Many associations approach marketing automation (MA) from a purely cost-savings perspective. These associations look at the time and resources that go into their current marketing efforts, and they calculate what they could save if some marketing tasks were automated.
These associations are not wrong. If you use MA to handle some everyday marketing tasks, you will see some cost savings.
But if you don’t use MA as a springboard to greater transformation, you’re leaving money on the table.
For example, compare the approaches of two hypothetical associations:
Association A: “We’re planning a large major conference. In order to get the word out, we’re going to set-up a three-part drip campaign (one for registration opening, one for early bird registration closing, and one with our speaker agenda) with some automated time delays to attract non-members.”
Association B: “We use data from our marketing automation platform to develop detailed buyer personas. Using these insights, we’ve aligned conference programming and marketing content based on their most urgent needs. We’ll use automation to issue journey-based campaigns to our personas.”
Association A represents the outdated spray-and-pray approach to marketing with a dollop of operational efficiency. This model involves contacting an audience by maybe one cut of segmentation (i.e. job function) and hoping it yields a positive result.
Not only is this approach a waste of resources, but you lose out on something precious: data. Spray-and-pray tells you little about the people who respond to your marketing. It tells you nothing at all about people who ignore your messages.
Association B’s digitally transformed approach has several benefits:
Association A will probably see nominal return from their MA platform. The tool, with all of its robust functionality, will cut down on some manual work. Some staff time may be freed up, but it's not enough to warrant a true return on investment.
But Association B are taking a data-driven, customer-centric strategy that starts with the question, “what do our customers want?” By identifying and addressing needs, this association will drive recruitment, improve engagement, and see an increase in sales.
Not to mention the fact that more people will want to go to Association B’s conference, because the programming will be more relevant to their needs.
Marketing transformation is a combination of people, process, and principles. It’s something that your entire association must commit to, especially the marketing team, the IT department, and executive management.
The marketing transformation process is multi-stranded. There are several things you’ll need to address concurrently, such as:
Platform integrationData is the heart of digital transformation. In many associations, individual systems aren’t fully integrated, so data can’t easily flow from one place to another. This can lead to redundancies and inaccuracies, and it prevents you from realizing the full value of your data.
Integration is one of the biggest technical challenges in a marketing transformation project. Often, the best option is to reach out to consultants who understand associations and ask them to help you deliver a fully integrated stack. MA platforms talk to things like your Association Management System (AMS) and communicate outward via email and social media.
Team restructuringPeople also need to be transformed as part of this process. Your marketing team will be abandoning their old processes and upgrading to more dynamic, data-driven methods of connecting with members.
This can be a big challenge at first. You’ll have to document new processes, restructure the department to suit those processes, and move people into their new roles. Major changes like this require a lot of time and support.
Cultural shiftUltimately, marketing transformation is a cultural change that requires everyone to switch to a member-first approach. Everyone in the association needs to start regularly asking themselves, “am I doing something that benefits our members?”
This change also involves embracing a data-driven approach on every level. Your association needs to take every chance to capture data and insights related to members. You’ll also need to ensure that all of your decisions are supported by that data.
Marketing transformation offers incredible rewards: thriving membership figures, high engagement with programming, and better visibility among groups of potential new recruits.
So why hasn’t every association already gone through the transformation process?
The truth is, not every association is ready. This is an arduous journey, and there’s no point starting unless you know you can reach the finish line.
Is your association ready to be transformed? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
If your only goal is operational efficiency, you’re not ready for marketing transformation. Marketing automation may help you deliver things like saving time, retaining staff or freeing up resources to work on strategy, but these are not the goals of marketing transformation.
Marketing transformation goals are things like:
Transforming to a data-driven strategy will help you achieve these goals, and more.
Leadership buy-in is always tricky. It’s even harder in the world of associations, where investment decisions are subject to close scrutiny, and executive positions can change hands on a regular basis.
Leadership buy-in on any project comes down to two things: accepting what the project will cost and understanding what the project will deliver. You’re ready to proceed if the following things are true:
The best way to secure buy-in is to be prepared. Cover all bases, plan the whole project, and explain why this project is essential. Try to communicate what happens if you don’t transform, such as decaying membership and falling recruitment.
Digital transformation projects can often hit a major roadblock – cultural resistance. Some people just refuse to engage with the new way of doing things.
Sometimes this is inertia – the old way ain’t broke, so why fix it? Other times, it’s fear that automation might take their job, or that they lack the skills to succeed in a digital world.
It’s better to tackle these cultural issues in advance. Speak with the current team and ask questions like:
All of these questions should prompt some frank conversations, as well as some serious soul-searching. If you’re not ready to transform, you might need to talk about what’s holding your association back.
But if you are ready to transform, there’s not a moment to lose.
Transformation is a long journey that will impact every part of your association. So, how will you know when you’re finished?
The final stage of this journey is often referred to as digital maturity. This is when you’re a well-oiled machine, delivering an excellent experience for each of your members. Digital maturity is signaled by a few markers, such as:
And of course, digital maturity also happens at a cultural level. You know you’ve succeeded when the whole team understands the power of data, knows how to make the most of the available tools, and is eager to embrace the next big technological breakthrough.
Want to hear more about how marketing automation can transform your organization? Check out our on-demand webinar, How Marketing Automation Leads to Marketing Transformation.