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Emily Nash

By: Emily Nash on June 1st, 2017

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5 Takeaways From The 2017 State Of Digital Marketing Report

Content, Social & Digital Marketing | state of digital marketing report

mailto:demo@example.com?Subject=HighRoad Solutions - interesting article

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For many associations, the summer months can mean a slower time of year - which means greater time for reevaluating marketing efforts and budgets. The number of events held go down, kids are out of school, membership renewal drives have passed. Now is the time to look more deeply into marketing efforts that lead to greater results whether they are greater numbers in members, attendance for events, or engagement with marketing materials for education credits, industry knowledge, and more. It can be a huge asset to have an understanding of what other associations are doing in the market. While I recommend reading the State of Digital Marketing Report in full, here are a few key takeaways to get you started.


  • How effective are association marketing efforts?
    Three out of four participants from associations consider their marketing efforts as “somewhat” or “very” effective - which is a 5 point increase from the previous year. That’s a huge jump and can equate to a major benchmark for where you want to be with your marketing. That leads us to our next question, what are they doing different to achieve such effective results? 

  • What are effective associations doing differently?
    Social paid advertising is on the rise year-over-year with an emphasis on Facebook and Twitter.  With so many options for segmenting and targeting (doesn’t Facebook know everything about us at this point?), social media makes it easy to reach new potential leads and members. There are also a variety of options for types of ads (carousel, video, and images and retargeting, engagement, and website visits.) The budget can be optimized by segmentation, but also by times of day and days of the week. Social media advertising seems to be one aspect that is leading to a greater sense of marketing effectiveness.

  • What kinds of tactics and skills do associations possess?
    Associations have an average of six out of 13 main capabilities they focus in on for their marketing efforts; with marketing communication at the top of  the list. Nearly 25% reported having three or fewer areas of focus and only 14% of associations report having 10 or more of the tracked capabilities. These can equate to a set of skills like “Strategy/Planning” or “Brand Management”. In terms of tactics to achieve these capabilities, email and event marketing are among the top. Another interesting point to make is that website and SEO are down from the previous year. This can be due to either the skill set isn’t in place in the association, or the perceived value of the tactic is not as important as other tactics.

  • Are associations constantly improving their marketing and member communications to where members perceive the information relevant and useful?
    A little over 25% of participants reported that members consider marketing efforts as “always relevant and professional”. Here is the key though: associations are more likely to be successful with how well marketing tactics (email, social media advertising, SEO) are used. So, it can be concluded that while many tactics are the same within association marketing efforts, some associations are equipped and more skilled at executing on those tactics. 

  • Finally, what is the typical marketing budget for an association and how has it changed from year to year?
    The interesting takeaway here is that marketing budgets are down nearly 15% from the previous year. The average marketing budget for an association has hovered around $260,000 and $240,000 in 2015 and 2016, but has declined to $205,000 in this year’s study. One thing to keep in mind for why this decline might be happening is the change in administration and that uncertainty it can mean for associations. 

Other key takeaways involved understanding member needs and the report goes into great detail about what it means for marketing effectiveness. This can come from effectively segmenting member audiences for email marketing through email preference centers, effectively launching lead generation campaigns that take members through a survey, or seamless automation that boots out a post-event survey to an attendee. This is our fourth year conducting this in-depth survey into associations and digital marketing efforts.

For more great insights, download the full 2017 report.

 

 

About Emily Nash

With a unique background in start-ups-to-studios, and consulting-to-corporate settings, Emily specializes in solving for unknowns, pioneering new services, and collaborating with marketers and strategists. In her community, she served on the board of American Institute for Graphic Arts as their Communications Director to help promote networking and mentorship opportunities for area designers and creatives. She’s also a co-producer for Rethink Association, a podcast for associations.