Membership_Brands

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Why Associations Are On a
Knife-edge and what they
must do to survive
Brand Fundamentals for
Professional Associations
Hamish Chadwick

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Associations & Membership organisations are dealing with pressures not
experienced before. Gone are the days when people joined their industry’s Association
simply out of obligation or a sense of duty. Even in instances where membership is a legal
requirement to trade, the perception of ‘bang for buck’ must exist if the organisation is going
to not only survive, but thrive.
The question that is top of mind for members, but rarely voiced for fear of appearing selfish
is, ‘what’s in it for me?’.
Membership Organisations Need New Strategies to Thrive
The cost of doing business continues to increase, not just from direct costs such as
compliance, but also as a result of increased and more aggressive competition that results
in decreased profit margins for each new customer acquisition. Because of these shifts,
members scrutinise the value of their membership in the same way they review their
telecommunications plans - is there a return on the investment?
The value provided by most Associations is delivered behind the scenes via education
programs, access to key resources and upholding codes of conduct. Many Associations also
work tirelessly in lobbying Government to amend legislation to benefit their members.
These are all valuable services, but when the general economic and competitive
environment toughens up, so does the mindset of your members. Value for money is judged
on whether or not the relationship is contributing to the bottom line. The expectation is that
membership is an investment that will pay dividends.
Associations can no longer just provide behind the scenes support - they must promote
their membership base to the general market. In effect they need to help their members
attract customers.
The Realities Of The New Competitive Landscape
Technology & Mobility:
People are able to create their own support networks and professional communities. The
platforms to develop communities can be anything from private LinkedIn groups, to blogs
and forums. The social aspect of Association membership is still important, however the
prevalence of social media, including email and forums has allowed people to connect and
discuss problems without the need to wait for the next chapter meeting. The reality is that
networking can occur more or less instantaneously, and for very little cost.

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What Are You Selling?
I understand Associations don’t ‘sell’ anything in a competitive sense. Especially as most
membership organisations operate under a not-for-profit structure where value is delivered
in the form of member services and education programs.
Under a traditional model, membership organisations are seen but not heard. The
organisation exists for two primary reasons, to uphold professional standards either through
educational programs and/or to enforce codes of conduct, and to serve as a forum for
members to discuss industry issues, typically at an annual conference.
Until now they’ve had a very narrow target market and not had to worry about the added
pressure of ‘sales’ per se (see figure .1). Nevertheless, when you’re going out into the public
domain to champion your brand for member benefit, you will be selling a message and a
value proposition. For the benefit of your members a more, dare I say ‘aggressive’ mindset
and approach is needed (see Figure .2).
Before you go to market, the questions you must answer are:
• What is our value proposition?
• What unique competitive difference can our members offer?
• How do we shape our message so that it encourages the market to take action?
Figure 1
Figure 2

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Brand Strategy Fundamentals
Brand strategy for profit making entities are typically two dimensional. The organisational
brand and the public brand share the same objective whereby both the management culture
and brand marketing activities are aligned to attract buyers and makes sales.
The problem in going straight into the general marketplace with a member focused model,
is that the brand has not been equipped to support and promote a value proposition that
resonates with buyers.
Your audience to this point (your buyers) have been members. Profit focused entities
have spent years building their brands in marketplaces that are becoming increasingly
overcrowded by marketing messages designed to persuade buyers to part with their hard
earned money.
Going into these markets is not a dress rehearsal - nor is it an opportunity to dip your toe in
the water. You have to prepare yourself and jump!
As an example, brand marketing elements such as your logo have typically been designed
to communicate solely with members. A simple logo such as an acronym coupled with an
explanation of that acronym works perfectly well for member communications, but it will
not do you any favours if you are expecting it to compete with brands that use distinctive
names coupled with value propositions that have been designed to work in competitive
marketplaces.
Association brands are more and more being expected to promote the values and difference
of its membership, but are those brands in there current form up to the job? Reaching out to
your member’s customers puts a very different set of demands on the Association’s brand.
Visual and verbal branding can with careful consideration, be a powerful tool that will
significantly enhance your value proposition.
Which of the following logos would you take into the public marketplace?

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What You Need To Do
Determine Your Brand Strategy
With the right strategy your Association can help members attract more customers. You first
need to determine your brand strategy. The strategy doesn’t have to be complex, it’s simply
to decide how to deliver your value proposition to the market, taking into consideration
factors such as the target audience, how specific the campaign is and whether the value
proposition itself is suitable for either long or short term objectives. Other factors include
the size of the market you’re going after and how competitive it is.
Consider the advertisements below for the following mockup Association:
COMPETITIVE STRATEGY:
This strategy is designed for markets where competitors are sophisticated, have sizable
marketing budgets or have already attained substantial market share. Even though you may
not be able to compete with these types of competitors financially, you can certainly build
the perception that your levels of quality and service are better (see Figure 3).
Visual branding is a tool that you can use to ensure the playing field is level. This strategy also
provides the ideal vehicle for unique value propositions that can’t be copied.
Figure 3

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BRANDED STRATEGY:
A branded strategy takes the focus and pressure away from the primary (established) brand.
It allows you to build sub-brands that are separate to your primary brand. This strategy
works well when the Association’s brand, even if it were redesigned may not resonate with
customers.
Sub-brands would be designed to be customer facing, which means that the Associations
brand can remain unchanged for member communications. Keep in mind that each sub-brand
can target a niche market. This allows you to develop a unique value proposition that
is communicated via each sub brand (see Figure 4).
As you can see in this example, this could be a magazine or to highlight your members
qualifications. If you employ both the Competitive Positioning and Branded strategies, you
can achieve a very powerful and credible position in the market.
Figure 4

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CAMPAIGN STRATEGY:
A Campaign strategy is suited to situations that are either short term or where the value
proposition (message) is limited by time. As you can see in this example, the Association’s
branding is limited to an endorsement.
The message is based on legislative changes in that market and the call-to-action is for
prospective customers to get in contact with an Association member (see Figure 5).
A Campaign strategy can be used effectively alongside either the Competitive Positioning
or Branded strategies.
Figure 5

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Operational Strategy
Becoming Two-Faced To Avoid Deception:
Depending on the size or complexity of your Association, it’s usually effective to create a
sub-committee with a dedicated team to manage the initial project. This dedicated team
would determine the strategy and oversee the rollout and long term management of the
communications program.
It is highly beneficial to source external assistance with the communications project for the
simple fact that third party objectivity and previous expertise in brand building and value
proposition design is priceless at the outset to start the momentum. In most cases once the
various marketing ‘pillars’ are in put in place, an internal management team can take over the
management of the various initiatives.
Determining Your Value Proposition:
A value proposition is determined by prioritising the various tangible and intangible
aspects of a trading entity with regard to what will resonate with a target audience. Tangible
elements can be anything from products, services or geographic location. Intangible
elements are varied and can include customer service, price, speed of delivery, patents and
knowledge.
Brand marketing and advertising are the instruments used to emphasise the top priorities,
to position the trading entity within a market to maximise profit.
The secret to keeping a value proposition relevant within a market is to ensure your priorities
are in the correct order. What you communicate and what you frame as your brand via your
priorities will need to be adjusted as customer’s expectations change.
Change can be rapid, for example a new competitor or new legislation, or it can be gradual
such as fashions, trends and tastes.
Understanding the market dynamic and the various customer demands within it are an
important step in determining your value proposition.

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All your branding, marketing and advertising activities must be sprung from your value
proposition. Visual brand guidelines only scratch the surface when it comes to managing
brand consistency. You need brand management tools that make it easy for everyone in your
organisation to make decisions that uphold your brand values.
Attracting & Distributing Leads:
When you embark on the journey to position your Association as a trusted symbol and
sought-after alternative in the marketplace for consumers, you need to make certain you
have the systems and policies in place to cope with these changes.
Making your Association ‘competitive’ for member benefit is not a strategy that can be
taken lightly. You will start to attract attention once you commence your marketing and
communications programs, so management teams have to be ready from day one to handle
situations such as incoming enquiries from your member’s prospective customers.
If you want fireworks and politics, there only needs to be a soupçon of doubt that
administration staff have favoured one member over another when passing on a lead.
You have enough on your hands as it is without the need to extinguish these sorts of
bushfires, so my advice is to fine tune your operational procedures within the same
timeframes as your marketing initiatives.
Going Global - Value Propositions in International Markets:
Here are some extra points for identifying a unique selling proposition in offshore markets
• You first have to understand how your market ticks. For instance, what are the values, what
do they consider to be luxury, what do they consider to be budget? What does their society
value? The rule is never assume anything.
• You have to get on the ground and see for yourself, understand the culture, the people and
what they’re receptive to. The process used to successfully brand in your country of origin
needs to be applied to those markets you wish to export into.
• Divide by region and country, not by continent. When developing your strategy, you can’t
ask ‘how will we market in Asia?‘ There are 12 countries in South East Asia alone, each
with different cultures, values, laws and economies. Focus on the particular countries and
regions you’ll be operating in.
• Test your USP in your target markets. Just as you would run focus groups in your local
market, you need to test your approach as best you can in your export markets and make
adjustments where you can prior to launch. You can’t expect perfection, however you can
make sure it’s a success if you prepare.

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You must have determined a fair and equitable system to distribute leads amongst your
membership. A firm policy must be in place that members are aware of, whereby if a
prospective customer contacts the Association and asks for a recommendation on who
they should speak to for services, that these leads are distributed based on a set of agreed
parameters - not the toss of a coin.
A website is the ideal platform to demonstrate a lead distribution policy. Here’s a few points
to consider;
• Create a separate website that is dedicated to helping customers find a suitable member
to contact. This website would be promoted in advertising material and be marketed as
a resource for finding members (companies and/or individuals) who uphold the value
proposition (the compelling reason why a customer should contact a member). Using
the previous examples, the web address could be www.ethicalwebsitemarketing.org.au
to provide some separation from the member dedicated website.
• Give members the functionality to create and update a ‘member profile’ on the website,
but only within set parameters. For example a profile word-count could be restricted to
1000 words to prevent organisational members with in-house marketing departments
gaining an unfair advantage over individual members.
• The website search facility is the most important consideration. It must never display
any ‘default’ content to the customer, such as personal or company names that start with
the letter ‘A’ for example. Member details should only display once the customer starts
to apply filters to the database. These filters could be member location (State, region,
city, suburb), member industry speciality, member qualifications, areas of expertise and
so forth.
• Ensure ‘next steps’ to make contact with the member are very easy for the customer.
Don’t force people to fill in forms. The most effective approach is to clearly list the
member’s full contact details. I recommend providing an option to download a
standardised PDF profile for each member.
Size Matters:
Your brand must be powerful enough to be able to lend credibility to your member’s brands.
The visual design of your logo will be important, especially if you expect that your members
promote the Association’s brand within their own marketing, which is especially important
if you are using either a Competitive or Branded strategy.
Technically, your logo will have to be legible when used in very small spaces, such as a
member’s business card. Your brand is an ‘endorsement’ rather than a masthead in this
regard, which is a vital distinction you can’t ignore. As well as being able to stand on it’s own
in isolation when used in marketing campaigns, it must also be designed to complement
your member’s brands, so there’s quite a tight balance to achieve.

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Make sure that your members can readily and easily associate themselves with the brand
(or brands) you are building. When your marketing and communication programs gain
traction, your brand becomes nothing less than a vital ‘qualification’ that your membership
can use to get the benefit of the market positioning and recognition you’ve created for them.
Your brand becomes the vital link between your value proposition and your members
prospective customer.
Associations that offer education and enforce codes of conduct as part of their charter have
usually already developed sub-brands that members can use on their marketing materials
that indicate they adhere to those standards. However if the Association’s activities have
been reserved to support services, visual branding has probably not been a priority. If this
is the case then you need to adjust your visual brand prior to launching any marketing or
communications strategies into the general marketplace. Planning to make changes down
the track or when budgets permit will only diminish your efforts and waste money. Keep
in mind that whenever you change the Association’s branding, you are also expecting your
members to support that change by reproducing their marketing materials. Support your
members by getting it right first.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ruffle Some Feathers:
The best way to get traction with your brand building and value proposition is to be
noticed by provoking constructive argument and pushing back at what may be perceived
in the marketplace as a ‘truth’ created by market leaders. The art of competitive positioning
requires you to not just communicate your own strengths and values, but to actively re-position
your competition, albeit politely, by calling them out on so called ‘truths’ they may
benefit from. Every industry has perceived truths and they can be anything from a cost
saving benefit, geographic footrpint to turnover or head count.
For instance, many luxury brands rely on the ‘truth’ that the more you pay, the better the
quality, or the perception in retail sales that the larger the warehouse, the less you’ll pay. As
an Association you have access to real data via your members. There’s a plethora of ways
you can use this data to tackle perceived market truths head on. You could publish powerful
reports that aim to break down perception barriers. You could also use data to lobby
Government or to simply use in your advertising campaigns - the options are endless and
effective. You may find that the issues that are affecting your members can in fact be used to
help them. Becoming a ‘beacon of truth’ can be a tenable strategy.
Push The Boundaries, But Don’t Break The Law: - Before you start promoting your new
value proposition, you have to be clear on the legislation that your Association must adhere to. Some
industries have strict laws on what you can and can’t say in advertising, so if you’re unsure it’s wise to
obtain legal advice.

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Utilising Sub-Brands:
Further to ruffling feathers, developing a range of sub brands will make it easier to push your
messages and value proposition into your target markets. Sub brands can help to make an
organisation appear more sophisticated, and on the practical side by having more than one
platform to communicate your position and value allows you to take more risks with your
marketing. It is a requirement to take a contrarian position every now and again if you want
the market to notice you - a philosophy that the owners of successful profit making brands
understand.
A sub brand is essentially a communications tool that is developed for a specific marketing
initiative or target audience. They can either be closely aligned to your primary brand, or be
designed to have no obvious link to the parent company.
They can be anything from a website, to a publication such as a magazine or an online
forum. Many associations design a specific logo for their members to indicate they are
officially ‘certified’ and meet specific criteria.
A sub brand that is not closely linked to the parent brand can allow you to effectively test
messages and selling points. They afford you to be more aggressive in your approach,
without the need to worry about the affect on the primary brand.
Build Your Association, By Association:
The quickest way to build the desired positioning of your brand is to piggyback on a brand
that is well known in your target market - and is aligned with your value proposition.
“...in conjunction with BIG4BANK...” is a potent qualification that can can give you
instant credibility that would usually take years to build.
Resourcing
Fees & Revenue:
As you would appreciate it is a difficult proposition to simply raise fees to cover the costs
of your new initiatives. A strategy that can work when raising fees is to offer added value in
return for a higher fee.
For instance if you decide to build a dedicated website that allows the public to locate your
members, this resource could be offered to members ‘for free’. Another successful tactic that
I’ve seen in raising fees is to use a monthly billing cycle. $85 per month seems a lot more
affordable than $1,020 per year - and it’s better for managing cashflow.

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Affiliate Membership:
Offering affiliate membership can be a way to increase your revenue, however you have to
ensure that value is reciprocated otherwise the relationship will be short lived.
Advertising:
If you’re going to develop a number of marketing platforms to promote your value
proposition, you might decide to sell space within these platforms to suitable advertisers.
Public Seminars:
There’s a tremendous amount of knowledge that resides within any membership
organisation, so it’s fair to offer this expertise in return for a fee.
Sponsorship:
This can seem like an easy option to secure the necessary funds to help pay for your
initiatives, however it all goes back to the initial problem - who are you and what are you
offering? If you’re brand is only known and understood by members, it’s not an attractive
proposition for sponsors as there will be limited reciprocal value.
The reality in seeking financial sponsorship is that in most cases the Association is in effect
asking to be paid to leverage the sponsors brand! There are however some tactics to use that
will be attractive to sponsors such as building up your own database of people who receive
your marketing materials, so it pays to be organised first.
© Hamish Chadwick 2014. All Rights Reserved.

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Hamish Chadwick
About Hamish
His style being summarised by one client as “Be prepared for an interesting journey that
should change the way you do business”, Hamish Chadwick is a consultant who helps
companies rapidly improve their perceived value.
He has a proven track record in reigniting
membership organisation brands and has
recently helped an Association become the
trusted source of information for a major
media outlet. He also worked closely with an
Association Vice President to secure an historical
sponsorship deal worth $100,000.
He has consulted to both small and multi-national
organisations in a variety of industries
ranging from manufacturing, engineering, IT,
automotive to professional services. Hamish remains a trusted advisor to his clients and his
opinion has been sought from media outlets including the ABC and Fairfax.
Contact Details
Office (+61 7) 3312 5588
Mobile 0419 729 011
Email hamish@imagesubstation.com
www. imagesubstation.com

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