Creating clear and compelling messages
This afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a jam-packed learning lab about clear and compelling messaging sponsored by the communication section council. During this session, Brad Monterio briefly discussed the importance of targeting audiences. He recommended that association professionals define their audiences as finely and minutely as possible. He believes it’s important to establish a connection with members and intimately understand their needs, interests and wants. To the extent we’re successful at capturing this information it can then be utilized to package and deliver specific messages to specific membership segments.
While I absolutely agree that segmentation is an important and vital tool to positive communication outcomes, I’m not sure we’re all doing this successfully. I know I’m not the only one who is bombarded each and every day by messages – they come at us from every direction from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed. At some point, I fail to see the value and I just tune them out. The problem is that, at least in my association, we’re pushing our members to make this very same decision. Rather than harnessing technology, drilling down into our membership and messaging based on key segments, we’re sending one very general message to a population of people who may or may not be interested. Eventually, they fail to see the value and they tune us out.
So, my question to you is this: Do you agree that granular segmentation positively impacts your communication strategy? How successful is your association at segmenting its membership? Are you effectively delivering different messages to different constituents? What roadblocks stand in your way to mass customization?
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Comments
This is a great post Aaron...I have to admit, we fall into the category of 'blast the message out to everyone, and hope it sticks' mentality more than we should...I think it comes down to data (having the best processes in place to collect and manage it cohesively) and time...it takes more time to split up the membership and fine tune communications/programs to them, it just makes things less simple...those are the two roadblocks I see, and sooner or later we will have to really dig down into this, as our members continue to see information from us that isn't applicable or of interest to them!
One way we are starting to improve upon this is by building our education to more specific groups/target audiences...first off, it makes it easier to create the educational event (because the scope gets more narrow), and second, you almost have to be more conscious about who you are sending it to...any other tips or thoughts welcome!
Posted by: Brian Birch | August 16, 2009 10:42 PM
Brian:
I completely agree. Our association just doesn't have the technology right now to collect, store and harness this information in any meaningful way. Additionally, I'm not sure we know the right questions to ask. Monterio really advocated for drilling down as deeply as possible, rather than simply segmenting membership in only superficial ways. I just don't know what this looks like - and what categories would be most beneficial for us to define. Third, I concur that educational events are the place to start. Not every member is interested in every education program. And if we continue to promote these programs to our members as if they are, our members will absolutely tune us out.
--aaron
Posted by: Aaron Wolowiec | August 17, 2009 11:04 AM
Data collection and analysis needs to be made a priority in the organization's activities because measurement is not only an important tool in your communications strategy, but in the planning for all areas in your organization.
Having worked in associations for many years, I know the feeling that "we don't have the tools" to accomplish something. However, most of us have software packages that are seriously under-utilized and can offer tools for collecting information about pretty much everything we want to know. Many a program has been launched using an Excel chart.
Surveys are an easy way to get information from your members, which you then take and add to their database record. This allows the drilling down to very specific segments to begin.
The time commitment with collecting, sorting, and analyzing data is the biggest investment in this process. Oil wells are not sunk in one day; it takes awhile to get through the layers to where the oil is.
Posted by: Cecilia Sepp | August 18, 2009 10:07 AM
Associations gather tons of valuable information about their members every day, but often are not managing it well. One issue I touched on at my session at the Annual Meeting was how associations are managing (or mismanaging) their volunteer data. Volunteerism is one of the great differentiators for non-profits from for-profits, and volunteerism is also a way to segment your members by their interest. But associations still struggle with managing it and using it.
Aaron (and everyone), the association has to be willing to invest in technology that allows them to manage all of this data effectively. If on one hand the association says "Yes, targeted communications are a priority," and on the other hand says "But we can't afford the technology required to do that," then it's not really a priority at all.
Posted by: Wes Trochlil | August 19, 2009 3:36 PM