I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Yesterday, I spoke at a leadership conference. I finished my speech in the afternoon and zipped to the bathroom to change from suit to jeans for the trip home.
The housekeeping lady had just started cleaning the bathroom stalls.
I decided to change at the counter.
All the nearby meetings just had their breaks.
Should be no […]
So I just had to share a really fantastic blog I just came across. As some of you may know, I have a couple of degrees in art history, and used to teach marketing at the Royal College of Art in London. I would love to maybe one day get back into the art world through the association industry, maybe even start my own. So, when I found this blog called Museums 2.0, I just had to take a look. Holy moly!
Written by Nina Simon, there’s so much amazing content here, I don’t even know where to start, but I think a lot of the ideas discussed in here are very relevant to not only institutions like museums, but to associations / non-profits in general who are continuously thinking about how they create an engaging member experience for their current and potential future members AND thinking about incorporating web 2.0 into the mix.
Here’s the list of “most popular posts” just to give you a taster. You’ll see.
Bookmarked!
I open motivational email when the word “dog” is in the subject line. Love dogs. Hope you find this inspirational too. I revised it for association execs. Original doesn’t say who the author is ….
Upon the death of his dog, a six-year old boy wondered why dogs live shorter lives than most humans. After thinking about it said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life - like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” He then continued, “Well dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”
What association managers can learn from our dogs:
“1. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
2. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
3. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
4. Take naps.
5. Stretch before rising.
6. Run, romp, and play daily.
7. Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
8. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
9. On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
10. When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
11. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
12. Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you’re not.
13. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
14. When it’s in your best interest, practice obedience.”
- author unknown
And my advice for any colleague (as the saying goes …): “If you want a friend, get a dog.“
Picture from this site.
Lindy tagged me on the thorny (to me) issue of data mining. She poses the great question,
“Predictive analytics, in my mind, is like the holy grail of data mining—it becomes an obsession for those who pursue it, but does it really change anything?”
and,
“does it make sense for a membership organization to spend time and resources on predictive modeling, or is it just another layer separating us from our members?”
As she mentions, she and I were both at the same meeting on this subject. (I’ll be honest, I went because it was in my calendar as a “Technology Idea Swap”, so I had no recollection that it was on data mining until I got there and heard everyone introducing themselves and talking about how they wanted to learn about databases and SQL searches and stuff… and then I thought, “Dang.”) And of course, you know me, I was actually very interested in whether anyone was getting any useful data out of social networks, which was disappointingly completely off-topic and, sadly for me, a question left lonely and unanswered.
Anyway. Lindy and I were a bit squirmy through the whole discussion. It seemed like so many hopes and dreams were being placed at the altar of the goddess Clementine… but I had to ask myself, could you REALLY get any more analysis out of it then you could get simply by asking your members what events they attend, plan to attend, ever attended, or might attend in the future, and why? Since when did we stop talking to our members about this stuff? A good internal marketing manager could give you all the answers you seek about which of your various audiences are likely to respond to which of your messages, who’s going to engage with you, why and when, who’s going to participate in which of your events, etcetera, and they would know these answers not through stats and charts (even if you ask for them) but through experience and listening.
The other part of me thinks that the questions can be manipulated to get whatever result you want - both when surveying members and when using predictive modeling software. I don’t trust any of it as far as I can throw it (metaphorically speaking, I guess… heh). But I GET that some people need the charts, graphs and metrics to show them (or their higher-ups) that they are on the right path. I get that, and I have no problem with that. To each their own!
But there’s something about the reliance on supposedly hard data and analytics that says to me,
My wife wanted to ask her doctor (not her primary physician) one question and was told she had to schedule an appointment to talk to him.
We drove 45 minutes each way to and from his office, waited 45 minutes, then spent less than 3 minutes asking the question and getting the answer.
Result: We were inconvenienced and we each lost nearly three hours of work time. The doctor was paid for an office visit.
Association members would never tolerate this. If they didn?t get swift, courteous service, they would not renew their membership and they might seek information from a competing association or a for-profit organization.
Patients, unfortunately, are not treated as customers because they have no options.
Don?t treat your members, prospective members, or anybody else this way. Even if you think you have a monopoly on information or services, recognize that poorly treated customers may seek revenge in regulatory, legislative, or public relations arenas.
Think of your customers? needs first.
While I like to whine about American’s new $15 fee for the first checked bag, that’s really just an annoyance–I doubt too many attendees will decide this is the fee that broke the camel’s back and cancel their trips. (Check out these “sneaky” fees, though–we might be getting close.)
No, what’s scary, as opposed to annoying, […]
I wasn’t going to chime in on American’s great new idea of further nickel and diming passengers with its new $15 fee for the first checked bag, but I can’t resist. Personally, I’d rather they just add to the ticket cost than tack on a bunch of fees, even though it would mean people like […]
Don’t forget, I’ll be speaking at the ASAE Marketing and Membership Conference next Thursday, May 29, from 2.15-3.30, on how associations are using business intelligence to improve marketing and membership.
More info here.
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