Blog: Tips & Insights

By Todd Michaels - Vice President, Digital Services

Bringing in new members is essential to the growth of any association. With all the hard work that goes into obtaining new members, we want to ensure that their first experiences with your association are impactful and that your new members quickly engage with your association.

Renewing your first-year members is critical to ensure long-term growth for your association. What are the steps you have in place to onboard new members? Is it a “one and done” strategy of sending new member emails and a welcome packet during the first 30 days of membership? Are you speaking to your new members differently during their first year of membership than…

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By Andrew Lee, Senior Account Executive

Direct mail continues to be a primary marketing vehicle for successful associations and has been shown to have a significant increase in response when combined with other marketing channels. But there are so many to choose from–how do you know where to start?

Use these tips to evaluate your testing plan and augment your direct mail efforts effectively and efficiently:

• Identify potential marketing channels for your target audience:
  Ask yourself, is your data able to support usage in other marketing channels? Email, addressable geofencing, digital ads (across a variety of platforms), connected TV, telemarketing, and ringless voicemail are just some of the…

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By Dana Lohneis, Senior Account Executive

Is member engagement central to your retention strategy? Effective engagement boosts retention rates, member loyalty, and your organization’s relevance. Without early engagement, both new and established members may slip away.

Engaging members requires an ongoing, proactive effort to provide relevant content, messaging, and opportunities that showcase value and build relationships. Here are five tips to help you enhance member engagement:

1. Segment and Personalize:Group members by demographics, interests, or engagement levels. Tailor your communications to address each segment’s needs. Personalize messages and content to make members feel recognized and…

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By Joanne Shaw, Account Executive

It’s easy to get lost in the glitz and glam of flashy advertisements; colors, images, and fonts all play a role in your marketing efforts, but if your message does not contain a strong request for action your ad will lose its effectiveness.

Before you begin writing any copy, ask yourself, “What do I want my customer/prospect to do, what action do I want them to take?” This answer can be boiled down to the simplest verb possible; join, rejoin, renew, register, etc. This is your Call to Action (CTA). The CTA is crucial in any marketing campaign. It can significantly influence the customer/prospect’s final decision. Therefore, your CTA must always be clear,…

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When I do presentations on the need for innovation, I often share a comparison of Sears and Amazon as a case study. There may not be a better example of the implications of whether or not organizations innovate and embrace change.

In July of 1995, when Amazon first opened its online store, Sears possessed everything needed to become what Amazon is today and more. Sears had a dominant and trusted brand. They sold a full portfolio of products, from clothes to appliances to tools. Sears had an enormous print catalog, an extensive customer list, and warehouses to pack and ship purchases. In fact, for over one hundred years, Sears mailed out its big book catalog to a significant portion of the U.S…

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