Nearly 80% of Association Members Use Smartphones for Business

by Melynn Sight 

Are you reaching that 80% of your members through mobile technology?

Advertising pro Sam Meers defines digital velocity as “the seemingly unstoppable phenomenon of digital communications growing at an increasing rate.” This insatiable desire for information has most associations embracing mobile technology as their means for staying in the game. The rationale is in the numbers. A 2010 survey conducted by the Realtor® association’s center for REALTOR® technology revealed:                                               

• Nearly 80% of REALTORS® across the association use smartphones for business
• 68% use their phone to access productivity tools
• 33% use their phone to access news from the association’s magazine

An Instantaneous Future

So how do you use technology to become a critical part of the way a member does business?

Karen Gehle, CEO of KAR (Kansas) says, “While e-mail is a more frequent communications channel, it is not as effective as it once was. So we are pursuing new methods of communication for one main reason. We want KAR to be within a touch of a button for our members.

Our mobile app will give member easy access to the information they say they need the most: Education, Legislative updates, and Market Data. If we make it easy for members to access information, we deliver on our brand promise to deliver new knowledge in every member interaction. We believe we can accelerate the engagement curve of the new and other members segments by delivering on our commitment through mobile communications.”

An Evolving Tool

So what exactly does “mobile” include? The definition grows every day. Associations are incorporating mobile phone applications, USB flash drives, streaming video, text, QR codes and the mobile web into their technology offerings.

“We are stepping into mobile apps and texting for one very prominent reason: it’s where our members are," says Dawn Kennedy, CEO in Oklahoma City. “Members are relying on their smartphones more and more to access MLS, to email documents from Transaction Desk and to communicate with clients. Our leadership believes the use of mobile technologies will increase dramatically as GEN Y and the millennials become the primary buying segment. We want to be able to deliver member services in whatever media they choose, and our survey data verifies they are choosing smart phones.”

As you consider your mobile possibilities, remember this: knowing what is valuable to your members allows you to be relevant to them. Seek their input. They’ll help you validate the right direction for your mobile strategy.

Nearly 80% of Association Members Use Smartphones for Business

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Airplanes are great places to brainstorm. I had my share of airplane time in 2011. Someone recently asked me: "How many miles did you travel in 2011?" I have no idea. The mileage doesn't matter to me. Planes are valuable office time for me. I don't think about how many miles I'm flying, but the time to clearly think and plan while I am in the air.

Here's what I've been thinking and planning about marketing, communications and working with you:

The past 12 months
Lucky me. Thankful for bright, committed Association Executives who strive to get better

nSight Marketing worked with 40+ associations across the US  to help you get to know your members' needs, plan effectively, grow better leaders and think about communications in a more organized way.

The last 12 weeks
Information Gathering

• While I work, I was on my annual Q4 sabbatical. I was multi-tasking of course - working and learning, thoughtful reflection, surveying my team and target audience to get the facts and a basis for new ideas.
• I attend one major communications learning event per year. This one was at Southwest Airlines and the focus was brand and execution.
• I want insight from my customers and target audience, so I asked myself: What are my goals and what do I want to know?
• Analyzed my process and decide if I walk my talk. In other words, I want to make sure that I follow my own beliefs about my communications, and interaction with my current and potential customers.
• Formally asked my employees and support staff what we do well and what we can do better.
• I began getting nervous about starting the year at ZERO. Just like everyone else.
• Started on my plan for the new year. A plan to do better work with the heads and hands around me.

The next 12 days
Focus

• Update my brand promise and value proposition.
• Work with people around me to be sure we implement significant learning events and communications changes for the better.
• Finalize the 2012 plan.
• Stop eating and drinking so much!

The next 12 months
Passionate

• To work with associations who are determined, deliberate and aggressive in building a strong and living value proposition. 
• To help association executives and leaders create and communicate their brand and their value in order to exceed their membership and business goals.  

A wish for you
I wish you quality quiet moments - wherever you can find them.
I wish you thinking back to celebrate.
I wish you thinking ahead to get better.
I wish you a team who helps you get better in delivering the highest quality in every interaction.
I wish you joy in your work - knowing how many lives you touch in a positive way.

Happy New Year!

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Keep Your Eye on Your Communications Goals & Test Out Your Plan

Launch and Learn. That’s what happens when you document your plan. And experiment. 

Kudos to Leslie in Palm Beach; to Jackie in Kansas; to Sionara in Nevada and Carrie in Minnesota. For the rest of you who are working on your plan right now: What will you do differently?

Remember it all begins with your communications goals and picking a few specific target audiences. These are the two keys to making real change.

I was impressed with one AEs choice of her target audience: HIGH PRODUCING SALES AGENTS. She is not so worried about the others. Carol and Leslie want to target their communications to the tech savvy. The ones who are looking for help. Those who will see value in what their association offers.

You have to admire a plan that sets aggressive goals and takes on new ideas so you really have to make change to reach them.

I respect those of you who print out your goals and your target audiences and post them in front of your computer screen so you can see them every day. If you don't, the plan will be a good exercise but it won't create real change.

Chris Brogan asked a great question in his recent blog about launching a plan - What are you doing differently? Are you learning from it what needs to change? 

Keep working your plan. Keep iterating. Keep working on it in the "live" environment as best as you can, and keep your eye on those few measurable results that let you know whether you are succeeding or not.

Keep your eyes on your communications goals, and test out your plan.

Keep Your Eye on Your Communications Goals & Test Out Your Plan

I Am Convinced of the Potential of Association Marketing

I am convinced of the potential of Association Marketing.

I am convinced that any association has the potential to add enormous value to the member experience.

I am convinced that choosing your target audience and beginning with your association goals, you can get more members to do what you want them to do.

I am convinced that if you don’t resource marketing properly, you will not advance your value.

I am convinced that without a clear message platform, you cannot establish a connection with your members (a connection is a prerequisite to “convincing”).

I am convinced that creating a Marketing & Communications (MarCom) plan helps you segment, target, and measure your results against your goals.

I am convinced that good customer service is not enough.

Barriers you might be up against:

• I don’t have time to create a marketing/communications plan
• I can’t invest in a plan I’ll never use
• I can’t afford it
• I can’t sell this to my board
• I don’t have a marketing department
• Every department has different messages
• I want to show value but I just don’t know how to do it

Think about what you can do if you remove some or all the barriers above. And besides, none of them are true.  If you are as convinced as I am, what’s stopping you?

I Am Convinced of the Potential of Association Marketing

A Communications Plan Comes to Life!

Rarely do I get the chance to say WOW so early in the day.  But this morning, association executive at GrNBAR, (Massachusetts) Robin Maccini wowed me.

In May, 2010 I assembled a small but diverse group of associations (in size) to do an experiment in innovation. We selected one of the biggest challenges common to all the participating associations. To gain agreement was relatively easy:  Not enough members read and appreciate our communications. This problem statement gained agreement across the board: small and large associations alike.

Over the next four months, we lost a few association executives to other pressing issues; but four of us have been meeting frequently to chip away at this problem. The process involved:

• Brainstorming the root of the problem from the AE’s point of view
• Conducting member communications survey to understand members' point of view
• Conversations and education about what innovation and communication means
• Promising practices from various associations who have addressed their communications issues already
• An overview of the strategic communications planning model
• The assignment to write a plan of their own.

This is where WOW comes in. This REALTOR® association in New Bedford, MA - with 580 members and a determined association executive has developed a strategic communications plan that will both (1) earn her respect from her board and staff, and (2) give the association, and the communications staff clear and though-out direction, including built-in measurements.

Every association has the chance to WOW your members with a renewed approach to your communications. I doubt that Robin will fail in her efforts to change the way members perceive the value of their membership.

For more information about the communications plan, click here.

A Communications Plan Comes to Life!

Be a Good Listener to Find Out What Members Need

Go ahead, ask your members why they belong to the your association? Ask open-ended questions, and I’ll bet your members will free flow with ideas.

If you ask them, members will probably answer with many of the same reasons associations were formed as early as the 1830’s: education, networking and referrals, information (in the form of research and statistics), forums to discuss common problems, and standards (or codes of ethics) to keep the industry strong. How about this: a sense of community.

In a challenging economy, the answers will be more specific and tactical.
                  
From surveys from associations across the country, I find that members really want three things:

1. Teach me something I can use to keep me relevant with my customers,

2. Communicate with me about the market, new trends, and what you to advocate on behalf of the industry and my business, and

3. Help me make more money.

Let’s just suppose for a minute that every member wants some or all of these three things. Are these needs specific enough that you can answer them with your services, products, and programs? YOU BET YOU CAN. If you deliver on your members’ biggest needs, will you become more valuable to your members? YOU BET YOU WILL. Are these three member needs universal across industries? YOU BET THEY ARE.

If you haven’t recently asked these kind of questions, now is the time to start. Here are three tips to make your survey worthwhile:

1. Ask filtering questions so you can look at the responses by category (new members, or age groups, or full time v. part time members)

2. Be specific in the questions you ask so that you get specific, actionable input and ideas

3. Do something with the results!

Is it smart to trust (what you think your members think) but verify that it’s still true? Is today a good time to survey your members? YOU BET.

Be a Good Listener to Find Out What Members Need

Why Would I Brand My Association?

Your members have options. They can 1) use your service to get what they need, 2) get their services somewhere else, 3) do it themselves, without anyone’s help, or 4) do nothing at all. What will it take to get them to choose you?

Whether your goal is to grow membership, or improve value to the member, the better you can articulate your promise, the more members you will attract, and convert from joiners to lifetime members. Loyal members get involved, respond to calls-to-action, read your mailings, and tell their non-member colleagues about you.

Your brand is your promise.

A brand tells your member the one thing that makes your association valuable to them – bar none. The brand is your promise to them. It is a statement – a symbol that describes clearly how every staff person and board member will interact with members. The brand begins with your knowledge of your members’ biggest needs. It reflects your culture, your philosophies, what you’re good at (or what you aspire to be), and ends with promise that never ends.

There is an important, unexpected benefit to branding. When you declare your promise to your members, it’s a unified statement of your value. When a company commits to a promise that “We Try Harder” (like Avis) or “We’re In It For You” (like OKC REALTORS® Association), the staff and leadership is responsible to deliver on that promise.

 It is not only a “marketing promise”,

it is an organizational commitment delivered

in every single interaction.

• People have the obligation to reinforce the brand for their small piece of your business.
• When leadership makes decisions based on the brand, it is a demonstration of their commitment over time.
• Finally, the brand is a tangible way to measure the efforts of your organization, so that each staff member and leader is not only satisfying his/her piece of the pie, but also delivering on the association’s unified brand promise.

Branding doesn’t stop when new leadership takes office, or when a staff member is replaced. Brand building that lasts requires trust and consistency, year after year. You earn your brand by continuing to deliver it over time.

It’s not about your logo.

The definition of “brand” (noun) came from cattle-ranchers, who burn a mark – the “brand” – on the haunches of their cattle to differentiate their cattle from other ranchers. Unlike the literal definition of the brand, this is not what I mean by a brand. In marketing terms, a brand is a distinctive characteristic that sets a product, service, person, or place apart from other products services, people, or places.

The European Brands Association proposes that a “brand is a constant point of reference; a contract, a signpost, a relationship. It is a signpost because it shows consumers a way to fulfill their needs. It is a relationship because trust and loyalty are earned over time.” This may be the most misunderstood and undervalued marketing concept. Let’s explore more below.

Good customer service is not a brand.

Customer service is a basis for running a good business. However, it is difficult to call it a true point of differentiation. You will need to work harder to determine a promise your members will consider valuable and one that gets their attention.

Building your brand and then delivering can actually provide your members a return on their investment.

As Warren McKenna says, “You brand yourself through your people, your places, and your things.”

Branded People – Consider your association staff, volunteers, committee members, and board of directors as “Agents of Change”. From the mailroom to the boardroom, your constituents can be a strategic force for change.

Branded Places – Build events on a philosophy of “anticipate, experience, and remember.” Any physical place is an opportunity to build a relationship. Every place you are in front of your members, at industry conferences, training events, seminars, etc., you have the opportunity to build on your brand.

Branded Things – Develop touch points that can demonstrate value while also providing unique channels to service members: membership materials, websites, brochures, newsletters…the list goes on. The continuity of these vehicles is essential in building a two-way dialogue with your members, to build on your brand.

What’s involved in determining a brand?

• A brand will be useless if it doesn’t help you improve your members’ experience. For your brand to be relevant, you must identify what your members really want (the vital needs). Discover their top three needs through a member survey. Find out what members think is most important.
• A brand can be a way to change the skills or direction of an organization. You must evaluate your desired strengths against your current strengths in order to brand yourself realistically. A branding assessment, though not long or involved, will help you direct your efforts. It can bring your staff and board closer, can bring focus to a trait that requires development, and can position you to attract a more involved membership.
• Ultimately you want to fill in these two blanks:

1. Why would members join if they didn’t have to? In other words, what one valuable member benefit do you want to be known for?
2. If you are known for the one benefit above, how will it help you achieve your association’s goals?

Selected properly, and embraced by your leadership, your brand is an intangible yet invaluable asset. It is the basis of the way you communicate your association’s value.

For more information on branding, click here for nSight Marketing’s one-pager on the topic.

Melynn is dedicated to improving value to your members through communications and committed to the success of trade Associations. She can be reached at melynn@nsightmarketing.com or 913.220.7753.

Why Would I Brand My Association?

Making Decisions by Fact

In today's tight economy, many associations are re-examining their role to find the most important ways to support their members.

While in a client review of member survey results, a staff member teased “we have a case of what’s new - itis.”

This association GETS the purpose of formal member input. Here’s more about the comment she made: “A member survey helps remind us what’s important to the TOTAL MEMBERSHIP of the association – not just the current leadership, or the staff alone.

At the office, we get wrapped up in what we do every day. We promote the programs we’re responsible for. The staff and leadership are always coming up with something new to offer to members that will help them avoid risk or enhance productivity. So we have a case of “what’s new”- itis.
We have the same problem in our city with restaurants – there are hundreds of people at the new restaurant that opened. There are only 12 people at the new-ish restaurant that opened 6 weeks ago. But that 6-week-old restaurant is really just getting good. The staff is finally trained; the chef is familiar with the food.

But like that old restaurant, we want to move onto the newest project we’re working on. And we need to show the leadership that the newest project is successful. So we go full steam behind it -to the detriment of the stuff we created last month or last year - even if that stuff is actually more important to the members.

We like the Marcus Buckingham principle of improving on your strengths, not focusing on your weaknesses. A survey shows us what our strengths are … so we can build on them.”

Association marketers and staff play a key role by providing your leadership insight into what members want and which programs are worth hanging on to. 

Making Decisions by Fact

A commercial for commercial members

In Mid-August on a Monday morning, the Wall Street Journal carried a front page story on the foreclosure of a prime commercial development on the west coast; the very same day, section B covered the virtual halt in the commercial real estate market in another part of the country. This week, a Bloomberg news headline read “Commercial Property Values Fall as Rent Drop Forecast”. Bottom line, this is not what associations want to see on in the news. Life is not good for your commercial members.

While on a long delay Friday night, I sat myself on the floor of Washington Regan Airport (with nowhere else to sit), and thought about what an association might do to encourage one segment of your membership who is struggling. Here are three ideas to get you to start thinking:

1. Consider your value proposition to these members. Even though they may be a small segment, is there a thorny issue in your city or state that you can watch, influence or even overcome for them? When you take this on, you help stimulate their business and begin changing their mindset about their business? You probably already do some legislative or political action work on behalf of your members. Get the word out so that your members understand the value of your efforts and what it means to them. Legislative affairs may be the least understood member benefit - in any industry.

2. When there is some good news, like Bloomberg reported just yesterday about existing home sales up 7.2%, encourage commercial members that positive news for the industry is good for all segments – so keep looking for the opportunities that are out there – albeit fewer, those who are looking full time will get the breaks.

3. From coast to coast I see commercial REALTORS® who avoid their residential counterparts. Look for RCA members in your association who get referrals from their residential counterparts. Promote the heck out of it. Tell the stories. Help change the culture. One testimonial from an influential member can sway a lot of long-standing public opinion.

If you say no to these ideas, I trust you can go find a solution of your own. Don’t hide behind the “RCA is a small segment of our membership” excuse. Like one savvy CEO told me, “What’s good for commercial business, and your town square is good for selling houses.”

If you have a great idea, or one that has worked, share it with your peers by replying to this post.

A commercial for commercial members

Need more volunteers?

Off the subject of social media for a while...REA Magazine is known for offering promising practices for Association Executives (AEs) in all areas of association management. I think the editor, Carolyn Schwaar is a master at editorializing many "right on" themes. I recently wrote an article for the Magazine; AEs who don't seem to ever have enough willing volunteers to fill committees might take a gem or two from your fellow CEOs:

Building a successful association hinges on finding volunteers to give their time, energy, and talent. Yet some associations continually struggle to attract volunteers. These days, some fear even asking members who are experiencing a challenging business environment. Here are some new (and some tried - and- true) tips for recruiting volunteers.

1. Ask them in person. Ask 10 members why they got involved in their local or state association, and nine out of ten will say, “Because someone asked me.” Soliciting for volunteers is, after all, just like selling anything else. Cold calling is a difficult way to sell. People do business with people they like. CEO of the Kansas City Regional Association of REALTORS® Diane Ruggiero advises, “You must ask them in person if you really want to get someone to say yes. Go to their office, meet them for coffee, or ask them out for lunch. Make them feel important and always tell them the purpose, the WIIFM (what’s in it for me), and the time involved.”

2. Build trust by being honest. It’s critical to be completely up-front about the commitment involved. Pinellas REALTOR® Organization CEO Ann Guiberson agrees. “Tell volunteers whether it’s a task force that’s going to meet once or twice for two hours each or if it’s an ongoing commitment.” Always overestimate the time commitment slightly just in case a project takes longer than expected. Also, always explain the purpose of the assignment and its importance to the association. Otherwise, a potential volunteer may not think the work is worth his or her time.

3. Find ways to use members’ expertise. Find out what skills and abilities your volunteers bring to you and then match them to committee assignments (but don’t assume someone has skills or particular interests; ask first). A good skill-to-task match makes volunteers feel not only comfortable, but that their expertise is useful to the association. For Vice President of Administrative Services at the Kansas Association of REALTORS® Christy Stinger, the matching process was really common sense. “Two of our members have accounting backgrounds. With so many REALTORS® who are well versed on financials and budgets, those people make sense on a budget and finance committee. Another woman who wrote op-eds for the local paper was appointed to the governmental affairs committee for her ability to explain and communicate her opinions.”

4. Explain the benefit from the members’ point of view. Jim Helsel, 2009 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS ® treasurer, has volunteered since the beginning of his long career. He suggests focusing on the payoff from volunteering. First, Helsel tells potential volunteers that they’ll not only get personal satisfaction and enjoyment from volunteering, but that they’ll also have fun. “Emphasize the networking and learning opportunities in volunteering,” he says. “There’s not a person I’ve met during this journey that hasn’t helped me in my career when I’ve needed it,” Helsel recalls. He credits his volunteer work with bringing referrals from across the country.

5. Follow your instincts. Helsel advises AEs to watch for and nurture prospective volunteers. “Many times it is the AE that sees a reason to push someone to ‘go to the next level’ and use their talents to work for the association and for their industry,” he says. “AEs learn to spot talent. No one sees more than an AE.”

Need more volunteers?