Whatever the size of your membership organisation, or the sector in which you operate, communication is essential for any organisation. The good news is that it’s never been easier for companies to reach out to their audiences and prospective clients. What you need, with so much opportunity, is a plan.
What is a brand communications plan?
A brand communications plan can do various things for your membership organisation. It can:
- Help you to understand your audience and position in the marketplace, so that you can optimise your existing marketing strategies. The more you listen to your audience, the more you’ll discover which content they respond to best, what issues they have with your products and services, and what you can do to improve their satisfaction.
- Refine and improve your membership offering and value proposition by enhancing your understanding of your members’ needs.
- Save you money but cutting out the less effective marketing and focusing on the most lucrative income streams and effective conversion drivers.
Ultimately, a brand communications strategy is about getting to know your audience, crafting the right message, and making sure you’re present on the right channels.
Start with member personas
Member personas help you and your whole team, including contractors, to understand your core member groups. They’ll include helpful details that will help you craft the perfect tone and strategy to reach them.
What is your USP?
What is it about your membership offering that is exclusive or particularly tempting to your prospects? What makes your organisation stand out? A USP is more than just the product you’re selling; it’s the key element that sets you apart from your competitors. It could be a strong sense of social responsibility, quick and efficient customer services, or access to particular resources or partnerships.
Define your personality and your voice
As you’ll be talking to humans, you need to have a human side that your market can connect with. Don’t forget, while you’ll need to adapt your messaging to different member profiles, ultimately, consistency is key, and your voice needs to be identifiable and reliable to be believable.
You’ll need to spend some time creating or refining your voice as a complement to your existing personality and a depiction of your values. This tone should represent your USPs and resonate with your member personas.
Establish metrics for success
What does success look like, and how can you get your whole team to understand their targets and these metrics? Aligning your strategy with a set of KPIs, then circulating these with your whole team and carrying out regular reviews will help keep you on-track. Your success metrics need to be measurable and realistic, and in-line with your organisation’s values.
Ultimately, it can become all too easy to stick to the norm and continue using the channels and tone that are in your comfort zone, but establishing a communications plan and reviewing your mix on a regular basis will help you and your team discover new opportunities and better refine your voice to cater for an evolving market.
CJ Association Management is an established, specialist association management company providing support services tailored for the membership sector.
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