TheAGA needed an easier, smarter way to manage member email sends, one that allowed for message customization, the use of different templates, provided meaningful metrics and integrated fully with its AMS. These enhancements would allow the AGA to serve its members better while eliminating the need to constantly upload address files and manually run reports just to get basic metrics, like open rates. 

AGA chose HighRoad as the agency to put together a marketing stack that would allow them to connect their association management database to their email marketing platform. Following implementation of their integration, AGA's deliverability soared and their staff labor time fell. As AGA freed up time from pulling and uploading lists, the VP Communications got to thinking about how they could do more with email. He turned to his staff to collaborate on thinking about new ways to deliver highly relevant content to members so that anything extraneous fell by the wayside--an important consideration when serving a membership of physicians and scientists.

“One of my first projects for the AGA had to do with personalization,” said Aaron White, senior director of digital communications strategy for the AGA. “We were looking for ways to specialize better, narrowcast more. We’ve been sending the weekly enewsletter for 10 years, every Thursday, to every member, and every member got all the same content. So if you’re a member, for example, from Germany, you really don’t care about CMS rules for Medicare reimbursement – but you got that article because everyone has the same newsletter.”

Top challenges this summer are in membership

One of the key challenges that I've heard all summer surrounds membership. The two-fold challenge of how do we grow? and how can we do a better job of limiting year 1 to year 2 attrition seems to be the key focus area for many associations right now. We are spending a ton of time working with organizations to re-think this two-fold challenge and apply social marketing principles and digital marketing techniques to arrive at unique solutions. 

the secret challenges no one wants to admit

For most membership organizations, there are actually more than two problems. There is a very big elephant-in-the-room set of challenges that few organizations are comfortable discussing. Namely: 

1) How well do we currently know the consumption patterns and user behavior of our current membership?

2) How well do we really understand generational splits and tastes & preferences, cultural references and lifestyles of our membership?

3) How well are we spending the time we have to strategize on membership campaigns to help us overcome our challenges?

Jenny Lassi was recently interviewed by Mizz Information, herself, Maggie McGary on email marketing. Maggie recently found herself in charge of her org's email marketing program and realized it was time to bite the bullet to learn more about why email marketing is so painful. Maggie reached out to us to help her understand where the areas of the most complexity lie and why they're so tricky to navigate. 

In her article, Maggie provides a great explanation of the 5 biggest pain points and chiefareas of misunderstanding about email that association marketing professionals need to know:

1. Reputation: Email address is bouncing and/or continually being flagged as invalid/ineligible 
2. Authentication: Emails going directly to the spam folder abyss, 
3. Filter: Email getting delivered but member says they didn’t get it,
4. Feedback Loops (or FBL for those in the know): Email address mysteriously disappeared from the system, 
5. List Hygiene: Prospecting new members 

HighRoad Answers Association Demand for Lead Generation Expertise

HighRoad Solution, the only digital agency focused exclusively on associations to offer email, automation and inbound marketing services announced that Maneesha Manges has joined the agency as the Director of Consulting. HighRoad made the announcement at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)"s Membership, Marketing & Communications Conference being held this week in Washington, DC.

Today kicks off ASAE's Marketing, Membership & Communications Conference at the DC Convention Center. From the association technology vendor viewpoint, this has long been thought of as a low investment show. One where you have to show up, but you minimize your spend and don't make a big splash because it doesn't usually draw the technology people whom have long been the traditional buyers of software. Due to lack of big budgets and being seen as an influencer of technology purchases, but not a decision-maker, MMC professionals traditionally have not been seen as power players in the association industry. This observation is backed up by our research which found that a small margin of associations have a MMCer at the VP level and an even smaller percentage of the already small percentage have an MMCer with a title that begins with the word "Chief".