Text messaging enjoyed a cultural heyday back in the early 2000s when nimble-fingered teens used their Nokias to shoot quick messages to each other. These days, there’s a greater focus on digital communication apps, such as WhatsApp and iOS Messages. But if you think that SMS texting has gone the way of cargo pants and ‘N Sync, you’d be wrong.

In the past decade, the number of text messages sent has increased by a whopping 7,700%. SMS texting still has one of the highest engagement rates of any channel, with exceptional open rates. If you have a timely, relevant message, SMS is one of the best ways to deliver it.

Which makes SMS texting ideal for associations. With the right strategy, you can use text messaging to create a first-rate member experience.

You buy a Yeti—a bicycle built specifically for mountain riding. The bike itself touts a light-weight body, trail-friendliness, precision-riding, nimble climbing, among a number of other features that make it ideal for trekking in the mountains. 

You have all of these grandiose ideas of riding with the wind against your face, conquering heavy mountainous terrain and immersing yourself in the outdoors. 

And then you buy it.

And suddenly, your entire vision seems unachievable and overwhelming. So, you take it for a spin around your neighborhood block and bring it home. It's safe, easy, and you need the exercise, so you rinse and repeat every weekend. 

That's what it's like when you buy a marketing automation platform and use it as an email tool. You use a sliver of its functionality and don't necessarily achieve your goals.

From personalized Netflix recommendations to suggested Spotify playlists, users have come to expect a certain amount of customization when it comes to services and subscriptions. Association audiences are no exception.

Organizations spend a great deal of time making assumptions about their members' interests. And there are a number of tools out there to support the collection of behavioral data so that associations can get better and better at getting to know their members.

But sometimes, it's not enough just to build off algorithms that indicate a person's interests. Sometimes the simple solution is to ask. 

That's the intention of the modernized Email Preference Center (EPC). To give your members control of the remote.

Thanks to the hit Netflix series, “Tidying Up,” people across the world have been “Marie-Kondo-ing” their homes and offices in order to start fresh. For those not privy to the show, here’s the gist: Marie Kondo, the show’s host, encourages participants to evaluate each item in their home (or, more specifically, in their closet) and identify whether it “sparks joy" in their life.

Anything not "sparking joy" is ceremoniously discarded or donated. Those having gone through the process are afforded a cleaner, more streamlined space that inspires productivity and healthier living.

Your data is no different. And here's why.

Most associations don’t have a traditional sales department, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a sales team. Throughout your organization, there are people who work hard on recruitment, engagement, and event attendance.

Association sales teams may be diverse and diffuse, but they still work like a team in a for-profit business. Unfortunately, this means associations will often run into one of the most common issues for all organizations: lack of alignment between sales and marketing.

Bringing marketing and sales teams together takes effort and communication, but it can be done. First, let’s talk about why it matters.

Here’s perhaps the understatement of the century—sometimes email templates can be fussy. Who's with me on this?

I think it's fair to say that, regardless of the platform, as marketers we've all peeled back the HTML veil to try and retrofit and/or augment our templates.  We know what we want for our organization and our brand. We also know that sometimes technology just doesn't bend that way.

Understanding that time spent on marketing strategy versus template rewiring is always a better bet, we've created what we call the "Template Pak" for one of the leading email automation platforms we offer, Adestra.