Transcript The Association and Nonprofit Marketing and Communication

The Association and Nonprofit
Marketing and Communication
Planning Guide
A Workbook of Models, Templates and Best
Practices for Creating Simple, Effective
Marketing and Communication Plans for
Uncertain Times
Created By:
Stephen C. Carey, Ph.D., CAE
President & Lead Strategist
Association Management & Marketing Resources
www.ammr.com
301.530.9066 [email protected]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen C. Carey, Ph.D., CAE, President and CEO of Association Management & Marketing Resources, was a former International and
Regional Association CEO for 13 years and has written, published, or edited 100+ articles and several books on association strategic planning,
marketing, communication, governance and management topics, including the first association marketing management textbook entitled,
Marketing the Non-profit Association. He just published the 2006 Strategic Planning Guide and his Marketing and Selling to Associations in the New
Millennium, was selected for an award by Association Trends. Dr. Carey was also selected as one of the 12 most influential association executives
by the Washington Business Journal, and is considered to be one of the industry’s leading experts on strategic planning, restructuring associations,
program assessment and marketing and communications management. Dr. Carey was selected for the 2002 and 2004 Circle of Excellence
Awards from the Maryland Society of Association Executives for his quarterly Association Marketing and Communications Management
courses and this textbook, through which 1000’s of association executives have been trained. He lives and works in Bethesda, Maryland.
Information about AMMR can be found at www.ammr.com, and he may be reached at: [email protected].
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Association and Nonprofit Marketing and Communications Planning Guide was created as a direct result of the need for a simple, comprehensive,
adjustable, easy to understand and use marketing and communication planning tool for nonprofits in times as uncertain as these. After visiting
with staffs of over 1000 trade associations, professional societies and other nonprofits of all sizes and budgets, and finding less than 10% with
comprehensive, integrated planning tools in use, we thought it important to bring a simplified methodology that all nonprofits, large and small,
could use to develop easy-to-use plans that integrate the various units of the organization. This book details mid-decade trends and issues in
association management, describes the marketing and communications planning process, provides a wide variety of planning and structural
templates and best practices and details the case for quantitative value delivery for associations in the future.
Planning Guide Contents
GUIDE SECTION
PAGE

Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………… 2

About the Author……………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………………….…… 6

Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………………………. 7

Preface………………………………………………………………………………………………….….…... 8

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

How To Use the Planning Guide…………………………………………………………………………… 12

1. Integrated Marketing and Communications Trends for Associations and Nonprofits……….. 13

2. Key Marketing and Communications Issues Mid-Decade………………………………………….. 18
Planning Guide Contents, Cont’d
GUIDE SECTION
PAGE

3. Definitions, Benchmarks and Best Practices of Integrated Marketing and Communication
Planning……………………………………….…………………………………………………………….……………. 31

4. Integrating Marketing and Communications into the Fabric of the Organization—Marketing
and Communications Planning Operations and Priorities ………………………………………………………40

5. Mission, Goals and Objectives for the Marketing and Communications Program………………………. 50

6. Departmental and Product / Program / Service Line Marketing Planning…………………………………. 56

7. Information Technology and Segmentation ………………………..…………………………………………... 66

8. Creating and Coordinating an Integrated Marketing and Communications Structure………………….. 72

9. Creating and Delivering Quantified Value for Messaging Products, Programs and Services………… 80

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 85
TABS: Planning Readings, Guides, Models,
Templates and Examples

TAB 1 — Key Governance, Marketing and Communications Planning Trends To Address

TAB 2 — Marketing and Communications Issues to Address with the Board and Staff

TAB 3 — Sample Integrated Marketing and Communications Definitions

TAB 4 — Marketing Audit Templates and Readings

TAB 5 — Sample Goals and Objectives for the Marketing and Communications Program

TAB 6 — Sample Product, Program and Services Marketing and Communications Planning Template

TAB 7 — Information Technology, Segmentation and Psychographics Integration Templates

TAB 8 — Creating Integrated Marketing and Communications Structure, Integration and Coordination

TAB 9 — Sample Templates for Creating a Value Matrix and Product Priority Data

TAB 10—Annotated Bibliography and Ordering Information
Dedication
“There once was a long-awaited polar bear shipped to a popular zoo. His habitat was not quite ready, so they put him in a
very small enclosure until his home was complete. In his temporary home, he only had enough room to pace three steps
in one direction, and then turn around and pace three steps back. He did this repeatedly for two weeks until his new
home was ready. On the big dedication day, everyone crowded around as they placed him in his expansive new home,
only to find that he confined his activity to pacing three steps up and three steps back, even though he had been given
one of the largest habitats in the zoo.”*
The Association and Nonprofit Marketing and Communications Planning Guide is dedicated to Samuel S. Shapiro, CAE,
association industry sage and visionary, who, long before integrated strategic marketing planning was envisioned as a
tool, voiced the need for integrated marketing and communications planning as a mechanism to bring together, harness
and focus the planning and operations of the association. Sam also saw the need for marketing “articulated value” in a
more substantial and quantified manner, as a way to lock in the concept of value-to-dues as a means of creating
members for life.
Sam saw beyond the confines of polarized departmental marketing. He saw that the integration of these two concepts,
integrated marketing and communications planning and creating quantifiable value, as the two cornerstones and legacy of
modern association management to ensure that associations remained unique and essential providers long into the
future.
In short, Sam preached that we must use the entire arsenal in our marketing and communications habitat.
It is with Sam’s spirit that this Planning Guide was created to help associations see clearly how they can use integrated
marketing and communications practices to assist them in marketing their products and services to the next generation of
members and stakeholders.
*Story as told by The Rev. Dr. Stephanie Nagley, Rector, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Bethesda, MD
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully appreciates the research, writings and contributions of the many association executives, association
management consultants, societies of association executives, and hundreds of AMMR students and their associations.
These individuals, associations and companies have provided data, insights, tools and techniques toward understanding
and illuminating the realities of the association and nonprofit management marketplace as we know it today…and
endeavor daily to discover and provide the marketing and communication vision for the association community, as we
seek our realities of tomorrow.
A thank you as well to Philip Kotler and Alan R. Andreasen, authors of Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations (6th
Edition) for their guidance to the nonprofit community in strategic marketing planning for over two decades. And finally,
to Michael L. Rothschild, who pointed out in his 1979 landmark article in the Journal of Marketing entitled, Marketing
Communications in Nonbusiness Situations; or Why It’s So Hard To Sell Brotherhood Like Soap, that marketing the nonprofit message, product or service is one of the most difficult concepts to master and execute. I have found that helping
associations do this, at times, can be just as challenging!
© Association Management & Marketing Resources
All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, disk, hard drive, photocopying,
audiovisual or other without in writing permits from the publisher. Excerpts for classroom
permissions freely granted with permission.
Call AMMR for permissions and rights at 301.530.9066,
or E-mail at [email protected].
Preface
The New Association Marketing and Communication World
Our ability as organizations to forecast and react quickly to changing marketing and communicating forces
and conditions will be the future bottom-line criteria for our survival as organizations representing members,
industries and institutions. The following anonymous quote sums up the frustration at the frontier of our
marketplace and sounds the call for getting serious about marketing and communicating simply, and more
effectively and efficiently:
“We used to provide continuing education… We did it well and it was a great benefit to members. Now
everyone … provides ‘adult’ and ‘career building’ seminars. They do it cheaper and often times better… plus
they are often forprofit entities. How do we compete? We provide lobbying and advocacy for the profession.
But now large employers, business groups, etc. are doing the same (with often divergent agendas). Our
members don’t see the conflict, and often opt out of the profession and for them. What do we do? This is
compounded even further by some employers actively discouraging employees from joining our association…
Many of us have for profit subsidiaries that sell goods and services. How do we compete with Amazon.com
on books; insurance and banking conglomerates on products and services? We all used to have a little gravy
coming in from things like credit cards, travel programs, etc. Those sources are drying up when our
members can shop online and find the best price (which often isn’t ours!). Bottom line… how do we keep
ourselves relevant (and solvent) in an increasingly competitive environment?…How do we clearly demonstrate
our return on investment for our membership dues?”
The answer to these questions is by marketing and communication research, planning and execution. This
guide attempts to address these issues in a clear and simple manner and assist association executives in this
mission.
Preface Cont’d
NEED FOR A SIMPLE, COMPREHENSIVE TOOL
The Association and Nonprofit Marketing and Communications Planning Guide was created as a direct result of
the need for a simple, comprehensive, adjustable, easy to understand and use marketing and communication
planning tool for nonprofits in times as uncertain as these.
After visiting with staffs of over 1000 trade associations, professional societies and other nonprofits of all sizes
and budgets, and finding less than 10% with comprehensive, integrated planning tools in use, we thought it
important to bring a simplified methodology that all nonprofits, large and small, could use to develop easy-touse plans that integrate the various units of the organization.
Some readers will have a good concept and understanding of the materials presented, while for others, it will
be the first time they have been introduced to marketing and communications concepts and operations. Thus,
we have deliberately chosen a PowerPoint format for the Planning Guide to ensure that all explanations for
every model and template are easy to understand and meaningful, passing the “simplicity” test, so that all
levels of staff will be able to use the materials. For staff new to marketing associations, we recommend our
Marketing The Association primer available through AMMR.
Introduction
The first association marketing textbook entitled Marketing the Nonprofit Association:
Marketing the Functional Areas of Trade Associations and Professional Societies, sounded the call for
developing an integrated marketing approach to marketing association products and services. This book
indicated that associations should think of members more as customers and made the case for better
marketing structures, teaching associations that promotion was a small part of marketing and not marketing
itself.
The Association and Nonprofit Marketing and Communications Planning Guide extrapolates the planning
themes from the first book and creates a simplified but effective marketing and communications planning tool
that links together the association’s programs and services and ties them to the strategic plan, budget and
yearly program of work. In short, it makes you think about all the ingredients you need to consider, and lets
you tailor your plan to your organization. The guide comes with models and templates used for creating a
marketing and communications plan for a department, product or the entire association
Also included are structural and cross-departmental team, coordinative models and templates to be used to
integrate marketing and communications planning at all levels of the organization.
Introduction Cont’d
Additionally, a “sneak preview” methodology and template for creating quantified value
statements and value delivery vehicles are included to assist in raising the “value visibility”of
the organization’s products and programs. Value quantification and delivery are examined in
more detail in our next guide entitled, ROI—Defining and Delivering the True Value of
Association and Nonprofit Products, Programs and Services: An Association Executive and
Volunteer Guide to understanding Value Articulation and Delivery.
The Planning Guide is a vital tool for ensuring the association’s product lines are clearly visible
and tangible to its constituents. Planning Guide templates, as well as the guide itself, are
available on CD-ROM, e-mail, mini-hard drive, diskette and other electronic formats by
contacting AMMR.
How to Use the Planning Guide
The Planning Guide is in the form of a workbook and is not a marketing textbook. There are nine sections to the guide,
each with a corresponding TAB. The section provides a thorough explanation of the subject matter and the TAB materials
reinforce the subject matter with templates, best practices, models and articles of importance.


Readers should first go through the section readings and then review TAB materials.

Use the templates to create your own customized planning tools, following the instructions in the text. We strongly
recommend that you try the planning tools out by creating one or two plans for individual products or services to
see the degree of effort it will take to bring up the entire organization. Then, create plans for all products and link
them to each other, the strategic plan, budget and the yearly program of work.
Some sections have self-examinations to assist the reader in evaluating their own association in relation to the
text. Take the exams and apply learning to changing your marketing and communications environment—
Remember, the board, CEO and senior staff must buy-in to the concepts presented in the guide, in order for
necessary “change buy-in” to occur.
Although we have placed appropriate reading materials at the TABs, we strongly recommend the annotated marketing
and communications readings list at TAB 10 for all staff involved in marketing and communicating the organization.
We hope that you are pleasantly surprised with the content of the workbook, and use it for all the purposes, for which it is
intended. Call us anytime, at no charge, to review or determine how best to apply any of the materials presented to your
organization.
Strategic Planning and Research and Marketing Workbooks Publication Order Form
Purchase either the Marketing Planning Workbook or our Strategic Planning and Research Workbook and receive our “Guide to Creating Dues
Structures in a Changing Environment”
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