Linking Communications to Membership Strategy

So, we've arrived at year's end. Notably, I have seen most non-profit and association offices rapping up their work and settling into Christmas parties. But as staff gather around the eggnog and water cooler, this also becomes the time NGOs must analyze the past year and that which is coming. 2009 is upon us and if there has been anything at all that I have learned about the non-profit sector is that membership recruitment and retention is the lifeblood of an association.

Communications is really the heart that pumps the blood of membership outreach efforts. Without an effective communications strategy, members feel disconnected from their association. Donors don't connect with a charity's cause and result, don't see the need to donate! For all to occur wherein donations keep flowing and members become potentially involved in the board and its committees, an organization's intrinsic value needs to be communicated and understood. The same goes especially for campaigns. Here, not only do your audiences need to feel related to, your campaign should have a strategy to relate those campaigns back to the overall value you wish to have identified when thinking of your association.

In all, while I may sound harping, year's end really is the time for non-profits to think of this as the perfect period for a Communications Strategy New Year's Resolution. Namely, let's think of ways that membership and donor strategy can and should be linking to how audiences need to be communicated with.
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Mark Buzan is Principal and Chief Magnifier in Action Strategies, a full service Strategic Communications, Public Relations and Public Affairs Consultancy for non-profits and associations. Make sure to contact him for advice on reaching audiences you may or may not have yet considered in your marketing communications and PR campaigns. Drop him a line if you are looking for help in developing a public relations campaign. You can view his website at www.actionstrategies.ca.