HighRoad U November Schedule has arrived, take a look at what we have to offer U this month.  Remember CAE Credit is available for all of HighRoad U webinars that you watch LIVE!  

HighRoad folks are back from sunny Orlando, Florida where they attended the 2014 Aptify Users Conference!  Congratulations to HighRoad clients, Rachael Bell and the rest of the staff of the New Jersey Society of CPAs who were the 2014 Innovation Award winners! The Innovation Awards showcase Aptify users who have created innovative solutions to meet the needs of their associations and members. NJSCPA implemented HighRoad's Newsletter Xpress+ and they are now living the dream--benefitting from email marketing vs. being tortured by it! We're proud to partner with them to create innovative digital marketing solutions for associations!

IS DIGITAL MARKETING SCARY TO U?

What did we read this week that we wanted to share?

• HighRoad's CMO Suzanne Carawan was featured in our partner Aptify's blog discussing 5 Ways to Solve Today’s Top Business Challenges. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Orlando, FL at the Aptify Users Conference in just 3 days! >More

• Because you can never had too many sources for free stock pics….>More

• 9 Must-Know Best Practices for Distributing Your Nonprofit’s Content on Social Networks >More

• Growing pains? We all get them, here is a primer for managing digital growing pains and being successful at creating digital fluency within your organization.>More

• Proving that no one has a crystal ball when it comes to who/what will succeed, an article about Mark Zuckerberg and how he was once branded a has-been.  Side note: Same article listed Netflix as a "fad" failing to predict that there are those of us (guilty) who will binge watch an entire season of Breaking Bad on a random Saturday afternoon. >More  

• This week's uber-technical explanation of how things work: That pesky predictive keyboard on your smartphone--sometimes makes life easier by allowing you to send a text in a snap, but sometimes causes you to repeatedly text a person embarrasing/nonsensical words.  And we all know there is no undo on texting.  And you know you have spent valuable time surfing the site dedicated to all manner of embarrasing texts. I won't mention it here but it rhymes with "bam-poo snotto-collect" >More

So we know U want to know: Are U Normal?

Ever wonder how your organization's digital marketing compares to that of other not-for-profits? While statistics have been available on websites and email, a comprehensive digital marketing landscape report does not exist. HighRoad has commissioned the 2014 State of Digital Marketing in Associations Research Report, a global benchmarking research project aimed at establishing a statistically relevant set of metrics that will allow associations and non-profits to understand how they compare across the following areas:

• departmental ownership vs. execution for digital marketing
• digital marketing budgets
• digital marketing skill assessments
• digital marketing channels

The report will allow organizations to break down the data by type of organization and size so that accurate comparisons can be made. 

We invite you to please contribute to the report so that the not-for-profit market can have accurate data on which to make decisions and our global capacity for understanding how digital marketing fits into our overall marketing portfolios can expand. 

As a thank you, each participant receives a $5 Starbucks card and is automatically entered into win a $1000 gift certificate to xperiencedays.com which you can use to purchase an unforgettable day of hot air ballooning, boat rides, cooking classes, race car driving and more. But, probably not a cooking class in a hot air balloon, because that would be weird.  

Finally, do you like what you have been reading here these past few weeks? Drop us a comment, let us know what U like and what U don't.  We would love to hear from U!

Can't get enough talk about digital? >More

Did U miss it?

Today's HighRoadU webinar, "Rethinking the Marketing Department" featured a great discussion with Dave Martin, VP of Marketing & Content at the Electronic Retailing Association. (If you missed it, U can access this webinar on-demand at www.HighroadU.com) The focus of the webinar was to answer/ponder the question, "What does the modern association's marketing department look like?"  ERA is making the push to digital marketing, and is one of HighRoad's first clients to integrate the Hubspot platform. Using Hubspot has transformed the way they market to both their members and prospective members. HubSpot’s ability to combine email, blogs, social media, search engine marketing and website analytics, allows ERA to respond more quickly and make marketing decisions based on data, not guesswork.  When we asked Dave what resources he uses to beat the learning curve and stay up to date on all things digital marketing, he shared his "not-so-secret stash" of resources.  Here they are: (shh....remember they are super-secret!

Here are some things we read this week that U may have missed:

• Twitter will fund MIT Research Lab to study public communication & social organziation.  The Laboratory for Social Machines is backed by a $10 million, five-year funding commitment. >More

• Over your head? More than you wanted to know about the latest big-box store hacks. >More

• HighRoad partner Aptify taking the HighRoad fighting the scourge of worker burnout. >More

• 12 Amazing Tech jobs and the women who rock them. >More

• Delayed Adulthood: The Hidden Root of your Young-Member Struggles >More

HighRoad 2014 Training & Innovation Day

We're delighted to announce that registration has begun for our 2014 Training & Innovation Day, November 19th & 20th, 2014 at ASAE’s Conference Center in Washington, DC.

This special HighRoad event has been expanded as a  two-day event in order to accommodate U! Day one features a full day of hands-on training on the hottest topics in digital marketing. U will walk away with new skills & practical programs to take your organization’s digital profile up a notch.  Two training tracks (newbie and beast mode) will be available to be sure you get the level of training that is right for U!  Space is limited, and HighRoad clients get first dibs, but we are happy to include you if you can join us live in DC on the 19^th!