Associations: How to Stay Relevant to your Members

Professional associations exist for one main reason — to advance their specific profession.  In order to continue advancing a profession, the organization must stay relevant.  How does an organization that has lagged and started losing membership re-invigorate their association and become relevant?    I recently read an interesting article that made a good case for rebranding your organization.  The author, Denise Lee Yohn, charged organizations to look at global companies like Dove and Google who really evaluated their consumers and publicly humanized their brands.

Many associations confuse updating with rebranding.  Branding to a marketing professional goes much deeper than logo and color.  Branding starts with mission, values and messaging and develops into presentation (logo, colors, website, social media, ads, letterhead, etc.).   At face value, re-branding seems like an easy-ish fix to freshen something up.  Here at Meetings Northwest, we have updated logos and websites at the request of our associations, but there is a big difference between refreshing a look and rebranding your organization.  We have seen this process rejuvenate some and while others continue to decline in membership.

THE BIG QUESTION:  Why do some associations lose steam, and some don’t? 

Several reasons.  But the biggest has to do with the Board.  All associations have working boards that meet on a regular basis (often by teleconference) to discuss areas of advocacy, outreach, and preparing for the annual meeting, but maybe the board needs new members to bring diversity and new ideas.  Maybe current board members aren’t aware of the commitment required of them and adding new members is a good time to review everyone’s roles.  To stay relevant, everyone should have a voice in your association not limited to a specific race, age or sexual orientation.  If you aren’t reaching everyone, you are losing grip on your member base.  Which leads to one of the main reasons some associations fizzle out:

Is your member base DIVERSE?  I have read a lot of articles recently about inclusion in meetings and how to ensure diversity in associations.  Don’t miss the boat on new members because you are only inviting the same old crew.  Push the envelope and set-up opportunities for people to mentor the next generation, be thoughtful on who you invite to encourage growth for everyone.    My kids’ Kindergarten class had a “big buddy” program, where each student was paired with a 3^rd grader from a partner classroom – it was great for both age groups – pushing the older kids to mentor be good examples while the younger kids enjoyed learning the ways of the school and about different subjects with their older friend.  TIP:  An easy way to provide different social events is to partner with local university groups or businesses in your profession.  A lot of chamber of commerses create events for young professionals – tap into this resource.

Are you current on TECHNOLOGY?  If you aren’t using multiple avenues to reach your potential membership base, you are not adapting.  This being said, it is hard to decide where to spend your money on digital marketing.  Different companies can host webinars, or even help pay for your website, meeting app and social media time.  Our annual meeting apps are generally a high-level sponsor item – everyone is looking at the App, so it is an easy sell.  In your sponsorships, do shout-outs on social media, tagging them.  Tip: Ask your sponsors to also share your posts – your audience will grow exponentially.

Is your website easy to navigate and up to date?  We have modernized websites for our associations to include member benefits, like current news, job openings, project spotlights – but a website instantly looks dated if the information is current and you no longer are a resource for your profession.  If social media is easier for your association, take advantage of it!  There are several ways to add social media feeds to your website.  This instantly keeps your website current, but if you don’t post to your social media often – this isn’t a good feed to add to your website.  Just remember if you do not have an active board or someone able to maintain your website – simpler is better.

Are you COMMUNICATING with your members?  Some groups only talk to their members at certain times. It is customary to send an after-meeting survey.  You can do so with webinars or any social meeting, as well.  The more engagements you have, the more opportunities you have to talk to your members.  This is a great start, but surveys are supposed to be short, so you can’t touch on anything more than what they just attended.  You can do quick social media polls online regarding member wants, like topics they would like to learn about, meeting locations, social events ideas, big projects, new products, etc.  Getting your members active on social media is the easiest way to keep your association relevant!

Have you changed the format of your EVENTS?  This doesn’t mean you have to completely change up the whole meeting, in fact you would probably lose some people that way but think outside of the box of the same ol’ routine.  One of our groups adds a different game component to its annual meeting every year.  We have another that works with its vendors to include interactive sessions.  We have groups that invite university students to participate and compete in project awards.  Social events are activities.  Tours embrace public transportation or in some places a hayride.  Events not only embrace the profession, but also bring in the local character of the destination.  They go further than the basic format.  If the annual event isn’t reaching your whole member base, provide webinars throughout the year.  Some members may not have the resources to travel to an event, you can provide scholarships and/or webinars to aid in this.  You want to be the main source for your profession’s PDH’s. 

Are you the leading source for INDUSTRY NEWS and updates? Honestly, this is tough.  This day and age with immediate news at our fingertips, it is hard to be on top of all the news and updates.  But, it is still important to curate your news for your members.  An active member base should be continually sharing information with you and you should be seeking the latest information.  You can highlight members projects and companies that use the latest advancements.  Or you can highlight social projects important to your members .  Focus on regional news.

Bottom line,  you need to have an ACTIVE BOARD willing to invest the time to become and stay relevant to take your refreshed or rebranded association to the next generation.  In other words, the change has to be more than skin-deep.  Without an active, diverse board (and member base), the association will not survive.  Board members are volunteers with limited time, so it is also beneficial to hire an association manager to help activate the board’s ideas.  An association manager can take the administrative tasks off the board, allowing the board to do what they should do – recruit members and parlay news and information to feed the member base.

What is an Association Management Company?

AMCs (association management company) provide the professional staff, administrative support, office space, technology, and equipment an association needs to operate efficiently. An association management company typically manages several associations from one company location, providing a wide range of benefits, including shared technology systems, access to expert specialized staff, and shared purchasing power. – The Center for Association Management