Daily Buzz: Market Education Programs to Nonmembers

Of the many perks in joining an association, learning and certification programs rise to the top. And though your association might consider those educational opportunities a member benefit, they are worth marketing out to nonmembers, too.

“If you’re like most associations, the biggest segment of your market is nonmembers, not members,” says the WBT Systems team on its blog  (opens in a new tab). “You’re missing a huge opportunity by not shifting some of your focus to marketing and selling education to nonmembers.”

But be sure to keep your nonmember education campaign focused on learning. The fact is, not all nonmembers want to be members. So, when you tie educational opportunities to membership, you inadvertently turn off a segment of your audience.

That’s not to say that your efforts won’t create any new members though.

“A wine tasting usually leads to a wine purchase,” the team says. “Give nonmembers a taste of your best. Offer a sample program that leads naturally into one or more of your other programs so they know exactly what their next educational step should be.”

A Dynamic Planning Duo

Are your #DigitalMarketing  (opens in a new tab) and #EventPlanning  (opens in a new tab) teams best friends? Learn from the heads of Aventri’s digital marketing team on why it’s essential that these two teams work together: https://t.co/VJ4aO4RSsL  (opens in a new tab)#Aventri  (opens in a new tab) #MeetingProfs  (opens in a new tab) #EventProfs  (opens in a new tab)

— Stova (@stovatech) September 12, 2019  (opens in a new tab)

Speaking of marketing, how closely do meeting planners and digital marketers work together at your association? If there are a few degrees of separation, consider it time to get the gang together.

“By working with your digital marketing team, planners will gain deep insights into what’s going on in their event website, specifically reports on audience, acquisitions and behavior allow you to analyze the traffic around your event website and assess the impact of your marketing activities,” says Damarley Robinson, Aventri’s SEO analyst, on the company’s blog  (opens in a new tab).

In other words: Marketers can give planners the full rundown of what is and isn’t resonating with audiences, which will allow them to tweak their event marketing strategies, establish a deeper connection with potential attendees, and facilitate more meeting registrations.

Other Links of Note

Working on a new logo? Harvard Business Review dives into new research that shows what design aspects are most effective.  (opens in a new tab)

Event technology is about more than a meeting app. The MemberSuite blog shares other tech tools to include for a memorable conference experience  (opens in a new tab).

When is the best time to use live video? Convince & Convert explains  (opens in a new tab).

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