Marketing General Incorporated

2012 Meetings Marketing Benchmarking Study

Following on the popularity of our yearly membership marketing benchmarking reports, MGI has also conducted in-depth research on the strategies and tactics used by associations to plan, promote, and carry out their annual meetings and trade shows. The result is the 2012 Meetings Marketing Benchmarking Study.

This first-ever study, based on survey responses by 439 association executives, provides meaningful information and insight which association meeting planners and staff can use to assess, compare, and evaluate their own meetings marketing efforts.

The results cover a wide range of issues and topics including meeting timing, attendance, revenue, channel and venue selection, promotions, budgets, registration fees, and much more.

2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

The 2012 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report surveyed more than 691 association executives to better understand the strategies and tactics they use to recruit, engage, and retain members. The report is the most exhaustive and comprehensive study in the series.

Again this year, a key feature of the report was to cross-tabulate specific marketing practices with reported membership outcomes to determine which practices support better results.

The Benchmarking Report evaluates the relative success of a variety of marketing practices and presents dozens of key findings to give association executives insight and direction to develop more effective membership marketing programs.

Due to the large size of the PDF, downloading the Report may take several minutes

100 Super Hints Revealed

In our 32 years of assisting hundreds of associations and nonprofits to grow their membership and revenue, MGI has learned a few things about direct marketing.

In this pamphlet we share 100 tips, from copy to offers to prospecting to research. You will probably find some tips you already know about and some you don’t, but all of them should be helpful in the quest for knowledge that leads to better marketing and stronger results.

10 Tips for Better Research

Research is crucial for developing and optimizing marketing strategies for associations and other membership organizations. This White Paper is authored by MGI Director of Market Research Adina Wasserman, Ph.D., and offers ten tips to help membership marketers better understand the research process and how to get a project started.

To discuss how market research can work for your organization, email MGI Vice President Erik Schonher at ESchonher@marketinggeneral.com or telephone him at 703.706.0358.

2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

The 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report surveyed more than 650 association executives to better understand the strategies and tactics they use to recruit, engage, and retain members.  This represents the third year that Marketing General Inc. has produced this report.

A key feature of the report is to cross-tabulate specific marketing practices with reported membership outcomes in order to determine which practices support better membership results.

The 2011 Benchmarking Report evaluates the relative success of a variety of marketing practices and includes dozens of key findings to give association executives insight and direction to develop effective membership marketing programs.

The MGI Lifecycle White Paper

The MGI Membership Lifecycle helps organizations adopt a comprehensive, integrated approach to membership marketing. It combines five basic marketing strategies that, when linked, can significantly improve success finding new members, keeping current ones, and returning lapsed ones.

Think of the Lifecycle as a general framework around which organizations can build marketing programs customized to best suit their needs and mirror the needs of their target markets.

2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

The 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report marks the second year that Marketing General, Inc. (MGI) has surveyed associations to better understand the strategies and tactics they use to recruit members, engage new members, renew existing members, and reinstate former members.

Over 400 associations participated in the survey and shared their membership practices and their opinion on what works best for each stage of the membership lifecycle.

Beyond cataloging membership practices, the report also takes these practices and cross tabulates them with the membership results associations are experiencing. The comparison of practices and outcomes in membership provides strong directional information on what tactics and strategies might be added or dropped to help improve a membership program.

2009 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey Report

In the spring of 2009, Marketing General, Inc. (MGI) launched a survey designed to gain insight into the tactics and strategies that associations use to recruit members, engage new members, renew existing members, and reinstate former members. The goal was to better understand what tactics correlate with higher new member input, better renewal rates, and overall membership growth.

Over 500 association professionals participated in the survey and shared their associations’ information and experiences.

How Associations Can Create An Indispensable Brand ... And Why Most Don't

A strong brand is one of the greatest assets of an organization. It creates value both within the marketplace and within an organization. It creates motivation both for consumers (members or customers) to support an organization and for employees and volunteers to passionately contribute to its growth.

Seven Innovative Ideas to Fight this Recession

Don’t sit still and wait for the economy, program results, and industries to change to what you want. Take charge and change them yourself through innovation.

The New Approach to Association Research

New association challenges require new strategies—especially in research.

Ten Tips for Membership Marketing In A Recession

Are you looking at this recession as a ‘hill’ or a ‘chance to win’? When people are less confident in their job stability, the more interested they are in associations.

The Optimized Membership Program

What if your only mandate was to grow membership based on sound marketing principles? Membership development starts with search engine optimization.

The Membership Marketing Life Cycle

Systems thinking is a conceptual framework…to make the full patterns clearer and to help us see how to change them effectively.