The most recent buzz this December at HighRoad, is all about how we can grow the association space to begin the new trend of figuring out an innovative approach to how your associations national level and the affiliated local chapters, regions, special interest groups, are working together.

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.

When thinking about email, there is a lot of talk about the right platform, with the right connector (or integration), and the project involved for migrating onto a new platform. That leaves little time and conversations for the design of the email template. For all the thought that goes into your brand look and feel or a new website, there seems to be a gap when it comes to designing for email. For the non-designer, wearer-of-many-hats, association professional, these tips are designed to quickly make you the expert when it comes to designing (or collaborating) on your next email template.

It's hard to know for certain in today's email world what truly makes a great email. Here, I have broken it down into 4 easy, key points for you to think about before the next time you hit send.

Picking up from last week, we have already established the purpose and fundamentals of email marketing.  But just a reminder, email marketing is an educated guess with a lot of hoping and we are past that point.  Shouldn't we now start using data analytics, business intelligence and behavioral modeling?  That is where we are going to pick up this week.

Marketing Automation is on the rise now more than ever.  The main blocking point though is are you ready for marketing automation?   Aside from needing to know what marketing automation is, you need to take a step back and look at email marketing.