--- title: "Can You Hear Me Now?" id: "61193" type: "post" slug: "can-you-hear-me-now" published_at: "2026-03-16T15:56:43+00:00" modified_at: "2026-07-11T18:05:41+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/16/can-you-hear-me-now/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/16/can-you-hear-me-now.md" excerpt: "The range of tools members use to connect has diversified. Associations are working to keep up." taxonomy_category: - "Organizational Strategy" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Associations Now" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Can You Hear Me Now? Part of the Deep Dive[The Association Imperative](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/the-association-imperative/) Sticking with email? Still? Associations generally understand the importance of member segmentation. But by and large, they tend to use email as their main outlet for member outreach. That’s a marketing tactic that’s increasingly limiting, both in terms of impact and in terms of speaking directly to a diverse range of member classes. “Associations are going to kill themselves if they don’t move to a multichannel strategy instead of just relying on email,” says Tony Rossell, senior vice president at Marketing General International, a membership marketing consultancy. “Problem number one: It limits who your message is going to go to, because you’re only going to speak to people who have an opt-in your database. Beyond that, people are being smothered with email. If you have a Gmail or Yahoo account, it’s going to divide up those emails into different buckets, and so you may never see some of the emails coming from your organization.” Erin Espy, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications at the association management company Smithbucklin, concurs. “We have to be savvy about competing with all the noise,” she says. “A marketing email from their professional association may be really important, but it’s going into the same inbox with emails from their boss or J. Crew, or breaking news. So even though J. Crew is not our competitor, in a sense it is, because we are competing with them for attention.” Addressing that challenge means better understanding members and delivering more targeted marketing messages while staying on brand. That might involve traditional member categories: time in the profession, location, level of credentials or certifications. But it may be more cost-effective to consider which members are most deeply engaged in terms of time and dollars. Rossell notes that when working with one client association, the biggest buyer spent around $100,000; the smallest, $39. Yet the association marketed the same way to both. Instead, he suggests factoring in a member’s buying power when doing outreach. “There’s a simple formula people use called RFM: recency, frequency, and monetary amount,” he says. “How recently did someone make a purchase from us? How frequently do they do that? And what’s the total dollar amount? And those are pretty easy coordinates to build into AI if you have a data set.” ## Text Me Maybe? Beyond going deeper into the kinds of member classes you’re reaching out to, associations should look into a variety of outlets, with an eye to delivering a more personal touch. Targeted Facebook and Instagram ads have proven to be helpful, especially when promoting branded events. “The logic there is, people are all online, and so they’re going to interact with that ad in the timeframe that works for them, not in your timeframe,” says Rossell. [Mark Athitakis](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Tags: [#Associations Now](https://associationsnow.com/tag/associations-now/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## More in this Deep Dive - [Risk, Resilience, and How to Find Opportunity in Upheaval](https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/13/risk-resilience-and-how-to-find-opportunity-in-upheaval/) - [Secrets of Agile Associations](https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/13/secrets-of-agile-associations/) - [When Careers Break, Associations Matter More Than Ever](https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/13/when-careers-break-associations-matter-more-than-ever/) - [Why Messaging Should Be a Part of Your Core Brand Strategy](https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/16/why-messaging-should-be-a-part-of-your-core-brand-strategy/) - [What Satisfying Member Needs Means Now](https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/16/what-satisfying-member-needs-means-now/) [View the full Deep Dive →](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/the-association-imperative/) ## You Might Like - [VideoChallenge Legacy Mindsets at MMC+TechApril 17, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/04/17/challenge-legacy-mindsets-at-mmctech/) - [TemplateMembers onlyMember Onboarding ToolkitNovember 5, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/11/05/member-onboarding-toolkit/) - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [VideoThe Career Moves Every Association Leader Needs Right NowSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/the-career-moves-every-association-leader-needs-right-now/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2026%2F03%2F16%2Fcan-you-hear-me-now%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !