You know about big data. Your members face it every day. Third party syndicators are repackaging your members’ data and selling it back to them. Aggregators sell ads to make money off of your members’ data.
You have a goldmine right inside your own organization. It’s called small data.
What would it take to make YOUR data more profitable to YOU?
The answer is segmenting–the process of connecting to a specific group of members, and marketing to their interests and their needs.
This is not one to one marketing. It’s called CLUSTERing. Grouping people together.
This does not mean put every member into a group. Rather, pick out ones of high value.
Make it easy!
1. Identify key groups that receive unique communications from you today. For example:
- New members
- Brokers
- Older members who want to get comfortable with technology but just aren’t
Select your few segments and then learn more about them –– you do it with young professional members; why not for small business owners or managers of large firms?
2. Assign responsibility for capturing information about your target audiences and then regularly sharing the trends with the team (staff) – formally.
Someone on your staff must learn about what the member is thinking; What worries them; What they don’t know that they don’t know.
Your mail will be more valuable to them if you relate to them in their terms, to answer their worries, instead of the latest announcement about a fundraiser where you are asking them for money, or a list of things to do at your association!
Ask yourself these four questions before you ever start writing:
- What’s the goal of this article?
- Who is the audience?
- Why should that member read this article?
- What do we want the member do after reading this article?
Here is a real life email from a state association to new members. It is sent just after a new members joins the association. If you ask yourself the four questions, you will avoid writing a headline like this:
“Congratulations on having passed your real estate licensing exam. Now the fun and on-the-job training begins.”
Instead you will begin the communication like this:
“Welcome to XAR. You came to the right place. Here are three quick ways to get the best possible start in your new career.”
Because all a new member wants to know is how you can help them make money.
It’s very easy for staff (and you) to stray off message, and to miss real-time opportunities to connect to what people are thinking and worrying about. When you answer their worry, you begin to create value.
Once you tailor your messaging to the new member, and see the positive response, move on to another segment.
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