Happy Friday! Of course, the major buzz this week in the association community was the cancellation of ASAE’s Technology Conference and Expo and the emergence of an un-conference, UnTech. Organized by a group of volunteers and supported by several vendors, UnTech was a virtual un-conference and had 500 total attendees — 75 in person and 425 on a Webcast.

MemberClicks is proud to be a sponsor, and although we wish we could have made it to D.C. to participate in the awesome-ness, it is quite a bit warmer in our Atlanta office.

However, UnTech wasn’t the only thing association bloggers wrote about this week. There were lots of other awesome topics covered, so, in no particular order, here’s my top five.

1. Aaron Woloweic wrote a fantastic post about tips for studying for the CAE exam. His five tips will help anyone who is already taking the exam, or thinking about sitting for it. There’s a lot of material covered, to be sure, but determining a schedule adn sticking to it can help you earn that CAE designation.

2. After the Super Bowl was over, Deirdre Reid wrote a thoughtful post about the National Association of the Deaf’s reaction to The Who’s “deaf, dumb and blind” lyric that was sung during the halftime show. NAD posted a message on Twitter saying they would take action against the offensive lyric, and Deirdre wants to know if the person behind the tweet was authorized or just acting under emotions. What would your association do?

3. What’s the best marketing and communication strategy, Scott Oser discussed this week. Does your association understand how to use market research and incorporate the results into its communications? Direct marketing is tricky, and it’s important to get a complete picture of your members, vendors and volunteers.

4. In the first of a five-part series, Shelly Alcorn tackles the economic uncertainty still facing the country (and world) and how it affects associations. Don’t fall prey to hubris and think that your association isn’t at risk. Success can be your own worst enemy and can lead to neglect of the members and programs that got you to where you are, Shelly writes.

5. Finally, after the first day of UnTech concluded, Peggy Hoffman shared some reflections about the power of volunteers and patience of attendees, as well as praising ASAE for recognizing the force that drove the community together. It’s pretty amazing to see the power of volunteers and social media at work.

I encourage you to participate in the second day of UnTech 10. Check out the schedule here, and be sure to follow the action on Twitter with the #UnTech10 hashtag.

Have a fantastic Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day weekend! Hopefully some of you have Monday off — enjoy it!

The Membership Marketing Benchmark Survey results were released this past weekend at ASAE and The Center’s Annual Meeting. The white paper, which is available as a 40-page PDF here (registering to get access to the PDF is easy), is the result of a nearly month-long survey conducted this spring. My first post concerning the results deals with the best marketing tool for associations.

“What do you believe is the TOP REASON members join your organization?”

Page 17 of the white paper deals with this question, and I found the results intriguing. The top response was Access to Specialized Information (23%), which makes sense. Coming in at numbers two and three were Network with others in the field (22%) and Connect with others in the field (12%).

The fifth most popular response seemed significant to me. Learn best practices in their profession received 8% of the vote. I understand that an association’s main purpose should be to connect people (hence the popular responses given above), but shouldn’t an association provide valuable resources as well? It’s interesting that the top response was Access to specialized information — and maybe it’s so closely tied to Learn best practices in their profession that this doesn’t matter.

However, coming in with 10% of the vote was the response, Other. Other? What does this mean? The fact that Other received more votes than Learn best practices in their field completely mystifies me. There are many reasons to join an organization, but their foremost purpose should be to connect people with similar interests, goals and professions. Not just to network with others (anyone can do that on LinkedIn), but to create lasting relationships. Offering great professional resources will only get your association so far — if members aren’t engaged with each other, then what’s the point?

This just in: The Membership Marketing Benchmark Survey results were released this past weekend at ASAE and The Center’s Annual Meeting. The white paper, which is available as a 40-page PDF here (registering to get access to the PDF is easy), is the result of a nearly month-long survey conducted this spring. More than 500 association professionals (an 18 percent response rate) responded to the survey, which was:

designed to gain insight into the tactics and strategies that organizations use to recruit new members, engage new members, renew existing members and reinstate former members and to understand which tactics correlate with higher new member input, renewal rates, and overall membership growth.

I’ll be breaking down the results in a series of posts, beginning with this one.

One thing I found interesting about the survey results was the top way prospective members learn about an association: through its Web site. To be honest, I thought word-of-mouth would have been the biggest membership marketing tool. Eighty-five percent of respondents said their organization’s Web site was the primary source for reaching prospective members. Word-of-mouth did come in second, at 77 percent.

These are important points for a few reasons. It’s fair to say your association’s Web presence is the best way to reach out to new members. It’s so crucial to have a Web site that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also easy to navigate and to make sense of. We know creating a Web site can be a hassle, and your association may not have the resources to put one together in a timely manner. But whether you take advantage of our Web site and membership management solution or not, know that the way your organization is presented on the Web is key to reaching out to prospective members. Functionality and style are both important, but don’t forget how vital new and refreshing content is to your audience.

Another takeaway from that first question is that word-of-mouth is the number two way to marketing to potential members. Your members should be your best advocates. Your members should be inspired by the work your association is doing, and their faith in the organization should make others want to see what the buzz is all about. If your members don’t advocate for your organization, then what else is there? Direct mail, promotions at conferences, advertising and job boards are all great, but your members should want to help the association grow. Never discount the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

Other responses that garnered more than 50 percent included:

• Direct mail to prospects: 76%
• Promotion at your own conferences/conventions: 65%
• E-mail promotion to prospects, coworker/colleague: 61%
• Exhibiting at other conferences/conventions (not your own): 53%
• Cross-sell to members who buy your materials or attend your conferences: 52%
• Advertising in your own publications: 51%

I don’t want to discount the importance of all of the above, but think about it this way: we all take word-of-mouth recommendations on little things (such as restaurants) and big things (apartment complexes, cars and even our own jobs). Why should an association be any different?