Marketing and Customer Service--Hand In Hand

 "That's too bad, they'll have to figure it out."  "I really don't have time to answer their questions."

Have you ever heard someone say that or something similar about a member request?  If we're honest we may have heard those statements or something like them. We are in the business of customer service and those statements reflect attitudes that are not in the spirit of meeting our members' needs. In today's world, if we go into a store and we don't get good service, we are reluctant to go back. In a membership organization, if a member does not good service, they don't renew their membership. 

We can do all the promotion and marketing we want, but if we don't treat our members--our customers well--they probably won't rejoin.  We all have to be intentional and think of how we can meet our members' needs. When they can't do something or fill out a form that we want them to, we need to ask: "How can I help you?"  When they complain about an issue, we need to listen to their concerns and investigate whether there is anything we can do. When a member sends us an email, we need to answer the email within a reasonable time, usually within 24 hours. When we see a member at a meeting, we need to make them feel welcome. When we see someone we know on Zoom, we need to acknowledge them.  Those little actions that treat people with respect and  show that we value them make a big difference in retaining members. Let's all monitor our behaviors to make sure we are treating our members with the respect they deserve. When we take actions, let's ask ourselves, "What does that mean to our members?" 

Putting the needs of our members first must be our priority.

Lurking Around to Locate Potential Members

 

    "You have to lurk,"a friend of named Joe told me. Just what did he mean?

    Years ago, a friend of mine who was very successful at advocating for legislation for individuals with disabilities gave me this sage piece of advice. If you want to make an impact on legislation you have to be willing to lurk around or hang out where the action is happening. When you are around people who are making policy decisions you have to be present, you have to listen, and you have to make contacts.

    This past weekend, Pat Rinkenberger, Linda Adcock, Elizabeth Mackie, and I did just this. We lurked. We hung around at an Illinois Council for Exceptional Children convention by setting up an exhibit with the beautiful promotional materials that Lois Mueller made and, of course, candy and free rose pens. We talked to women educators about who and what Delta Kappa Gamma is, we listened to their needs, we gave them resources, and we made many contacts. We listened and talked so much about the good in DKG that Pat lost her voice. Was it worth lurking? You bet. We already gained a member for Alpha Chi, we got people interested in what we are doing, and Pat has followed up with all of them that she could. We will invite them to meetings. It was an invigorating activity for us.

    Now you may be asking how we can lurk at the state or local level?  Are you a member of another organization and planning to go to their convention? If so, see if they offer free or low-cost exhibit space and get some of our DKG Goodies and set up a table. If you are speaking at any conference where women who may be eligible are attending, give out bookmarks. Remember the template for the bookmarks is on the website, and also in a file on our Facebook page.

    Look for opportunities in your local area such as health fairs, teacher institutes, craft fairs, book fairs, and more. Ask for a table to exhibit information about Delta Kappa Gamma. Decide what giveaways you will need candy, bookmarks, water bottles, rulers, or whatever will cause people to notice to stop by and learn more about DKG.

    Don't delay, start lurking today to spread the word about Delta Kappa Gamma.

Don't Leave Home without DKG Illinois

     You never know when you might run into a key woman educator who might be a potential member so carry information at all times. Years ago I learned an important lesson from Rusty Welch who was membership coordinator for the Council for Exceptional Children for many years and is now deceased. . He had come to Illinois to do some training for our state leadership.  

    Before the main training occurred, a small group of us went to lunch at the Feed Store in downtown Springfield. We were in line to order our food and we didn't know the people behind us. Rusty struck up a conversation with one of the men who asked what Rusty did. He immediately gave his elevator speech about the Council for Exceptional Children. The recipient of the speech shared that he had a nephew with special needs and a niece who taught special education. Rusty talked about the advantages of membership and then pulled out a small membership application that he had designed that was folded so it was no bigger than a business card. It was easy for him to keep in his pocket or billfold. He had the form folded into a small document that was easy for him to carry.  He told me later he never went anywhere without a membership form with him. 

    Now you might want to condense information into a folded sheet, but you might want to think of what else you could carry with you at all times. How about the DKG statewide bookmark that is available as a file on our Facebook page? How about a general DKG brochure with a name and email of a contact or how about a chapter brochure with a contact? DKG Illinois has a template that can be used to create your own brochure. These are just some ideas for you to consider. Some individuals carry business cards with brief points about who DKG is and contact information.  Be creative in the development of a promotional message you can have with you at all times. 

    You never know when you may encounter a potential member so when you attend a conference or you speak at various meetings or you are out shopping, be prepared to spread the news about DKG Illinois.

Attachments Alert

 "Oh I never open attachments." I was so overwhelmed when I saw that email with all those attachments I just skipped over it."

You may have heard these statements from some of your members or they may not want to admit the truth to you. Why? One thing we find is that people are afraid to open an attachment because they don't know what it contains or they have gotten a message that the attachment has not been scanned for viruses. We all are inundated with spam and are very careful about what we do and don't open. 

Members may also feel like the second person--they get an email full of attachments and they are overwhelmed when they see the email and engage in avoidance. Perhaps they are not interested in some of the information in the attachments.

Think twice before you send attachments. Yes, there will be times when you have to do so because that may be the only way to send your newsletter. If you find yourself in that situation, then be sure to give a summary of what is in the attachment so readers have a brief overview and then know whether they want to download the attachment or attachments.

Some people have limited email capacity and if you send multiple attachments or an attachment that has a lot of graphics, their email system can't take it. Some individuals have limited storage capacity on their computer itself so if you expect them to download multiple attachments, they may get a message that their storage capacity is full. 

It may be preferable to put as much of the message in the body of the email as possible. If you want to give people forms that they may or may not want, then consider giving them a link to the form or consider putting the form in a file on Facebook or on your website and then refer them to where the file is. You can give them a link or you can tell them where the form can be found. Some members are also afraid to click on a link so if that is the case, tell them where to find the forms.

We hope our members trust that we are being careful about what we send but we have to be cognizant of their needs and provide information through as many channels as possible. Make reading your messages as easy and painless as possible.

Spreading the News at Just the Right Times by Bev Johns

    "I sent them an announcement of the event one month ago. They should have just put it on their calendar and remembered it." 

    That approach just doesn't work any more. It is good to announce the event in advance so people do get it on the calendar but picture this scenario. You sent the reminder on a day when the person was swamped with work and they didn't write it down, or they did and just forgot about the event.  Perhaps you sent the announcement on a Monday morning and we know how crazy Mondays are as people get back to work. Your invitation to the event got buried. You may have sent it when someone was out of town and they overlooked it.

    In my previous blog, I talked about the importance of multiple ways to spread the word about your event.  You want to balance your time promotion of an event. Do it frequently in between in many ways but especially do it on the advance end and on the last minute end.  You want people to know about the event well in advance and then in-between but you also need to let people know at the last-minute. 

    We are living in a last minute society and reality tells us that some people will wait until the last minute to plan to attend.  They are busy people and operate from day to day. I have chaired several virtual conferences for the last three years and am amazed that people will try to register the morning of the event.  Last minute reminders are a must. Decide when your cut off for registrations is and then remind people of that deadline right before the date. 

    If you are having Zoom meetings, send the invitation in advance but also send the link right before the event. Zoom links get lost in what I call "the sea of emails." A recent reminder helps. 

    Remember the more you promote the more you are likely for a good attendance. Happy Promotion. 

Spreading the News--Ideas for Communications and Marketing

"But I put it in the newsletter, didn't people read it?"

There is a good chance the answer is that people did not pay attention to it. In today's world, people are inundated with information and they don't look at all they see. They are on circuit overload.  Our information has to be succinct, short, and designed to grab attention. As a dear friend used to say to  "Just 3 X5 it." She meant that people don't want a long message. They want as short of a version as they can get, yet a message that includes the key points.

Many marketing specialists report that people need to see the news about an event at least 12 times in varying formats. It might be through an email, a Facebook post, Linked In, a text, a hard copy newsletter, or a press release.  One size doesn't fit all.  The key is to get your information out in as many ways as you can and never assume that just because you sent it once, they read it. 

The key is to utilize as many ways to market as many ways as you can so people read it in the format that works best for them. 

What ways are you communicating and marketing about your events?  Share your best ideas here.