the state of

DIGITALMARKETING
in

ASSOCIATIONS
 Table of Contents
Introduction 3

Executive Summary 5

The State of Association Marketing 7

Association Marketing 9
Capabilities & Tactics

Strategy Ownership, 19
Execution & Measurement

Digital Marketing Portfolio 22

Tasks & Skills 25

Metrics & Analytics 28

Budget & Resources 31

Analyst Bottom Line 38

Acknowledgements 40

Appendix: Survey Background 42

[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE
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Introduction
INTRODUCTION THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 4

The State of Association Marketing Benchmark Study is now in its fourth

year. From its inception, the study’s purpose has been to help associa-
tions become better at marketing. To do this, the study inventories associ-
ation marketing practices and through analysis attempts to identify those
associated with the highest level of marketing effectiveness.

The importance of member understanding has continued to emerge as

a key success factor in association marketing. A deep member under-
standing is crucial for many reasons, not the least of which is so asso-
ciations can better allocate their budgets. Those associations that have
certainty about the needs of their members will allocate line items in their
budget to better serve them.

Past studies have seen slight, incremental movements in most measure-

ment categories. This 2017 study saw more significant movement
compared to past studies. One area of movement was in average budget
sizes, where across the board decreases were seen. HighRoad Solution
chief marketing officer Suzanne Carawan shared some insight about the
possible reason why, which this report will reveal.

This study takes a broad look at the issues shaping the association
marketing landscape, reports data from a study survey, and provides anal-
ysis and commentary to help association marketing improve.
[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE
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Executive Summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 6

Participants in the study were from membership, trade, company, and non-profit associations.
They represent a variety of roles and departments within their associations, the largest groups being marketing (31 percent) and communications (16 percent).
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:

The associations in this study that rate their effective-
ness as “Somewhat” or “Very” effective is 76 percent, a 5
percent increase year-to-year.
Of the 13 marketing capabilities most commonly found
within associations, on average associations claimed to
have just over six of them. Just 14 percent have 10 or more
of these capabilities, and almost one-fourth have three or
fewer of these capabilities.
Over two-thirds of associations studied claim to under-
stand their member needs well, and this understanding
correlates to how associations allocate their budgets.
Just over one-fourth of the study participants report that
members perceive association marketing and communi-
cation efforts as “Always relevant and professional.”
Associations that have a good member understanding are
twice as likely to also report their member communica-
tions and marketing efforts are perceived as “always rele-
vant and professional.”
Association marketing effectiveness has less to do with
what tactics are being used, and more to do with how well
they are used. Associations in the study are for the most
part doing the same things, but some are much better at it.
The difference seems related to skills or execution and not
the choice of tactics.
More associations are leveraging social media adver-
tising with back-to-back yearly increases in Facebook and
Twitter paid advertising.
There has been an increase in almost every category of
marketing metrics usage from the previous year’s study.
The average, estimated association marketing budget
has gone from $260,000 (2015), to $240,000 (2016), and
finally $205,000 in this year’s study.

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.
[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE
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2017

The State of
Association Marketing
THE STATE OF ASSOCIATION MARKETING THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 8

For the association marketing benchmark study, participants were asked figure 1
in each survey to rate the overall effectiveness of their marketing effort.
Association Marketing Overall Effectiveness
Figure 1 shows results from all assessment years.
Association marketing effectiveness is virtually unchanged
Figure 1 remains a picture of consistency, with just slight change over since this study’s inception.
the years. The ideal, of course is for steady improvement, In 2017, the
combined “Somewhat effective” and “Very effective” responses total 76 Very ineffective Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Very effective
percent, the highest ever in the history of this study. ineffective effective

The data in Figure 1 will serve as a basis for comparing other study data.
2014 8% 16% 65% 10%
As in past years of the study, participants were divided into “High” and
“Low” marketing effectiveness segments, based on the data shown in
Figure 1. These effectiveness segments are depicted in Table 1.
2015 10% 14% 62% 11%

2016 11% 15% 61% 10%

table 1
Association marketing effectiveness groups. 2017 8% 15% 62% 14%

Effectiveness 2017 2016

Perception Rating Percent of total Percent of total
Using these segments, the association marketing benchmark data was
High (Somewhat or Very
76% 71% analyzed to determine the differences between associations with high and
effective)
Low (Neutral, Somewhat or low marketing effectiveness ratings. The “Somewhat to Very Effective”
24% 29%
Very ineffective) perception has increased by 5 percent this year compared to 2016. This
is the first noticeable example of improvement in all years of this study.
This report presents additional findings that associations can use to bench-
mark their own marketing performance and derive best practices to help
marketing become more effective.
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Association Marketing
Capabilities & Tactics
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 10

The study again inventories association marketing capabilities, providing figure 2

insights into association marketeering priorities. Study participants were
Association Marketing Capabilities
encouraged to select all applicable marketing capabilities. Figure 2
Four-year summary of association marketing capabilities.
shares this inventory, with comparisons to past study years included for
reference. 2014 2015 2016 2017

Figure 2 reveals several interesting findings. On average, associations Marketing

Communications*
claim to have 6.1 of the 13 capabilities listed in Figure 2. Just 14 percent 70% 68% 70%
Membership
have 10 or more of these capabilities, which is slightly down from last retention
47% 62% 64% 65%
year; and almost one-fourth (24 percent) have three or fewer of these
Membership
capabilities. engagement
52% 62% 63% 62%

There was also a difference in the average number of marketing capa- Membership growth
51% 54% 61% 60%
bilities claimed by the effectiveness segments shown in Table 1: the
Brand management/
“High” segment claimed an average of 6.3 capabilities, while the “Low” awareness
54% 63% 61% 62%
segment claimed 5.3.
Strategy/planning
56% 61% 55% 62%
Higher levels of effectiveness, not surprisingly, correlates to a broader
Graphic design &
set of marketing capabilities. Finally, strategy and planning has seen a 7 production*
51% 54% 50%
percent increase, certainly movement in the right direction, however, the Event planning &
data doesn’t show a consistent, upward trend here. coordination* 42% 50% 46%
Partnerships/
The data in Figure 2 leads to several conclusions about the shifts in asso- Business development 30% 33% 39% 31%
ciation marketing capabilities from 2016. During this period, strategy/plan-
Membership winback
ning has gone back up. Most other areas stayed consistent. 24% 32% 38% 32%
Public Relations/
Thought leadership 39% 40% 35% 32%
Member/
Market intelligence 31% 41% 30% 32%

Other capabilities
11% 7% 7% 6%

*New category added in the 2015 survey

ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 11

It is great to understand the capabilities of a marketing association, but figure 3

it is also paramount for associations to understand the needs of their
Understanding of Member Needs
members well.
Over two-thirds of associations studied claim to understand
This understanding is illustrated in Figure 3. member needs well.

32%
Poor to neutral

68%
Well

68%
of associations
claim to understand
member needs
well
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 12

From 2016 to 2017 there was a 4 percent increase in associations claiming figure 4
they know their members well. Ideally, developing a better understanding
% High Marketing Effectiveness Relationship
of the members served is an on-going, high-priority effort for every associ-
ation. However, this data does not confirm that such an effort exists within
to Member Understanding
associations. Marketing theory teaches that a good understanding of the Better member understanding leads to greater overall
marketing effectiveness.
customers or members is critical to achieving success serving them. What
we can learn from the study data is that a relationship exists between
the depth of member understanding and overall marketing effectiveness. Low member
understanding 54%
This relationship is depicted in Figure 4.
High member
85%
The contrast in Figure 4 is stark: when associations understand member understanding
needs well, they are far more likely to also have a more effective marketing
function. Member understanding is a critical input to association
marketing effectiveness. Those who understand their members well in
this study report much higher marketing effectiveness.

85%
study participants
have better marketing
effectiveness
when members are
understood well
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 13

There are several ways that the “High” effectiveness group illustrated how Using these segments, a ranking comparison of capabilities is shown in
they knew their members and then how they serve their needs, thus making Table 2.
them more effective. One way is through how they budget as compared to
the “Low” group. This year’s study revealed a correlation between how table 2
well associations understand their members and how they allocate their A ranking comparison of association
budget. What associations know about members influences how they allo- marketing capabilities.
cate line items in their budgets. This is illustrated more in-depth in Table 2.
Low Effectiveness High Effectiveness
Regarding budgeting, half of the associations with a “low” member under- Capability Group: Capability Group: Capability
standing have everything under one marketing budget, thus meaning no Rank Rank
individual budget line items. This may suggest they haven’t prioritized what
Marketing communications 1 1
is important to their members and what is not. By contrast, the two-thirds of
associations who understood their members better, divided their budget Membership retention 2 3
into line items based on the needs of those members. This suggests that
these associations know their members well enough to prioritize meeting Membership engagement 3 5
their member’s needs by preparing and budgeting for them. These “high”
Strategy/planning 4 2
effectiveness associations don’t allow those items/needs to get “lost” in the
general budget. A general budget makes it is easier to spend money, but Membership growth 3 6
strategies & campaigns
by having specific line items in the budget there is less chance to divert
those funds for another use. Brand management & 2 4
awareness
A more complete picture of association marketing capabilities emerges Events planning & 4 8
coordination
from Table 2, where survey respondents are segmented into a “Low”
effectiveness group comprised of those who rated their overall associ- Graphic design & production 4 7
services
ation marketing efforts as neutral, somewhat or very ineffective, and a
Membership winback 5 9
“High” effectiveness group comprised of those reporting their overall strategies & campaigns
marketing effectiveness as somewhat or very effective. Partnerships or business 5 10
development
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 14

Table 2 reveals several things. For example, for the “Low” effective- table 3
ness segment, all but the top ranked capability tie with other capabil- A comparison of the presence of key association
ities. Perhaps it is cliché, but if everything is important, then nothing
marketing capabilities.
is important. This reinforces the idea that there may not be prioritiza-
tion or understanding of member needs. Notice that there are no ties in Low Effectiveness High Effectiveness
Capability
ranking of the capabilities for the “High” effectiveness segment. This may Group: Capability % Group: Capability %
indicate better prioritization by the “High” effectiveness segment. Marketing communications 62% 81%

There are other interesting differences worth noting regarding the “Low”
Membership retention 58% 68%
and “High” segments. Membership win back strategies ranks 5th for the
“Low” segment, and 9th for the “High” segment. This finding is likely due to Membership engagement 54% 65%
the phenomena that the “High” effectiveness segment doesn’t have a win
back problem to the same degree as the “Low” segment. The same obser- Strategy/planning 40% 70%
vation applies to membership growth: the “High” segment does not rank
Membership growth
membership growth as highly as the “Low” segment, this is most likely 54% 63%
strategies & campaigns
since membership growth is more problematic for the “Low” segment. Brand management & 58% 67%
awareness
This ranking data also helps show the priority that associations place on
Events planning & 40% 47%
their marketing capabilities, but to flesh out the picture, some indicator coordination
of the prevalence of these capabilities is necessary. Table 3 shows the Graphic design & production 40% 59%
percentages by segment of associations that claim the listed capabilities. services
Membership winback 28% 32%
Table 3 shows that the “High” effectiveness segment is more likely to strategies & campaigns
have the capabilities from Figure 2 than the “Low” effectiveness segment. Partnerships or business 28% 30%
development
The 30 percent delta between segments for strategy/planning shows
that it’s clearly not a priority for the “Low” segment – but it should be. Public relations & thought 26% 35%
leadership
The average delta between the capabilities shown in Table 3 is 10 percent,
Market research &
which is slightly lower than it was in the 2016 study. Capabilities are linked 26% 34%
intelligence gathering
to skills, which this report will address in a following section.
Other 8% 5%
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 15

Marketing communications remain at the top of the capabilities list in figure 5

the 2017 study. Higher quality external member communication drives
Member Perception of Association
better member engagement. For this reason, this study continues to
Marketing & Communication Efforts
explore how these communications are perceived. Members and the
It is an exception for associations to assess their member communications
public make judgments about an association based on the quality of its
as always relevant and professional.
communications, so it is important to understand the professionalism and
relevance of those communications. Figure 5 shows the trend of percep-
tion for association communications. Always Sometimes Neutral Sometimes Always
irrelevant and irrelevant and relevant and relevant and
The results shown in Figure 5 should cause great concern about external unprofessional unprofessional professional professional
communications quality: few members perceive that association commu-
nication efforts are consistently high quality. They also aren’t seeing
improvement from year-to-year. Just over one-fourth of the study 2014 4% 8% 57% 31%
participants report that members perceive association marketing and
communication efforts as “Always relevant and professional.” The 2015 3% 11% 60% 25%
remainder – 74 percent in this study – must therefore suffer from
2016 4% 10% 62% 24%
sub-optimal efforts.

Marketing communications plays a key role in having an effective associa- 2017 5% 9% 60% 26%
tion marketing function. The standard for excellence is to have an overall
strategic plan for marketing that directs and informs marketing communi-
cations. Associations should, therefore, lead their marketing efforts with
strategic plan development that is based on an association’s values and
objectives, recognizing that key to activating the strategy is marketing
communications. Should an association’s marketing communications
become untethered from the strategic marketing plan, those communica-
tions risk becoming irrelevant.
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 16

Associations utilize a range of tactics in executing their marketing plans, figure 6

and as in years past. the study presented participants with a list of tactics
Marketing Tactics Effectiveness
for them to rate. Figure 6 shows how these tactics rated in terms of
Email again occupies the top spot as the most effective tactic for
effectiveness.
association marketing.
Email marketing remains the top ranked tactic in terms of effectiveness,
and this year, telemarketing and mobile marketing exchanged places for
2014 2015 2016 2017
the lowest spot. The biggest year-to-year delta for effectiveness ratings in
Figure 6 exists for direct mail marketing, which dropped 8 percent. The Email marketing
81% 77% 77% 75%
other tactics have been fairly consistent across past studies.
Event marketing
75% 78% 75% 75%

Content marketing
67% 69% 67% 67%

Social media
marketing 55% 53% 56% 56%

Website and/or
SEO marketing 62% 62% 55% 49%

Digital marketing/
advertising 45% 47% 44% 42%

Direct mail
marketing 45% 51% 47% 39%

Print advertising
34% 38% 33% 29%

Mobile marketing
27% 29% 18% 18%

Telemarketing*
17% 29% 16%

Other tactics
13% 7% 10% 6%

*New category added in the 2015 survey

ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 17

When looking at the effectiveness, it is also important to consider the figure 7

usage of tactics in order to understand the relationship between them.
Marketing Tactics Usage
Figure 7 displays tactics usage data.
Email is the most frequently used marketing tactic.
The most effective tactics (Figure 6) in theory should also see the most
frequent use as shown in Figure 7. The top five tactics are the same in 2014 2015 2016 2017
both lists, but not in the same order. While these lists have never been
parallel in the four years this study has examined association marketing Email marketing
98% 98% 99% 99%
tactics, they are as parallel as they have been this current study.
Event marketing
97% 97% 98% 99%
The fundamentals of good marketing always apply here, with respect to
tactics: associations must constantly monitor the performance of their Content marketing
98% 98% 96% 99%
marketing tactics and efforts, tuning them for optimal impact by testing Social media
them and analyzing results. When a data-driven approach doesn’t guide marketing 95% 96% 94% 96%
the use of marketing tactics, it’s too tempting to simply do what is easy or Website and/or
SEO marketing 92% 92% 93% 90%
familiar, not what is most effective. Association marketers should measure
results and go where the data leads them, constantly aligning the work Digital marketing/
advertising 82% 83% 83% 86%
and tactics of marketing with the goals of the association, guided by
Direct mail
data that what results are coming from the tactics in use. marketing 83% 87% 85% 84%

It is worth noting that the effectiveness of all tactics is flat or down, but Print advertising
81% 85% 83% 80%
most noticeable is direct mail. As for email, we are seeing the continua-
tion of a 4-year dip, a concerning trend because email is tied for the most Mobile marketing
65% 70% 63% 68%
used tactic (see Table 4 on the next page). As concerning is the continued
Telemarketing*
erosion of the website and SEO marketing, as email and the web pres- 48% 49% 48%

ence are the foundation of marketing for most associations. Other tactics
32% 21% 30% 30%
One other mentionable note is that the effectiveness of website and/or
SEO marketing has dropped 13 points since the first study was conducted.
*New category added in the 2015 survey
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 18

Viewing the effectiveness data from Figure 6 by the segments represented table 4
in Table 1 provides some practical insights for associations. Table 4 summa- The effectiveness delta for the marketing
rizes the top five marketing tactics based on the usage shows in Figure 7.
tactics from Figure 6.
The shading in Table 4 indicates where usage deltas were in double-digits.
Low Effectiveness
The top three tactics are email, social media, and events, and these show High Effectiveness
Marketing Group: Tactic is
Group: Tactic is Effective Delta
big effectiveness gaps. For social media, the “High” segment is more than Tactic Effective or Very
or Very Effective
twice effective, while the email gap is similarly large. Effective

Email 49% 84% 35%

These results reveal that the difference in association marketing effec-
tiveness has nothing to do with what tactics are being used. For the Event 60% 80% 20%
most part, associations tend to do the same things; one segment is just
much better at it. Therefore, the difference must be related to skills or Content 45% 76% 31%
execution and not the choice of tactics.
Website/SEO 38% 52% 14%
This data illustrates that how tactics are used is as important as which
tactics are used. This means that an association that falls in the “Low” Social media 30% 66% 36%
segment cannot simply switch to a different set of tactics and hope to see
Direct mail 30% 44% 14%
an effectiveness lift.

The largest delta in Table 4 is for social media marketing, which is a tactic Digital mktg 26% 47% 21%
that is very fundamental to marketing success. This tactic delta is different
Print advert. 28% 32% 4%
from the 2016 report where website marketing and SEO marketing showed
the greatest difference between effectiveness segments. Telemarketing 13% 14% 1%
Making an effective use of any marketing tactic is certainly a function of time
Mobile 6% 21% 15%
to learn and train, but the effect of culture and leadership are also factors.
Marketers who function in a perpetual “hair on fire” environment lack Other 5% 4% -1%
the culture that would allow them to take the time to learn how to use
their tools and tactics more effectively.
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STATE OF ASSOCIATION
| [OVERALLMARKETIN
SECTION] 19

Strategy Ownership,
Execution & Measurement
STRATEGY OWNERSHIP, EXECUTION & MEASUREMENT THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 20

A marketing team should derive its strategy from the organization’s table 5
overall goals, then execute it, measure the results and make improve- Association marketers are largely in
ments. When this model is followed well, marketing earns greater respect
control of their own destinies.
and responsibility. When it fails, marketing is often punished by taking
strategy functions away from it and having others simply tell it what to
Primary Primary Primary
do. The extent to which marketing owns the responsibilities historically Marketing Tactic Strategy Execution Measurement
associated with marketing represents a vote of confidence of sorts. Owner Owner Owner

This study continues to look at who owns the primary responsibilities Banner ads Marketing Marketing Marketing
for strategy, execution and measurement as an indicator to the state of
the ideal marketing model within associations. The result of the current Email newsletters Marketing Communications Marketing
survey year is shown in Table 5.
Member renewals Other Other Other
Only one notable change from last year’s study occurred: the primary
measurement owner of spend management has returned to marketing. Email marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing
Table 5 should encourage association marketers: at present, they own
SEO/SEM Marketing Marketing Marketing
strategy, execution, and measurement for most the of marketing’s key
responsibilities. Past study finding persist: ownership is more fragmented
Inbound marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing
for those in the lower overall marketing effectiveness segment.
Event marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing

Mobile marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing

Lead generation Marketing Marketing Marketing

Brand management Marketing Marketing Marketing

Content marketing Marketing Marketing Marketing

Spend management CEO/ED Marketing Marketing

STRATEGY OWNERSHIP, EXECUTION & MEASUREMENT THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 21

The conclusion is that when marketing has the freedom to set strategy,
execute it and stay accountable through the right measurements, it An association is better
performs better. served to equip marketing
When this model isn’t working at an association, the easier fix – taking with the right leadership
responsibilities away from marketing – isn’t the better fix. and resources to enable the
An association is better served to equip marketing with the right lead- model to work.
ership and resources to enable the model to work.

It’s still necessary to issue a caution about the date in Table 5: the consis-
tent exception to the ownership of marketing responsibilities occurs in
the area of member renewals. Marketing should have some ownership
in this area.

As shared earlier in this report, member understanding is factor critical

to greater marketing effectiveness. It makes no sense to take member
renewals completely out of the hands and view of the marketing team.

Others outside of marketing can be involved and help execute or

measure member renewal tasks, but marketing should retain strategic
ownership of this important function.
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STATE OF ASSOCIATION
| [OVERALLMARKETIN
SECTION] 22

Digital Marketing Portfolio

DIGITAL MARKETING PORTFOLIO THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 23

Marketing is a more digital venture than ever, and the study catalogued
the digital approaches that associations use in Figure 8 (on the next page).

Four years of analyzing data confirms that very little has changed in the associ- For the second year in a
ation digital marketing portfolio. But, there are some trends worth mentioning.
row, the biggest increase
For example, after years of no change to the adoption of marketing auto- is from Facebook paid
mation software, despite constant admonition in the report to do so, we
advertising.
finally see an uptick. This may be the start of a trend toward greater adop-
tion of marketing automation.

For the second year in a row, the biggest increase is from Facebook paid
advertising. Twitter paid promotions are also up year-to-year. Clearly, more
associations are leveraging social media advertising. Facebook provides
sophisticated targeting of its advertisements, which is ideal for associations.
Association marketers may have discovered that Facebook advertising
provides a way to target prospects more precisely, reach mobile users, or
do both. As evidenced by last year’s growth, associations are embracing
Facebook as a digital channel to target members and prospects.

A persistent, troubling finding in all years of this association marketing

study has been the paradox of the high percentage of associations using
email newsletters (87 percent in 2017), but the minority that use an email
preference center, now at 45 percent, a 10 percent increase from last year.
For the first time in this study’s history, there is finally a healthy increase
in the use of email preference centers. It is likely, although not proven in
the study, that the erosion of email effectiveness has triggered a search
for approaches to halt the erosion and even improve effectiveness. The
use of an email preference center is certainly one way to do that.
DIGITAL MARKETING PORTFOLIO THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 24

figure 8
Digital Marketing Portfolio
The top five digital approaches are virtually unchanged across all study years.

2014 2015 2016 2017

Email newsletters Banner ad purchases

88% 89% 89% 87% 32% 38% 37% 41%

Facebook Member-only website

80% 80% 81% 86% 47% 50% 44% 41%
Facebook paid
Twitter advertising
78% 79% 80% 85% 19% 23% 32% 38%
Landing pages w/
Google analytics dynamic content
66% 67% 61% 66% 36% 42% 45% 35%
Email marketing Content tagging
software 55% 57% 57% 62% 34% 34% 29% 35%
Email with Online social
dynamic content 55% 61% 54% 55% community
38% 33% 36% 34%

Assoc./Member/CRM* Website w/
59% 54% 56% dynamic content 61% 64% 58% 34%
Bit.ly or other
Mobile apps
43% 44% 38% 48% link shortener 36% 31% 33% 32%
Email preference Event mgmt
center 41% 45% 36% 45% software* 29% 27%
Marketing
Selling of banner ads automation
46% 44% 44% 44% 20% 20% 21% 25%

Blog Paid keywords

41% 43% 44% 42% 20% 23% 18% 23%

*New category added in the 2014 survey

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THE MARKETING
STATE OF ASSOCIATION
| [OVERALLMARKETIN
SECTION] 25

Tasks & Skills

TASKS & SKILLS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 26

This study investigated who within the associations studied performs key table 6
tasks typically associated with marketing. Marketing is the majority owner of three of these
Table 6 summarizes task performance ownership (note: rows in Table 6 marketing tasks.
do not sum to 100% because respondents could select multiple depart-
ments to reflect shared ownership).
M-
Task Mktg IT Comm Event Pubs Exec None
ship
Consistent with the previous year’s study, marketing performs three of the
five tasks a majority of the time, as illustrated by Table 6.

Furthermore, marketing’s ownership stake in these three areas is up Pricing 36% 7% 37% 16% 28% 14% 36% 3%
from last year’s study, including a 10 percent increase in ownership of
data analysis.
Positioning 63% 3% 20% 36% 7% 8% 25% 6%
While marketing has the majority ownership of the three highlighted areas
of responsibility, it does not have others.
Promotional
For example, technology spend is most troubling, because as Scott 72% 3% 16% 42% 13% 8% 8% 5%
Channels
Brinker states, the art of managing marketing increasingly resembles
the art of managing software1.
Data 61% 31% 29% 29% 15% 8% 14% 4%
Analysis

Technology 27% 65% 11% 19% 10% 5% 32% 2%

Spend

1 Scott Brinker is author of Hacking Marketing: Agile Practices to Make Marketing

Smarter, Faster, and More Innovative.
TASKS & SKILLS THE STATE OF ASSOCIATION MARKETING 2017 27

Marketing requires a certain set of skills and capabilities, and this survey table 7
has taken an inventory of some key skills needed to execute modern, The IT department continues to be the primary
digital marketing. Table 7 displays the current study’s inventory of the
supplier of technical marketing skills.
increasingly technical skillset marketers need to possess.

The highlighted cells show which function is most likely to house the listed M-
Task Mktg IT Comm Event Pubs Exec None
skills, and in that respect there is no change from the 2016 study. However, ship
marketing’s skills ownership percentage increased slightly for each
listed skill except Javascript, where it remained the same. As the work Graphic 60% 12% 8% 37% 5% 15% 1% 6%
Design
of marketing is becoming increasingly technology-enabled, marketing
teams cannot cede technical skills ownership to external departments Analytics & 56% 37% 28% 30% 13% 8% 11% 5%
or groups. Development of skills must be an ongoing priority for the data analysis

modern marketer.
HTML 46% 52% 8% 32% 5% 9% 1% 6%

SEO/SEM 44% 39% 5% 27% 1% 4% 2% 18%

CSS 26% 48% 5% 22% 2% 5% 1% 21%

4 skills Javascript 14% 52% 2% 15% 0% 1% 1% 22%

out of 7 API
are supplied by the IT 13% 54% 4% 14% 2% 1% 3% 26%
knowledge
department.
[CURRENT SECTION]
ASSOCIATION MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE
THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017OF ASSOCIATION
THE MARKETING
STATE OF ASSOCIATION
| [OVERALLMARKETIN
SECTION] 28

Metrics & Analytics

METRICS & ANALYTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 29

An effective marketing analytics process does two, important things for an

organization:
figure 9

1 Provides data about how the marketing “engine” is running,

allowing the marketing team to tune it for maximum effectiveness.
Association Marketing Metrics
The most frequently used metrics still relate to email

2
campaigns and web visits.
Creates accountability for marketing to the rest of the organiza-
tion by showing marketing’s contribution.

Without an analytics process that tracks meaningful metrics, marketing 2014 2015 2016 2017
must operate on the instincts of its leader. This is a risky proposition
Click-thru rates
at best, and almost certainly compromises marketing’s effectiveness. 77% 82% 82% 83%
Analytics are essential to marketing effectiveness. While metrics usage of
Open rates
any sort is good, some metrics provide more accurate indicators of market- 76% 82% 79% 79%

ing’s true contribution. While it’s fine that Pageviews are being used more, Pageviews*
74% 68% 75%
tracking Pageviews doesn’t go far enough to explain marketing’s success.
This study has always advocated utilizing metrics more, and it appears Website visitors*
73% 70% 74%
that this year’s study participants exemplify that. Figure 9 summarizes
Time spent on site*
metrics data from this current study and all the past studies. 55% 53% 63%

Conversions
There are three observations in this year’s study data 33% 31% 35% 44%

worth noting: Reach/influence

28% 25% 32% 34%

1 There is an increase in the use of the time spent on site metric.

ROI*
This metric is an excellent indicator of engagement. 20% 22% 25%
Recency, Frequency,
There is an increase in the use of conversions. The conversion Monetary 10%
2 10% 7% 9%
metric measures not just activity but also outcomes.
None
13% 9% 9% 8%
3 Overall, there is a general increase in metrics.
Other metrics
3% 4% 4% 2%

*New category added in the 2015 survey

METRICS & ANALYTICS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 30

There is no shortage of data in the modern marketing organization, and figure 10

much of it is useful for tracking performance and contribution. Having data
Statistical Analysis & Reporting Tools
and using it, however, are not the same thing. Having the right tools is a
Excel remains the primary data analysis tool for associations.
prerequisite to exploiting marketing’s data. The study examined the use
of data analysis tools and technology, and Figure 10 shows their adoption.
2014 2015 2016 2017
Excel shows no signs of giving up the top spot as the dominant tool for
association marketing data analysis and reporting. While good for data Excel
66% 73% 65% 68%
analysis, Excel is a rather poor tool for sharing the outcome of that anal- Native CRM/
ysis, and the sharing of marketing data analysis must occur for change and Mktg Automation Tools* 30% 30% 33%
improvement to happen. Excel is a poor collaboration platform, and it is Crystal Reports
best if the tools themselves don’t prevent collaboration and sharing. The 22% 21% 23% 20%

tools that enable marketing analytics process are accessible to any size BI tools built into AMS
23% 20% 17% 20%
association. Association marketers should adopt tools that are purpose-
built for analytics. Excel will always have a place in the process, but the MS Access
16% 12% 11% 9%
over reliance on Excel compromises analytics process effectiveness.
Data Visualization tools*
10% 8% 8%
The use of data visualization tools is higher than reported in Figure 10,
because Tableau, a popular data visualization solution, was the most often Business Objects
5% 10% 8% 6%
mentioned tool in the “Other” response category. Additionally, Google
SPSS
Analytics and Emma (email marketing solutions) were also reported in the 6% 6% 4% 3%

“Other” response category. SAS

7% 4% 3% 3%
Analytic capabilities are built in to the CRM, marketing or association Hyperion
management systems many associations use and can provide most of 1% 3% 1% 0%

the data analysis tools and capability an association needs. Association None
10% 6% 9% 9%
marketers need take advantage of these built-in capabilities.
Don’t know
20% 13% 16% 8%

Other tools
9% 15% 9% 12%
*New category added in the 2015 survey
ASSOCIATION
[CURRENT SECTION]
MARKETING CAPABILITIES & TACTICS THE STATE
THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017OF ASSOCIATION
THE MARKETING
STATE OF ASSOCIATION
| [OVERALLMARKETIN
SECTION] 31

Budget & Resources

BUDGET & RESOURCES THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 32

Marketers in any organization are challenged to do more with less, and figure 11
never has that challenge been so pronounced as in the 2017 study.
Approximate Annual Association Marketing Budgets
The study measures budgets not including salaries, and two budget Approximate association annual budgets, not including salaries.
dimensions are considered: the overall size of the marketing budget, and
which line items go into association budgets.

Figure 11 presents the first of these two budget views.

2014 2015 2016 2017

Over $1 million
4% 8% 6% 6%

$750K to $999K
2% 4% 4% 2%

$500K to $749K
7% 6% 6% 6%

$250K to $499K
10% 14% 10% 8%

$100K to $249K
16% 16% 14% 14%

Less than $100K

42% 36% 40% 44%

I don’t know
19% 16% 20% 20%
BUDGET & RESOURCES THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 33

There has been a downward trend in the budget for three years. It has figure 12
gone from $260,000 (2015), to $240.000 (2016), and finally $205,000
Estimated Annual Marketing Budget by Membership Size
(2017). In addition to seeing the annual budgets, it’s also important to
Budget estimates by size of membership served have
examine the budget based on membership size.
dropped in 2017 compared to 2016.
This current study provides a view of annual marketing budgets based
on the size of the membership base, as shown in Figure 12. The average
budget size estimate derived from the study’s data shows a three-year
2016 2017
downward trend, particularly pronounced over the last year.
$242,000
Suzanne Carawan, chief marketing officer for HighRoad Solution, offers 1,000 or less
$135,000
this possible explanation for the year-to-year drop:

$216,000
1,001 to 10,000
$130,000

Everyone has been overly

conservative in spending while the $342,000
presidential administration transition 10,001 to 50,000
$240,000
has been underway; everyone has
been in ‘frozen mode’ due to so
$510,000
much change and chaos in their More than 50,000
respective industries. Since so many $415,000

organizations exist to lobby the

federal government, this change in
administration cannot be overlooked.
It has huge implications on the
association market.

Suzanne Carawan, CMO for HighRoad Solution

BUDGET & RESOURCES THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 34

figure 13
Association Marketing Budget Line Items
Figure 13 provides insight into how associations spend their marketing
Forty percent of associations studied do not break their budget into line items.
budgets. Direct mail, which ranks 7th in effectiveness for tactics, and
whose effectiveness has dropped each of the last three years, is one of 2015 2016 2017
the top three budget line items. While this data doesn’t indicate the level
of funding it receives, it does show that associations are not letting go of Print
46% 38% 38%
direct mail, despite the drop-in effectiveness.
Email marketing
38% 31% 36%
Additionally, email design has jumped noticeably. This may be a response
Direct mail
to the slow decline of email effectiveness. As the most frequently used 38% 33% 34%

tactic, it is no surprise that associations are funding email marketing as Website design
42% 31% 34%
an investment in keeping it relevant and effective. Thirdly, social media is
Website management
also showing up as a line item in more marketing budgets which is consis- 40% 31% 34%

tent with the increase the study recorded in paid Facebook advertising. Social media
21% 19% 28%
Email design
21% 16% 22%
Banner ads
22% 15% 20%
Search Engine Marketing

40%
14% 13% 13%
Responsive design
16% 8% 13%
Online commerce
of associations studied 13% 9% 9%
do not break their Mobile marketing
budget into line items 10% 5% 9%
Inbound marketing
7% 8% 6%
Data verification/acquisition
7% 4% 5%
Other line items
7% 8% 5%
Everything falls under marketing*
38% 47% 40%
No marketing budget exists*
6% 5% 5%
BUDGET & RESOURCES THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 35

There are also some new insights from the 2017 data. There is a rela- table 8
tionship between how well associations understand their members and Differences in budget line items.
how they allocate their budgets. This relationship shows up in the form of
very different budget allocations when the member understanding is low,
compared to when it is high. The differences for some of the budget line Low Member High Member
Budget Item Delta
Understanding Understanding
items from Figure 13 are shown in Table 8.

In the case of each budget line item, except for search engine marketing, Banner Ads 10% 25% 15%
the associations with higher (or better) member understating were more
likely to have items from Figure 13 as a separate line item in their marketing
Social Media 19% 33% 14%
budgets. Table 8 shows all the items which had double-digit deltas based
on member understanding.
Email Marketing 24% 42% 18%
This finding confirms an important truth about marketing: you must know
your audience for your marketing efforts to have purpose, direction, and
Print 21% 46% 25%
impact. The associations with a high member understanding clearly use
that understanding to very specifically direct how they spend and what
they intend to accomplish. For the low member understanding segment, Direct Mail 23% 39% 16%
it seems as if they are more likely (50 percent) to keep all marketing funds
in a general budget and “fly by the seat of their pants” when it comes to Website Design 17% 42% 25%
spending it.

Email Design 14% 26% 12%

Responsive Design 6% 17% 11%

BUDGET & RESOURCES THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 36

Most marketers dream of the things they could accomplish if they had table 9
more resources. The study again asked participating associations to rank Rankings of resources that would increase effectiveness.
resources that would most improve their effectiveness, and these rank-
ings for all study years are presented in Table 9.

More staff and funding are always some of the requests made by marketers. 2014 2015 2016 2017
What’s changed is that creativity now ranks 3rd after previously ranking
no higher than 6th. This is, perhaps, an indication that creativity is a solu- 1. More staff 1. More staff 1. More staff 1. More funding
tion to the resource constraints that association marketers face.
2. More funding 2. More funding 2. More funding 2. More staff

3. More software 3. More time 3. More time 3. More creativity

or technology
4. More software or 4. More software or 4. More skills or

3rd
4. More skills or technology technology competency
competency
5. More skills or 5. More skills or 5. More time
5. More direction competency competency
is creativity’s rank from leadership 6. More training
as a resource that 6. More empower- 6. More creativity
6. More creativity ment 7. More software or
would increase
7. More empower- technology

6th
effectiveness 7. More empower- 7. More creativity ment
ment 8. More empower-
8. More training 8. More training ment
8. Other resources
was the highest
9. More direction 9. More direction 9. More direction
creativity rank in from leadership from leadership from leadership
previous years
10. Other resources 10. Other resources 10. Other resources
BUDGET & RESOURCES THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 37

In addition to helpful resources, it is also beneficial to understand what table 10

types of activities that participants viewed consumed most of their time. Events have become the top consumer of time.
Table 10 shows what respondents report are the biggest consumers of
their time.

One of the biggest changes in time consumption is events, which has 2016 2017
never occupied the top spot before. But, it is consistent with the data from
Figure 7 which illustrates that events are at an all-time high. Additionally,
1. Email Marketing 1. Events
internal politics has dropped from fifth to eighth place. This may indicate
their environments have become less political and/or less bureaucratic.
2. Content creating 2. Email marketing (tie)

3. Internal meetings 3. Content creating (tie)

4. Events 4. Internal meetings

2017 5. Internal politics

5. Changing gears to meet directions
from Board
Events are now ranked
6. Fielding member questions 6. Fielding member questions
as consuming the most of
participants time. 7. Posting to websites and social

2016
7. Posting to websites and social media
media
8. Changing gears to meet directions
8. Internal politics
from Board
Events were listed as
the fourth most time 9. Data analysis 9. Data analysis
consuming, with email
10. Data processing 10. Data processing
marketing in the lead.
11. Other 11. Other
[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE
THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017OF ASSOCIATION MARKETING | [OVERALL SECTION] 38

Analyst Bottom Line

ANALYST BOTTOM LINE
This year’s benchmarking study provided several insights. One common
theme revolved around member understanding. This makes a lot of sense
because the better you know the community you’re trying to serve, the
more effectively you can meet their needs and create value.
Some specific areas of focus for associations from this study include:
Member understanding
The relationship in the study data is clear, a better understanding of
member needs and preferences positively correlates to more effective
marketing. A better member understanding influences how budgets
are allocated – as it should. We found that associations with a better
member understanding don’t have higher budgets than those whose
understanding is lower, they’re just spending differently, more wisely
because that understanding influences spending. Finally, a better
(higher) understanding of member needs leads to a better percep-
tion of the professionalism of member communications and marketing
efforts. The understanding an association has of its members directly
and indirectly influences a lot of important things. The recommendation
here is simple: invest in obtaining and maintaining the best possible
understanding of member needs and preferences, and make ongoing
efforts to keep that understanding current.
THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 39
Tactics
The more effective association marketers aren’t using different tactics
than the less effective ones. They’re using the same tactics! But clearly,
the more effective group is better at using them. One of the biggest
reasons is again, member understanding. The more effective segment
of marketers deploys tactics to a greater effect because of what they
know about members. Our recommendation is to reject the idea that
simply changing up tactics is a guaranteed way to get better results.
There’s a time to change tactics, but only when the change is directed
by – you got it – what you know about your members.
Strategy & planning
There has been an increase in capability by 7 percent, a very encour-
aging increase. The ability to plan effectively distinguishes less effective
from more effective association marketing teams. Strategy and plan-
ning should always occupy a spot high on the association marketing
team’s list of priorities.
Capabilities
We found that the more effective association marketing teams simply
have more capabilities with which to serve their associations. When
we segmented this data, the more effective teams claimed to have an
average of 54 percent of the capabilities shown in Figure 2, while the
less effective teams claimed an average of 43 percent of these capabil-
ities. The message in the data for association marketers is clear: keep
the capabilities cupboard as fully stocked as possible.
[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE
THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017OF ASSOCIATION MARKETING | [OVERALL SECTION] 40

Acknowledgements
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 41

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.

About HighRoad Solution About Demand Metric

We created our business out of the desire to always do the right thing
and to work with good people. HighRoad Solution was created to provide
quality services and communication software products to the not-for-profit
market so that they could go out and do the right thing for good people.
We’re proud of our commitment to excellence and our track record of
supporting hundreds of organizations who share our same values. We
invite you to get to know us and experience a different level of care and
quality.
To learn more about HighRoad, please visit: www.highroadsolution.com
Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a
membership community of over 100,000 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.

[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE
THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017OF ASSOCIATION MARKETING | [OVERALL SECTION] 42

Appendix: Survey Background

APPENDIX: SURVEY BACKGROUND THE STATE OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN ASSOCIATIONS 2017 43

This Demand Metric Association Marketing Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of February 2, 2017 through April 7, 2017.
During this period, 328 responses were collected, 240 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: Association growth in most recently completed fiscal year

Membership 54 percent Significant increase 9 percent
Trade 22 percent Slight increase 53 percent
Company 1 percent No growth 26 percent
Non-profit 21 percent Modest decrease 10 percent
Other 2 percent Significant decrease 2 percent

Title or level of most senior marketing person in the association: Number of members served:
Non-management, staff 6 percent Less than 100 3 percent
1st level manager 15 percent 100 to 500 7 percent
VP level 22 percent 501 to 1,000 11 percent
Director level 45 percent 1,001 to 5,000 22 percent
Executive 12 percent 5,001 to 10,000 11 percent
10,001 to 25,000 19 percent
Full-time marketing staff: 25,001 to 50,000 12 percent
None 1 percent More than 50,000 15 percent
One 14 percent
Two 18 percent
Three 16 percent
Four 16 percent
Five or more 5 percent
[CURRENT SECTION] THE STATE OF ASSOCIATION MARKETING | [OVERALL SECTION] 44

© 2017 Demand Metric Research Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

www.demandmetric.com

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