At the recent ASAE Membership, Marketing, and Communications Conference, the opening keynote speakers shared some simple, yet eye-opening thoughts on associations, marketing, and members.
There were two takeaways that really stuck with us:
When it comes to marketing, the key isn’t to focus on your association, but to focus on what being a member of your association allows your members to do for their brand.
and
The purpose of your association’s social media accounts should be to inform, inspire, and provide insight. Put yourself in the member/prospective members’ shoes with this question:
Why should I follow you? Will it:
- make me smarter?
- keep me informed?
- tell me what’s going on?
For most associations, members are at the core of their mission (learn more about writing an association mission statement here). That being said, sometimes it takes hearing someone else say something to remind us of the obvious: that focusing on what members actually want (not what we think they want) makes all the difference.