I recently came across a survey report that was generated by Marketing General Inc.  They conducted a survey, of over 500 association professionals on the best tactics and strategies found to have positive results in engaging new members, renewing existing members, and reinstating former members.

The survey is comprehensive and contains a wealth of information that includes some of the higher level points below as well as results and graphics that display: How Prospective Members become aware of the Association, How do Associations Allocate Marketing Dollars and What Best Describes your Marketing Approaches and Results. This is just some of the information contained within the survey. Visit Marketing General Inc. to download and receive your copy of the survey.  You’ll need to give up your email address but definitely worth it.

Some of the information contained within the report includes:

• Most associations report continued membership growth – 46% of the associations reported that have seen their total membership grow with 54% of this growth contributed to new members.

• Direct mail has been found to be the most effective channel for recruiting members with a listing/ranking of the most effective as:

1. Direct Mail 46%
2. Member get a Member and WOMM 32%
3. Email 24%
4. Promotion at Own Conference 15%
5. Personal Sales 11%

Of note also is that associations who use direct mail as a recruitment channel also are more likely to report membership renewal rates of over 80% compared to those who do not.

• Giving a first year membership/dues discount is the most effective incentive – Of those who reported offering a new member dues discount, 75% had renewal rates of over 80% and 25% under 80%.

• A personal approach to new members was used and below are the top 10 methods:

1. Mailed Welcome Kit
2. Email Welcome
3. Membership Card or Certificate
4. Volunteer or Staff Welcome Call
5. Invite to Chapter Meeting
6. New Member Survey
7. In Person New Member Reception
8. Special Discounts on purchases
9. Custom New Member Email Follow-Up
10. New Member Newsletter

• Continual renewal contacts and services may improve renewal rates.

The data appears to indicate that organizations that stop their renewal process earlier are more likely to have membership renewal rates under 80%. However, those that continue in their efforts to renew members are more likely to have membership renewal rates over 80%.

In fact, those who say that they “don’t stop contact” are 83% more likely to be in this higher renewal grouping than those who stop contact earlier.

As mentioned, the above data are key-pionts of some of the data contained within the report. Visit the Marketing General Inc. website to download your full copy of the report.

The U.S. Postal Service announced on Wednesday 8/5, a loss of $2.4 billion in its third quarter which is contributed by the drop in mail volume during the third quarter by 7 billion pieces, or over 14 percent, compared to last year.

On the other side of the fence however, the electronic/digital world is seeing an increase in the number of social media users and companies using social media for marketing purposes.  As reported as recently as last month, Social Media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter continue to see an increase in new users, from approximately 10M to 20M unique users year over year respectively.  Check out the article found on Mashable.com related to Twitter and Social Media Growth.

Is electronic marketing the wave of the here, now and the future? Based upon recent polls taken earlier this year by www.toprankblog.com that includes the following findings, Social Media outlets are definitely the way that the masses are using to market and reach their audience.  Sources being used the most are indicated below:

* Blogging (34%)
* Microblogging (Twitter) (29%)
* Search engine optimization (28%)
* Social network participation (Facebook, LinkedIn) (26%)
* Email marketing (17%)
* Social media monitoring & outreach (17%)
* Pay per click (14%)
* Blogger relations (12%)
* Video marketing (10%)
* Social media advertising (7%)

In essence, do you have an electronic/digital marketing plan in place?  If not, this should be reviewed as a viable alternative to traditional printed marketing pieces and include a strategy and marketing goals in order to track and see your RIO.

If you’re not there yet, you need to be. The world is changing and evolving each and every day. To stay ahead you need to play ahead and have a plan/strategy that rivals your competitors and keeps you on top and in the forefront of your industry.

References: thanks to http://www.toprankblogs.com, http://www.mashable.com, and http://www.govexec.com/ for your wealth of insight and information on digial, electronic, and social media marketing.

What is a Smartphone?   A Smartphone is termed as a mobile device phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality (PC-mobile handset convergence). For most of the population, a Smartphone is simply a phone with advanced features like e-mail, Internet and e-book reader capabilities, and/or a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector. In other words, it is a miniature computer that has phone capability.

Currently, it is estimated that there are 240Million Smartphones in use and 56% of US Smartphone users are using their phones for news and information (web/internet and social media), while 50.8% of US Smartphone users are using their phones for email. The US is far and above Smartphone usage in other countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, who on average have a 30% usage of Smartphones for Web/internet and social media accesses.

Based upon Smartphone usage and the amount of units that are available in and in use in today’s market, is your web site Smartphone friendly and providing users access to your site and site information via the Smartphone?

Sites can be developed that provides users with easy access to content and navigation through the site. (Take CNN, ESPN, or Home Depot). These sites have been set up specifically to allow for Smartphone user to access, search and navigate throughout the site effortlessly.

Applications and applets can be developed that enables you with the ability to provide users ease of access to content, updates, and relevant materials found on your site.  There are approximately 50,000+ apps available for iPhone user, with an ever increasing amount of apps availalble for other Smartphone users as well. These provide users with quick and easy access to informtion, from inventory, to marketing/sales information, etc. These can also allows users the ability to subscribe via RSS feeds to newly posted information and provide your publications via Smartphone download and access, as well as member interaction and forum posting are advantages that can be offered to members or potential new members.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to provide members with a Smartphone app that provided them with newly released member updates and information that is delivered directly to their smart phone? Wouldn’t it be great to deliver upcoming events to registered users (whether members or not), notifying them of upcoming events and providing them with options to order the event via their phone and or log in and order via their member access?

Quick and easy is the term and phrase for the future, and providing data to users in a quick an easy method provides you with the leading edge in user interactivity with your site, thus increasing users and their overall experience.