Marketing and associative domain seem to you to be two
opposite terms? Are you wondering why marketing practices are important to an
association? Why would this one need it? What good can it be to invest time and
money in these practice? And above all, what are the returns to be expected
from these investments? techwadia
Well, let's be clear and concises: marketing (and its good
practice) represents all the action that you could put in place in order to
have, among other things, more members, better visibility, more influences with
your donors. Rather tempting, isn't it?
Indeed, good marketing practice will allow you to focus on
the members, donors and volunteers of your association but also to understand
their desires and needs in order to develop your association. Marketing is
therefore essential and intrinsically linked to the growth of the latter.
Define your identity
In order to implement good marketing practices, you must
first start with the sinews of war: defining the identity and mission of your
association. Who are you ? Who are you helping? What actions are you doing for
this? By coming to your website, your prospects must have a very precise idea
of your reason for being and for that you must even be clear with this.
The simplest methods would be to use the concept of the
Golden Circle of Simon Sinek (the American author of “Start With Why”), which
prioritizes the three questions that a company must be able to answer through
its communication with potential customers. .
• What:
this is the easiest part because all associations know what they are doing or
what they are selling
• How:
Knowing how you are going to do it is more difficult because this is where your
value proposition comes into play and how you will set yourself apart from your
competition.
• Why: this
is the raison d'être of your association
Many assume that the “what” is sufficient on its own when in
reality it is necessary to start from the “why”, why does your association
exist? What is its vocation and its mission? What is she doing that is
different? Why choose it over another?
Defining your identity and by extension its positioning is
essential for good growth (growing your association if you prefer). When you
are aligned with this, you will be able to use another very handy tool in the development
of your association which is what is called a SWOT board (again stung in
marketing). In it you will define in precise terms what are your strengths,
opportunities, threats and weaknesses (strength weakness opportunity threat in
VO for SWOT).
Finally, do not forget to regularly carry out an active
watch (we speak of benchmark in marketing) of your competitors in order to keep
an eye on the development of their offers and their products but also on their
communication technique.
We share with you 3 direct marketing ideas for your
association
Set goals
When carrying out marketing actions it is very important to
keep your goals in mind . However, how do you know if you have reached them if
you have not defined them beforehand?
Before each action, you will therefore have to write down
your objectives and expectations in figures.
Is your goal to recruit 50 new members? Or rather to collect
100 email addresses to grow your database? Should 300 prospects have interacted
with your sponsored campaign on Facebook?
Thanks to the definition of quantified objectives upstream,
you will finally know whether or not your marketing practices are good or need
to be reviewed.
A simple technique to use for this is called the SMART
technique . This corresponds to an acronym that allows you to define objectives
before each marketing action launch:
• Specific:
what do we do? who did it ? and how ?
• Measurable:
data data data, establish criteria to measure the evolution of your actions
• Achievable:
Small goals can be used to accomplish a bigger goal
• Realistic:
conceivable and motivating, take into consideration the constraints
• Time-bound:
specify a deadline, it will help you reach your goal
You can also use OKR (Objectives and Key Results ), a
management method from the 1950s, used by GAFAM in particular, which is based
on the definition of objectives associated with the measurement of key results.
Goals indicate where the business wants to go. The key results indicate whether
it was successful and, if so, an attempt is made to understand why and correct
it.
The so-called OKR method wants each objective to be broken
down into several small tasks, the results of which must be measurable each
quarter for example. Each small task carried out is a key step which, linked to
all the others, makes it possible to reach the final objective.
Identify your ideal target
In order for your goals to be achieved, you need to know if
you are reaching out to the right people. In marketing we often use the persona
, a semi-fictitious target of your ideal client / member.
This is the representation of a group of people encountering
the same problem in the form of the same profile (a kind of robot portrait),
they can also share the same consumption habits or do the same job for example.
You must keep in mind the different issues of your personas
because by knowing how to respond to them you will be able to convince them of
your expertise and your place as market leader. This will strengthen their
willingness to turn to you rather than another association.
Here is a free template with 40 questions that will help you
create your marketing persona as well as an article to define your marketing
persona in 4 steps .
Use a database: the CRM
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management en VO) or GRC
software (Gestion de la Relation Client en français) is a tool that allows,
among other things, a company to manage its customer relationship and
centralize data while increasing productivity and the efficiency of sales and
marketing services. But why is CRM essential for an association?
Well for the same reasons as a company, it will allow you to
manage your base of member, member, funders, donors or supporters while
allowing you to collect enough data to make reports and keep an eye on the
growth of your association.
A CRM allows you to manage all your contacts in one place,
no more obsolete excel files that exist in V1, V2, V10. Your CRM is continually
up to date with the latest information you have!
Find our article: How to manage your database of members for
your association ?
Thus, whether it is to sell services or renew contributions,
segment the campaign according to the profile of your prospects or retain your
donors: the CRM is the essential tool. Hubspot (of which we are partners
Editor's note) has offered the best CRM for free for 2 years.
Produce content
For an association, using a content marketing strategy will be one of the best assets, especially if
the content is original and stands out from your competition.
Content marketing will allow you to obtain a relevant and
effective referencing in the medium long term. It will be a question of
offering qualitative and interesting content to your potential volunteers,
partners and members in order to position yourself as an expert of your domain.
Find out how to create your communication strategy for your
association in 8 steps
This expert position will not only allow you to gain
notoriety in the market but also to attract new members and also to stand out
from your competitors.
Having quality content will help you carry the voice of your
association through the communication you make of it. As we stated above, it is
essential to know who you are talking to (aka your personas ) in order to
produce the most relevant communication strategy for them. This will start with
the development of an editorial strategy if you want to highlight your expertise
via blog articles for example.
Producing your own content therefore allows you to promote
your association , retain existing members, attract new ones and position
yourself as an expert in your field.
Supporting companies and associations in their digital
transformation is one of MMio's fields of expertise. We are committed to
enabling you to generate growth through the use of the most efficient digital
tools on the market.
