Has your chapter truly thought about its marketing strategy? Famed marketing cartoonist Tom Fishburne once said, “the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” It is an interesting and thought-provoking statement. Before diving deeper into that statement, you may want to consider the term marketing.
Marketing is all the activities that an organization utilizes to promote their products, goods, or services. Think for just a moment of the products or services that your chapter provides. APA local chapters provide educational and networking opportunities to their members. This includes educational seminars, special member events, annual statewide conferences, certification study groups, and so much more. Local chapters have a marketable product! However, most chapter leaders are not marketing professionals and may have limited to no marketing experience. This is where we can lean on other chapters to help us form our overall marketing strategy.
Over the past few months, I have witnessed some chapter marketing strategies that have supported Fishburne’s statement. These chapters have considered marketing strategies that may feel “outside of the box”. Furthermore, their strategies did not feel like they were marketing to me, even though they were. Let’s consider two of these examples:
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Products with the Chapter’s Logo – The Bay to Gulf Chapter of the APA (St. Petersburg, FL) sent me a small appreciation gift for conducting a virtual seminar for one of their recent meetings. I initially turned down the gift, but I am glad that Robin Davis, Chapter President, insisted on sending it to me. The chapter sent me a package of customized Oreo cookies with their chapter’s logo printed on the white fudge coating. My initial reaction was that it was cute idea. I had no idea that this was even possible.
I thought about it further and realized that this was part of an amazing marketing strategy. They provided me with a memorable product that had everything to do with their chapter but had nothing to do with payroll. There is nothing that states that you must tie your marketing strategy to your payroll product. Most (if not all) chapters have utilized products such as the traditional payroll candy bars (primarily PAYDAY & 100 Grand), stress relievers, pens, water bottles, and t-shirts as part of their marketing strategy. Don’t be afraid to choose an “outside of the box” product that will allow you to imprint your chapter’s logo on that the product. A few that come to mind include:
- Drink Coasters- Personalized Gift Boxes
- Customized Pop-Up Cards
- Game Boards, such as Cribbage, Tic-Tac-Toe, Mini Darts, Mini Bowling, etc.
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Consider Your Audience – The way we are conducting business has changed over the years. We have become more reliant on technology to conduct regular business activities. Our chapters are no different. We are now conducting virtual meetings and even our Association Management Software (e.g. – Club Express, Star Chapter, etc.) have many features that allow us to conduct most business activities virtually. We now need to find new ways to promote our chapters that consider the higher reliance on technology.
At the 40th Payroll Congress event in Las Vegas this past June, I spoke with Laurie Raska, Communication Chair for the Northstar Chapter (Minnesota). She shared with me that the chapter’s board created a business card that included a QR code that linked the recipient to the chapter’s website. They generated the QR code through a free online service. The chapter recognized that many people take a business card but never actually use it. By adding the QR code, they are providing a convenient, easy way to drive traffic to their website. Furthermore, even if they are not using it immediately, they are more likely to use this QR code later considering the ease of accessing the information.
Keep in mind that your audience of any experience or age demographic is converting to electronic means of conducting most business activities. Think of new ways that your chapter may be able to reach your desired audience through electronic means. Consider looking at tools or services that will place a chapter advertisement banner on websites for which your audience visits. These services use Internet cookies to track the types of websites or information that users are looking for on the Internet to personalize advertisements. These services can then direct your chapter’s ad onto website advertisement banners targeting your specific audience. Also consider social media advertisements, such as those on Facebook or LinkedIn. These resources can be affordable and will work within a budget that you establish.
These suggestions may not work for every chapter. Some of these personalized solutions can be a budgetary concern for your chapter. This does not mean that you cannot find a promotional item that is “outside of the box” that fits within your chapter’s budget. The concept is to let your creative mind take flight to find new and inventive ways to promote your chapter. In the end, you will find a new way to market your chapter without your audience feeling like you have been marketing to them.
Please share below any marketing tactics that your chapter has utilized that may seem "outside the box".
