You've tried it all - email marketing, digital advertising, social media, etc...but something hasn’t been clicking. You're not alone. In this article, I explain an alternative method to bringing in new members, increasing your event registration, gaining traction with your non-dues initiatives, and attracting that prospective audience that you've been trying to pull for years.
Finally, there is hope, and it’s in the form of data, much of which you already have or can easily get. It’s this data that can transform your marketing, from segmentation and messaging, to targeting and optimization. Making the most of your association’s data will help you drive tangible ROI and achieve strategic goals that have seemed out of reach.
First, Let’s Recalibrate.
Your association already employs a number of traditional and digital marketing tactics to acquire members, drive non-dues revenue, and increase conference and event attendance. But, engaging existing and prospective new members online is increasingly essential to the success of your association in an ever-changing digital landscape. Associations must adapt and adopt new methods, tactics and technologies.
Start by dispelling the myth that generating “awareness” of your association and its offerings is enough to make your marketing successful. Because it isn’t. In an age of information overload, messages designed to simply raise awareness are easily forgotten. Instead, think about the customer journey; the steps a member will take along the way when deciding whether or not to take action.The right digital marketing strategy will take a user through a natural progression of awareness, consideration, and intent, until they are ultimately ready to join, attend, or purchase.
To develop the ideal member journey, it is critical to take stock of the baseline data you already have, including:
1. Member, Attendee, Website, Social Media and Prospect data
2. Analytics Data
3. Tracking Pixels
If there are gaps in your available baseline data, you’re not getting the complete picture. And if you’re not using site tracking “pixels”, you are missing a huge opportunity to reach prospective new members, attendees, and purchasers. To figure out what to really to look for from each data source, read next weeks blog where we will talk about how to analyze the data in order to take it from meaningless to actionable data. In the meantime: