The key role of communication for clubs and members' associations📣

January 30, 2024 by
The key role of communication for clubs and members' associations📣
Idealis Consulting, Julien De Meyer

Communication is the foundation on which modern businesses thrive. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, illustrated this perfectly in his book "Hit Refresh" 📚by highlighting the vital importance of internal communication in aligning a multinational company with its mission and vision. He demonstrated that the use of digital communication tools💻 is crucial for strengthening corporate culture and employee engagement, as well as being indispensable for strategic decision-making.

Although Microsoft is not a club, it is instructive for all organizations, including clubs and associations, to draw lessons from an industry giant such as Microsoft. Clubs, while operating differently, also require effective internal communication to align all members with the club's vision, reinforce the club culture, and foster member engagement. It is in this context that we will explore the importance of communication for clubs and how a solution like Smart Membership can help optimize this communication. 🎯


Communication and Marketing in Clubs 📢


For clubs, communication and marketing are essential to attract new members, retain existing ones, and promote events and activities. Effective communication helps keep members informed and engaged, while well-executed marketing attracts new members and creates a positive club image within the community. Additionally, effective communication showcases the added value that the club brings to its members, highlights club events and activities, and fosters a strong sense of belonging.


Why Differentiate Between External and Internal Communication?🤔

In this article, we will differentiate between internal and external communication, as they involve different audiences. External communication is directed towards individuals outside the club, such as prospects or sponsors, aiming to build the club's brand image. It includes activities like marketing, public relations, and advertising.

On the other hand, we have internal communication, which is intended for employees and current club members, facilitating communication through newsletters, exclusive event announcements, club updates, and various other news. 

Both types of communication significantly contribute to the success of a club and must be managed effectively and strategically.




The Ideal Tool for You 🛠️


In this section of our article, we will explore together 15 features of the Smart Membership solution that will concretely help your club gain real competitive advantages. 


Smart Membership is a solution specially designed to meet the unique needs of clubs and associations. It enables both optimized and efficient management of members and their benefits by our teams. 💪🏆


We have selected 8 features for external communication and 7 features for internal communication. If you want to have a comprehensive view of all the features offered by Smart Membership , it is advisable to sign up for a une séance démo gratuite et en ligne.


Smart Membership for External Communication


1. Marketing Campaign Automation 📈

Smart Membership transforms the way clubs and associations manage their marketing campaigns through advanced automation and precise segmentation of your database. Imagine being able to address targeted communication to all individuals who have participated in your events 🎟️ but are not yet members, encouraging them to join your club 🤝.  This is what you can observe in the screenshot below, where the campaign called "Non-members offers plan" targets individuals registered for my events but are not members.


This is an excellent way for your sales teams to find relevant leads. As seen in the image above, you can also set activities based on your audience's behavior. In this example, we have planned a second communication in our campaign that will be sent 3 days after the opening of the first communication. This is one of the many possibilities that Smart Membership allows Smart Membership.

With Marketing Automation features, you can create automated marketing campaigns, define your target audience with specific criteria, and schedule workflow activities triggered based on the actions of the target audience.

Of course, analytics allow you to track the performance of these activities, giving you a clear overview of the effectiveness of your campaigns.


2. Social Media Marketing 📱

Managing social media accounts becomes a breeze with Smart Membership. Create and schedule your posts, analyze the effectiveness of your content, target your audience with precision, and manage all interactions from a single centralized platform. 


This allows you to stay connected with your community and engage your prospects more effectively. Smart Membership enhances your social media marketing strategy by allowing you to interact directly with your social networks and generate leads from your online interactions. 

You can schedule your posts in advance and broadcast them simultaneously across most of your networks, ensuring a constant presence and extended reach. As you can see below, you can easily schedule post publications on a designated calendar.