Stats About Association Membership in 2010

Association Executives and communicators - I think this information will help you do your job better.

• The #1 reason that members joined an organization is to network with others in their field*
• The #1 reason that members did not renew membership in 2010 was because of the perceived lack of value*
• The #1 way the leadership of organizations define success is "growth in member counts”*

Are these statistics true for you?  If you want communications to be valuable, put your goals and the plan on paper, and on purpose.  If you don’t take this step you’ll simply be reporting the news.  Your members will see features, not value.

So how do you best deliver value? Through a communications plan that includes:

1. Knowing clearly what is most important to your members.
2. Knowing your goals, and how your communications will help you reach those goals.
3. Messaging properly.

If you have a system, the people and time to create your plan, you are ready to go! If not, consider the Build a (Communications) Plan Workshop to give you the framework you need.

Go to www.nsightmarketing.com/buildaplan.html to learn more.

*Statistics according to the Membership Marketing Benchmark Report by Marketing General, 2010. To read the full report, click here.

Stats About Association Membership in 2010

Systemize & Improve Your Communications With a One-Day Workshop

When it comes to busy, distracted customers or members, how do you win the battle for more readership?  Wouldn't it make sense to plan your communications knowing what your member needs? With a strong link to your organization's goals? Too often, fully admitting it, communications departments suffer from divided attention syndrome.

Our Build A Communications Plan Workshop is the answer to helping you look at communications in a more systematic way. The goal of the workshop is to help communicators be more relevant to their customers or members -- to deliver value, versus reporting the news.

The workshop will be held in the following locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada on April 21, 2011
Chicago, Illinois on June 9, 2011

During this informative workshop, you'll learn about the “fraction of selection” formula, and how the words you chose will determine readership. Then walk through the ten steps to building an association communications plan and actually do it. Step One is your communications goals, and ends with a budget for communications. And in the middle you’ll learn about how to develop calls to action, communications strategies and tactics to reach those goals.

You may be asking “Why should I consider this workshop? Is it for me or for someone on my staff?” Here are a few reasons why:

• A plan helps direct your focus - beginning with your communications goals.
• A plan makes you set measurements so you can look at communications as a business asset, and not a necessary expense.
• Since communications are a staff project, someone needs to direct the communications. The plan helps the you take the lead in directing your communications. It creates consistency in your messages.
• When you invest in communications education, you will become a better communications leader.

You'll learn the 10-step approach to your communications plan, and be better prepared to meet the goals of your organization. When that link is missing, communications will be busy-ness, versus a true asset to your business.

I hope you will decide today that you, or a member of your organization, should attend our one-day Build A Plan workshop.  This is not a workshop for a packed house; there will be no more than 20 participants in each session. The size of the group encourages interaction and personal attention.To learn more about the workshop or to register, please click here.

Please email me if you would like to talk further or have any questions.  I look forward to seeing you at one of the workshop sessions!

Systemize & Improve Your Communications With a One-Day Workshop

Living Your Brand

One inspiring hour.

Do you ever think about your hourly rate? If you’re in business, you are probably very careful about what you do to fill your most productive hours.

Some things are not about the pay. Today on my way to coffee with someone I connected with over Facebook, I was thinking about my hourly rate. Was this meeting going reveal value in exchange for my time away from my office?

I wish for more inspiring hours like this. I am lucky to meet a lot of people in my work life who are big, great thinkers and excellent communicators. Being around these people help me get better at what I do. I always learn from them. My world is mostly filled with smart and visionary Association Executives and business people. I look for what makes them unusual, successful, and authentic. I often leave a conversation saying to myself “There’s another one.”

Today’s meeting topped the list in a very different way. This wasn’t an association executive; rather, it was a successful, young and caring association member and entrepreneur.  My goal was to learn more about his story. And his personal brand.

A personal brand isn’t about where a person works, or that they are in sales. A strong brand is the one thing that makes a person authentic. David’s brand is the way he cares and wraps himself around other people’s problems - to try to help overcome them. He gets so much satisfaction from helping someone figure it out and solve a problem.

After one hour and a half, I got it. I got what David was all about. He lives his brand…he believes that what he gets is in direct proportion to what he gives.

So here’s the challenge for each of us: Since we all have some level of online presence, how do we live our brand through the tools we use to connect with other people?

David said it well: Think of social media not like a cocktail party, but approach it as Personal Interactive Marketing. Take what you learn and use it to teach others. Be authentic. And let others provide the feedback (and even accolades) about you.

David the REALTOR® is a very inspiring brand.  I like being someone who knows him. Now I know why others want to know him too.

You can find David Van Noy on Facebook and Twitter. And at www.reeceandnichols.com.

Living Your Brand