While you may already be familiar with SEO/SEM, the differences are easy enough to explain.

This is how you should feel when someone willingly provides you their email address because they want to consume your content. Whether they're signing up for your newsletter, registering for a webinar or downloading your latest research, receiving the input of someone's email is as big as a slam dunk. And like LeBron, you should yell & beat your chest and yell "THAT'S WHAT WE DO!"

Marketers have the competitive spirit. They want to outplay you, they want to unnerve you and most importantly, they want to win. Many associations are telling me that they want to grow and compete in today's world and I ask them this key question: 

Does your organization know how to compete? Do they think in terms of competition? Do they work for the love of the game? 

Congratulations to Robert Spangler for winning the Volunteer of the Year award from the New York Society of Association Executives. Bob is the senior director of marketing at the New Jersey State Bar Association where he's always ready to push his organization forward by better leveraging technology.  We've been honored to partner with NJSBA for more than six years to help support their digital marketing and Bob has been a key player in creating a solution driven by both business and technology considerations.

We're delighted to congratulate the Tech Gurus selected for 2016 and sponsor this important award! One big trend we're seeing is that the definition of "tech guru" has expanded to include association professionals who aren't from traditional information technology backgrounds. Why is this important? It shows that we are moving even moreso into the creative economy where technology is seen as an enabler to business success and not a solution in and of itself.  This evolution is playing out in the association industry before our very eyes!

Just take a look at some of the areas the award winners are focused in and why we view them as a Tech Guru and someone to watch for 2016:

• Donna Reichle, Associated Builders & Contractors--spearheading a national project to better automate communications and reduce operational overhead of email
• Robert Wagner, American Payroll Association--spearheading a digital marketing transformation by adding inbound marketing to the organization
• Amanda Scott, Baccalaureate Social Work Directors--single-handedly running an association using her association management system to the fullest
• Kristen Garman, National Association of College Admission Counseling--in constant pursuit of how to effectively utilize data to improve digital communications
• Andrew Burch, National Federation of Independent Businesses--innovator in employing email automation to increase operational efficiency and increase the ability to measure and predict user interaction
• Melissa Garcia, Society for Neuroscience--facilitating continuous, integrated communication between business units to outfit programs with the technology that will take the organization to the next level

These are just a few of the outstanding tech gurus that we nominated that deserve the recognition for being disrupters and always pushing forward. Speaking of disrupters, we would be remiss if we didn't give a shout out to Reggie Henry of ASAE, Prabash Shrestha newly of AGA , and Ed Beck of NRA all visionaries who lead with the philosophy of "why not try it" and focus on what's to gain through change versus the fear of change.

Congratulations to all the award recipients and we look forward to hosting the award reception on May 18th in Crystal City, Virginia!

Associations Turning to Marketing Automation to Fuel Growth

Ashburn, VA, March 4, 2016---HighRoad Solution, the only digital agency focused exclusively on associations to offer email, automation and inbound marketing services announced that it has been elevated to a Platinum-level agency partner by HubSpot, a leading software developer of marketing automation platforms.

“Our inbound digital marketing practice has grown exponentially since its founding in 2014,” stated Chief Marketing Officer, Suzanne Carawan. “Associations of all sizes are adding marketing automation platforms to build out their digital ecosystems in order to gain greater insight into member behavior. We partnered with HubSpot to offer enterprise-level functionality that we can integrate into the technology stack of today’s associations, as well as expanded our service offerings to provide the marketing support needed to undertake digital transformation.”

Since partnering, HighRoad Solution has implemented HubSpot and integrated the platform through its +Plus product line with leading association management software and customer relationship platforms including Abila’s NetForum Enterprise, Aptify, Personify360, ACGI’s Association Anywhere and Salesforce.

In addition to integration, HighRoad Solution’s inbound practice provides services to support modern association marketing departments including persona development, content marketing strategy, lead scoring and sales enablement programs to support associations’ needs to adapt and grown in a mobile-based, digital-first business environment.

About HighRoad Solution 
HighRoad Solution is the only digital marketing agency endorsed & used by ASAE. We combine digital & database platforms to increase revenue, member insight & efficiency. Whether you need email, marketing automation or inbound marketing, we have the subject matter and technical experts to deliver the solution you need.

We're thrilled to announce that our 2016 State of Digital Marketing in Associations research project is now open for participation. All participants who finish the research survey will receive a $5 coffee card for your time and will be sent an automatic advance copy of the report prior to its release in August at the ASAE Annual Conference. If you missed out on the 2014 or 2015 study, here's a quick recap of the findings and the outstanding gaps that exist in digital marketing and technology in associations.

 If you would like to download past reports, please visit our 2014 State of Digital Marketing in Associations or 2015 State of Digital Marketing in Associations research page to retrieve the full report.