GUEST
ARTICLE - Jay Schiavo
Changing
Demographics and Globalization Demand New Strategies
Whether you like it or
not, traditional markets for memberships and related
products, programs, and services are shrinking fast. What
does this mean for…
Individual
Membership Associations?
New members and new
professional practitioners must come from emerging markets
or underrepresented groups or your profession and
association will die!
Trade
Associations?
New members and new
businesses entering your industry must be owned and/or
managed by individuals from emerging markets or
underrepresented groups or your industry will be in
jeopardy!
What are emerging
markets or underrepresented groups?
-
Ethnic and racial groups that are
growing in numbers and influence in countries where
whites typically represented the majority
-
Women or
seniors in professions or industries typically dominated
by males and younger people, respectively
-
People with
educational levels and work experience that may not have
represented the mainstream in your industry or
profession
-
Parents with
responsibility for child care or others responsible for
elder care
-
People with
disabilities
-
Gays and
Lesbians
-
People in your
profession or industry around the world!
Your traditional
membership pools may be shrinking fast but…
-
By 2040, half
of all Americans will be what are now called
“minorities.”
-
African
Americans in the U.S. number 35 million—now over 13% of
the population and growing rapidly.
-
Hispanics are
now the largest minority group in America—increasing 54%
from 1990 to 2003—with a high proportion of younger
people.
-
Asians and
Pacific Islanders comprise almost 5% of the U.S.
population now and have the highest proportion of
college graduates of any racial or ethnic group.
-
Over 50 million
people in the U.S. live with some sort of disability and
with the help of technology and treatment advances,
qualify for more jobs than ever.
-
Gays and
Lesbians, often turned off by organizations that ignore
them, represent 15 million Americans with a buying power
of over $450 billion, 80% of whom are extremely loyal to
organizations that recognize them.
-
As Baby-Boomers
age, more seniors than ever will be looking for second
careers and business opportunities.
-
Women will
continue to enter the workforce in large numbers, and
now lead in the growth of business ownership.
-
As industries
and professions become more global, membership pools
take on worldwide proportions.
Attracting people
from diverse groups to your industry, profession and
association is challenging because…
-
Traditional
marketing channels and messages won’t reach your new
targets.
-
Perceptions and
impressions about the profession/industry and
association may turn off new groups you’d like to
attract.
-
Profession or
industry culture and institutions may not be hospitable
to new groups.
-
New targets are
all different requiring multiple outreach strategies and
action plans.
Membership
Development and/or Career Development and Business
Incubation?
If your association
serves an industry or profession where growth is
predicted and the pipeline for new practitioners and
business startups is full, then your challenge will be to
attract these new prospects to the association.
If your association
serves an industry or profession where forecasts predict a
shortage of businesses or practitioners, your challenge
will be to attract new people as professionals or
entrepreneurs—then get them to join the association.
Either way
marketing communication strategies are the same…just
applied in different ways…
-
Develop relationships with other
organizations to achieve mutual goals.
Get together with associations that
already serve underrepresented groups in your industry
or profession and explore new and creative ways to
partner to meet common goals like career development or
business incubation. Commit resources and share
successes. Tap their leaders for your association.
Take a leadership role among
organizations that represent other segments or your
industry or profession and competitors to ensure the
survival of the industry or profession. Find common
ground and create win-win partnerships. Make the first
move to thaw out any historically cool relationships!
Work with colleges, universities, trade
schools, career centers, and mentoring organizations to
support career and business choices. Help start and
administer programs of study. Partner with organizations
that provide career assistance and mentoring services.
Seek out government and private agencies
on national, regional and local levels that provide job
training and support of new/small businesses. Locate
opportunities for tax incentives and scholarships.
Find key leaders in
your industry or profession from underrepresented
groups that are not at the table with you. Invite them
in and empower them to make a difference.
-
Engage current members from
underrepresented groups in the process.
Set them up as role models for success
and position them as champions to lead special outreach
initiatives. Consult with them about creative ways to
reach their colleagues observing cultural protocols.
Develop them to become leaders.
-
Use “in-language” and
“in-culture”targeted messages to open up a dialogue…in
alternate marketing communications channels, venues and
media.
Surveys show that
non-English speaking groups react more positively to
communications in their native languages.
Tailor messages to speak to the emerging market—in their
language if possible. “Transcreate” messages so they are
linguistically accurate and culturally acceptable and
use “in-culture” images. It’s not enough to just
translate existing materials!
Conduct a multi-media
two-way marketing communications program to reach
non-members and career candidates. Aim to identify
perceptions, build understanding and establish
relationships. Begin a dialogue in all communications by
asking for feedback. Learn and adapt to what works with
your new audiences.
Speak to individuals or groups on their
turf—where they train, meet, worship, do business, or
practice. Connect with or set up
student clubs for professional or industry interests,
with outreach to minority student or business groups.
Partner with groups that serve small business owners,
including public and private agencies, on business
incubation initiatives. Introduce memberships for
students and industry newcomers and other avenues for
association involvement.
Use media that target
underrepresented groups and other creative
ways to reach African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Gays
and Lesbians, People with Disabilities, Native
Americans, women…
-
Align all
institutions, cultures, products,
programs, services, initiatives, policies, words and
images.
Does the membership product make sense?
Is it customer friendly? Would additional membership
categories fit better for new audiences, including
international candidates?
What about products in other languages?
Is membership priced appropriately for
new targets? Consider the impact of cost to new markets.
How are your products or programs
delivered? Are they convenient and accessible for a new
breed of members here and abroad? Can the Internet be
used more effectively as a delivery channel to
international targets?
Is your
association (and the profession or
industry) promoted so that new targets can relate,
experience the value, and feel an affinity for the
community of practice? Is two-way communication really
going on to find out if your messages are resonating?
Are there industry
and association leaders from underrepresented
groups? What will it take to diversify association staff
and volunteers on the national and chapter levels?
Consider training and mentoring for leadership roles.
Does your legislative
and regulatory work complement the issues and problems
of new audiences? Think about how you stand on business,
international, discrimination, immigration, social and
economic issues and how those positions may alienate new
targets.
-
Ensure
career/business success and membership
satisfaction among diverse groups.
-
Stay
involved with people who enter your industry or
profession and give them ongoing support to become
successful—make this a major priority!
-
Plan a
multi-media campaign to engage first and second year
members, including multiple opportunities for feedback
about the experience.
-
Actively
follow-up with members on identified, problems, issues
and concerns.
-
Give them
opportunities to participate in a wide variety of
association offerings and provide mentoring tailored to
their specific needs.
 Jay L. Schiavo, CAE,
a former association executive, is principal of All Media
Creative Marketing Communications--a firm that specializes
in
building membership, product and program sales through
integrated campaigns in print, mail, and electronic
channels. Jay can be reached at
jschiavo@allmediacreative.com, 703-931-9276, or via
www.allmediacreative.com.
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