E-Mail ! Print ! Post ! Republish ! Get Photos ! More>

A number of years ago, I was asked to make a presentation to the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) on the topic of marketing for not-for-profits with an emphasis on associations. My contact at CSAE felt that marketing should be a major focus of associations but was under the impression that is was rarely applied to any significant degree.

At that time, I looked at some of the key functions associations undertake, and made a connection between marketing and these functions.

Here are some of the areas where I felt that marketing is relevant to an association.

• Defining what product/program/service an association can offer to its clients as well as getting customers/clients to buy or use them (i.e. sales strategies)
• Revenue generation, including fundraising, alternative revenue strategies through sponsorships and affinity programs and commercial partnerships
• Advocating/lobbying policies to key stakeholders (e.g. government)
• Training staff to be client friendly
• Executing attitude/behaviour change campaigns e.g. social marketing/public education/outreach
• Executing integrated marketing communications campaigns: direct/database marketing, advertising, promotional activities, on-line/digital marketing, event marketing, exhibiting/trade shows, public relations publicity, education materials, print, videos etc.
• Enhancing the image and branding of an association
• Marketing campaigns to retain existing members, find new members and volunteers
• Communications programs to existing membership (newsletters, e-letters etc)

As you can see, many of the principles that were applicable close to a decade ago are still very much aligned to today’s not-for-profit environment. It is also clear that associations face even greater challenges such as demands for improved service delivery under tight budgetary constraints, the number of new associations resulting in enormous competition for people’s time, attention and dollars and a need to improve communications and services with clients, constituents/stakeholders, volunteers and donors.

Recognizing the growing importance of marketing in the public and non-profit sectors, the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing and Phase 5 conducted a study in May 2006 to assess the health of the marketing function. You can get the full report at www.publicsectormarketing.ca/resources

We surveyed 600 professionals in marketing-related positions in government and non-profit organizations across Canada. What we found was that both of these sectors are more focused on tactics and implementation rather than on strategic marketing and planning; they do not employ a proactive, systematic approach to identifying high value, client-centered ideas and turn those ideas into new products, programs and services; they tend not to measure or improve results and ensure accountability of marketing expenditures; they do not support the marketing function either in terms of funding or culture; and they have difficulty attracting, training and retaining staff with marketing skills given the culture and lack of organizational support.

• There is a strong need to educate executives in these sectors about strategic marketing management principles. This requires recognition of the value of marketing, in terms of the potential impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of programs, services and outreach campaigns, as well as the benefit to the organization overall;
• Most not-for-profits are familiar with the promotion and communications aspects of marketing but seem to lack an understanding of product/service management, channel management and pricing;
• There is rarely a marketing function in not-for-profit organizations, although this is changing. Marketing in most of these organizations tends to be synonymous with communications and most marketing functions and activities tend to be tied to the communications function;
• For marketing to be successful in a not-for-profit environment, it is necessary to assign responsibility for a separate marketing function to a senior manager with influence in the organization’s decision-making environment; and that,
• Most people performing marketing functions in not-for-profits do not have formal training in marketing. This suggests a clear need for training programs which focus on marketing for this sector (e.g. “Professional Certificate in Public Sector and Non-Profit Marketing” given by the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University). http://www.carleton.ca/ppd/indepth/cpsm.htm

So what are the implications for associations? There is clearly a need to examine the process by which associations develop and manage products, programs and services. Marketing management systems and practices must be adopted from the planning level on down. Measurement systems must be put in place to track success against marketing objectives and make necessary adjustments to improve performance.

Click here for copyright permissions!