As I talk to association professionals during this challenging time most of them tell me that they are communicating with their audiences by email. This seems to hold true across industries, trade and individual member organizations and national and regional organizations.
I get it. Email is easy, right? You type something in, add some links, pick your distribution list, and hit send. Easy, peasy! Is easy the answer? Often it is not, and I think this may be one of those times.
I tried to research how many emails an average person gets in a “normal” day. Unfortunately, I could not find the answer as most sources conflicted with each other. The one thing the sources had in common was that they all agreed that the number of emails being sent, and therefore received, is increasing every day. This leads to more noise in your audience’s inboxes and a greater chance that your communication is going to get lost in the mix.
If you are like me over the last week or so you have been emailed by every company and organization, you have ever done business with. While I appreciate the updates I find that my inbox is always full and I can guarantee you that I may be missing some information that is really important to me as I simply can’t closely read each and every message. This means that the messages are not effective, and the senders are not getting any ROI.
It is true that email is instant, and it is relatively cost-free. That does not mean it is the best way to communicate with our target audiences. I highly recommend that you consider using direct mail, or phone contact, if your financial, human, and technical resources permit. Now is the time to stand out and get seen, not be buried under a barrage of email.
Scott has over 20 years of marketing experience in the association and publishing industries. Before starting his consulting firm, he worked for market leaders like National Geographic Society, AARP, and Science. Throughout his career Scott has excelled in developing, implementing, and analyzing multi-channel direct marketing programs. He is highly skilled in creating effective membership, marketing, and sales programs with the ability to align resources and operations to consistently achieve and exceed goals.
