Your alumni aren’t the same now as they were when they were students on campus. They’ve grown and changed since graduation, and your alumni communications should reflect that.
The best way to learn about who your alumni are now is through data. Data can provide insight into their latest interests, wealth indicators, and communication preferences.
As an association leader, you have firsthand experience of the rigorous demands of working at an association. Just as you’re busy trying to determine how to add value to your member experience, your team is hard at work growing your organization’s revenue, scheduling networking events, and searching for resources to offer your members.
However, a natural byproduct of their hard work and responsibilities is stress. Defined by the World Health Organization as a “state of worry or mental tension,” stress is a normal part of life as a working professional, but too much of it can lead to lower-quality work and burnout.
Whether you manage a social or professional fraternity or sorority, communicating with members should be one of your top priorities. With all your organization has to do on a daily basis, member engagement activities can unintentionally fall by the wayside.
Not to worry — these tactics will help you adopt great communication habits and enhance the member experience:
As an association professional, you understand the value of a strong website design. A well-designed website can help you attract new members, retain existing members, and firmly establish your brand identity online so you can build credibility for your organization.
The idea that all or most of your association’s revenue should come from membership dues is an outdated, inaccurate assumption. According to ASAE, dues made up only 30% of total revenue for professional associations in 2016, a steep drop from 95.7% in 1953. But if your association isn’t experienced with managing multiple revenue streams (or has only just begun to experiment by selling merchandise or event tickets), diversifying your sources of revenue might seem like a large, complex undertaking.
Pursuing new sources of revenue doesn’t have to be complicated, and it’s key to the health of both your finances and membership base. Revenue diversification not only increases your total revenue but also ensures your association isn’t too reliant on a single income source. This means that if one source of income dwindles, you’ll have other, reliable revenue streams available to fill in the gaps.
Whether you run a small business that's just starting out or an established business looking to expand, working with a marketing agency can help unlock your growth potential. Not only can a team of professionals help you find weaknesses in your current strategy, but they can also use their resources and connections to boost a new plan. In this blog post, the Indiana Society of Association Executives will outline the benefits of working with a marketing agency as you strive to increase your customer base and grow your business.
Working with an agency gives you access to an entire team of professionals who specialize in different areas, such as graphic design, content creation, SEO–which drives organic traffic from search engines–and more. This means that all of your needs are taken care of by experienced professionals who know how to get results. You'll also be able to choose which areas you want to focus on with your strategy, which would be much more difficult with a limited in-house team.
By: Ira Horowitz
If you want attendees at your association’s events, a compelling Events page on your website is a must. Whether you’re planning a networking event, fundraising event, webinar, or other event, the Events page is one of the most important marketing assets in your toolbox and can make or break your event marketing strategy.
When we seek information in the modern age, we typically head straight for Google. And who can blame us for that? If we’re adept keyword searchers, we would get exactly what we seek within seconds.
The primary downfall of this seeking method is information overload. As a meeting planner, it’s likely you juggle a lot of information: event schedules, activities, catering, and piles of bid proposals with countless hotels and event spaces. For those looking for assistance sifting through the information overload, you can turn to the Convention and Visitors Bureau in the destination you’re considering. CVBs can assist your search for that perfect meeting venue.
The constant chase for more has driven us to such elevated levels of stress and anxiety that it’s becoming the stuff of global studies.
Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce: 2023 Report has this to say about stress:
As an association professional, you understand the value of a strong website design. A well-designed website can help you attract new members, retain existing members, and firmly establish your brand identity online so you can build credibility for your organization.
To grow your association, you’ll need new tools, dedicated staff, and a reliable membership base. This last element is especially important, as a key part of expanding your organization is maintaining and engaging the members you have. After all, new members are far more likely to be interested in joining and staying with associations that have a lively community they can participate in.
Finding new ways to engage your members is part of maintaining your association’s long-term health. Providing new content and opportunities demonstrates your organization’s value, influencing members to renew their memberships and even recommend your association to friends, family, and colleagues.
In one of the largest studies of burnout in history, Gallup found that 60% of people are detached at work, and 19% are miserable.
And that emotional detachment comes with a price tag. Low engagement costs the global economy US$7.8 TRILLION and accounts for 11% of global GDP (Gallup, 2022). The study further found that workers in the United States are some of the most stressed out in the world.
Connecting with all of your members online is key for maintaining an active and engaged audience. Although your association holds meaningful in-person events throughout the year, for most organizations, the bulk of communication with members will take place online.
A comprehensive digital strategy not only helps you attract new members but retain and connect with your current base, strengthening their ties to your association. Building out a new digital strategy requires time and resources, but it will make up the return on investment in long-term support, new connections, and an overall increased value for your membership program.
Digital inclusivity has increasingly become a priority for associations, nonprofits, and other membership-based organizations.
Digital inclusivity means every aspect of your online strategy, from your website to your social media and email marketing campaigns, is accessible to all of your audience members. This also means reflecting their lived experiences, which are the knowledge and perspectives a person has gained throughout their lives that affect their choices and actions.
After sitting through so many virtual meetings, chances are your association members are thrilled to get back to in-person events and fundraisers. A silent auction is a great way to get back into the swing of things. Silent auctions have the potential to garner tons of revenue and generate excitement with members.
Your association exists because of the many members who engage with and contribute to the organization. However, the pandemic led to a decrease in membership and member engagement for many associations.
Just as there are a number of reasons behind this decline, there are also multiple strategies that your organization can use to reverse the trend. For example, you may have created new networking opportunities and hosted additional events, all with the goal of recruiting new members and retaining your current ones.
Fundraising events are a fun and exciting way to bring in extra funds for your association. These events give your members and supporters the chance to get together for a good cause. Not only do fundraisers expand your association’s budget, but they can also boost member engagement.
The COVID-19 pandemic might have caused virtual board meetings to be a necessity for a time, but by now, your organization has likely caught on to the various other benefits of virtual gatherings.
Did you know that approximately 4.5 billion individuals (the majority of the world’s population) are active social media users? While it’s easy to dismiss TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms as little more than digital playgrounds for people to kill time, the fact of the matter is that social media has become an incredibly powerful outlet for individuals and organizations alike to market themselves, share content, and connect with new audiences.
If your association hasn’t done so already, now is the time to take a deeper look at your organization’s social media strategies and consider how you can make the most of these versatile online tools.
