Breaking Down the Barriers
By Jodie Slaughter, President
Originally Published in ASAE Marketing Forum
Well-funded for-profit companies are invading your marketplace from almost every direction—through trade shows, publications, online communities, and more. If your association is determined to fight back, you have some powerful ammunition: a strong brand name and a ready-made market. To be armed and ready for the competition, consider these three typical barriers to effective branding and the best ways to help break them down.
Barrier 1: Fear of commercialism.
A strong branding strategy naturally capitalizes on the recognizable names and logos your members equate with your high quality. Use your marks with taste, but do use them. Remember this: Your association does appear too commercial when marketing and branding decisions are designed only to drive income and not to meet broader member needs, or when you erode the integrity of your name, logo, and list with widespread use. To avoid the taint of commercialism:
- Always use your name and logo with discretion and in pursuit of true member service.
- Lay the groundwork for member acceptance by creating rigorous screening processes for branded products and services, access to member channels, and so on. Share your screening criteria with members.
- Ensure that no product or service receives your brand unless it offers unquestionable value to members, superior service, and airtight tracking and reporting.
- Reinforce screened products and services by limiting the use of logo symbols and by creating or adhering to strict association identity standards.
- Reconsider policies that allow members to use "member of" logos—thus creating possible confusion with your branded offerings. Such policies may be counterproductive if you want the maximum value for your association brand.
Barrier 2: The tendency to say, "We don’t do that."
New challenges require new ways of ways of thinking and acting. If a for-profit company had the power of your association name, logo, and list, it would never shrink from using them to best advantage. Neither should you. The key is to find a comfortable middle ground to overcome institutional barriers.
For example, let’s say you’ve never used e-mail addresses or fax numbers to promote products or services that bear your brand. Start by testing a small portion of your membership and include an opt-out mechanism. Few members resent receiving relevant information in a timely fashion. Just don’t overdo it. Members will appreciate that you’re not sending them something every week, which will only strengthen your future response rates.
Barrier 3: Inability to act quickly.
In a 24/7 world, when others are racing you to be first to the market, you can’t wait for the next quarterly board meeting to make branding decisions. Again, stress to your leaders how quickly your for-profit competitors make decisions, and how high their tolerance for risk is. Is your association waiting for opportunities while your competitors act on them?
Perhaps you recognize this barrier but feel powerless to break it down. Change is more likely if you cultivate a strong base of member support for your branding efforts. So begin by recruiting some champions. A couple of highly visible, highly vocal member-cheerleaders will take you a long way toward changing old mindsets—and slow schedules.
A marketing and branding strategy that capitalizes on what’s unique to your association wields power that even the most aggressive competitors cannot. Feed your leaders a steady stream of reminders that your for-profit competitors certainly don’t shy away from blatant self-promotion as they compete for your members’ dollars. Show tangible examples of competitive products and services and successful branding strategies. Then spotlight any and all successes you have with branding. Now’s the time to help your association’s leaders to rethink "we can’t" and "we don’t."