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Three association marketing pros explain their approaches to data-driven marketing.By Rich Rosfelder

32 FORUM MARCH 2015

AskAround

What Are You Measuring?

Jim Flanigan, CAE

Director of MarketingSociety of Critical

Care Medicine16,000 members

Julie Doyle

Director of MarketingAHA Solutions,

an American Hospital Association company

5,000 hospital and 43,000 individual members

Karen Bebart

Vice President, Marketing, Digital Marketing,

Marketing ResearchNational Association

of REALTORS®1 million members

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FORUM: How do you decide which data to analyze?

Flanigan: The Society of Critical Care Medicine uses data to illuminate oppor-tunities and make better decisions. So, we see utility in analyzing every available piece of data, whether it’s online inter-actions, purchase history or demographic information. Doyle: First and foremost, AHA Solu-tions needs to analyze and report on the data that demonstrates the value of our relationship to our solution partners. AHA Solutions is a division of the American Hospital Association that awards the AHA endorsement to the solutions that best solve AHA members’ most pressing oper-ational challenges. We promote aware-ness of these solutions to the field via a variety of marketing tactics, including email promotion, webinars, roundtable discussions and our website.

We also need to perform compara-tive analyses to make sure our metrics are at or above industry standards. For example, our aggregate email delivery

rates were below industry average, and we were getting a lot of bounces. This prompted a deep dive into our database and the adoption of new processes to improve list hygiene.

Bebart: The National Association of REALTORS® uses and analyzes many forms of data as appropriate, depending on the topic, group or goals. We use surveys, website and advertising data, email and many other measurement tools to guide us. For example, on a recent series of emails segmented by age group, we tested and evaluated subject lines and messages based on the links clicked within the emails. As a result, we learned which messages resonate most with each age group and better understood their interests and motivations. This informa-tion continues to guide future communi-cations. FORUM: How does data help you prioritize your marketing goals?

Flanigan: Data drives the prioritization of the Society’s strategic goals and tracks

our progress. Marketing serves those goals. By overlaying our sales perfor-mance in various countries and regions of the world over readily available exter-nal data like GDP and health care spend-ing in those same places, we can see where to invest our focus for growth.

Data has also helped to make our investments in marketing tactics more targeted and less wasteful. We use the data we have on highly engaged mem-bers to provide them with a more per-sonalized and fulfilling experience. We should also be able to identify members who would benefit the most from extra attention, as they’ll be our next genera-tion of highly engaged members.

Doyle: This year we’re looking at data after every marketing initiative to eval-uate its impact, and we’re establishing benchmarks so we can set goals for improvement. If I had to define impact with a single metric, it would be conver-sions: the number of targets who took the action we desired. For webinars it’s registrations and for educational con-tent offers it’s downloads. It’s important

MARCH 2015 FORUM 33

Digital ExtraLearn more about marketing automation and analytics in the digital and mobile versions of FORUM.

Karen Bebart

Vice President, Marketing, Digital Marketing,

Marketing ResearchNational Association

of REALTORS®1 million members

ssociation marketing departments are on the hunt

for data. Big data. Small data. Any data, really. But

do we need it all? And what’s to be done with it once

it’s captured?

In this article—the first in a two-part series—association

marketing professionals from organizations large and small

discuss their data solutions.

A

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theAskAround

to evaluate subject lines and clicks-throughs, but if people don’t take you up on your offer you’re not delivering maxi-mum value.

Bebart: Prioritization is set by NAR’s business goals and strategic plans as well as member and industry needs. Our leaders look at everything from call data to economic data that drives markets. The marketing group uses data to help it select the most effective messages and channels, to optimize tactics and reach, and then to measure their effectiveness again to make further refinements.

FORUM: How do you educate yourself about data analysis?

Flanigan: Most of the people I know who chose the marketing profession did so in part because it didn’t require a lot of math classes. There’s no doubt, however, that marketing today requires a new set of skills. We’ve found that exper-imentation and learning from mistakes develops capabilities the fastest. It’s important to encourage experimentation or tolerate learning by breaking, which may be uncomfortable for some nonprof-its but is necessary to achieve objectives.

The even greater challenge is imag-ining what can be done with the infor-mation. For example, if data indicate that 90 percent of meeting registrants are likely to come from an identifiable

subgroup of members, the logical choice is to invest almost all of the promotional resources in reaching that subgroup and exclude those unlikely to attend. So, what new approaches can you take to that subgroup now that you have more resources to invest? That idea can fly in the face of the egalitarian focus of most membership organizations.

Doyle: You can’t be an effective mar-keter today without having an under-standing of and appreciation for how data can guide your efforts and prove your worth. I read a lot of marketing blogs and download whitepapers and other content to get perspective and insights from a variety of marketing automation and analytics firms, such as HubSpot, Eloqua and Marketo. I also subscribe to industry resources like Mar-ketingProfs. Last summer, Harvard Busi-ness Review had an outstanding issue on marketing that took an in-depth view of data and the emerging role of the mar-keting technologist.

The important thing is collecting the right information, asking the right ques-tions and testing a lot.

Bebart: There are marketing team employees dedicated to digital analytics, email analysis and marketing research. They have backgrounds and education specific to each area with degrees and certifications in economics, marketing

research and digital analytics. These staff members keep their skills sharp by attending seminars and networking events, and, in turn, educate and sup-port other NAR groups and divisions with their expertise. They provide unique dashboards to analyze visits to web con-tent. For example, REALTOR® Magazine online staff members rely on a dashboard to track and make decisions based on the popularity of certain topics. My team also develops and deploys surveys, evalu-ates the results and suggests recommen-dations to meet a department’s goals, as well as consults on email campaigns to optimize results.

FORUM: What’s one key piece of advice for an association profes-sional who wants to incorporate data analysis into his or her or-ganization’s marketing strategy?

Flanigan: The data needs to be clean, and it needs to be centralized. Before we began deeply analyzing data and adjust-ing our tactics based on that analysis, we felt like we were in a good place on those two fronts. But it has taken almost constant adjustment to our data man-agement strategy to put us in the posi-tion we are in today. In this age of “big data,” keeping the data clean is almost a full-time job. If the data is flawed, so are the analyses and the tactics that flow from it.

34 FORUM MARCH 2015

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“ If I had to define impact with a single metric, it would be conversions: the number of targets who took the action we desired. ”

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In addition, the organization needs to accept where the data leads it. If decisions are made by personal fiat instead of being rooted in data, then it’s hardly worth investing the time and money to manage the data.

Doyle: Make sure your data analysis is aligned with your organization’s strategic mission and it can support it in a quantifiable way. Also, while it’s important to anticipate how your organiza-tion’s needs may evolve, don’t buy more tech-nology than you need. There’s no point spending money on systems that perform analysis you won’t use. The market is growing, so shop around.

Bebart: Keep learning. Learn how to draw the connection between data and business goals, and to present it to business stakeholders in a way they can understand. Learn to visualize and inter-pret data. The field of data and marketing ana-lytics keeps growing. But if this is new for your association, start slowly and build on it.

Rich Rosfelder is integrated marketing manager with the CCIM

Institute. He may be reached at rrosfelder@ccim.com.

36 FORUM MARCH 2015

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How are they measuring?In the April issue of FORUM, learn

from featured organizations’ information technology professionals how they

are measuring marketing and communications efforts and discover

other resources for implementing data-driven marketing campaigns.

“The important thing is collecting the

right information, asking the right

questions and testing a lot.”

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