Define your strategic direction
Clarify Your Strategic Direction with an AMS
Clarifying your strategic direction to your membership depends greatly on the quality and frequency of communication between administrators (or association representatives) and members. There is no better way to stimulate conversation and engagement within your association than to create a definable and easily accessible community (preferably online). Implementing a comprehensive association management system will allow you to establish and grow your community.
Through the use of an AMS that is matched to your needs, your association will be able to accomplish the following key initiatives that will illuminate the community’s strategic direction. Making it clear to your membership what you envision for the future and how you will get there will give comfort and confidence – allowing you to retain member commitment to the association.
- Tracking Engagement
- This is important for both defining what your strategic direction should be and communicating that direction to your membership. Through your AMS, administrators will be able to track member interactions to gauge their interests. Knowing what information is getting the greatest amount of traffic makes it much easier to identify what provided resources are being interpreted as the most valuable. Whatever happens to be seen as the most valuable should dictate what your strategic direction becomes. Once you start enacting and communicating the strategy weighted toward the identified value, you can, again, track member interpretations of the direction the association has chosen. Being able to track interactions via the AMS is invaluable as, if your strategic direction isn’t resonating with membership, administrators will be able observe trends and will empower your association to react promptly. With access to this information, if need be, you can pivot and go in another direction to right the ship. This feature of an association management software allows your strategy to be nimble and versatile.
- Focusing Communication
- At times, different classes of member will require different messaging to achieve the same intended end. Fortunately, your AMS allows administrators to target segments of the membership population and customize communications specifically crafted for that particular audience. When it comes to content, one size rarely fits all. So, it is beneficial to set up separate groups within your AMS so the right content reaches the right people automatically. Some information does not require unique versions and be mass distributed. However, it is nice to have the option of focusing communication should it be deemed necessary. With the ability to do so, there is less chance that communication regarding any association initiative will be misinterpreted or misunderstood as it will be specifically tailored for the recipient.
- Referencing Member Inventories
- With an AMS in place, your membership is at your fingertips. Your association can easily generate representative reports that summarize any number of membership composition profiles. The insight these reports provide – whether it be information regarding profession, location, credentials, or other identifier – will help your association craft their strategic direction so it is perfectly paired to the demographic you are looking to retain and grow.
- Evaluating Relationships
- Your AMS allows your association to connect to its membership so promptly and easily that it is no difficult task to maintain continuous and meaningful communication with individual or select groups of members. Through these online correspondence, as well as through in-person interactions at association events (and member-completed feedback surveys conducted via the AMS, following events), association representatives should be able to gauge the level of satisfaction members portray with regard to their kinship with the association. Any feedback your association receives is invaluable. It’s free insight into member wants and needs. All feedback should be evaluated closely and followed up on to consider how the particular observation could positively impact the future of the association, should it be implemented.
Nothing connects your association representatives and the members they serve better than an AMS solution. With a strong avenue for communication like a membership management system, keeping your members in alignment with the association’s strategic direction is as uncomplicated as can be.
