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Chris Gloede, Ricochet’s Chief Consultant and former Chief Marketing Officer of the American Bar Association, explains the art of connecting with members.

The most important thing about successful digital marketing for associations: It can be just as difficult for organizations with more than 400,000 members as it is for organizations that have hundreds of members. Chris Gloede knows this firsthand. He previously served as the chief marketing officer for the American Bar Association (whose annual dues were over $ 80 million). Today he is chief advisor to Ricochet, teaching digital marketers working in associations of all sizes an Association Digital Marketing Academy course on strategic, technical and tactical elements. “In general, associations are medium-sized with a marketing team of a few,” he explains. “But I often have a lot of students in my class who keep reminding me that they are their marketing team – a team of one!”

Large, medium or solo, Gloede believes that a common enemy is thwarting the hard work of many association marketing teams. “I call it ‘damaging the email channel,'” he says. For decades, association marketers had a clear advantage over consumer goods marketers: They knew where their customers lived and their email addresses. And that’s how they communicated – a lot. “To this day there are still organizations that send members e-mails three times a day,” notes Gloede, “and these members quickly learned to ignore e-mails from their associations.”

Today, Gloede says, successful marketers have turned away from the email deluge tactics and turned to a much more powerful form of marketing: targeted ads that follow members wherever they are on the internet. “What was impossible just a few years ago is suddenly possible with affordable and practical tools like Feathr,” says Gloede.

Feathr, a digital marketing platform developed for the specific needs of associations, solves a problem faced by many marketing departments: They are led by people with little to no training in digital marketing. “It’s a very strange time for association marketers because meetings were turned upside down last year because of COVID. As a result, meeting planners who were used to planning personal events suddenly had to hold virtual meetings and didn’t have the skills, ”explains Gloede. “You know, negotiating a hotel contract is very different from setting up an online website and reaching potential participants on the Internet.”

Gloede advises new digital marketers to look to an affordable and easy-to-use platform like Feathr. “We advise our students to decide on a certain period of time and a unique product, for example an event. Events tend to have a pretty good response rate, and since there is often an additional registration fee, there is a positive ROI that will bring you a small profit in a relatively short period of time, ”explains Gloede. “Then when you’ve calmed down a bit, you can start with what I think are more complicated sales, like memberships, which can involve a longer decision-making cycle.”

Creating engaging ads that get clicks is an art in itself. Gloede advises that smaller teams (or such armies) employ low-cost freelancers through sites like Upwork or Fiverr, and points out that Feathr’s creative team can create ads that associations can use as is or as a starting point that they can further customize . “To be effective, we teach our students to have simple calls to action and use as few words – and even as few characters – as possible.”

No two associations have exactly the same goals and needs, and getting started in digital marketing can be overwhelming with so much to choose from (not to mention huge price tags). Because of this, Gloede advises his students to start with an easy-to-use tool that will allow them to grow as they learn. “Feathr is straightforward and they give support and help when you need it,” says Gloede. “In the first year, many of my customers opt for the full-service model from Feathr. And then, in the second year of use, they say, ‘Okay, I can do this. Got it.’ “

Feathr has thought of everything to arouse associations with digital advertising. The committed group of experts advises on unique sales-generating campaigns and offers graphic design and implementation services for successful marketing campaigns. The partnership with Feathr ensures the success of your club for years to come.

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