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Have you been caught in the communications trap? I have and it’s not pretty. It goes like this: At the annual meeting, a long-time member (often a respected past president) says into the microphone, “This organization does a crappy job of communicating. I never know what’s going on, except for my annual dues invoice! Why should I renew when this organization can’t communicate any better than that?”

Someone has to respond (why is it always the exec?) even though no response can possibly suffice—right? “Blah,” interrupts the member, “Not good enough.” With a straight face the past president sticks in the final pin, “I don’t read the (no-good) magazine, I travel too frequently to read my (junk) association mail, my fax is broken and I don’t use a computer!” Then the coup de grace: “This organization has gone to Hades—it never used to be like this in my day!” The meeting concludes with smiles and general agreement that this meeting was one of the best in recent memory. Does this ring a bell?

Communications are vitally important. The challenge is that most associations have a wide range of audience segments. These segments are interested in some messages (and media) and not others. This is a case of “I want what I want when I want it (the way I want it).” If there is one predictable constant it must be that there is no simple, single solution for communications with diverse members and customers. We are not all a size 6 and living in one geographical area!

What to do? One useful proactive tool is an annual communications plan. Conceived at the outset of each fiscal year, the plan contains a small number of high priority messages for the year. For example, the messages might focus on new technical information, strategic priorities, and/or association achievements improving the value proposition for members and customers. A communications plan also includes a schedule of key events and appropriate media to reach desired audience segments during the year.

For an annual communications plan to work, it must have the understanding and support of senior volunteer leaders, senior executives and communications staff, because these are the folks who will be doing most of the communications during the year. Volunteer and staff leaders must understand that their personal messages are secondary to key consistent messages from the organization each year.

Another tool for successful communications is repetition. Repetition enables audiences to become aware of and understand important communications. Have you ever wondered why commercials are so repetitive? One-time messages simply don’t have much impact.

If you want to improve your association’s communications, try working with your volunteer and staff leaders to create an annual message plan, and update it every year.