The MemberWise Network is unique as being the only Network led by association and membership professionals. A core part of our team are the MemberWise Ambassadors; a group of practising membership professionals specialising in a specific area that we consider core and crucial to the world of membership such as engagement, recruitment and value.
In recent years, we have branched out into complementary areas such as governance, leadership, AI, communications and PR, and people/volunteer management in order to show how the membership role requires broader business insight and experience.
We are now pleased to announce that we have appointed a new Ambassador in the area of New Member Acquisition – Introducing Emma King, Director, B2B, Channel and Membership Marketing at ISC2.
Let’s get to know Emma (and the high profile professional body that she currently works for) who’ll be championing this crucial/developing area of activity…
Tell us about the membership body you currently work for…
ISC2 is the world’s leading member association for cybersecurity professionals. Our nearly 675,000 members, candidates and associates lead the profession with the same shared vision.
Tell us about your role…
I have responsibility for driving marketing for B2B and Channel audiences and also for progression and membership marketing globally, I have 5 direct reports and an overall team of 14, located in the US, UK and APAC.
On the progression side, we are focused on engaging with Candidates who have signed-up for our Certification training: supporting them through the key milestones to ISC2 membership, driving both retention and engagement.
From there, my membership marketing team focus on engaging with members – driving member value and retention.
Previous Membership Bodies/membership-related experience and number of years’ experience working ‘within membership’
I have over 15 years of membership experience. I’ve been at ISC2 for just over two years and prior to that, was at the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) for 12 years.
Short overview on any recent key membership related achievements
I relaunched member value proposition and creation of campaign to drive awareness and was responsible for driving member retention +5% on target e.g. growing membership by x%, optimising the member experience etc. Ideally an achievement linked to membership/ambassador role.
How did you get into membership?
My first role after university was for a membership body and apart from a couple of stint in law and accountancy firms, I realised that membership organisations are where my passion lies and particularly the opportunity to work at a global level.
What I find most rewarding is the positive impact we are having on people’s lives: seeing and hearing cases studies and testimonials is really motivating in driving us forward in what we do.
Involvement with the network in the past
I have previously attended MemberWise events and also often look at the latest chats in the community to see that other member organisation professionals are having a lot of the same challenges.
What are your current goals/challenges from a membership perspective?
To drive progression and retention: increasing the % of people which pass exams and become members and then engaging members on their journey beyond certification to drive value and retention.
Focus on how we drive a personalised experience when data doesn’t have all of the insights we need: how can we test and learn gain what we need.
How will you will champion your ambassador subject area?
Creating the next generation of members, while ensuring we meet the needs of those who have been with us longer term is important to me and think there’s a lot those in membership orgs can learn from each other.
Would champion how we could buddy up with others in membership orgs: using it as an opp to share examples of challenges and how they’ve been overcome, what’s been learnt to help support those in similar situations.
If you could recommend one thing to a membership/association professional starting out in a role similar to yours, what would it be?
Get as much engagement with members as you can to bring to life why you’ve chosen to join a membership/association organisation.
Something unusual/unique about you…
I actually can’t think of anything! Although am sure if you asked my friends and family they’d come up with something!
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