Three Practical Strategies for Tough Economic Times

Here are three practical, “association-friendly”strategies for these tough economic times.

• Go for low cost or no cost: Before spending more money, maximize the impact of what you already do. Use a “guerilla marketing” approach to find smart, quick, inexpensive and creative techniques to deliver your message.

• Strengthen your message before spending more money: The more powerful the message, the better the ROI from your marketing budget. Begin by strengthening your association's ability to articulate the benefits of membership.

• Start with the low hanging fruit: A practical starting point is the search for “low hanging fruit” – the easy opportunities to introduce new products and services or to create cost-effective synergies between programs and departments.

THREE WORKSHOPS TO HELP YOUR ASSOCIATION

The Connecting With Members Workshop

These hands-on workshops put staff and volunteers to work improving your association’s marketing materials. You will learn to:

• Strengthen the selling power of your message.
• Refocus on target specific segments within your membership.
• Utilize guerrilla marketing approaches to priority setting and action planning.

 The Membership Marketing Workout

This team-based program focuses on specific ways to improve membership recruitment and retention. The team sets specific membership targets and then gets to work:

• Creating a “Membership Marketing Opportunity Matrix.” This tool maps out benefits, target audiences and delivery vehicles so you can maximize synergy among departments.
• Using the Matrix to identify “low hanging fruit” – opportunities for improved marketing and cost-savings.
• Using Creative Problem Solving techniques to brainstorm new benefits. 
• Crafting hit-the-ground-running-action plans.

The High Performance Chapter Collaboration Workshop

This goal-oriented workshop teaches chapter staff, volunteers and national staff how to:

•  Apply the principles of Trust-Based Leadership™ to move past old issues.
•  Organize Grassroots Innovation Teams so the best ideas from the chapter level can be used everywhere.
•  Launch successful partnership programs between chapters and the national office.

For more information, contact me at:  Allen@GetaLiff.com