Growth Positioning

association membership

How does an Association grow membership and revenue in an Omni channel and hyper competitive environment? Your answers are more likely found in research and actionable data, strategic board conversations, and 3 year roadmaps. Today’s successful Associations see long term positioning as essential to their long term growth and durability.

Strategery or Strategy?

Answer your key questions first. How do you differentiate your organization from all of Competitors? How do you build a connected community that positions both your organization and your constituencies for long term business success? Are you surfacing gaps pointing to a need for your Association to conduct a strategic positioning and planning initiative?

Growth Positioning: Three Key Steps

Candid bare knuckle assessments of your Association’s impact on “member business outcomes” are essential. Following a disciplined three step approach will help your organization understand how aligned it is with member passions and their business outcomes:

  1. Research and Actionable Data. Do you understand your member’s “up at night” issues and the future “business outcomes” that they seek? Member impact surveys are much more effective than satisfaction surveys in helping you identify“up at night” issues and how they want your Association to help drive their success.
  2. Strategic Board Conversations. It’s their Association, engaging board member passions, and positioning the Association to help them achieve their “business outcomes” builds partnership and commitment.
  3. Go Forward Roadmaps. This is where it all comes to life. 3 year plan sequencing your priority efforts, forecasting costs, and potential new revenue during this time frame. Your internal resource alignment and staff competencies are also part of this effort.

Growth Positioning

When is your Association effectively positioned for membership and revenue growth? When your board, staff, and members are all saying “We’re moving to a more compelling and profitable future for our industry together.”

growth positioningFree eBook “Accelerating Strategic Member Engagement” is available for all Association Executives at www.potomaccore.com

By Dan Varroney

3 decades of experience working with multiple Industries and understanding different Association challenges by helping build strategies that add long term value. Comprehensive understanding of Associations, as Senior Vice President for the National Association of Manufacturers’ National Membership & Grass Roots operation, as President of the American Solutions Advocacy organization, & as President and CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth. Considerable background on impact of legislative and regulatory policy on Industries, has provided analysis on economic performance and M&A trends in outlets that include CNBC, CNBC Europe, Fox News, Fox Business, Dow Jones Marketwatch, Bloomberg, and the BBC. Strategic perspectives are frequently sought out by CEO Update, a leading source for Association news and information. Authored over 145 blog articles on Strategic Planning & Member Engagement. Facilitates knowledge sharing among forty -five Association CEO’s at the Growth Strategies & Member Engagement Forum.  Served as a member of the Prince William County, Virginia Strategic Business Planning Team. District Three Councilman in the Village of Palatine, Cook County, Illinois, twenty one years. B.A. in American History from the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. and earned a Certificate from the Yale School of Management, New Haven, Connecticut in Leadership and Team Effectiveness. Member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).