Adding muscle to marketing programs.

ADDING MUSCLE to Marketing Programs

From the California Raisin Growers to the American Academy of Family Physicians, more and more associations are using advertising to educate consumers about specific issues, raise awareness about products or services, and change consumer attitudes.

Typically, a marketing problem spurs the decision to advertise. The problem may be economic: An influx of doctors in a medical specialty may prompt a campaign to bring in more patients. Or the problem may be educational: Dermatologists want to collectively inform consumers about who they are and the conditions they treat.

Associations have an advantage over corporate advertisers. Research indicates that consumers perceive advertising messages from a third party, such as an association, to be more educational and less self-serving than advertising for a company's specific product. This suggests an association ad is more credible than brand advertising.

Advertising versus public

relations

Advertising, unlike public relations, is a highly controlled marketing vehicle. The media use news releases or public service announcements - two public relations tools - at their discretion. Since your organization doesn't purchase space for the release or air time for the public service announcement, it has no say in determining when and how either will be used.

Advertising, however, provides control over these variables. You determine precisely what messages you want to convey and to whom you want to convey it. If the American Dairy Association wants to promote the use of butter in holiday baking, for example, it can place an advertisement in Good Housekeeping in November to reach a large number of people at the height of the baking season. Public relations cannot take the place of advertising; nor can advertising replace public relations. It is not an either-or question. Both have an important place in an association's marketing program.

A word of caution

The greatest possible downside to advertising is sending an inappropriate message to your audience. For example, a physician's association that chose to blatantly hawk its services in an ad could risk creating a negative image among consumers. But if the same group of physicians provided information on how to prevent a disease, the advertisement would likely help create an image of professionalism and caring.

Realistically, your association will carefully develop its message with the guidance of its membership, which should substantially reduce the possibility of being off the mark.

Cost is another potential downside to advertising, especially for associations with small budgets. Advertising does not have to be extravagantly expensive to be effective. But an association must be willing to commit a reasonable budget to accomplish its advertising goals.

What is an advertising

campaign?

An advertisement is a single paid message appearing in any medium: television, radio, magazine, or newspaper. A single ad will rarely accomplish your association's marketing goals.

The key word is campaign, a series of consistent messages delivered to your association's target audience over a sustained period of time. Generally, it takes at least three exposures for an ad to impact your audience. Frequency (the number of times your ad appears) and exposure to your target audience are critical if your goal is to educate, influence opinion, or build your image - the three primary reasons association advertise in the first place.

Getting started

Your association must lay the groundwork internally for an advertising campaign. In this initial planning phase, it is useful to form several task forces to provide input on key decisions, such as defining advertising objectives and soliciting member input.

Each task force should consist of six to eight members and represent a variety of viewpoints. Officers of the association might comprise one task force. Local chapter officers might make up another task force. A third task force of marketing executives from companies closely associated with the group could offer an experienced perspective on marketing.

Selecting a marketing communications firm - an advertising agency - is usually the next step. In selecting your agency, look for one with a track record of working with associations, or at least with your associations, or at least with your association's specialty. Select a firm with strong planning and problem-solving skills. You need a sound strategic solution to a communication problem as well as a clever approach. Review work the agency has done for other clients. Ask why the agency has done for to do a two-color brochure or why it chose a specific photograph for the cover of an annual report. Answers to these questions will help your association gauge the agency's ability to patiently respond to your questions as well as offer some insights into the thinking that goes into the agency's work.

Who will be working on your account, and what is their experience? To whom do you turn in the agency if you have a problem? Will you get a timetable that clearly explains when things will be done? And are the agency's budgets firm?

How do you find agencies to interview? Word of mouth is one way. Ask business associates what agencies they have used and if they were happy with their works. As a starting point, you can also use Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies, a publication found in most larger libraries. Feel free to interview three or four agencies to compare their work and agency personalities.

Taking the first steps

Once selected, your ad agency should perform a feasibility study to ensure that advertising is the correct marketing vehicle to meet the needs of your association. Depending on what information is available from the association, the study may also include consumer research to assess attitude, awareness, perception of the association's image, and so forth.

Next, the agency should develop a program for your association's campaign. The agency will explore many questions. For instance, how extensive will the campaign need to be to meet the objectives of your association? What will be the most effective media mix? What is the most effective theme for the campaign? These questions, a time line, preliminary budget, responsibility assignments, and expected campaign results should be included in the program.

Specifically, expects to see the following elements: * Research. The agency will review the existing research, articles, and so forth use to lay the groundwork for the campaign. Include membership survey results as well as any independent consumer research. * Communication plan. This written plan will outline clear objectives, strategies, and tactics for the campaign. It should also include a program for evaluating the results and a preliminary budget. * Concept development. Expect the agency to develop two to four thematic approaches to your campaign. These approaches will be turned into representative ads and tested with focus groups to determine how your target audience responds. Refinements to the strongest approach will follow. * Plan presentation. Expect the agency to give a formal presentation of the campaign - if you wish, before your board of directors.

What does all of this cost?

The cost of your association's campaign largely depends on the media selected to deploy your message. Few associations can afford the cost of a sustained national multimedia campaign. A minimum budget for a national advertising campaign is about $1 million. This includes everything from an development and media purchases to final analysis of results.

Those associations that can afford national campaigns find their message can be communicated to vast audiences (reach) many times over (frequency) to make an impact. The National Dairy Board, Richmond, Virginia, is one example of an association that finds a national advertising campaign is warranted. Print and television ads, along with other marketing programs, make up the National Dairy Board's ongoing advertising campaign. For the past three years, its ads have created an awareness that women can receive their calcium from dairy products.

Print advertising is often the best choice for association because specific groups of people can be more precisely targeted. A full-page black-and-white advertisement in a consumer magazine costs from $20,000 to $100,000. The same advertisement in a trade publication costs about $8,000. These figures seem reasonable compared to the cost of a 30-second television commercial on prime-time television, which costs $250,000 or more.

Funding the campaign

One way or another, the membership of an association pays the campaign bill. There is one exception: You may find a partner company that will also derive benefit from your association's campaign. For example, a pharmaceutical firm may help fund advertising for an association of pharmacists, or a contact lens maker may agree to support an ophthalmologists' campaign. Outside companies, however, typically expect to see a financial commitment by the association before offering funding of their own.

Issuing a special advertising assessment to members is a common way associations gain advertising funds. The member who already is paying substantial annual dues may balk at an additional $200 or more assessment. To limit concerns, explain the assessment in terms of what the membership will receive by demonstrating how hard those dollars will work for them. For example, communicate that for $16.66 a month, members will receive a yearlong educational program designed to raise awareness of their profession and generate new clients.

Members may have their own public relations or marketing budgets. Suggest they tap that budget for the ad funding - $200 may be a modest amount in relation to this budget but appear high in relation to annual dues. Translating the per-member cost of advertising into payback terms may also help overcome assessment concerns. Look at the average cost per visit for a particular service; then note the number of visits (or purchases) necessary to pay for the campaign. This relates income to expenditure in a tangible way.

Keeping communication

channels open

Communication with the membership is critical to gaining approval for any marketing communication effort. You want the membership to accept and support your association's proposal. To achieve this goal, your association must explain the advertising plan, including the rationale behind every one of the decisions. This communication effort should include letters or memorandum sent directly to the membership as well as articles in your association's publications.

The American Academy of Dermatology, Evanston, Illinois, stressed good communication when it decided four years ago to launch its first educational ad campaign. AAD's yearlong campaign - building an awareness of skin conditions such as cancer, acne, scalp conditions, and rashes - consisted of print ads in consumer magazines directed to women aged 30-55 and men and women older than 55.

"You must be forthright with your membership," advises Bradford Claxton, CAE, executive director of the academy. "Give them all the facts and figures so they can make an informed decision; then, like any democracy, the majority rules."

Claxton found that even stalwart opponents to advertising were pleased following a successful campaign. "Going into this, we knew there would be some opposition. We expected a probable membership drop-off of 3 percent. But in reality, it was less than 1 percent," he explains.

Opposition to advertising frequently comes from members who equate it with hard-sell, flambouyant commercials for consumer products. They don't realize that advertising can be subtle and educational, and still have an impact. One way to avoid emotional resistance to advertising is to speak in terms of paid public education.

What about results?

Evaluate your advertising campaign against its objectives. For example, if your objective is to raise awareness of your association, do a precampaign measure of consumer awareness of the association's mission and activities. The survey results will then be compared to another consumer survey following the campaign's completion. Comparing the surveys provides solid evidence of how well your advertising campaign worked. The agency generally provides the measure of results. If you wish, you can hire a research firm to do the same thing.

Evaluate your

campaign against

your objectives.

The American College of Surgeons, Chicago, has maintained an educational ad campaign on behalf of its 50,000 members since 1980. ACS's ads - which build consumer awareness of the role of surgeons, and more importantly, of how to choose a surgeon - typically run in consumer magazines directed at a primary audience of women older than 50 and a secondary audience of men and women aged 30-50.

Advertising is an excellent educational vehicle, according to Linn Meyer, director of communications for the association. "We know we're reaching people letters and phone calls generated by the association's single ad insertion in 9-10 publications each year.

Meeting marketing goals

Whatever name it is given - a public information campaign, a consumer information series - advertising is helping many associations meet their marketing goals. Professionals are overcoming the stereotype often applied to advertising and realizing that it can place them in a positive light, increase awareness of their activities, and educate consumers on why they need the members' services or products.