Guest Blogger: Elinor Kinnier, Vice President and General Manager, Communications Marketing Group (CMG)
Marketing should permeate every aspect of association business. The terms marketing and promotion are often used interchangeably; however, there are significant differences. Promotion is part of the marketing mix: an important component, but just one element of the over all marketing strategy nonetheless. Let me explain.
Marketing should be part of your overall organizational or operating plan. It’s the strategy that’s really the foundation for your sales and communication techniques, and it’s the integration of activities that helps your organization create and demonstrate value for your members.
Promotion is telling members and potential members about your services or membership benefits in three primary ways:
- Personal selling: tactics such as phone, email, direct mail, social and digital media, public relations, etc.
- Mass selling: advertising, publicity, etc.
- Sales promotion: contests, coupons, free trial or discounts – things you do to get customers to sample.
Much of the time, when associations ask us for a marketing plan what they really want is a promotion plan. Quite honestly, unless the organization is willing to make significant changes to the strategic positioning of a product or service…it’s just not worth the effort to do a full-blown marketing plan.
An organization must be willing to be open to some major changes such as moving the location of a conference or even consider going virtual; changing the pricing model; or completely revamping the structure of the conference (layout, content, delivery of content, sponsorships, etc.); to effectively implement a marketing plan.
Let’s say you have a conference coming up and you develop and implement a rock solid promotion plan, but after the event you’re scratching your head wondering why you didn’t hit your targets in revenue and attendance. The shortfall likely had nothing to do with the promotion of the event and everything to do with the marketing. No amount of promotion will deliver the results you’re expecting if a product (in this case, the conference) is not marketed-- that is, strategically positioned--appropriately. And in my experience, when products/events/services are marketed appropriately, and the hard work is done up front, clients spend a lot less time and fewer resources on promotion and achieve much greater results for their efforts.
The marketing process usually involves research, SWOT analysis, target audience definition, and often branding, and typically results in a marketing plan that lays out how you intend to execute the strategy and evaluate its success.
So, next time your members suggest marketing, ask yourself these questions:
1. What am I trying to do – sell what I have (promotion) or create something that someone wants (marketing)?
2. Am I willing to make changes to my organization, product, service or event to meet the needs of my target consumer?
3. Do I have the expertise to assess my current marketing or should I engage outside counsel?
4. Do I want the end result to be added value for my consumer/member?
I read somewhere that marketing can be defined as changing someone's mind and promotion goes one step further by changing people's behavior. Don’t be confused by the terms, instead take charge and define your best approach – marketing and/or promotion. Remember; ask an expert if you need help.
As Vice President and General Manager of CMG, Elinor Kinnier has more than fifteen years of experience and expertise in public relations, brand building, strategic planning, product launch/development and business positioning.
