All of your association’s goals depend on getting people to take action.

- You need new members to apply
- You need current members to renew
- You need people to attend your events
- You need members to buy products or sign up for classes
- You need advocates in your industry to mobilize for change

Smart associations know this doesn’t happen by chance, or by simply blasting members with emails. It takes thoughtful planning and precise execution. When you hear about these core association goals, the part that is often overlooked is that most of these interactions with members and non-members begin with a landing page.

If it’s hot and humid, it must be August in DC, and if it’s August, then ASAE Annual must be around the corner. The HighRoad team is gearing up to connect with partners, clients and association executives in Chicago and this year we’re focused on sharing the cool work we’re doing with our client base when it comes to digital marketing and growth strategies.

GDPR – as regulation designed to strengthen data protection efforts and enhance the individual rights and freedoms around personal data, digital marketers need to take note. And from all the articles, webinars, whitepapers and updated privacy policies being shared right now, it seems like that’s happening. But are we paying attention because we want to avoid the alarming fines that come along with the risk of not being GDPR compliant, or because we genuinely want to interact with engaged people that really want to hear from us and this is the perfect opportunity to cull down that email list?

How many times have we heard this type of variation on the “your marketing is only as good as your data” saying? Isn’t it true though? If you’re in IT you probably roll your eyes every time a ticket request comes in from the marketing team for another list pull: “Please run a query and provide us with a list of people who attended last year’s conference, redeemed a coupon and sat on the left side of the room during the keynote address”. (It’s not that far-fetched, there’s a method to a marketer’s madness or request after all). The reality is that marketers rely on data – and it’s understanding this need which helps to facilitate in-depth discussions about data integration.

If you’re planning on joining us in person or virtually for our Marketing Automation Workshop tomorrow, here are a couple of things to consider while Adam and I share our insights:

Making the move to marketing automation may sound like a daunting task – not only do you have to prepare yourself and your team to commit to this framework and approach, but you probably also have to build a business case to explain how a Marketing Automation Platform is different from your current Email Marketing Platform to your executive team – a team that doesn’t quite live and breathe digital marketing practices as you do. So how do you 1) determine and assess your readiness to make that transition to marketing automation and 2) approach building the case for it?