Those of us of a certain age likely remember the old infomercial tagline. The promise of “set it and forget it” is great in theory, but when it comes to marketing automation, it’s not quite so simple.
And for associations, whose success hinges on the strength of their relationships with members, setting it and forgetting it ensures the end result will be – like a burnt rotisserie chicken – unpalatable at best.
However, there are many ways that marketing automation tools can benefit associations, the same as they benefit other B2B and B2C brands that want to nurture communications, grow leads, and simplify workflows.
So, how can you put marketing automation to work for your association, by setting it, and NOT forgetting it? We’ll discuss, but first …
What is Marketing Automation and Why Does My Association Need It?
Marketing automation is most often a tool used by brands to trigger communications when certain criteria is met. For example, you might have a personalized email automatically sent to members on their birthday (DoB being the criteria that triggers the email), or you may schedule a week or a month’s worth of social media posts, and utilize an automated tool to deploy them at the right time.
As membership models for associations lean into digital (online learning, hybrid events, social networking, etc.), automation can make the transition to digital adoption easier – for you and your members. Some of the most effective ways associations can utilize marketing automation include:
Lead Gen
Attract new prospects and move them through your marketing funnel toward conversion by using automation to design and implement nurture email campaigns. Automation also helps reduce abandoned cart issues for online registration by triggering popups throughout the conversion process. Wherever your leads are in your marketing funnel, automation will help guide them through.
Engagement
Highly engaged members are what all associations want, and automation is one of the best ways to improve engagement. Whether you’re promoting continuing education courses, event registration, or certification renewal, the right tool and an optimized flow (or journey) will be sure to deliver the right message, at the right time.
Retention
Gone are the days of the cold, impersonal automated email. Today’s tools allow for high levels of personalization and customization, so your audience feels more connected and valued. This can help, as mentioned above, keep members engaged, and it can also keep membership numbers high. You can easily send automated emails to remind members about renewal deadlines and keep them in the fold.
Analytics
Data is critical to member-based organizations, and a good automation tool will help you collect and analyze this data to make informed marketing choices. Paring your CRM with marketing automation will allow you to segment your audience and tailor messaging in a way that is highly customized and focused on conversion.
Best Marketing Automation Tools for Associations
There are countless tools for automation on the market today, and it can be overwhelming to weed through them all to find the right fit for your association. Fortunately, we’ve been there, done that, and we have insights on some of the top tools that are most effective for member-based organizations.
Best All-in-One
HubSpot is a one-stop shop for brands who want to streamline their efforts, reduce workload and contain all their data in a single location. Focused on inbound marketing, HubSpot provides a robust CRM tool, but their Marketing Hub is also a powerhouse of automation. From email to blogs, social media and ad management, you’ll find everything you need to set it… but not forget it.
Best for Email
There are a few tools we recommend if you want to focus your automation efforts on email. MailChimp is a great place to test the waters if you’re just starting out. Their freemium model will let you add up to 2,000 contacts and make use of their creative assistant tool and website builder. Paid plans add in the ability to create custom landing pages, A/B testing and in-depth targeting. ActiveCampaign promises time savings to users, by eliminating most of the manual processes of starting and maintaining an email campaign. They also offer a 14-day free trial to test the service out. Finally, HigherLogic is designed exclusively for associations, so they know the unique needs of member-based organizations. They offer email automation, but can also help you design member communities to maximize engagement. You can contact them to request a free demo.
Best for Social Media
Hootsuite is the go-to for social media management, and offers a variety of tools to help you automate and increase engagement. Plans start at $49 per month, and a 30 day free trial is available. Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management tool with robust scheduling capabilities, including recommended times to maximize engagement. It also offers powerful data analytics, so you know exactly which posts were most effective, and why. Pricing starts at $89 per month, and they also offer a 30 day free trial. Later is a newer service focused primarily on Instagram, as well as other highly visual platforms like TikTok and Pinterest. The free plan is enough to get you started, but paid plans start at just $8 per month.
Just for Associations
Feathr is a digital content management platform with a focus on influencer and referral marketing. We’ve talked about this great tool and how to use it for your association in a previous blog post. They understand the unique needs of organizations like yours, and their solutions are tailored to fit those needs. They offer custom tools to help with membership growth and retention, event registration and sponsorships, and much more. You can request a free demo for more information.
How to Implement Marketing Automation for Your Association
Here’s our step-by-step quick start guide:
- Pull the data you already have. Look closely at segments and try to identify patterns of member behavior. Evaluate what you need from an automation tool and set goals.
- Choose an automation tool. Remember that most tools will offer a free trial or demo, so you may need to test a few before you land on the right one.
- Establish rules and scoring metrics, and set your KPIs for your first automated campaign.
- Use the tool to build out a campaign. Start small, and set a timeline with an end date in the near future, so you can analyze the results. Remember that major campaigns take time, so begin with a small campaign that can show immediate impact.
- Design your workflows to trigger communications based on member behavior.
- Analyze as you go, and pull data at the end of the campaign to determine performance, refine goals and understand if this tool is the right one to move forward with.
Marketing Automation for Association: A Mini Case Study
A client of ours recently wanted to increase signups for their continuing education courses. They also wanted to improve certification renewals. Their data analytics showed that members who have attended a learning course in the last 12 months were most likely to sign up again. It also showed that members who were within 1-2 years of their certification expiration showed more interest in CE courses. Most of these members were also in the 25-45 age range.
We were able to build out a custom segment for the client, creating a targeted automated campaign. The email journey included:
- An initial email to the segment with detailed information about the course
- An automated journey for those who registered, including reminders, post-event communications and future followup
- An automated journey for those who didn’t register designed to nurture, with exclusive sneak peeks, testimonials from others who have attended previous courses, and discount offers
Ultimately, the automated journeys gained a significant number of attendees for the CE course, and generated greater interest in certification renewal.
Set it and forget it? It’s half right! Using marketing automation to set your communications offers huge benefits to associations. But instead of forgetting, follow up with data analysis and adjust your journeys to bring in new members and retain those you’ve already got. Need more help getting started with marketing automation? Willow is here to help! Let’s chat about what we can do to set it and remember it together!
