Membership

We finished the structure phase… How do we get the word out? Creating an effective launch for maximum visibility

Andy Freed / May, 2013

You only have one chance to make a first impression. That’s why an effective launch strategy is so critical for an organization.

Here are a few rules of thumb for an effective launch.

1) Don’t launch until you are ready. I’ve seen countless organizations launch before they’re ready to handle inbound web inquiries, still having “coming soon” content on their web site, or haven’t worked out the process for joining the organization. Don’t be one of those. The launch date is something you control—make sure you’re absolutely ready before launching.

2) Make it easy to cover. News organizations are increasingly strapped for resources. Given that, a press conference that reporters need to travel to cover is rarely the right venue for a launch announcement. Consider a series of webcasts scheduled for different time zones to allow reporters to cover your launch from their desks during their normal business hours.

3) Be social. In 2013, every launch should have a social media component. Whether it’s posting your announcement on Twitter or notifying contacts via LinkedIn, don’t leave out this critical component to your communications strategy.

There are no guarantees in life—a good launch doesn’t ensure success. But a bad one often guarantees failure.

Considering launching your organization? Reach out to me and my talented team at Virtual will help maximize your organizations launch for maximum visibility.

Will it Fly?

Greg Kohn / March, 2013

One of my favorite business books is Will it Fly by Thomas McKnight, who among other ventures helped create the popular newspaper USA Today. As a serial entrepreneur and investor, McKnight decided to publish a book to guide new business owners around common missteps and pitfalls when starting a new venture. Someday I’d like to write a version of this book just for associations [after all, just because you can create a 501(c)(6) organization, it doesn't mean you should.] Until I get around to that project, I’ve boiled my “Will It Fly — Association Edition” list to four main topics:

Define Your Purpose. Why are you forming this association? In particular, what significant, critical need is currently going unserved in your industry because your association doesn’t yet exist. Be very honest about this: all the energy and money in the world can’t save an association that lacks an essential purpose.

Find the Money. Even if your idea passes the Why test, how will you fund this organization? And not just in the first year? Develop a realistic two-year operating budget and then see if this idea still seems realistic. [Note: Counsel from an experienced AMC partner such as Virtual can be invaluable in this task.]

Build Critical Mass. Before taking any steps forward, make a list of at least 20 companies that need to become members of your organization. Of those 20, don’t even consider launching without a firm commitment from at least 10 of those organizations — and ideally in writing. Too many organizations fail to ascend because of the proverbial chicken-or-egg problem (i.e., we’ll join as soon as those other guys do). Make sure you navigate around such hazards before steaming ahead.

Bring Your Enemies In. When working on the critical mass problem, care should be taken to try to assemble a strong and diverse cross-section of industry players. A new initiative related to mobile phones, for instance, may suggest the need for quite a wide range of players (network operators, OEMs, chip manufacturers, component suppliers, etc.). More than that ensure your budding organization has competing interests in each segment or area of interest. Competition will not only balance the perspectives of your organization, but it will almost certainly ensure lively and engaged discourse among members — a hallmark of nearly all successful groups.

Without a doubt, there’s some heavy lifting embedded in these four tasks. And it will certainly take time to work through them. For instance, depending on the subject matter or the intellectual property involved, some larger companies might need months before they can membership commitment. Failing to do this ever-important homework before plunging ahead with formation, however, may well lead to a crash landing.

Virtual, Inc. frequently provides guidance and incubator services to organizations pre-formation.

Mission Accomplished! (Or maybe not…) – Part II

Greg Kohn / March, 2013

In my last post, I wrote about some business-related issues associations and consortia should consider before they publish a specification. In this post, I’m going to cover the same topic, but from the perspective of looking at some things to consider on the technical side of an organization:

Spec Maintenance: As folks start implementing the standard, they’ll find problems in it. This is natural – not a signal that your standard is flawed or poorly written. Implementation will also spur new ideas for features to be added in future revisions. That is, all standards have a life cycle – version 1.0 is just the start – and associations need to be prepared to support this life cycle. Also consider how your organization will collect comments and proposed changes to the document. Using email and spreadsheets might work initially, but those methods usually falter badly under heavier volume. A flexible database or issue tracking tool is strongly advised.
Training and Education: Technical specifications and standards often take years to develop. Those participants involved in the process from start to finish tend to have a very strong knowledge of the specification and how it should be implemented. But for those parties which plan to implement the spec but were not part of the working group that created it – or at least not for its entirety – some context around parts (or all) of the specification may be missing. Associations can minimize those gaps in knowledge or context by having their technical leads develop informative implementation guides or perhaps lead webinars to help educate implementers as they start to build products.
Retune Your Membership: OK, so this is not exactly a technical item – but in a way it really is. As I noted in my last post, member-company resourcing within a technical working group often shifts dramatically once a major milestone (such as a spec release) is achieved. To ensure these working groups are resourced adequately as they embark on their important post-publication activities, associations may consider recalibrating their membership structures to allow different types and tiers of members to participate in the group or take on leadership roles within. Doing this can result in a new surge of energetic volunteers, a new approach to solving technical issues and even a new corps of technical leaders.

As the saying goes, change can be hard. But not planning for change at a critical juncture of an association could be a real setback for any group.

How to Quadruple Your Association Membership in Four Years with Zero Marketing Budget

Greg Kohn / August, 2011

I figured this headline would draw some attention! Explosive membership growth – it’s the quest of nearly every association yet, unfortunately, the source of much frustration for most. A few years back I had the good fortune of serving as Managing Director for an association that went from 30 to 120 corporate members in less than four years. And these weren’t trivial memberships – they ranged in cost from $10,000 to $40,000. Continue reading »

Practical Tips for Accommodating a Global Membership

Greg Kohn / June, 2011

This blog posting could have easily been called “Why does the member from Finland always fall asleep during our Board calls?” (And, yes, I speak from experience.) Snoring Board members aside, the topic is a very serious one for any association that is already international in scope or plans to be. When an association branches out beyond U.S. membership, its takes on particular responsibility to accommodate its global participants.

Associations Focus on Strategic Use of Information

Andy Freed / June, 2011

Ten years ago, Tom Peters wrote “The watchwords used to be location, location, location. Today it is database, database, database.”

Not surprisingly, Peters has it right, but for many associations, a database is just a contact list. They’re missing out on what matters—strategic use of information.

Consider this—many associations struggle with member retention. One of the keys to retention is member engagement—keeping your members active within the association. A good member database can help with that—for example, run a query to see what members aren’t attending educational programs, haven’t logged in to the members only web site, and aren’t on committees. Those are individuals that a membership director or committee should reach out to.