Membership Marketing Know your Niche Market Leanne Joyce President, Canberra. Chair, APAC IABC Leadership Institute, 2016
Knowing your Niche There are significant cultural and geographic differences across IABC chapters and across regions Particularly the case with the Asia-Pacific region Vast geographic and linguistic differences Variations across Australia and New Zealand New chapter Fiji in the Pacific islands Chapters in Asia Malaysia and Hong Kong Chapters as diverse as India and The Philippines It s vital to know your market to tailor programs and events and building your membership base
My little MEDIUM Canberra Chapter Canberra was recognised for its membership growth in 2014 and 2015. The Chapter 10 years old. Between 2012 and now we have grown from 30 members to 80+ with a mailing list of 300+ Like many, we have 50:50 members and non-members to our events We do an annual survey to guage interests o what s unique?
About Canberra A government town think Wellington, Ottawa, Washington DC Population of 450,000+ Members work in government, or consult to and often have a public sector background High female membership often in 30 s busy jobs and families Event programming is hard! Different stages of career development Constant changes three year election cycle resulting in Mogging (Machinery of Government changes) and tough budgets Communicators struggle for recognition in a hierarchical structure and where government communicators get labelled as spin doctors. But that means that membership of IABC is very appealing
What got their attention Canberra has a strong, connected board Word of mouth is important Visible leadership Endorsement from decision-makers Personal connections We advocate for the profession ustained effort a published program each year, monthly newsletter We became known for our events, advice and connections Flailing competitor group No other real networks of communication professionals ponsor Isentia major supplier of media monitoring services to government and our arrangement includes two key speakers each year and co-marketing arrangement.
IABC leaders March 2014 and 2015 - visit by Russell Grossman, Vice- Chair then Chair of IABC hit the mark by providing a perspective on government communications
IABC leaders Global perspective, experts in their field Russell did presentations on employee engagement, and the UK Government Communications reforms Briefings to the Prime Minister s office and department This topic has captured people and is still being discussed and reviewed by government now more cuts, greater efficiencies A further visit included a presentation to the senior executives at government agencies November 2015 a visit from IABC Chair Michael Ambjorn reinforced our connection with international experts Lunch with senior professionals Xmas drinks for the wider membership Meetings with government agencies/corporate members Reinforces IABC #smarts and #connections
Corporate members Corporate memberships not just a group discount a niche group requiring tailored services hould be fully integrated at different levels within an organisation Canberra has four corporate members (government departments) amounting about 35 individuals. Corporates are 25% of our membership We need to identify and engage the key decision makers pecial in-house briefings One-one meetings coffee or lunch meetings with President Identify champions in each group who promote our events in-house pecial input on the annual program Executive breakfasts for decision-makers Group discounts at events Challenge to sustain the commitment key is individual and organisational value
Corporate case study Telstra (IABC Victoria) grew from 14 members in 2013 to 52 in 2014 Telstra has strong leaders courted by IABC high-level meetings, visits, articles IABC Academy endorsed Telstra s in-house professional development program trong engagement in Quills, chapter boards, mentoring, event speakers Retained Gold corporate level in 2015 the largest in Australia and APAC
Innovative offerings Canberra Chat m informal sessions meet monthly Group discounts for corporate members to events beyond the corporate membership discount egmentation targeting senior practitioners in national associations Breakfast webinars Corporate care program - in-house presentations for corporates Fiji Bundling Fiji included the events package in their chapter rate A smart way to tackle island culture and lock members to events Relationship marketing people leave people, not organisations (usi Maclean)