This time of year feels like one big Hallo-Giving-Mas-New-Year holiday; and by that we mean it will be a new year before we can finish our pumpkin spiced lattes. And because Christmas ornaments have been out at Target since August, we think it’s fair to start planning for 2018.

There’s still time to get your promotional email messaging out for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to Forbes, there was a 15.2% bump in online sales in 2016 versus 2015 and that trend is expected to continue. To go even further, 40% of sales occurred on a mobile device. What does this mean for associations? Associations should be looking closely at how each touchpoint on a mobile device and online overall is experienced across all digital properties during the buyer’s journey. Here are a few key trends to watch out for and how associations should respond so they don’t miss out on big opportunities.

Today marks the second day of Association Success.org's SURGE 2017. The virtual conference is in its inaugural year and aims to put thought leaders together to discuss the disruption that is occurring in the association industry. We are proud to support the conference as a founding sponsor because we see how the association industry is changing on a daily basis.

The top areas for disruption in associations (from our perspective) fall into the following areas:

1) Executive Leadership: the need to find digitally-savvy executives that have track records in revenue growth

2) The Right Personnel: ensuring that the organization has staff with digital skill sets and the right tools to do value-added work in an efficient and effective manner

A lot of associations spend too much time over-thinking their digital marketing strategies that they end up missing opportunities,” says Suzanne Carawan, Chief Marketing Officer with HighRoad Solution. “The truth is that consumers are far more forgiving in the digital space, so associations can worry less and take more risks.”

Communicating with members can be intimidating in the digital age. What if your email has a typo? What if your e-newsletter has a broken link? What if that new (and expensive) website simply doesn't click with your audience?

The short answer: Relax.

Simply put, it's OK to make mistakes; companies do it all the time. Whether it's sending emails with the odd misspelling, introducing online services that don't work perfectly at launch, or trying something new with their messaging that winds up falling flat.

And that's perfectly fine, says Carawan, because the need to keep the conversation going with one's audience outweighs the need to make sure that communication is perfect: “Maybe in the past someone would get fired for a typo in a print communication, but in the digital space it happens and you can go back and fix it immediately.”

Moreover, making a mistake doesn't have the same impact on a brand's reputation as it did a decade ago. The digital community is diverse, meaning it is much more inclusive and understanding than what marketers have traditionally been used to. As a result, associations are holding themselves to a standard that just doesn't exist anymore and all that worrying about making the wrong move is slowing them down.

“Slow and perfect gets beat by agile and good intent every time in today’s world,” states Carawan, adding, “Everyone is just trying to be heard, and very few people are going to judge you for trying something that fails. Think of online like the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars. We're all creatures from different parts of the galaxy and all we want to do is grab a drink and talk to real creatures about real things—that’s the value of a membership.”

That doesn't mean associations have permission to get sloppy. It is still possible to go too far the other way – particularly among older generation who might be a little less forgiving than their Gen X and Millennial peers. What it does mean is that associations have more leeway to experiment with new ideas and services, try new approaches with their social media, or take the leap with initiatives such as website upgrades and digital marketing campaigns. 

Furthermore, notes Carawan, just as members and online audiences are more forgiving, so too must employers give staff the benefit of the doubt: “Don't fire the 24-year old who just sent an email with an error in it, because to them, this stuff happens all the time. They won't understand why it's a big deal because they live in world of emojis, abbreviations, and casual social media messages.”

No doubt, it's a new age for association marketing. And while it can be comfortable to sit on new ideas or marketing campaigns until they're flawless, sometimes the best play is to pull the trigger.

After all, adds Carawan, “No one's perfect, and we're all just trying to communicate.”

Want to learn more about improving your member communications? 

In today’s society, if it’s not hyper personalized, relevant, and quick… you’re 10 years behind. This is the beast that many associations have found themselves coming face to face with recently. I had the opportunity to attend Higher Logic Super Forum in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of last week, and from the numerous breakaway presentations and demonstrations I attended, there was one underlying message that was overly apparent-- marketing automation is key. We are coming into a time where we have the ability as marketers to gain more information about our members than ever before. The million-dollar question that everyone is wondering “What do we do with this information?”.

Did you attend Higher Logic Super Forum this past week? What were some of your biggest takeaways? For me – it was understanding the importance of community data to associations and organizations. One session in particular titled "Buried Insight: Do More with the Data Your Association Generates" presented by Jon Wivagg and Pauline Siobhan Karpowicz, MBA, CAE, from Westat Center for Association Services took a deep dive into the importance of data. In case you missed out on Higher Logic Super Forum or were unable to attend Buried Insights, I will give a quick recap of my biggest takeaways about identifying and leveraging data!