“For associations to make better decisions and fewer mistakes, they need to embrace the idea of collective intelligence.” Lior Zoref, a researcher and author of Mindsharing: The Art of Crowdsourcing Everything
This post was written by Amanda Kaiser, CEO and Founder of Kaiser Insights, LLC. Amanda is a qualitative researcher for the association industry and co-creator of the New Member Engagement Study. You can read Amanda’s weekly blog for association professionals at SmoothThePath.net or follow her on Twitter @SmoothThePath.
You’ve invested plenty into your benchmarking. It’s only natural that you want to see a return, some kind of indication that it was time and money well spent, but how do you measure success in benchmarking? How do you determine if you’ve achieved a reasonable return on your investment and more importantly, how do you ensure your success in the first place?
At Dynamic Benchmarking, Spring and Summer are our favorite times of the year, not just because of the beautiful weather here in New England, but because we enjoy attending the most popular events in our industry. Trade shows and conferences are great places to gather new ideas, explore new technologies and products and make new connections.
Finding meaningful and effective means of member engagement has long been a challenge of associations everywhere. Getting new members involved and keeping existing members active is one of the biggest obstacles faced by today’s associations, one that can often feel overwhelming given the limited resources available. Combine that with rapidly changing norms in both business and society as a whole, and associations are having to look for new and creative means of delivering value to their members.
In a world where we increasingly rely on emails, texts and various video conferencing applications, the face-to-face meeting is dying a slow and unfortunate death. A 2009 Forbes Insights survey of more than 750 business executives reported that 34% of these executives are traveling much less frequently for business as compared to the previous year. And while 42% reported their company’s use of technology for remote business meetings has significantly increased, more than 8 out of 10 said they prefer in-person meetings.
All organizations have a mission statement – a statement of purpose, a core focus, a reason it exists. It is this strategic vision that provides the member incentive to join and is the commitment your association makes to your membership.
This month's article is authored by Dynamic Benchmarking's Heather Tarpley, Business Development Specialist. Heather's background in Association Business Development gives her a unique perspective on what online benchmarking can do to help associations work with their supplier members to find tangible benefits with the organization. You can connect with Heather on LinkedIn to tap into her knowledge and experience.
Non-dues revenue (NDR) programs are essential to the success of an association. Offering programs that contribute to furthering your mission, meeting member needs and positioning your organization as a subject expert to your target audience can increase awareness in the marketplace, drive membership numbers and satisfaction, and add to your bottom-line. Benchmarking studies are an excellent source of non-dues revenue and can meet all of the other objectives listed above making them a highly efficient endeavor with a high return on investment.