, some of you may have never had the opportunity to read it. So, I thought I'd give you a chance to take a 'FREE TEST DRIVE' of the MGI Tipster by simply posting the November issue. Here goes...

As soon as a prospect joins an association, she or he becomes the most likely person not to renew. Most organizations have the same experience—first-year members are the lowest renewing cohort. New members take the organization for a test drive, so to speak, to decide whether membership value justifies the dues they paid. Therefore, the more frequent and more positive the interactions the association has with the first-year member, the higher the renewal rate is likely to be.

Engagement has become an absolutely necessary component of membership retention and growth. Organizations have discovered they must pay special attention to new, at-risk members and be certain that they interact with the association beyond being just a mailbox members.

Better engagement means better renewals

Research shows that in the past year members who...

•...upgraded their membership to a higher level of service were 12% more likely to renew
•...ordered a product in the past year were 28% more likely to renew
•...were also chapter members were 17% more likely to renew
•...attended an association meeting in the past year were 19% more likely to renew
•...attended an association meeting at any time were 7% more likely to renew, and
•...attended four or more meetings were 30% more likely to renew

Engagement does not need to be difficult; it can be as simple as a telephone welcome call.

Any communication with members is good; more is better

Effective engagement programs usually involve a series of communications that invite members to interact with the organization. A compelling engagement program orients members and steers them to make the most of the benefits, products, and services an organization has to offer.

This might be as easy as asking members to complete a simple satisfaction survey. If the first interaction succeeds, follow-up contacts reinforce the relationship, which in turn makes first-year conversions far more likely.

Engaging new members

The opportunities are almost endless:

• A welcome letter or phone call from a member service representative
• An offer to assist with registering for the password-protected sections of the website
• A mailing with a dollars-off voucher for a first purchase
• An email survey verifying the use of member benefits
• A courtesy call to answer member questions

A second purchase or interaction is important. Customer-retention expert Jim Novo says, "If a customer (or member) has not made a second purchase within 30 days, he or she is telling you something is wrong."

What research tells us about engagement

The 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking research study included a question that asked participants to list all the communication methods in use to engage or onboard new members. Here are the top ten, as reported by survey respondents, starting with the most used:

1. Email Welcome – 72%
2. Mailed Welcome Kit – 68%
3. Membership Card or Certificate – 59%
4. Volunteer or Staff Welcome Phone Call – 32%
5. New Member Introductory Email Series – 27%
6. Invite to a Chapter Meeting – 25%
7. Special Discounts on Services – 23%
8. In-person New Member Reception – 20%
9. New Member Newsletter – 20%
10. New Member Survey – 18%

The communications that correlated with higher renewal rates are high-touch contacts that can include mailed welcome kits, volunteer or staff welcome calls, new member surveys, and new member receptions. Associations with larger membership counts were more likely to report they used volunteer or staff calls to new members compared to other-sized groups.

Engagement is essential to growth strategy

The best measure of membership engagement is member behavior. A member who attends or buys, volunteers, or reads electronic communication posts is more likely to stay a member than one who does not.

The bottom line is this: lots of information sent to a member does not build engagement. However, finding ways to get a member to interact, use, and take advantage of the value the organization offers builds a more successful and longer lasting member relationship.

I hope you enjoyed this 'special preview.' If you'd like to sign up for the MGI Tipster, please go to http://www.marketinggeneral.com/ and simply follow the links. Or, call your MGI contact (yes, me) and I'll be happy to get you signed up.

Have a great week!

What are the requirements for change?

2010-10-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

We all know that CHANGE is never easy. It causes pain, both from 'anticipation' as well as 'implementation.' But CHANGE is necessary and as such we need to find ways to make it happen. So, when thinking about implementing a change, think about:

Set a Clear Goal: much change never occurs because people involved don't understand why the change is necessary and what the goal is. Be clear with everyone involved as to what the goal is and the benefits.

Take Small Steps: even a 'little change' can be intimidating. Task Analyze the objective into smaller and easier to accomplish tasks so that people can understand the tasks easier and not 'dread' the change.

Stick to the Goal: with all the resistance you'll get, at some point it will look like the program will fail. Don't let it. Stick to the plan and keep pushing. Have faith in your abilities, your peers and your organization.

2011 is right around the corner. A new year to bring on new changes. Good luck!

I'm speaking at CalSAE in December

2010-10-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

FYI - I'll be speaking on December 8 in Sacramento, CA, on the Membership Lifecycle and the Results of our 2010 Membership Benchmarking Study. This is a CalSAE event. They do a great job and this looks to be a wonderful event. If you're in town I strongly recommend that you find time to stop by.

Shout Out to Kogod Marketing Association

2010-09-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking to about 22 very intelligent students from American University's Kogod Marketing Association. The Association is affiliated with the world renowned Kogod School of Business. What great school and a very impressive learning facility.

We talked about 'sales,' and what it takes to be a good salesperson. We talked about communication styles, personal evaluation of your own abilities, entrepreneurism, and much more.

Of special mention is Rachel Olsavicky, this year's president of the association. She is a real leader and, in my very humble opinion, has a tremendous future ahead of her.

Thanks kids for letting me bend your ear for an hour (maybe a little more...). I hope you found it helpful and enjoyed the time as much as I did.

TSAE - Great People, Great Conference, a Great State!

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm here in Dallas, Texas, speaking at the TSAE Annual Conference on the MGI 2010 Membership Benchmarking Study. This is my first time to a TSAE event - and what a great event. I saw some old friends from ASAE, and met several new ones like Chris Heaton of TMP, Chelsey Robles of TNLA, Bill McCausland of Texas Exes and his lovely wife, Asha Desai of AARC, Simeon May of NACBA, Scott Blech of EMDRIA, Cahterine Lee of TLA, and list goes on. All warm and interesting people.

Real pros as I like to say.

Whenever I speak I always learn something new or am blessed with the opportunity of "relearning" something...old. Or perhaps "old" is not the right word in this case...simple common sense. As many of you who have seen me talk know, for good or bad, about 80% of what I have to say is very planned out...it's that 20% 'wild card' that sometimes offers either the greatest embarrassment or the greatest success. In this case I'm happy to say...greatest success.

While I presented on the results of the study, it was interesting to note that there seemed to be one very common problem among the 35 or so membership executives/pros who came to my session: communication. Did not matter if the association was membership or trade, large or small, state based or international. Most of the issues we ended up talking about were on communication between the association and members, members and members, and the association staff and itself.

So, the end game of this post is to take a lead from my personal 'Aha' moment. At the end of the day, there are no problems that can't be solved by good, solid communication. It sounds naive - even as I wrote it I thought "good grief, is this best you can do?" But, it is that simple. Its the exchange of ideas that offer the support and guidance that most of our members are looking for. Are there exceptions? Of course. But, I do believe that most of the time our greatest problems come from a lack of communication and can only be solved with an abundance of communication.

Have a great day!

Are Renewal Incentives a Good Idea?

2010-09-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I read a posting on the ASAE Membership Listserve asking about “kinds” of renewal incentives to use. While I’m not against using (and have used) renewal incentives, I think that, if an association is delivering value, the ‘incentive’ is being realized throughout the year (you may want to test adjusting your renewal copy to indicate just that).

Incentives are great tools to provide that ‘little something extra’ to get someone to try something new or join. But, if after using the resources of the association for a year you still need to provide a ‘little something extra’ to get people to come back, perhaps you're missing something? (In fact, here’s a thought: if you use a premium, perhaps you segment off those members who renewed to the premium offer and place them in an “intensive” engagement program” then try to renew them without the premium? Just a thought.)

That “something” could be pricing, the wrong people joined, lack of knowledge as to the resources provided by the association, inability to use/find resources to solve their issues (why they joined), left the company/industry, etc.(this feeds directly into using the MEMBERSHIP LIFECYCLE as a strategic diagnostic tool. If you'd like to learn more about it, I'd be happy to forward some information).

In all of these cases, I don’t really see a renewal premium as the ‘silver bullet,’ but I do see the need to analyze who is not renewing by:

• Who joined (title, company, etc.)?

• When they joined?

• Why they joined?

• Have they participated in the association?

• To what extent have they participated?

• Who is paying for their membership?

• How long have they been members?

• etc.

With that said, if you use a premium go with one that links directly to the value proposition – information, career tool, etc. And keep it inexpensive, renewals are about increasing ROI.

That’s my two-cents.

Speaking at TSAE on September 20

2010-09-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'll be speaking on the 2010 Membership Benchmarking Survey on September 20 at the TSAE Annual Conference in Dallas, Tx. It looks like it'll be a great show. If you have the time, I strongly recommend that you try to attend.

ASAE Annual Conference in LA -- LA LA Land Never Looked Soooo Good

2010-09-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

Great conference. That's all I can say. Bravo to DJ and the rest of ASAE for putting on a terrific show.

ASAE Annual Meeting - Will you be going?

2010-08-11T10:06:00.001-07:00

This year I will be attending the ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership Annual Meeting & Exposition in Los Angeles, CA. If you will be attending, I would enjoy meeting you in person. You can find me at the Marketing General, Inc. booth number 500. Please come by.

My 17 year old son...another indication that 'social media' may not be the answer?

2010-08-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sitting here at Rehoboth Beach, DE, part of our summer vacation ritual (for the past 16 years), I'm pondering my son's New Year's resolution...to get rid of his FaceBook account. Yep, a 17 year old, honor society student, heading to college in a year, is getting rid of his social networking link.

Why?

He says its a 'waste of his time.'

Really?

Yes! It seems he thinks he has better things to do with his leisure time than sitting behind a computer screen for hours at a time and engaging in multiple 'interactions' (my words to represent his sentiment).

His resolution, on the heels of my previous post, may indicate a trend AWAY from social media for our 'student' and 'young professional' prospective members.

This is by no means anything near to being considered 'scientific,' but I think it is interesting that I'm hearing (and somewhat sensing - the same way I felt the dotcom 'boom' was nothing more than a 'thud') this as more and more associations are asking me to develop and implement online awareness campaigns that utilize more and more social media. I think we need to be cautious and realize that, like the dotcom rush, social media is not the great panacea for attracting young members and keeping them engaged.

So, you may want to think twice if you're thinking that you MUST HAVE a social media component to your acquisition programs. It may not produce what you want, you'll have difficulty tracking it, and it may only last until the next big thing.

Are Social Media Platforms the tool to bring in "students" and "young professionals?" Maybe not...

2010-07-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

Many associations express their concern about attracting and keeping student and young professional members. To that point, many look to social media to be that 'magic bullet' to attract these members. But I just attended a program as CESSE that puts brings into question this strategy.

About 10 days ago I was fortunate enough to head to Pittsburgh, PA (check out the architecture and the Andy Wharhol museum if you can - fantastic!) and attended the 2010 CESSE Annual Show. I spoke with a many old friends and made a few new ones. At the show, Mark Crossly moderated a panel session where he invited four student/young-professionals to address the group. I think there may have been well over 40 membership professionals and executive directors in attendance.

While a great deal was discussed, the interesting takeaway was:
1) Separation of personal and business life: don't use Facebook to communicate professionally with us. What about LinkedIn? Maybe, but still not a good idea. What about an association developing their own social networking platform on their website? Most likely won't use it. Twitter...so what. They really didn't seem all that engaged in it.
2) Use direct mail and limited email to communicate with us. WHAT!? That's right, direct mail is still a preferred method of communication. Email if it is used wisely and you get to the point quickly. Txt messaging...better be important. Phone - you can call us as part of the renewal process, but only once.
3) Keep the magazine. That's a 180 degree turn. This panel of scientists and engineers said that they look at computer screens all day and a magazine is a nice change. Will they pay extra for the pub? Most likely not (but then you revise your pricing strategy and raise your dues).

To summarize this...what we've been doing is pretty good. Can it be tweeked? Of course. But for the most part 'everything old is new again.' For those of you who doubt this, let me point out an observation...WE, as a generation, are developing this new technology and people usually like (love) the new stuff they develop and/or create -- ego, folks. However, the "kids" don't have that ownership bias and evaluate each of these channels based upon what they deliver to them. Therefore, lets not dismiss this observation based upon our "ownership bias" of new technology. The 'future members' just want the tools they are promised and perhaps many think that a 36 page, 4-color, perfect bound, magazine is better than an e-newsletter -- sometimes.

Top 10 Power Words according to Yale University

2010-07-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

Using the right word at the right time is essential to acheive ANY sales and marketing objective. In a recent posting by Gil Carlson on his blogg http://www.freelance-copy-writing.com/, he points out that, according to Yale University's psychology department, these are the TOP 10 Most Powerful Words you can use:

1. You -- Listed as the #1 most powerful word in every study reviewed. Because of the personal nature of advertising copywriting, you should use “you” in your headline, opening line and as often as possible. In fact, many copywriters will throw out a headline if “you” is not in it.

2. Results -- Works in rationalizing a purchase.

3. Health -- Especially powerful when it applies to a product.

4. Guarantee --Provides sense of safety at time of purchase.

5. Discover -- Presents a sense of excitement and adventure.

6. Love -- Continues to be an all-time favorite.

7. Proven -- Helps remove fear from trying something new.

8. Safety -- This could refer to health or long-lasting quality.

9. Save -- We all want to save something.

10. New -- It's part of basic human makeup to seek novelty.

Happy writing!

Unexpected Results on Social Networking and Association Renewal - Is Social Networking Really a Bad Thing?

2010-06-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report has been published with a surprising result! As stated on P.9, "Results also indicated that associations using Facebook, Twitter and/or their private association social networking are significantly more like to have renewal rates under 80%."

While some may argue that this may be a "sampling error," or some other statistical anomaly, might it also be a possible warning?

One of the overall 'take aways' for me from this study is the importance of 'personal touch' in the marketing program for both member and trade associations. In almost every instance, those associations that employed some level of "personal touch" like phone calls or personal visits, had either a higher acquisition rate, a higher renewal rate or both.

With this said, is it really surprising that associations using social networking have a lower renewal rate? I'd be interested in hearing what you all have to say on this.

MMC - A Success!

2010-06-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

First day back from the ASAE MMC and I want to send cudos to the ASAE team that ran this program. I think it was one of the best MMCs ever. The sessions were good and the attendees were very much "into it."

MGI also launched the 2010 Membership Benchmarking Survey results at a reception we sponsored. If you attended, I hope you all enjoyed it. If you have any questions concerning the study or would like a free copy, please feel free to contact me.

I also spoke with Vinay Kumar on how you can use the Membership Lifecycle to help you diagnose problems within your membership program. It was well attended with over 30 people who had a lot to say and share. It was a great session and I want to thank everyone who attended and participated.

Ten Top Tips from the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

2010-06-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! The MGI 2010 Membership Marketing Bechmarking Report. You can download your own copy by going to http://www.marketinggeneral.com/ Web site registration is required for the download.

Tony Rossell offers a wonderful summary of the Top 10 Tips taken from this study on his blog (which I strongly recommend that you read). Here is that summary:

"1. Out of a list of 10 options, association executives are most likely to rank growth in member counts (22%), revenue growth (21%), and net revenue growth (21%) as the primary definition of success for their organization.

2. Findings indicate a more marked difference in membership growth of over 11% for those organizations focused on acquisition rather than those focused on retention or on a balanced strategy (18%: acquisition vs. 4%: retention and 9%: both), the five year change in membership (38%: acquisition vs. 27%: retention and 34%: both), and the change in new members (24%: acquisition vs. 7%: retention and 16%: both).

3. For associations with over 5,000 members, direct mail is considered the most effective channel for new member recruitment.

4. While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the most commonly used social media tools, they are not necessarily considered the most effective in reaching membership goals by association executives. In fact, the most effective social networking tools are considered to be those that are basically housed within the association itself, namely the association listserv (50%) and/or a private association social network (39%).

5. Approximately two-thirds of respondents report using mailed welcome kits, a decrease from the 2009 study of 15 percentage points (68% in 2010 vs. 83% in 2009). However, findings indicate that associations with greater than 80% renewal are significantly more likely to use the mailed welcome kits (75% vs. 58%).

6. Directionally, findings demonstrate that associations with overall increases in membership over the past year, as well as those with renewal rates higher than 80% are more likely to attempt more renewal contacts before a membership expires. These increases in renewal rates appear after seven contacts.

7. Associations with renewal rates of 80% or higher are significantly more likely to offer EFT renewals (14% vs. 3%) as well as installment payment plans (55% vs. 35%). Associations with renewal rates less than 80% are significantly more inclined to offer multi-year renewals (54% vs. 18%).

8. Associations showing an increase in renewals over the past year are significantly more likely to offer automatic credit card renewals, compared to associations with declines in renewals (29% vs. 17%).

9. Unlike in the 2009 study, price is not the top driver responsible for non-renewals; in fact, one-third of the association executives indicate that they believe members do not renew because they perceive a lack of value in the organization. This is an increase of about 80%.

10. Associations did not experience radical changes in membership numbers over the past year. The largest percentage of increases or declines in membership ranged from 1% to 5% of the previous year’s total."

If you have any questions concerning the study please feel free to contact me at Erik@MarketingGeneral.com or call me at 703.706.0358

Please feel free to share your thoughts and reaction to the report in the comments section below.

4 Pillers of Online Marketing

2010-06-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

I read two interesting articles this morning. The first was by Wayne Friedman who reported that online ads will exceed $100 Billion (yes, 11 zeros -- $100,000,000,000) by 2015 and North America alone will be 45% of that ($45 Billion) and that Latin America will "...continue to be the fastest-growing region..." The biggest specific markets, I think to no ones surprise, will be China and Russia. Most of this will be billed through paid search.

The second article, written by Thad Kahlow and posted on Marketing Daily, pointed out the four most important investment considerations when developing your online campaign. In summary,

1. Launch a Robust Search Engine Marketing Campaign

Start with paid search. Find a sophisticated PPC team (three or more) or an agency (with multi-discipline expertise) that will look at your data and -- with a high level of confidence and certainty -- be able to promise you more ... lots more.

If you are managing a campaign in-house right now with only a single dedicated resource, chances are there are inefficiencies, which can be fixed quickly to yield immediate cost savings. Ever hear of exact mirror matching? While PPC is generating search results and ROI, build an internal search team and invest time and human resources toward gaining organic rankings.

SEO is the single largest potential for gain -- I mean CMO-attention-grabbing ROI. It's no longer snake oil and, when done well, it can put up huge numbers: rankings (branding), traffic (market share), conversions (sales). The winners in the online space -- the real winners -- will win first with SEO.

2. Improve the User's Website Experience & Conversions

Give your users what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. Do that well and you will improve your brand equity as well as measure increased business results. Focus on the users first and business goals second ... sit back and count the cash. Well, it's not that easy, but when done well, it feeds a cycle of online success.

According to Nielsen, spending 10% of your development budget on usability should improve your conversion rate by 83%. In most cases, it's far cheaper to use 15% of your development budget than to more than double your advertising budget.

3. Get in the Social Media Game

Start small, be realistic, and understand your first goal should be to listen. Yes, listen. Not market, not push a new message, not convert -- listen. Only after you have listened to your audience (current and potential clients) can you properly engage and begin a real conversation.

Once you build credibility and open a true dialogue, you can begin to reap the benefits of social media -- motivating others, your "mavens" to do it for you. Yes, eventually after you have climbed the mighty hill of social media, you can sit back and guide the boulder downhill. Let your mavens and evangelists do the work for you.

4. Measure

Measure it. Measure it. Measure it. Find out what works, find out what doesn't, and make business decisions based on real data. Don't guess, don't hope, don't anything ... measure it and improve marketing and results.

Much of this we've read before and hopefully many are doing. What I think is really important is when you put both articles into context, how important it is for us all to make a concerted effort to bring cohesive membership awareness, acquisition, engagement, renewal and reinstatement tactics to our membership development efforts. If online is where the ad revenue is going, then that is a HUGE indicator of where people are going. And either we can be in front of that, taking advantage of the 'low hanging fruit,' or way behind scrambling for crumbs.

Hope to see you at the ASAE MMC this Monday and Tuesday in DC

2010-06-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

I am speaking with Vinay Kumar at the ASAE Marketing and Membership Conference this Monday and Tuesday. I hope to see you there. As a "look behind the curtain," follow this link to read a little about what Vinay and I will be speaking about

http://www.asaecenter.org/PublicationsResources/EnewsletterMembership.cfm?ItemNumber=50962

Prepress Learnings from the MGI 2010 Membership Benchmarking Study - Most Effective Recruitment Channels

2010-06-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

While we will be presenting the 2010 Membership Benchmarking Study this Monday, June 14, 2010, at a special reception sponsored by MGI at the ASAE Marketing and Membership Conference in Washington, DC, here is a taste of what over 400 associations who participated in the survey and shared their membership practices and their opinions on what works best for each stage of the membership lifecycle had to say when asked "What are the Most Effective Recruitment Channels?"

For associations with less than 5,000 members, word-of-mouth is the most effecive method of new member recruitment. It is also the second most effective method for associations with over 5,000 members.

For associations with over 5,000 members, the exact opposite is true: direct mail is considered to be the most effective channel for new member recruitment while word-of-mouth is the second most effective method.

For trade associations, as well as those offering both individual membership and trade membership, the most effective recruitment method is member word-of-mouth.

There is so much more to this study, so I hope to see you at the MMC next week. If you can't make it or would like your own copy, please contact me at erik@marketinggeneral.com and I'll forward it after next Monday or you can go download a copy from our website at http://www.marketinggeneral.com/.

Corporate or Association Membership Mgmt: Top Features to Look for When Deciding on Your CRM

2010-05-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

Lewis Carroll is quoted as saying "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."

Unfortunately, I believe this is very true with CRM systems. These complex, time-intensive behemoths can be confusing.

But, your CRM system is the backbone of your member/customer communication. We count on our CRM to give us flexibility to communicate in any fashion our members/customers want to communicate in, to track the communications, and thru analytics and deeper analysis, to understand and anticipate their needs and levels of satisfaction.

From receiving your members' messages to responding to them, you count on your CRM to help you understand and address not only the obvious but also the 'implied.'

When developing a multi-channel campaign, I often hear that the CRM can't support this kind of activity or we "...can't track that kind of information." This is frustrating for my clients and certainly no walk in the park for me.

However, if you are looking to change your CRM, we all know that this is a long and very complex task that will require from 12 to 24 months of time from you and your team.

I was recently reminded of my own 'conversion experiences' the other day (I've run circulation departments for large publishing houses and have lead conversions of those files several times) and found a whitepaper by Focus Research entitled "10 Hosted CRM Features to Help Build Customer Loyalty: How to improve close rates and average deal size with the right CRM solution and features" that I thought might be helpful to those of you looking to invest in your CRM software or even looking to take the BIG BUCK LEAP and buy a new one.

Lead Management: Lost revenue is often a result of allowing prospects to fall through the cracks. With lead management, however, every lead is promptly routed to the right salesperson. What’s more, leads can be tracked and managed through the entire sales cycle, from initial identification to final sale.
Feedback Management: By capturing customer feedback across all channels of communication, salespeople can capture a better understanding of the needs, wants and buying patterns of their customers. Furthermore, armed with feedback from countless touch points, a company can establish the processes required to deliver an optimum customer experience.
Order Management: When more than one department plays a part in processing an order, the margin for human error grows, as does the mound of paperwork. With order management, however, quotes are easily converted to orders, modified and saved in a single system.
Territory Management: Keep your sales reps from stepping on each others’ toes with territory management, which easily creates sales territories and manages territory-based processes with workflow rules and reports.
Email Management: One surefire way to anger your customers is by failing to respond to their emails. These days, email correspondence is used to log complaints, issue requests and offer feedback. Fortunately, email management can chronicle customer-related communications with automated tracking of customer emails. As a result, emails can be responded to in a timely fashion, and end users can establish alerts if a message has not been handled within a predetermined time frame.
Contact Management: When it comes to staying on top of your customers, Microsoft Outlook is simply not enough. That’s why most CRM solutions include a contact-management component to provide employees with a complete, 360-degree view of their customers. Sales reps can view all contact and account information, as well as a customer’s purchasing history, from a central location. And reps can better manage their to-do lists by establishing alerts notifying them of upcoming tasks and events so that each customer is treated in an individual manner.
Reporting: From standard templates to heavily customized documents, CRM tools can generate detailed reports featuring contact information, opportunity pipeline information, lead-status analyses and specific customer case studies. In the end, these reports are an ideal way to organize a company’s collection of customer information and insights.
Opportunity Management and Forecasting: Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Opportunity management and forecasting provides a complete view of the sales and production pipeline so that businesses can accurately and quickly handle the orders they’re generating.
Marketing Campaign Analysis: How do you know if you’re getting the bang for the buck you’ve invested in a marketing campaign? CRM solutions can help monitor and analyze your advertising efforts, from trade shows to direct mail, so that every marketing dollar spent is spent wisely.
Marketing Revenue Tracking: So positive customer feedback isn’t enough to convince upper-management that a costly marketing campaign produced results? With marketing revenue tracking, a company can identify the marketing activities that generate the most sales revenue by directly linking every sales dollar back to its related campaign.

Good luck.

Corporate Loyalty Programs Need to Change to Membership Programs - Develop "Indispensability"

2010-04-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

As reported by the 4/29/2010 issue of Colloquy:

"According to an article in Marketing Magazine UK, despite 86% of the population using retail loyalty cards on a regular basis, 50% of shoppers do not think it is worthwhile collecting points, according to a new survey conducted by YouGov SixthSense.

The report also found that 93% of consumers would continue to shop somewhere, even if the retailer scrapped its loyalty program. Only 17% of respondents choose where to shop based on their participation in loyalty card programs.

The top loyalty programs, in terms of usage, show that consumers participated in more that one program, with Tesco Clubcard being used by 66% of those surveyed, Nectar by 55%, and the Boots Advantage Card by 48%.

"Loyalty programs need to do more to create customer loyalty. The programs are best suited to retailers that are used frequently or where loyalty cards can be used in multiple stores, so that points and rewards accumulate at a fast enough rate to keep people interested", stated James McCoy, research director for YouGov SixthSense.

The online survey was carried out between February 18 and 20, and 1,469 British adults took part."

Corporations can learn a lesson from Membership Organizations by stepping up their "loyalty programs," by working to become indispensable to their customers.

Associations work to not only service their 'customer's' current needs, but to anticipate them. There in lies the difference - loyalty programs reward for the present whereas membership programs provide for the present on a more individual level as well as anticipates the future needs of their "customers." We discuss a 'customer life cycle' where we develop products and services for our members at different stages of their career or membership cycle.

If corporations want real loyalty, they need to not only be a friend today by providing benefits now, but be a friend tomorrow and anticipate their customer needs move over the time of their customer lifecycle.

What do job hunters need?

2010-04-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

Job Boards are historically the #1 benefit of membership next to the publication and 'networking.' During the past 20 months, this has been more true than ever. Those associations that were quick to realize this early on effectively navigated this past recession with some associations actually growing.

Therefore, I thought it would be reasonable to include an excerpt from the April 26, 2010 issue of a weekly email I receive from ExecuNet, a recruiter. It points out the skills a job hunter needs to work effectively in finding a new position in this economy. I present this to you as an outline of what your members need to do if they are looking for a position in order to help you think about what services and products you may want to provide your membership in support of their job-hunting efforts.

"We recently released our 18th annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report to our membership, and this year, amidst all the challenges, there were quite a few success stories. In the last decade alone, we've experienced recession, recovery, high demand for executive talent, recession again, and now, the slow climb back up. But where past recoveries have been more robust, this rebound has the spring of an underinflated basketball and not the high-bouncing SuperBall we'd like.

What became apparent in our research and the experiences of our members throughout the last year is that job search and career advancement require a much more specialized strategy than ever, with an amalgam of skills that reach well beyond functional expertise. To succeed as an executive today, you need to:

- Collect data like a market researcher

- Investigate like a private eye

- Talk to others like a journalist

- Evaluate like a business development professional

- Target like a salesperson

- Think like a marketer

- Interview like a consultant

- Operate like a profit center

- Help people like a humanitarian

It might sound impossible, particularly if you've been off the market for a while, but there is one element at the nucleus, and it's the thing that has remained constant in our research as a means to long-term career growth: your network — because that's where you can find the market researchers, journalists, consultants, sales, marketing and biz dev pros who can help you.

Robyn Greenspan
Editor-in-Chief
ExecuNet
Robyn.Greenspan@execunet.com
twitter.com/RobynGreenspan
295 Westport Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06851
800.637.3126

Do the services or products you provide to your job-hunting members support any of the above? Would they appreciate them?

Something to think about.

Thanks Robyn.

"The My Starbucks reward program has been an overwhelming success"

2010-04-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Membership has long been a viable marketing and revenue channel for corporations looking to tap into people's need to be part of something bigger - I call it the "joiner gene." In the Starbucks Corporation F2Q10 (Qtr End 03/28/10) Earnings Call Transcript as cited by SeekingAlpha.com, Howard Schultz, Chairman of the Board, President & Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks had this to say about the My Starbucks reward program:

"...My Starbucks reward program has been an overwhelming success, driving unprecedented levels of customer engagement and loyalty as noted by both store visit frequency and cash loaded.

In fact, the rewards program is cited by core customers as the number one reason for increased visits versus six months ago. Since relaunching the program in December, registered card users have shown a significant increase in frequency with continued steady ticket performance. Card reloads were up nearly 45% this quarter versus Q2 ’09 driven largely by reloads on the new gold level card and since the program launched in December we’ve added over one million new accounts.

In addition, more than 200,000 customers have earned their way to gold level by visiting Starbucks 30 times in just eight weeks illustrating the tremendous traffic driving power of the card and the ongoing loyalty of our customers. Early this month we expanded our Starbucks card mobile payment, a test to 1,000 of our licensed locations in Target stores nationwide allowing card members to load their cards and pay for their Starbucks purchases using their iPhones. Stay tuned for further announcements of important consumer facing initiatives that will enable us to leverage mobile payment and other technologies that are ready made for the Starbucks brand in the months ahead."

Here is the link to read the entire transcript: Starbucks Corporation F2Q10 (Qtr End 03/28/10) Earnings Call Transcript -- Seeking Alpha

The success of this initiative is obviously based upon:
- a well thought out strategy
- a strong communication plan
- a very strong brand
- strong messaging
- and most important, buy in by all levels to the successful execution
of the program

I bring out the last point only because in many instances, this is where we fall apart. We forget that every time a member contacts us, we need to stay on message and deliver it in a way that our members will want to stay with us. I know that you know this...and I am very aware of how difficult it is to keep your team motivated and your superiors interested. But if you can do this, then your renewal rates will increase and your product sales will increase...and ultimately your job will get easier.

Now, is this a straight ahead "membership?" Well, people are 'joining' (albeit for free) a program where they are expecting specfic benefits. So, in my book, this looks a lot like a membership.

Great Idea to Increase Engagement and Launch a Mobile Txt Initiative

2010-04-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

I went to the ASAE Idea Swap in Columbia, MD, today. It was on the use of smart phones as a marketing channel and here is a very smart idea...

Amadie Hart of Beaconfire Consulting officiated the session and made what I think to be a very good suggestion.

Make your Membership List accessible to your member's smart phones. This can be done through either an app or a specially designed site (Not a big deal, really. It was suggested that you could use free software like Mobify or Mofuse to help you with this. There are more, simply Google "Mobile website design" and many more will pop up).

What a great way to demonstrate 'networking' and deliver a real value to your membership. It also allows you to explore (research) the value of that channel to your membership and help you decide how much you really want to put into developing it.

Ultimately, we all agreed that this is simply another channel like direct mail, email, publications, etc. through which we can communicate with our members, prospects and customers. What's important is understanding the kind of information that is most appropriate for this channel. Meaning...to date the mobile channel has really been most successfully used for those messages that are 'important' to the member and require an immediate response (ie: voting for the next American Idol; donating to the American Red Cross for Haiti relief; etc.).

I suggested that, when developing your communication strategy, that you identify information in a sliding scale of importance to your market (1 = not immediately important; 5 = must know it now!!!!!) and determine what channels you'll use to deliver the information by that level. So, an announcement about a new product line extension may be delivered via the Website and your monthly publication while a vote on a new regulation that will impact your business today may be delivered via mobile.

The best suggestion, as always, is to ask your members how they want you to communicate with them...then do it.

Taxes: I Just Renewed My Membership with the United States of America

2010-04-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

It's April 16 and I paid my renewal in the United States (Association) yesterday. Its a sliding scale dues rate based upon net earnings. I got about $5.00 back so that most likely says alot about my income group.

Anyway.

I was musing on association models the other day and thought about how similar our citizenship is to a very complex association. As long as I pay my dues (taxes), I can enjoy the benefits of membership: free speech, persuit of happiness, the right to move around this great country unencumbered by police (for the most part), an educational system for my son, the right to work where I can earn the most (or at least try to work there), and so on. If any of you have traveled, you personally know how great this country is. And, if I decide not to abide by the rules that govern this association, I will be banned from using these benefits.

So, are there any lessons here for us as association professionals? The biggest one to me is clearly stating the benefits of membership and keep reminding our members of how great it is to be associated with such a great organization. Provide messaging for every opportunity to promote your membership (ie: National Anthem sung before every sporting event; nightly news promoting the work of leaders, openly celebrate your national and regional heros and those who have sacrificed for your cause, etc.).

Taking an aggressive messaging stand like this opens you up to also taking some shots, but in the end honesty and transparency is rewarded (ie: Bill Clinton comes to mind). But isn't this the kind of 'engagement' we all want from our membership? Honesty. Open debate on important topics so that the best idea for the majority of people can be implemented.

What is a great association? Well, my thought is one that openly confronts major issues, supports debate and provides those who want to particpate, the opportunity to participate.

Needless to say, I think this is a great country to be associated with and I would not change my membership for the world.

Cut the Clutter on Your Website or You May Not Be Found

2010-04-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

Google has announced that 'site speed' is a new search criteria. Given this new development, you would be well advised to review how 'cluttered' your site is and begin looking at how you can achieve your marketing goals using fewer files or simply trimming the load speed of your site.

The following is directly taken from a google posting at
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

"Speeding up websites is important — not just to site owners, but to all Internet users. Faster sites create happy users and we've seen in our internal studies that when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there. But faster sites don't just improve user experience; recent data shows that improving site speed also reduces operating costs. Like us, our users place a lot of value in speed — that's why we've decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings. We use a variety of sources to determine the speed of a site relative to other sites.

If you are a site owner, webmaster or a web author, here are some free tools that you can use to evaluate the speed of your site:

Page Speed, an open source Firefox/Firebug add-on that evaluates the performance of web pages and gives suggestions for improvement.

YSlow, a free tool from Yahoo! that suggests ways to improve website speed.

WebPagetest shows a waterfall view of your pages' load performance plus an optimization checklist.

In Webmaster Tools, Labs > Site Performance shows the speed of your website as experienced by users around the world as in the chart below. We've also blogged about site performance.

While site speed is a new signal, it doesn't carry as much weight as the relevance of a page. Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal in our implementation and the signal for site speed only applies for visitors searching in English on Google.com at this point. We launched this change a few weeks back after rigorous testing. If you haven't seen much change to your site rankings, then this site speed change possibly did not impact your site.

We encourage you to start looking at your site's speed (the tools above provide a great starting point) — not only to improve your ranking in search engines, but also to improve everyone's experience on the Internet."

Posted by Amit Singhal, Google Fellow and Matt Cutts, Principal Engineer, Google Search Quality Team

Would you be happy with a 500% return on your member acquisition? Is your membership acquisition program too successful?

2010-04-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

I visited a client this week and told him that "I have good news and bad news."

Good news first! I showed him a summary of the eight new member acquisition campaigns that we've run for him during the past 19 months. The results have been great. For every $1.00 he spent with MGI we returned $5.38 in membership dues.

A 1:5 ratio. An impressive metric. This was accomplished with new offers, a new package and using internal lists (expired members, product buyers) and a few external lists.

But its too much good.

Now the Bad News...I told my client that the return prompted me to make two recommendations: 1) we need to be more aggressive in our list and channel testing. While I do believe that my team - shout out to Toya - and MGI do a great job (hopefully many of you feel the same way), every campaign can't be a winner. Let's be realistic. We're ecstatic with a ratio of 1:1. The typical metric for retail is 1:3 or 1:4. I told him that we need to be increasing the size of our campaigns using more outside lists.

He got it right away! Even though we're just now beginning to dig our way out of a recession, he understood that he needs to invest more in exploring new opportunities.

The second recommendation was to review his renewal program. While the lists of product buyers ranks as the #1 response list for these campaigns, the #2 has been non-renewed members. If we take a Systems Approach to membership acquisition as outlined by the Membership Lifecycle, we realize that the success of our reinstate program is inversely dependent upon the success of the renewal and engagement programs. Given that the reinstate is so successful strongly indicates that not enough is being done to renew these expired members and possibly not enough has been done to get them engaged after they joined.

He understood.

We're now working to increase the number of lists and channels that we test and we'll be reviewing the renewal and engagement programs as we move forward.

But what about your reinstate and acquisition programs? Are they too successful? What return should you reasonably expect? These are important questions to answer.

14 Tips to Use Google Effectively

2010-04-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

Like you I try to read and attempt to keep up with "the information overload" of our profession. To do this, I love "Tip Lists." Short...concise...easy to read...all GOOD for a guy like me. So here is one I just found from a post entitled "How to Use Google Effectively - 14 Tips to Save You Time."

The title says it all..."14 Tips to Save You Time."

It was put together by Donal Daly on Sales 2.0 Network. I hope you can use it:

Use quotation marks for exact phrases. Searching for “The TAS Group”, with the quotation marks, is much more efficient that just searching for The TAS Group, and return far fewer spurious results.
Use ‘OR’ to include more than one search item: Searching for ipod OR mp3 player gives results that contain either ipod or mp3 player.
Placing a ‘-’ in front of a term excludes that word. TAS -Group will give answers that include TAS, but notGroup, so none of the results will have the word Group in them.
Use ‘~’ for synonyms. Searching for ~sales gives you results that contain sales alongside store, retail, etc.
Find items related to a URL: Search related: www.dealmakergenius.com, and your results will include information on The TAS Group, Sales 2.0 Network and other related items.
Search for sites that link to one another. If you search link: www.sales20network.com, you will find a list of all the sites that link to this blog. (There are quiet a few!)
Look inside a site. Searching for site:www.sales20network.com trust will find every reference to trust onwww.sales20network.com, or links on other sites that connect to a page on www.sales20network.com that contains the word trust.
Put … between numbers searches for numbers in that range. Searching for ROI 10…30 will generates a list of results that contain ROI and numbers in the range between 10 and 30.
Not case sensitive: Google search is not case sensitive, so searching on tas returns the sames results asTAS.
Get definitions: Using define: sale, will give you definitions of sale from many sources.
Get time or weather: Using time: Dublin, Ireland or weather: Seattle, WA, will quickly figure out time zones, and tell you what time it is now in Dublin, Ireland (alway happy time) or the weather in Seattle, WA (always wet).
Get exchange rates: 150 euros to dollars will (today) return 205.15 U.S. dollars
Quick URL info: You can get info on dealmakergenius.com, by searching on info: dealmakergenius.com. It will include a short description, links to its cache, similar pages, and sites that link to that URL.
Use Google as a calculator: You can use Google to evaluate many math expressions. Search for365*24*60*60 and will Google tell you the number of seconds in a day (31536000).

Update to Say Nothing post...

2010-04-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

In my earlier post "Say Nothing May be More Improtant" I want to update the response rate. It was 20...NOW IT'S 30. Still one sale, but my client has had the chance to have 30 conversations and personally pitch membership 30 times as a result of an email that HAD NO TEXT. These people called him!

Very cool.

ASAE GreatIdeas! Conference

2010-04-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone who attended my session at the Great Ideas! conference. We had over 60 people attend the session and some great conversations. I hope everyone who did attend walked away with at least one "Greate Idea."

For those of you who could not make it, please let me know and I'll be happy to forward to you not only my session the The Membership Lifecycle, but also Jeremy Griffen's session on "Testing Strategies for Membership Acquisition."

Email Member Acquisition and Renewal Metrics

2010-03-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

I recently reviewed a Silverpop study of for-profit promotions average click-thru and open rates.

But what about click-thru and open rates for membership acquisition and renewals?

In 2009, in three acquisition campaigns for three different clients, we sent out over 130,000 emails. Open rates ranged from 16% to 18.77%, with click-thru rates ranging from 3.49% to 5.66%.

Obviously the sample size is still small. But, what is interesting is how closely the open rates and the click-thru rates are clustered -- especially given the divergence of markets that received these emails. This gives me confidence that we might actually be seeing a trend.

Interestingly, when looking at renewals, I'm seeing an open rate of almost 30% and a click thru rate of almost 18%. In comparison to the acquisition open and click-thru rates this makes perfect sense.

This is the first step in reporting this data. I welcome anybody to report their responses as well.

McKinley's 2010 Benchmarking Report

2010-03-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

McKinley Marketing just released their 2010 Economic Impact on Associations: A Benchmarking Report on Priorities, Challenges and Strategies for 2010. Here is a summary of their key findings as presented in the report.

Survey Method
McKinley developed an online survey to measure key data in the EIA study. The survey was launched on December 8, 2009 and remained open until January 8, 2010. The results presented in this study include responses from approximately 350 organizations within the association community.

In many cases, the impact of the recession in 2009 was not as bad as expected.
Going into 2009, 82% of participants in McKinley’s initial EIA study felt that the economy was bound to have an extremely or somewhat negative impact on their ability to achieve their goals in the coming year. Eight percent did not believe the economy would have any significant impact — either positive or negative — and 3% anticipated a positive impact. In this study, when asked to look back on 2009, 37% of respondents felt that actual results were about what was expected while 35% claim that results were not as bad as anticipated. Twenty eight percent experienced results that were worse than expected (4% were “far worse”).

The outlook for 2010 is decidedly more positive than it was one year ago.
This time a year ago 82% anticipated that the economy would negatively impact their activities,
compared to 67% of this year’s respondents. As we look to 2010, 13% feel the economy will have
a positive effect (compared with 3% in 2009).

The recession remains a concern and will likely continue to affect associations’ core business lines.
Survey participants maintain a high level of alert over the economy’s effect on non-dues revenue activities, particularly sponsorships and advertising. Apprehension over meeting attendance has decreased slightly, though it remains a primary issue. Concern with the effect the recession has on membership recruitment and retention is diminishing slightly.

Many associations accessed reserves in 2009, with many organizations using the funds to invest in new initiatives.
Given the large percentage of associations reporting budget cuts in mid-2009, it seemed likely that associations would find it necessary to access reserve funds during the year. Indeed, forty-two percent of participants report having accessed their reserve funds in 2009. Of these, nearly half (47%) indicate that they used the reserve funds only to cover operating expenses. 53% used reserves to invest in new initiatives...
Budget cuts, freezes on salary increases and hiring freezes are the most likely results of economic conditions in 2010. However, budget cuts are down slightly in 2010.
...35% of participating associations indicated that budget cuts were currently happening. However, ... it appears that the overall trend toward cutting budgets is on the decline.

Growing membership remains the top priority in 2010, with the importance of increasing meeting attendance on the rise.
Once again, the top two priorities of the association executives that completed the study are improving member retention and acquiring new members.

Less than one-quarter of associations plan to add staff in 2010.
According to the data, 24% of associations polled plan to add staff in 2010, while 60% suggest they will not be adding staff (16% answered “Don’t know”). The most common areas where these staff members will be added are Education/Professional Development, Marketing, Membership, Communications and Meetings/Expositions.

Targeted marketing efforts are the most effective tactics, according to the data.
As in 2009, database marketing, event marketing/trade shows and market research are the most effective tactics to accomplish association goals, while online media, print advertising and member-get-a-member programs were cited as least effective.

Despite conditions, some areas are seeing slight budget increases, most notably market research, direct mail, trade show attendance/marketing and online advertising.
The overall trends extracted from the survey data indicate rather flat budgets in 2010 with respect to overall marketing expenditures. In most categories, the majority of respondents selected “remain the same” when indicating their anticipated budget situations for 2010 as they compare with 2009. There are some signs; however, to indicate that increases are underway in some of the more targeted areas of marketing such as market research, direct mail, trade show attendance/marketing and online advertising.

If you’d like to read the study, here is the link: http://www.mckinleymarketing.com/resources/2010%20EIA%20Report_FINAL.pdf

Saying "Nothing" may be more important than saying anything

2010-03-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

We all have stories about the the contradictions we see in marketing and sales. We'll say "no one will ever respond to this" or "this will really bring in the responses," and then you get more responses than you can handle or no one responds and all you hear are crickets.

Well, here is one of those stories.

I deployed an email for a client of mine yesterday to approximately 1100 prospects. Only when the email arrived, there was NO TEXT. No message, no nothing. A really big silence, if you will.
My client immediately called me and I immediately started digging into what happened.

Well, my client called me this morning and told me that I "may be onto something new." You see, in the past 24 hours, he's received over 20 phone calls from people who wanted to let him know that they received his email without any text.

That's a 2% response rate.

My client, being the resourcful fellow that he is, actually sold a $600 membership to one of the 20. That covers his cost of the campaign.

Why did this happen?

I think it primarily has to do with his association's brand to the people on the list - in other words, this is a good list. They are familiar with, and believe in the quality of, the association. So much so that THEY will follow up, taking time from their lives to qualify a communication.

Did I say this is a good list!

So, when you are struggling with your messaging, while you most likely shouldn't do it, why not think about doing the same thing - send out an email saying "nothing" and see what happens?

To Willard Wigan, "small acts" create BIG returns

2010-03-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

In accordance with my Sunday ritual, after having breakfast with my father I came home and watched CBS' Sunday Morning. A feature focused on Willard Wigan (www.willard-wigan.com), an AMAZING artist. While we often read about or see large works of art, he has gone to the other extreme creating sculptures on the heads of pins and in the eyes of needles. His tools are not paint brushes or chisels held in his hands, but his own eye-lashes or even the hair from a fly. You must view his art through a micro-scope. And he is being paid about $100,000 per piece.

Small act but a tremendous reward.

He is a modest man. He openly states that he hates doing the work but takes great pride in having done it. I really like this guy.

So why am I bringing him up? Well, it seems to me that Willard can teach us a few things about working with our members and team mates. Primarily, small acts pay great rewards. We make a promise, we keep it. A member calls, we listen and offer respect and concern to satisfying their complaint or observation. This may seem small, but it will reap huge rewards like increased renewal rates, increased product sales and increased word of mouth advertising which impacts member acquisition.

We may not like the customer service training or the extra time it takes, but we'll be proud of what we've accomplished.

Have a great week and check out Willard Wigan when you can.

Breath In, Breath Out, Move On - The Zen of Buffet

2010-03-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

I recently went to the Margaritaville in Orlando and picked up a hat with the sagely words..."Breath In, Breath Out, Move On." I like this. Very Zen. Keith Moon, deceased drummer of The Who once said "No matter where you are, that's where you're at." Both are simple and very much in tune with how I would like to treat not only my foibles, but also my successes.

I also think the world would be a better place if we all felt that way. Don't get me wrong, I really believe that you celebrate your success; and, kick yourself in the proverbial butt when you don't measure up to your own standards. But these two sayings really put into perspective that unless you are curing cancer or have just landed an airplane on the Hudson River and everyone survived, pretty much what we do has relatively little impact on the world. It may make our "immediate world" a much better or more uncomfortable place, but in the long run the sun will still come up tomorrow and I'll still have to put my pants on one leg at a time.

I'm thinking about this now because of a personal situation that occurred just the other day. I purchased a 2005 Mustang Convertible for my son. Great price (thousands below retail), only 21,475 miles. It is RED with two racing stripes. Yep, I'm that kind of dad. Believe me, a great deal of research went into it and to my surprise, this one car, at this price, beat out every other used car we looked at for that price.

Well, when I went to pay the taxes on this vehicle I learned that I would have to pay the retail value and not Blue Book (I've never purchased a car from an individual before so I was not prepared for what happened next).

I was surprised (putting it mildly) that this tax bill was over $300 MORE than I expected. OMG folks! I blew my top. And unfortunately, my poor - and very patient - wife got caught in my tirade. Collateral Damage. It literally took me an hour to come down off the ceiling. A real "Hissy Fit." I then spent the next 12 hours apologizing to my wife of almost 22 years. She is a gracious person who is truly my anchor and someone who I do not deserve.

I simply did not..."Breath In, Breath Out, Move On" until it was a bit late. Live and learn.

Next time you're faced with a success or an "alternative-success" (how PC, eh?), think "Breath In, Breath Out, Move On." Maybe this will ground you and make the next success that much easier to attain and perhaps you'll have less "collateral damage."

A Wise Observation by Seth Godin

2010-03-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I read Seth Godin's blog which you can find at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
There is no doubt that Seth is a marketer's marketer. His ideas are well based, intelligent AND practical. If you ever get the opportunity to watch Seth in action at an ASAE event, DO IT!

In today's update entitled "Driveby culture and the endless search for wow," Seth points out something very important about what I call "fast-food value" where the value proposition of a service or product lasts about as long as the time it takes to consume a hamburger or burrito.

The web has allowed these 'shoppers' the opportunity to kill hours just...looking. Taking a piece here and there, but never committing to a strategy or line of thought. As membership marketers, are we pandering to an online audience who have the loyalty of a cat (no offense to you cat owners, but come on) as we fight for awareness as measured by clicks, views and eyeballs in an effort to satisfy our internal leadership, or are we using this exciting channel to educate and show our members and potential members that we provide the products and services they need to grow personally and professionally? The other question is, are these people really interested in that?

This is a thought-provoking article and I hope you enjoy it. Even after I've read this article 3 times and as I'm writing this at 7:06 am, I am distracted by my own thoughts on this very topic. Seth, good job and thanks. Again you've made me think.

Here you go...

Driveby culture and the endless search for wow.

The net has spawned two new ways to create and consume culture.

The first is the wide-open door for amateurs to create. This is blogging and online art, wikipedia and the maker movement. These guys get a lot of press, and deservedly so, because they're changing everything.

The second, though, is distracting and ultimately a waste. We're creating a culture of clickers, stumblers and jaded spectators who decide in the space of a moment whether to watch and participate (or not).

Imagine if people went to the theatre or the movies and stood up and walked out after the first six seconds. Imagine if people went to the senior prom and bailed on their date three seconds after the car pulled away from the curb.

The majority of people who sign up for a new online service rarely or never use it. The majority of YouTube videos are watched for just a few seconds. Chatroulette institutionalizes the glance and click mentality. I'm guessing that more than half the people who started reading this post never finished it.

This is all easy to measure. And it drives people with something to accomplish crazy, because they want visits to go up, clicks to go up, eyeballs to go up.

Should I write blog posts that increase my traffic or that help change the way (a few) people think?

Should a charity focus on instant donations by texting from a million people or is it better to seek dedicated attention and support from a few who understand the mission and are there for the long haul?

More and more often, we're seeing products and services coming to market designed to appeal to the momentary attention of the clickers. The Huffington Post has downgraded itself, pushing thoughtful stories down the page in exchange for linkbait and sensational celebrity riffs. This strategy gets page views, but does it generate thought or change?

If you create (or market) should you be chasing the people who click and leave? Or is it like trying to turn a cheetah into a house pet? Is manipulating the high-voltage attention stream of millions of caffeinated web surfers a viable long-term strategy?

Mass marketing used to be able to have it both ways. Money bought you audience. Now, all that buys you a mass market is wow and speed. Wow keeps getting harder and dives for the lowest common denominator at the same time.

Time magazine started manipulating the cover and then the contents in order to boost newsstand sales. They may have found a short-term solution, but the magazine is doomed precisely because the people they are pandering to don't really pay attention and aren't attractive to advertisers.

My fear is that the endless search for wow further coarsens our culture at the same time it encourages marketers to get ever more shallow. That's where the first trend comes in... the artists, idea merchants and marketers that are having the most success are ignoring those that would rubberneck and drive on, focusing instead on cadres of fans that matter. Fans that will give permission, fans that will return tomorrow, fans that will spread the word to others that can also take action.

Culture has been getting faster and shallower for hundreds of years, and I'm not the first crusty pundit to decry the demise of thoughtful inquiry and deep experiences. The interesting question here, though, is not how fast is too fast, but what works? What works to change mindsets, to spread important ideas and to create an audience for work that matters? What's worth your effort and investment as a marketer or creator?

The difference this time is that driveby culture is both fast and free. When there's no commitment of money or time in the interaction, can change or commerce really happen? Just because you can measure eyeballs and pageviews doesn't mean you should.

In the race between 'who' and 'how many', who usually wins--if action is your goal. Find the right people, those that are willing to listen to what you have to say, and ignore the masses that are just going to race on, unchanged.

Don Dea offers up Rules for Twitter as a Fundraising Tool

2010-03-12T04:17:00.000-08:00

Don Dea is an accomplished entrepreneur, marketer and association pro. Among his many accomplishments, he is co-founder of Fusion Productions, current president of the ASAE Membership Section and a prolific writer with his own blog DigitalNow Community Group from LinkedIn. The following is taken from his post dated March 10, 2010.

Twitter fundraising has steadily been on the rise in the last two years. Twitter has been used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and charitable causes, and has been used to spread awareness about social issues. But it takes more than posting multiple tweets a day to get the job done. We talked to a few Twitter () fundraising pros about what they’ve found to be the best practices.

1. Cultivate a Strong Community First : First and foremost, always keep in mind that the power of Twitter is merely a reflection of the power of community. Twitter is not a fundraising machine; people are...

2. State Your Purpose and Your Request Clearly: When disseminating information, be sure to state your purpose clearly and concisely. Let people know why they should care about your cause, and be specific about how their contributions will benefit others. It seems like common sense, but there are times when we forget to highlight the “why” and “how” when making a statement or releasing a call to action....

3. Create Buzz and Excitement: Generating hype around your cause and event is imperative, which means it’s important to be singular and set your charity apart from the rest. Catchy taglines or hashtags and unique avatar ribbons are simple features that can be incorporated to brand your initiative....

4. Have a Strong Set Up Behind the Scenes: Twitter is a great a many things. It’s a tool for communication. It’s a platform for spreading your message. It’s an information source, and it’s a community builder. However, using Twitter and creating hype around your cause doesn’t guarantee any cold hard cash....

5. Have a Powerful Offline Component: While we can enjoy and value the exchanges we have via Twitter, at the end of the day, we’re humans and we feed the most off of human interaction. Whether it’s a tweetup, a festival, a rally, or a concert, having an offline component tied into your fundraising practice is vital....

6. Plan, Prepare, Execute, then Get Out of the Way: Like with any entity branded by social media, it’s important to remember that because Twitter is an integral part of your fundraising campaign, you do not have control over how your message is going to be spread. ...

7. Recognize Volunteers and Donors: Recognizing individuals for their contributions goes far, especially in the Twitterverse. Whether it’s a mention on a blog, a photo on a website, a thank you tweet, or a goody bag, your contributors should be acknowledged for their time and energy. Honors can be issued at offline events and make the entire fundraising experience that much more celebratory...

9. Keep Track of Developing Relationships: Seeing money come in is merely one of the many rewards bestowed upon non-profits, volunteers and donors. In addition to raising funds for important causes, a certain alchemy transpires when people come together to create social good, and from there more change-making can occur. Once again, the cornerstone is community...

10. Look for Ways to Improve for Next Time: Whether you meet your fundraising goals or you come up short, there is always room for improvement. Communicate with your supporters about what tactics worked with blazing colors and what actions bombed miserably. Be open to criticism and suggestions about ways the process could run more smoothly and effectively. Keep your humor and your wits about you.

Have brainstorming sessions. Research what other groups are doing to raise money using Twitter, but don’t try to replicate their campaigns. If you do so, your audience will see right through you.

Keep dreaming. Keep believing. Keep tweeting. And give yourself a pat on the back for doing your part for social good

By Don Dea Co-Founder, Fusion Productions

Last Chance to Participate

2010-02-26T06:41:00.000-08:00

For the second year in a row, MGI is conducting a Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey. The report will include a trend analysis of what has changed over the past year (since the 2009 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey) and highlight key data on what associations are doing in membership marketing - awareness, acquisition, engagement and renewal.

As we're about to close the questionnaire for our 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey, I wanted to make sure that you had one last chance to participate. For each person who completes a questionnaire, you'll receive a free copy of the final report.

If you'd like to participate, please use the link below to open the survey.

https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=126590674222

It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Surprising Results from a Recent Study - Students and Young Professionals are Influenced by Direct Mail

2010-01-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

Like all marketers, we are constantly evaluating which channel seems most appropriate in delivering our offer. Here at MGI, we’re finding that targeting specific niches using multiple channels with multiple touches dramatically increases response rates.

We’re also always hearing about the demise of direct mail. Well, if you take to heart the results of a 2008 study reported by Exact Target, you’ll realize that direct mail is still a strong channel through which you can deliver your message – even to younger audiences.

You’ll see that its not about using anyone channel in so much as it is about using the right channel.

Here is a summary of the results, as reported in Exact Target’s 2008 Channel Preference Survey of 1500 internet users age 15 to 65+ who were asked questions about their attitudes and usage of one-to-one communication channels. Given the age span, researchers were able to cluster responses by age and reported the results by 6 “Personas:”

1. Wired – young males ages 18 to 34, no children, college educated with a minimum annual income of $35,000. Spend an average of 8 hours/day on their computers with high internet and email usage. Use of text messaging, social networks and IM are above average. Big concurrent media users. View different channels by perceived level of urgency: SMS for financial alerts and travel changes; email for promotions, account updates, etc. They tend to use phone and email first when communicating for personal reasons. Avid on-line shoppers and influenced to shop through email. Ads and messaging through social networks are not appreciated. Favorable attitude toward direct mail.

Marketer Takeaway – use the right channel for the right communication.

2. Young Homemakers – young women between the ages of 18 and 34 who consider “homemaker” to be their primary occupation, with annual household income of at least $35,000. Primarily use email for personal communication (58%), but also use text messaging and IM to a much lesser extent. Some concurrent media usage. They do participate in social networks and don’t seem to welcome advertising through this channel. Over 72% have been influenced to purchase by direct mail.

Marketer Takeaway – personal communication and control is a big thing. “Build opt-in relationship with this group for email, or leverage their affinity to direct mail with relevant, helpful information…” (pg. 6)

3. Retired – exclusively retirees and includes both men and women, but skewed toward men (57%). 80% attended college and 41% received at least a Bachelor’s degree. Spend seven hours a day on average watching TV. Not big concurrent media users. Spend a “significant amount of time” (pg 6) reading newspapers and books. 2.5 times more likely to call than to write. Small percentage (3%) have adopted text messaging and IM as primary communication tools. 81% have purchased online. Direct mail has influenced 90% to make a purchase. 73% reported to being influenced by email to make a purchase.

Marketer Takeaway – stay with direct mail but now use email.

4. College Students – primarily 18 to 24 years of age (but 10% of the sample were older). Big concurrent media users, with heavy internet usage as well as spending “considerable time reading books, listening to music and watching movies” (pg. 7). Heavy social network users (64% reported that they regularly participate) and use IM and texting. College women are 9% more likely to purchase online than average. Direct mail and email have influenced 55% and 50% respectively to make a purchase. Permission is a big deal for this spam-savvy group.

Marketer Takeaway – keep personal and business promotions separate.

5. Teens – high-school students between 15 and 17 years of age. Big screen-based media users, usually accessing multiple channels concurrently (I can personally attest to this as I do have a 16 year-old). Big users of text messaging, IM and social networking sites. Interesting note that “female teens spending more time on email and males spending more time with IM” (pg 9). Surprisingly, “Teens see direct mail as the most appropriate channel for marketers to communicate with them. 58% say they have been influenced by Direct Mail to make a purchase” (pg. 10).

Marketer Takeaway – teens are more likely to be influenced to make a purchase by direct mail than any other method.

6. Established Pros – professionals employed full-time, age 35+, annual income greater than $75,000. “…moderate media consumers” (pg. 10). Online many times a day, typically more often at work than at home. Prefer the telephone when communicating with friends. Most frequently use email to communicate. When compared with other groups, use of digital media is low. Big online shoppers. 94% have made a purchase as the result of a direct marketing campaign. 90% have been influenced by direct mail.

Marketer Takeaway – “…it’s about email and direct mail…and that’s it” (pg. 11).

If you’d like a copy of this whitepaper, go to www.exacttarget.com.

Email Marketing Metrics

2010-01-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

I am often asked if there are benchmarks for open, click and bounce rates, which we can use to evaluate the effectiveness of email as a channel to deliver our promotions and messages. I recently found a study published by Silverpop (www.silverpop.com) which presents a "...classic list of email marketing benchmarks..."

While I have not yet found anything relating directly to association marketing or membership marketing, I think that you'll find the following interesting and useful as a reference.

In a recent study published by Silverpop (International Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study, Silverpop, 2009), the acclaimed e-mail marketing company pulled a random sample of 7,000 email messages generated in July of 2009, which equated to approximately 50,000,000 emails delivered to 188 countries.

Here is a summary of those benchmarks.

1. Open Rate (Unique Opens)
	Average	Median
Overall	22.20%	19.40%
US	21.30%	18.30%
UK	22.50%	19.80%
Germany	24.90%	23.00%

2. Open Rate (Gross)
	Average	Median
Overall	42.10%	29.70%
US	41.20%	27.30%
UK	38.30%	29.70%
Germany	44.30%	35.70%

3. Click Through Rate (Unique)
	Average	Median
Overall	4.50%	2.40%
US	4.50%	2.30%
UK	4.80%	2.70%
Germany	5.00%	2.80%

4. Click-To-Open Rate
	Average	Median
Overall	18.50%	15.00%
US	19.10%	15.10%
UK	19.20%	16.20%
Germany	17.80%	13.80%

5. Bounce Rates
	Average	Median
Overall	5.50%	2.40%
US	4.10%	1.80%
UK	3.60%	1.30%
Germany	4.40%	1.70%

In regard to methodology, the authors write:

"This study examined messages generated in July 2009 by Silverpop's Engage client base. Researchers pulled a random sample set of 7,000 email messages, delivered to a minimum of 50 recipients in the United State, United Kingdom and Germany. Approximately 50 million emails were delivered across the messages to 188 countries."

"A broad set of email message types was included in the study, from promotional to content-based newsletters sent by companies in a variety of industries. Email campaigns and newsletters comprised the message content examined for the study."

"...researchers analyzed various metrics for bothe the Overall category (all 188 recipient countries, including the US, UK and Germany) and country by country for the US, UK and Germany. We did not perform individual country analysis for any of the 185 remaining countries."

As always, the best benchmark to measure YOUR current programs against are YOUR previous programs. However, we're often asked if there are industry standards that we can at least include in our evaluation of a campaign. In light of that reference, I hope that you find the above useful.

This was only a brief summary of the results. If you are curious, I recommend that you go to www.silverpop.com to learn more.

Do you know what your members "biggest need" is? It should be your biggest asset!

2010-01-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

I am reading the 1/10 issue of ASAE's Associations Now and came upon an article (pg 24 if you are so inclined) entitled "Tune In to Your Members' Wavelength" by Tracy Krughoff, Director of Event Communications at the Biotechnology Industry Organization here in D.C. Occasionally, someone writes or says something in such a clear and simple way that it makes you stop, shake your head up and down, and say...

"Sweet."

That's what Tracy's article just gave me. "Sweet."

While the article focuses on an apparently very successful event, what Tracy pointed out really drives home what Tony Rossell, Kevin Whorton, Roger Harris, Dean West,...yes, and me, have talked about all during this recession.

Ready?

Here it is: Your members' biggest need must be your biggest asset.

"Sweet"

This is profound in its simplicity.

Dare I say it?..."Sweet."

Some of you are most likely saying "big deal, Erik. Nothing new here." But I beg to differ with you. I still see associations using the same 'value proposition' that they used 2...5...10 years ago. Same language. Same look. Same offering.

They have little to no idea what their members are going through and they are not trying to find out.

They blame the recession or the industry for the errosion of their membership or non-dues revenue.

But the simple fact is...life changes.

What worked then may not work now. Five years ago, a timely publication that offered unique insights into an industry might have been enough. Maybe it still is for your industry. But, given the recession, changes in communications and technology, and several other society-wide variables, most likely it isn't anymore.

So here it is. Ask yourself if your association's value proposition addresses your members' greatest need? If it does, cudos. If not, find out what your members need and get it for them.

Albert Einstein said it best...

2009-12-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's the end of a decade, time to reflect on who I am, what I want, and what I want to be when I grow up. In my personal reflection, I found a wonderful quote that inspired me. I also found it relevant for association and membership marketers.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "Try not to be a man of success, but a man of value." This axiom is vital for every association - membership, trade and everything between the two. No matter what your association's membership model may be, your success is tied to how valuable your members think you are to them.

We need to leave the build-it-and-they-will-come attitude behind us in this last decade. We now need to focus on the value that we promise and the value that we deliver to each individual member.

And boy is that hard! Every member has their own expectation and definition of value when it comes to their membership. That means we need to understand these expectations, prioritize them (some are more important than others), and do our best to deliver. And add on to this the fact that these expectations and definitions continually change based on any number of influencers that you have no contol over - economy, job, car trouble...you name it.

In looking at this, I'm reminded of the all-knowing Sales Funnel, where we establish specfic criteria to define niche-markets within a specific market. The wonderful thing about technology is that we can do this with our membership database and find those niche markets. We can then test tactics to engage our members and actually measure how well we are doing to satisfy those expectations. The ultimate measure of course is if they renew.

So, as we venture into the next decade, let's once and for all leave behind the idea that one-size-fits-all and embrace the variety and complexity of our members and work to not just satisfy a basic, group's need, but a group of select, individual's need.

Receives Direct Marketing Association of Washington Distinguished Achievement Award

2009-12-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

The other night, Rick Whelan, President of MGI, received the DMAW Distinguished Achievement Award. Here is a link to the press release just in case you missed it:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/12/prweb3289724.htm

Many of you know Rick at some level, either as a client, vendor, strategist. I've been fortunate enough to know him as this plus friend and mentor. He is by far one of the fairest individuals I've ever had the good fortune to meet and work with. I hope you all have the luck to work with him, or someone like him, someday. It will be blessing.

And as is the holiday spirit, I'm happy to count my blessings and include Rick among them.

Congratulations Rick! You earned it.

Have you tried these? 7 Innovative Ideas to Fight this Recession

2009-11-20T13:14:00.000-08:00

A few months ago MGI published a white paper I wrote entitled "Seven Innovative Ideas to Fight This Recession." The purpose of the paper is to present seven practical ideas that membership leaders are using now to keep this recession from eroding their membership. Here is a brief summary of four of those seven ideas. You can find the complete white paper on the MGI website at www.marketinggeneral.com under 'white papers.'

#1 - Create Member "Evangelists"

Cindy Simpson, manager of education for the National Society of Professional Engineers, worked for an association that made past presidents Membership Ambassadors, who worked with the membership department in recruiting new members.

#2 - Personalize the Member Experience...Literally

Kimberly Gray of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska told me about how they started a group of assocate members called the Associates Council. They meet with new members when they deliver new member packets, answering questions and personally assisting the new member with understanding and taking advantage of their membership.

#3 - Outrageous Offers!

At an ASAE Idea Swap that I was leading, one attendee state that her association was having trouble getting people to register for a conference. So instead of not filling the rooms, they gave away (FREE) the rooms to attendees.

#6 - Member Relief Programs

Belinda Reutter, director of member services for the National Institute of Government Purchasing, presented the idea of a 'transitional membership...which is an extended, time-bound complimentary membership for those between jobs.' She took this a step further in thinking about creating a similar category for those members who serve in the military.

These ideas are working. If they fit directly into your need, then use it. If not, I hope that they'll lead you to an idea that fits better into your situation. Again, you can download a copy of the original white paper from the MGI website OR simply call/email me and I'll forward one to you.