The 2016 Association Marketing Benchmark Report reveals that while 71% of associations rate their marketing effectiveness as somewhat or very effective, over one-third struggle to understand member needs. Email and events emerge as the primary marketing tactics, yet only 22% of associations track return-on-investment metrics. The report emphasizes the need for improved marketing practices and member communication to drive growth and effectiveness in association marketing.

1. © 2016 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.!
Benchmark Report!
Association Marketing:
2016 State of Digital Marketing in Associations
August 2016 Sponsored By:

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
3
4
6
8
20
23
Introduction
Executive Summary
The State of Association Marketing
Assoc. Marketing Capabilities & Tactics
Strategy, Execution & Measurement
Digital Marketing Portfolio
40
45
46
Analyst Bottom Line
About HighRoad Solution
About Demand Metric
29
34
Metrics & Analytics
Budget & Resources
44 Acknowledgements
25 Tasks & Skills 47 Appendix – Survey Background

3. INTRODUCTION
This association marketing benchmark study is now in its third year, and from the beginning, the study’s goal has been to help
associations become better at marketing. A healthy, effective marketing function whose contributions are well understood is a key
ingredient to overall association wellness and growth. Yet, such market functions are in the minority, not just in the association
world, but across corporations as well. At the low end of the marketing effectiveness spectrum are organizations that struggle, as
represented through comments shared by this frustrated association marketer:
“Email blasts are the main communication tool. When angry recipients demand opt-out, the leadership team doesn't take the
request seriously until legal action is threatened. There are no goals set from Social Media to measure success. We still use
FAX blasts with the assumption that they are effective. Brochures are still used with very heavy amounts of text (copy). Any
time a discussion is brought up about content marketing with valuable information provided for free to help grow the
community - the idea is dismissed as ‘giving away the farm’…We've seen membership remain flat and decline and event
attendance is flat with fluctuating numbers by location but no real evidence of growth.”
As the comment above suggests, marketing’s failure to perform isn’t always the fault of marketing. There are many issues that help
or hurt marketing’s effectiveness. This study takes a broad look at the issues shaping the association marketing landscape, reports
the data from the study survey, providing some analysis and commentary to help association marketing improve.
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4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study’s participants were from membership, trade, company and non-profit associations. They represent a variety of roles and
departments within their associations, the largest group (33%) being marketers. The membership size of associations participating in
this study ranged from less than 100 to more than 50,000.
The analysis of associations contributing to this study provides these key findings about the current state of association marketing:
! 71 percent of study participants report their association marketing overall effectiveness as somewhat or very effective.
! Over one-third of study participants rate their understanding of member needs as poor to neutral.
! Less than one-fourth of associations report that their members perceive association communications as “always relevant and
professional.”
! Three fourths or more of study participants identify email and events as the most effective marketing tactics.
! Email newsletters are the most used digital marketing approach, in use by 89 percent of associations studied. Yet just 36 percent
use an email preference center.
! 91 percent of associations in the study are tracking some sort of marketing metric. Just 22 percent track Return-On-Investment
(ROI) as a marketing metric.
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5. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
! 82 percent of the associations that track ROI report high overall marketing effectiveness. Just 32 percent of associations that
track no marketing metrics report high overall marketing effectiveness, a 50 point gap.
! Microsoft Excel is the most used analytical tool by associations, in use by 65 percent in this study. The next closest analysis and
reporting tool are those native to CRM or marketing automation, in use by 30 percent of associations in the study.
! The average annual marketing budget for associations in this study falls in the $250,000 to $299,999 range.
This report details the results and insights from the analysis of the study data. For more detail on the survey participants, please
refer to the Appendix.
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6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Demand Metric is grateful to HighRoad Solution for sponsoring this benchmarking study and for those participants that took the time
to provide their input to it.
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7. ABOUT DEMAND METRIC
Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 85,000 marketing professionals
and consultants in 75 countries.
Offering consulting methodologies, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric resources
and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about their work with
authority and conviction and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence, boosting the respect of the
marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed.
To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: www.demandmetric.com.
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8. APPENDIX – SURVEY BACKGROUND
Demand Metric Association Marketing Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of February 1, 2016
through June 30, 2016. During this period, 450 responses were collected, 292 of which were complete enough for inclusion in the
analysis. The representativeness of these results depends on the similarity of the sample to environments in which this survey data
is used for comparison or guidance.
Summarized below is some of the basic categorization data collected about respondents to who participated in this survey:
Type of Association:
! Membership (53%)
! Trade (19%)
! Company (3%)
! Non-profit (22%)
! Other (3%)
Full-Time Marketing Staff:
! Five or more (39%)
! Four (12%)
! Three (16%)
! Two (20%)
! One (12%)
! None (1%)
Title of Most Senior Marketing Role:
! Executive (16%)
! Director-level (43%)
! VP-level (21%)
! 1st-level manager (14%)
! Non-management, staff (6%)
Assoc. Growth (Most Recent Fiscal Yr.):
! Significant increase (7%)
! Slight increase (54%)
! No growth (21%)
! Modest decrease (15%)
! Significant decrease (3%)
Number of Members Served:
! Less than 100 (1%)
! 100 to 500 (6%)
! 501 to 1,000 (12%)
! 1,001 to 5,000 (23%)
! 5,001 to 10,000 (15%)
! 10,0001 to 25,000 (12%)
! 25,001 to 50,000 (13%)
! More than 50,000 (18%)

9. For more information, visit us at:
www.demandmetric.com
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.!
Benchmark Report!
© 2016 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.!
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