BE AN ORDER MAKER NOT AN ORDER TAKER:

According to this year's Inbound Marketing conference, HubSpot stated that only 20% of today's professionals have the requisite digital marketing skills needed to be successful in their jobs. That means that 80% don't have them and are looking to the 20% to help them out.

A few notes on this:

1) HubSpot did not say "digital marketing skills" to just mean a person relegated to a communications or marketing position. They meant digital marketing skills for everyone. That means U Mr. or Ms. Executive Director, Board Member, VP Events, Professional Development, Membership & Publications!

The big takeaway is that while you may not be responsible for executing a digital campaign, you better well understand what's possible.

2) Associations lack digital capacity today. How do we know this and can state this with such certainty? Well, because we answer support calls and field support tickets all day long from hundreds of associations and we can see the areas where gaps in education exist. We're aiming to try to help organizations build capacity through our November 19th Digital Training Workshop Day.

3) If you don't get digital, you aren't going to get consumers. We seem to want to skirt the issue and not take the time to really understand what today's consumers want and more importantly, how they make buying decisions. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your blast email is actually not the reason that people decide to take action so if you're wondering why you're seeing decreased open rates and engagement is harder to come by, well, it's probably because you're taking a whole lot of action on your side, but you aren't sending meaningful messages or presenting a value proposition that the email recipient actually cares about.

4) Finding a job, getting promoted and being able to bridge into 2015 requires digital. Why do I know this firsthand? Because HighRoad is hiring across a variety of roles and we are getting hundreds of resumes. What's the first thing we do regardless of job role? Look you up on Google, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If we can't find you, if you aren't actively involved and can prove that you're in the mix of today's online world, you're put into the digital pile on the left--meaning, you're not even a contender.

This is a hard hitting reality for many an association professional who sees any aspect of digital--email, social, mobile--as "not their job" or "what marcomm does". The problem with this is that digital isn't just a role anymore, it is a mindset. And if you don't know it, you don't get it. 

All marketers have been tempted by the idea of purchasing a 3rd party list or using a co-registered list to cast the widest possible net while prospecting new members or marketing an event to members/non-members.

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!  

From all of us at HighRoad, have a safe and happy Halloween! 

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!

I had the opportunity to attend a gigantic conference last week, The 2014 MIMA Summit, and I wanted to share with you a key take-away that I took away from the event. This year's event was themed Rise of the Machines and it took a more technical approach to Interactive Marketing which not only speaks to the geeky side of me but also the realist in me because let's face it, marketers can want things, but it takes a developer/inventor/architect/engineer to realize and manifest something from thin air.

The lunch keynote speaker was Dean Kamen, the founder and president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation which developed the HomeChoice™ portable dialysis machine, the iBOT™ Mobility System, the Segway™ Human Transporter, a DARPA-funded robotic arm, a new and improved Stirling engine and the Slingshot.