Don't Forget your Database
By Caroline Fuchs
Originally Published in ASAE Marketing Fast Facts, September 2000
A member of your association just received a renewal notice from your office with a balance due. The only problem is that this person is a life member who is no longer required to pay dues.
This situation, all too common in the world of membership marketing, demonstrates why it is critical to have an accurate database and to use it effectively. Marketing best practices require that you not only capture data about members, prospects, and customers, but also apply that information appropriately to program development, product promotion, and membership marketing.
Without a database that serves as a key component of your marketing activities, your association may waste valuable marketing efforts or miss its target.
Know your audience
Simply speaking, you need to understand who is going to give you a positive response and why. Lou Shomette, director of marketing at the Food and Drug Law Institute, Washington, D.C., uses database queries and reports to isolate specific member segments with shared profile elements. He then uses this information to create marketing materials that address the target audience. Some of the questions Shomette can answer about his audience are
- What is the profile of the audience? Are audience members male or female?
- Are they current buyers of association products?
- What are their ages?
- What are their incomes?
When analyzed, each piece of data helps to tell a story about your members.
Information is priceless
"People tend to be too narrow when determining which pieces of information to include in the database," says Bob Warrington, vice president of Harris Publishing, White Plains, New York.
To understand your members and their decision-making or purchasing behavior, you should compile an extensive amount of information.
According to Warrington, associations must collect information now to be ready to use it tomorrow. A database with depth allows your association to quickly adopt new marketing strategies as the environment changes. This flexibility is particularly important because potential competitors are likely to be technology-driven.
Keep it accurate
"What bothers a member most is [when the association has] inaccurate data," says Leann Shepp, director of database marketing at the American Pharmaceutical Association, Washington, D.C.
Keeping data current requires discipline and resources; however, inattention can lead to minor or large-scale disasters. Avoid incurring the wrath of a board member whose job title is incorrect on your mailing list. To keep data clean, Shepp recommends properly training staff responsible for data input by creating a standard for accuracy and continually maintaining it.
She also recommends that associations frequently test their data systems by running reports that show the disparities and then taking corrective action to improve data quality. For example, one search could run a report using the ZIP code field, and from this you can verify other information, such as the state name.
Use information to keep members
In the trade association environment, demonstrating the value of membership to companies in which multiple individuals must sign off on renewals poses an enormous challenge. Al Rickard, CAE, senior vice president of member services and marketing at the National Food Processors Association (NFPA), Washington, D.C., says his association meets this challenge with a contact-tracking system.
When employees of member companies access staff expertise, whether contact is made by phone, by e-mail, or in person, that service is recorded in the membership database. Periodically, this information is compiled and sent to the primary contact at member companies to prove the utility of the association. By providing specific information consisting of percentages and statistics to the member companies, you demonstrate to them the value of membership through numbers. According to Rickard, the sheer volume of substantive information flowing between NFPA and member companies has demonstrated the value of membership and aided retention efforts.
Is collecting this data easy? No, Rickard says. Not all staff regularly enter contact information. Others use separate databases due to certain limitations of the central membership database. Achieving total participation in this contact-tracking system depends on three main factors:
- Ensuring that the database technology meets the needs of staff and members;
- Changing the behavior of employees not accustomed to entering data; and
- Sending a consistent message from senior management to everyone in the organization who regularly inputs data that entering contact information is a priority. Oftentimes, top management must indicate to staff that something is a priority in order for them to avoid carelessness or mistakes.
To achieve the latter, NFPA has built this priority into the individual goals of employees who have significant member contact.
How can you make your database a key component of your marketing activities? The key factor is effort. Take the time to understand and implement audience segmentation strategies; develop a database that helps you build member profiles; maintain the integrity of the data; and creatively use your database to help communicate the value of membership. If you can develop a system where every time someone calls in data is used to show the value of membership, then you are not just compiling data, but you are using the data as a knowledge source.
By dedicating resources to increase the usefulness of your database, you will reap the returns--new members, returning members, and new customers.