How to Measure the ROI of your Marketing Strategies

A group of our team members recently had the opportunity to attend IMEX which is a place for meeting vendors and planners to come together from around the world. The team met with many vendors and sat in on several educational courses. Jill attended Jason Bornfriend’s. “How to Measure the ROI of your Marketing Strategies.” She had many takeaways that will help us to better strategize for our clients.

We are always working to grow the organizations that we work with and often use marketing tools to do so. Whether it is social media activity, newsletters, or email blasts, most of our marketing tends to be online. One thing that organizations often struggle with, however, is how to measure the success of that online marketing. Luckily, Jason had several tools and solutions.

If you are looking for an effective tool to track your marketing strategy, try one of the following.

·      Facebook Pixel

·      Google Analytics

·      Google Tag Manager

·      Pinterest Tag

·      Web & Mobile Analytics

·      Bling Ads Universal Event Tracking

Once you have the tracking tool you like, however, you might be confused as to what to look for. Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) should be your focus for using real numbers to change your approach to digital marketing. Try looking at the following and monitoring their growth over time. Depending on your organization, it might make sense to determine different KPI’s.

1.     Cost per website visitor

2.     Rate at which your website converts users to leads

3.     Rate at which your sales team converts leads to customers

4.     Life time value of one new customer

After you have determined your KPI’s and observed them for each marketing strategy, you will have a good idea as to what is working and what is not. You can then take time to evaluate your marketing strategy and make changes where it is necessary.

Let your Members do the Talking

Your board might have dozens of strategies on how to attract new members but the simplest and cheapest way to grow membership is through your current membership. People are more likely to join your organization if they hear about the positive experience someone else is having in it rather than seeing a list of benefits spelled out on your website.

Don’t get me wrong. Having a clear list of benefits is important, however, word of mouth makes a bigger impact. Word of mouth creates a sense of trust that other methods can not imitate. You might be wondering now how to get your members involved with spreading the word and we’ve got a few options for you!

·      Referral program. Offer an incentive for members to reach out to potential members. This could be a discount on their membership, a gift card, or something else creative. Make this program and it’s guidelines clear to all of membership so that you don’t have the same 5 people bringing in all of the new members.

·      Surprise your members. Go outside the box and provide members with something that is not already expected. When members get the benefits that they are promised, they do not see it as something worth sharing with others. They are getting what they paid for, however, if you give them something they didn’t see on their radar, it gets them talking! This could come in a variety of forms.

o   Send a gift card to someone who comes to the majority of your monthly meetings.

o   Do a member spotlight on your website highlighting the member

o   Send a card to congratulate a member on a promotion

The options are endless. When doing these special things for members make sure that they are reasonable, repeatable, and relevant. You want to do things that could be done for a variety of members rather than singling out a member. This will create a bigger buzz to potential members. When depending on members to spread the word, it is important that the board is also involved. The board should be setting the example for members. By reaching out to the community and creating incentive, you should see your membership start to grow.

4 Ways to Fill your Newsletter with Content

It’s important to provide your members with content on the regular. They are reminded of their membership and feel like they are getting something useful out of it even when they aren’t attending events. One way to provide that is through newsletters, however, you might find yourself scrambling for something to include each month. Below you can find a list of newsletter content ideas that should spark your creative side!

• Blogs or articles- If your association already has blogs being written and maintained on the website, reuse that material. Put a short blurb, photo, and link back to the original blog. This will draw people to your website as well. If you do not have your own blogs, find stuff on other sites related to your industry and share it with your members. This will keep them in the know and will be appreciated.

• Throwbacks- If you have a box of old photos from past events or a scanned copy of the very first convention program, share it with your members in the newsletter! It can be fun to take a look down memory lane and adds something visually appealing to the newsletter.

• Board Spotlight- Do an interview with a member of the board each month and highlight that in the newsletter. This allows the membership to get to know the board better and gives the board the recognition they deserve.

• Updates- You also want to make sure your newsletter has some meat to it as well. Make sure to share any updates with organization, upcoming events, and any changes with leadership. This is the stuff they will primarily be looking for in the newsletter.

Make the newsletter something your members will not only skim through, but actually enjoy reading by adding some of these ideas to future months!

The Importance of a Mission Statement

All associations have a mission they are working towards whether they put it in writing or not. The putting it in writing part, however, is more important than you might think. One, having your mission in writing will hold your board accountable to making decisions that directly follow that mission. They will have something to refer back to when guiding the group and determining plans. Two, having a mission, allows potential members to have a better understanding of your association’s purpose. They will be more likely to join if they have a full understanding of the group and stand behind the mission. 

When writing your mission statement, there are a few things you want to keep in mind. Your mission statement should: 

• Be clear and simple. The statement should be easily understood by both those in the organization and those who are not. 

• A full explanation of your association’s purpose. Make sure to cover your basis and explain the entire purpose of the organization in the short statement. 

• Avoid fluff. Do the previous two together without adding fluff words and unnecessary jargon. This will only complicate the statement cause some people to skip over reading it all together. 

• Separate from a vision statement. Understand the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement. A vision statement is a declaration of an organization’s objectives rather than an explanation of what the association already does. 

If your board does not already have a mission statement in the books, get together to create a cohesive idea of what your association’s mission truly is. After that, get to writing!  

Saving your Email from the Trash Bin

Email is one of the most common ways to reach members. You might find, however, that most members are not opening or receiving their emails. This can be a huge problem when it comes to attendance at events and retaining membership. Why would a member want to stay a part of the association if they have no interaction with it? Below are a few ways that you can ensure members see your emails and actually take the time to read them. 

1. Make an announcement. Whether it is at a meeting or on social media, make an announcement to members to check their spam folders for association emails. If they are, they can change their settings to prevent this in the future. This problem happens pretty frequently. All emails that go out are most likely mass emails which are the type that typically get flagged as spam. 

2. Make your subject concise. In future emails, make sure that your subject line is very clear while still sparking interest. If you have an upcoming event, list your association’s name and the title of the event. This should be enough to make your members open the email.  

3. Get to the point. Similar to the subject line, keep the body of the email simple and easy to ready. You can include a few graphics and fluff but not too much. You want to make sure members do not lose their patience before they finish reading the email. 

Getting your email communication under control can improve the member experience tremendously. It keeps them up to date with the association and involved. Apply these email tips and watch your event attendance soar!