Associations and other member-based organizations demonstrate no shortage of marketing tactics. We frequently work with clients whose organizations utilize any number of the following methods to engage current members and constituents and attract new ones:
However, there’s a critical distinction between disparate marketing tactics and a purposeful, organized, strategic marketing strategy.
A purposeful marketing strategy unites the various segments in your organization for ultimate member engagement. It creates a lean, effective outreach mechanism to attract new members from every target audience.
And best of all, it’s attainable. Start by incorporating these elements.
It all starts with a central database. While there are many association-specific CRMs available, we often recommend HubSpot, thanks to its powerful features and capacity to keep all of your organization’s marketers in one place. Here are just a few reasons it works spectacularly well for member-based organizations:
Your marketing strategy hinges on a CRM that can streamline operations, enhance member engagement, and improve communication, ultimately contributing to the growth and success of the organization.
Your most valuable content may live behind a paywall—after all, that’s one of the primary benefits of membership.
But a smart marketing strategy puts massive effort behind an inbound approach to content marketing—that is, a customer-centric approach to content that focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting potential customers by providing valuable content and experiences tailored to their needs and interests.
Inbound content marketing is effective for associations because it enables them to establish thought leadership and showcase their expertise. By creating valuable and relevant content, associations can attract and engage their target audience, building credibility and trust. From there, you can nurture relationships with current and potential constituents based on what they’re looking for, increasing member satisfaction and retention.
With HubSpot, you can use lifecycle stages to segment your audience and refine the messaging that everyone receives. Instead of the outdated method of sending everything to everybody, save your time—and your members’ inboxes—by only sending the most targeted messages to the most appropriate recipients.
HubSpot's lifecycle stages empower associations to create more effective marketing messages by enabling targeted and personalized communication based on the contact's stage in the membership journey. With lifecycle stages, associations can tailor their messaging to the specific needs and interests of contacts at each stage.
For example, brand-new leads and subscribers can receive top-of-the-funnel content to educate them about the association, while marketing qualified leads (MQLs) can be nurtured with bottom-of-the-funnel messages highlighting the benefits of becoming a member. By aligning the messaging with the lifecycle stages, associations can effectively move contacts through the membership funnel and increase conversions.
>>> Related Resource: We deep dive into the different stages of the user’s journey and the types of content that resonate at each in our webinar, How Content Strategy Can Enhance UX During and After a Website Redesign. You can access the recording here (the user’s journey section starts 14:00 minutes in).
Your marketing strategy is only as good as its results. But how can you know what’s working if you’re not measuring? Better yet, why not track performance across every segment of your organization?
HubSpot provides reporting and analytics features to track and measure member engagement, content efforts, marketing campaigns, and website performance. You can generate reports on member activity, email open rates, event attendance, or membership growth. These insights help associations evaluate their strategies, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions that improve the whole organization, not just one part of it.
You’re in luck. We hosted a three-part webinar series with AIIM's for CMO, Tony Paille. Each on-demand webinar is geared for associations who are interested in comprehensive marketing campaigns, sophisticated potential member handoffs, and full-circle CRM tracking. Click below for access.