MSAE Marketing & Sales Symposium Roundtable Conversation Takeaways

As part of MSAE's Marketing & Sales Symposium last week, members had "Conversations with Your Peers" - here are the top takeaways from the discussions (technology, membership, branding, mobile, contracts, conflict and more!):

Integrated Marketing: Social, Print, Web, Video

• Consistency
• Simplify messages
• Find time to lay out all types of communications you produce and analyze them for consistency, content, etc.

Responsive Web Design: What is it? Why does it matter to your organization?

• Design with responsive in mind
• Design form mobile first - then build to bigger devices
• Think about the three most important things a user would want to see on your homepage

Brand Management

• Consistency is key
• Defining standards
• Use style sheets

Member Replenishment

• Putting members on committees, board - give them a voice
• Photos - communicating "fun aspect" - ID them
• Cross pollination across associations

Contract Negotiations

• Cancellation by hotel clause in contracts
• Mutual respect between meeting planner and hotel
• Spell everything out in the contract, not vague

 Workplace Conflicts - Strategies for Handling Workplace Tensions

• Think through the first words that will come out of your mouth before you start the tense conversation - start with a positive intention, such as, "I want you to be successful here."
• Find the balance between silence and violence.
• Just because you feel comfortable enough to say something to someone, doesn't mean you should.

Tablets in the Workplace

• There's an app for anything
• Microsoft Office can be accessed on your tablet
• iBooks are coming!

Mobile Technology Decisions

• Make sure your devices are compatible with what you do
• Look at the company making your device to ensure they will be around

So What? How to Communicate Member Benefits - Part I

• Can you deliver what you're saying?
• Customized communications - your member will listen
• Benefits is generic - value is the full package, brings more meaning

So What? How to Communicate Member Benefits - Part II

• Segmentation
• Know how your members want to be communicated with
• Meet your member where they are

For handouts from the day, click here.  Hope to see you at next year's Marketing & Sales Symposium!

Event Marketing: What Works, What Doesn't and Ideas for the Future

MSAE's Communications Networking Group met to discuss event marketing ideas - what works, what doesn't and ideas for the future.

How we can get our audiences to act immediately? How do you deal with over saturation? How do you make your event branding memorable? Do you how incorporate video?  Marketing is key in getting event attendance.

The top takeaways were:

• Send a marketing email on Saturday.  Who would have thought.  But think about it...we all check our phones at home even if we say we are not going to.  If your audience checks their email and sees an email from you they will see it then and when they get to their inbox on Monday.
• Use graphics, graphics and more graphics.  People digest graphics better than text.  Think Pinterest.  More graphics, less words. Don't give all information of an event in an email, send them to your website for details.
• Ask yourself what emails you read and why.  What subject lines get you to open an email?  When creating email marketing campaigns, ask yourself if you would open it.  You'd be surprised that your subject line might change. 
• Tip: Subject lines should be 5-7 words.  Don't use thank you in the subject.
•  Lists get response.  Are you more apt to read an email that says, "5 reasons to...Top 10 ways to...5 ways to...." Most readers like at a glance information.  Clear, concise and to the point. 
• Hand written notes, a lost art.  Aren't hand written notes the best?  Your audience will appreciate the time and effort you put into a hand written note and remember it.  Use them on past participates, in-active members, prospects or people you would like to reach out to in a special way.

What do you do to get your members to act to your marketing?  What are you doing in your organization that is creating buzz around your events?  Do tell.

Tools to Access Current Education Topics

MSAE's Meeting Management Networking Group met to discuss Tools to Access Current Education Programs.  Here are the top takeaways and tools:

• Education Evaluation Matrix - concept from Mary Byers from Race for Relevance, utilized by Aging Services of Minnesota. Download matrix. Customize each column with measurements important to your organization (use your own!) and rows with current education programs to be evaluated. When evaluating, assign the same number of 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's - mark 5's first, then 1's, 4's, 2's and 3's. Have your staff, board, members or whomever you'd like to complete the evaluation, then compile total rating. This process is great for evaluating current programs, forces you to rank programs and highlights high and low items. Then discuss how you can make 1's into 5's or decide if you keep. How can you make the 5's even better? The group really liked this evaluation but noted that it does not help to generate new education programs. Sample matrix completed. Aging Services of MN Recap with more helpful ideas to get you started.
• Net Promoter Score - another helpful tool, great for evaluating speakers or meetings. Idea is that members/customers are either promoters (9-10), passives(7-8) or detractors(1-6). NPS = % of Promoters - % of Detractors. Article to get you started.
• Thoughtfulness in evaluating education process - will increase response rate!
• Ask forward thinking questions - such as, tell us what you want in the future, rank topics, etc.

Good luck with the process, let us know how it goes!

Supplier Pet Peeves

MSAE's Allied Networking Group met to discuss supplier pet peeves.  Here are the top takeaways:

• Never assume. Get clarification and ask questions. Its important to meet your client/customer needs and protect your organization.  
• Times are changing. The economy is getting better and it's no longer a planner's market.   
• If you give once, you may need to keep on giving. When the economy wasn't doing well, suppliers were giving a lot of concessions to get business. Now that the economy is getting better, suppliers can't offer the same discounts. There is no such thing as a free lunch and if suppliers give in one area, another area has to go up.

Customer/client relationships are key to success and need to be mutually beneficial. As a supplier, it's always good to under promise and over deliver.

Reimbursing Members & Policies

MSAE's Financial Networking Group met today to discuss reimbursement policies and procedures - what works, what doesn't and how we can be more efficient.  Here are the top takeaways:

• Have your cancellation and expense policies in writing - and be specific on what can be expensed and what can not - for example, first class airfare, limo transportation, spouse travel, specific date for cancellation, etc.  
• Sample Expense Reimbursement Policy from the MN Attorney General's Office
• Receipts, Receipts, Receipts - Require Them!