imagination / blogs / jimblog / An Association that gets “It”
Archive for the ‘User Engagement’ Category
11 Feb 2010
by James Meyers
I met with the president of an association last week in Washington DC that finally gets “it”. And I knew it the moment I walked in the door. The receptionist was cheery and professional but with a great personality. The office was bright, lots of glass and had a contemporary vibe. And on the reception area walls hung beautifully framed, oversized photographs of Janis Joplin, Mick Jagger and Luciano Pavorati rather than the typical wall of photographs of association executives long gone. It felt like the offices of a Hollywood film studio rather than a national trade association for insurance companies.
As I walked through their offices on my way to meet the president, I could see and feel the same excited, friendly vibe everywhere I looked. And as I sat for nearly two hours with the president and several members of his senior staff I knew that I the entire outlook and demeanor of this association was something that is quite rare in the world of associations.
Their mission blows by the typical and tired association mantra of “serving the needs of our members” and goes to a new level of success achieved by creating the ultimate level of “experience” for their members. While this association delivers all of the “knowledge, conferences, publications and tools” that every association must, they view their members not just as members but as a valued audience that must be made to feel special, excited, entertained and enlightened by their connection to the association. To accomplish this, the CEO sets the tone and challenges his organization to think in terms of the member “experience”. Everything that the association does must add to the richness and excitement of that experience in an integrated and endless crescendo.
Like great companies such as Apple, Disney, Starbucks and Cirque de Soleil, this association gets it. They view their members as guests who have lots of choices and deserve the very best in service, quality and value all wrapped up in an “experience” that will keep them coming back for more.
Is that how your association or organization thinks and treats your members?
Maybe it’s time to think about recreating your member experience!
Tags: Apple, Association Leadership, Association Strategy, associations, Disney, Non-profits, Starbucks, The Member Experience, Trade Associations
Posted in Content Marketing, Custom Media, Custom Publishing, Strategy, User Engagement, associations | 1 Comment »
5 Jan 2010
by James Meyers
Once again, traditional advertising agencies and their weekly trade magazine Advertising Age have proven that they just don’t see the marketing changes that are sweeping them into irrelevancy. This week’s issue (1/4/10) of Advertising Age focuses on “Ad Land” and the changes and trends that will continue to negatively affect traditional agencies in 2010. Much is said about key marketing categories and traditional media channels such as direct marketing, print and television but all of it misses the point and is pretty gloomy stuff.
I applaud Ad Age’s attempted discussion about the rapid emergence of custom content as primary marketing tool. But their attitude about custom content seems to dismiss it as really only serving those who already know what they want and are ready to buy and not really about creating demand.
I couldn’t disagree more on both points. First, engaging and converting those who are ready to buy into measurable revenues is not only a mandate for marketers in this depressed economy but it will remain as a primary objective far after this recession is a distant memory. Second, as we have seen with our Fortune 500 clients, custom content does create demand. By providing value and targeted custom content to target customers, the return on marketing investment results far surpass those of traditional mass media. That is why custom media, according to a recent study, nearly doubled over the last two years while traditional media plummeted.
Advertising Age while acknowledging the growth of custom content failed to point out the phenomenal growth of custom publishing agencies over the past five years. Unlike traditional agencies, custom publishers offer a full range of strategy, creative and measurement services that are all centered on producing and distributing original, results-producing custom content through whatever delivery channel is most effective for each target customer. Custom publishers like Imagination Publishing continue to add new clients because we have added expertise to our custom content print and digital arsenal such as rich media, social networking, community management and SEO.
The shift to content agencies that understand how to create and distribute custom content to target customers has only accelerated over the past year. It’s time that traditional agencies wake up to what their marketers already know about custom content….it works!
Posted in Brand Visibility, Content Marketing, Custom Media, Custom Publishing, Digital, Social Media, Strategy, User Engagement | 1 Comment »
29 Apr 2009
by James Meyers
In a recent article in AMA’s Marketing News by Josh Bernoff, VP of Forrester Research, he makes a compelling case for Social Media in B-to-B marketing. A recent study by Forrester of over 1,200 information technology decision-makers at companies in North America and Europe found that 91% read blogs, watch user-generated video or read socially-created content at least once a month. This is one of the highest readings Forrester has ever seen on social media. Additionally, 55% said they were in social networks and 58% they had reacted to social content created by others by participating in discussion groups or commenting to blogs.
When asked if they used social media for business purposes the vast majority did! 69% said they had consumed social content for their jobs and 29% said they used social networking for their jobs.
This is some of the strongest evidence yet that social media is a necessity and opportunity within B-to-B marketing. At Imagination Publishing, nearly 90% of our customer base is B-2-B. Nearly every one of them has asked us to create social media programs for them. For examples, see our portfolio.
Even during the economic recession, our business at Imagination Publishing continues to grow. As a B-to-B publisher, you can have the same kind of growth opportunities!
Tags: Josh Bernoff, Social Media
Posted in Content Marketing, Digital, IPUB FEATURE, Social Media, User Engagement | 1 Comment »
18 Jul 2008
by admin
It’s been 14 years since I started Imagination so I treated myself to a four-week vacation—nothing special, just a chance to get away and unwind. If you’re like me, one week just doesn’t do it, as it typically takes three days to begin to unwind and by the fifth day I’m already starting to think about work again.
This time, I returned refreshed and recharged. It was nice to see that things ran smoothly in my absence and that I really didn’t need to be connected to everything happening in the company.
During the time off, I read two books that I’d highly recommend.
The first is Fast Strategy by Yves Doz and Mikko Kosonen. The premise of the book is that it’s no longer enough to formulate a strategy and wait a year or two until the results come in. You must be constantly alert to emerging trends and market shifts, and you must react quickly and effectively. Strategically agile companies know how to transform themselves without losing momentum. Knowing what separates the winners from the losers in the fast strategy game is both insightful and thought-provoking for any content publisher.
My second recommendation is Wikinomics by by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams. For anyone concerned about or fascinated by the speed at which digital collaboration and user generated content occurs, this is a must-read. The authors show how smart firms can harness the collective capability and genius of online communities to spur innovation, growth and success. The book will challenge a publisher’s current thinking and assumptions about where content will originate and what it will look like in the 21st century.
I hope that you’ll find the time to read these two books; they were an eye-opening glimpse into the future of publishing.
Tags: Fast-Strategy, vacation, Wikinomics
Posted in Custom Publishing, Social Media, Strategy, User Engagement | No Comments »
