Are you looking to grow your continuing education program? It might be time to create an association marketing strategy. An association marketing strategy can help you attract new learners, retain current members, drive non-dues revenue, and strengthen your brand recognition within your industry.  
 

Don’t know where to begin building your association marketing strategy? Read our blog for helpful tips!  

Let’s Start with the “Why?” 

Creating an association marketing strategy can help you grow your continuing education program. Do you want to establish your learning program as a go-to destination for professional development? You’ll need to ensure that your marketing strategy focuses on four key areas: Learner acquisition, learner retention, sponsor acquisition, and non-dues revenue goals. 

1. Learner Acquisition: Focus your association’s marketing strategy on attracting new learners to your continuing education program. To market your program successfully, be sure to highlight your value. Leverage your website, social media, marketing materials, and more to demonstrate the benefits of your continuing education program. Highlight learner success stories, exciting upcoming events, or annual conferences to show your program’s value, ultimately attracting more learners.   

2. Learner Retention: An association marketing strategy can also help you boost learner retention. To retain your learners, you should foster ongoing engagement and encourage loyalty to your continuing education program. Consider leveraging a newsletter that highlights upcoming continuing education courses, exciting events, and special learning opportunities to show off your program. Further enhance the learning experience and drive learner retention by ensuring course registration and event signups are easy. 

3. Sponsor Acquisition: To boost your continuing education program’s brand recognition, you might want to consider attracting more sponsors. Sponsorships validate your learning program and serve as a valuable source of non-dues revenue. Developing an effective outreach strategy will help you target the right sponsors, create a valuable sponsorship package, and manage sponsorships efficiently.  

 4. Non-Dues Revenue Goals: If your organization has any revenue goals for your continuing education program, it’s wise to create a marketing strategy. Building a strategy to drive non-dues revenue will help you optimize your learning program by considering factors such as course and event registration pricing, sponsorship packages, exclusive learning content offerings, and other relevant elements.   

 H2 Creating Your Association Marketing Strategy  

Now that you have a deeper understanding of how building an association marketing strategy can help you reach your continuing education goals, it’s time to get to work! These seven steps will guide you in creating an effective marketing strategy for your association:   

1. Define Your Mission 

What is your mission statement for your continuing education program? You need a vision to guide your learning program and help establish your marketing strategy and campaigns, ensuring that your future goals are realized.  

Do you want your continuing education program to become a go-to professional development resource in your industry? As you define your vision, consider what you want your learners to gain from your program and what you hope they will achieve throughout their careers.  Once you’ve created your program mission statement, you’ll be ready to build your marketing strategy.  
  

2. Segment Your Audience 

Segmentation involves grouping your target audience based on shared characteristics. Consider segmenting your target audience into groups, such as: 

• Prospective learners  

• New learners  

• Long-time learners  

• Learners in leadership roles  

• Age  

• Profession  

• Educational background  

After creating your segments, you can develop specialized marketing materials to target these specific groups. Personalized messaging is much more effective than a generic marketing approach. 

3. Define Learner Personas 

Creating learner personas will further help you personalize your association marketing strategy. A persona is an example of a potential learner that represents a cross-section of your target group. Be sure to leverage your learning management system (LMS) and association management software (AMS) data as you build your personas.  

Try to craft learner personas based on factors such as age, career, certifications, training, and other relevant details. Leveraging personas is a great way to humanize your marketing strategy, ensuring your messaging will resonate with prospective learners.  

4. Research Competitors 

To better understand how your continuing education program stands out from the rest, do some research on competing programs. Examining competitor programs will help you know what learning services are offered in your industry. This knowledge will help you understand how your program can stand apart.  

Through competitor research, you can work towards making your continuing education program unique and establishing yourself as the go-to industry resource. 

5. Diversify Your Marketing Approaches 

Leverage multichannel marketing to promote your continuing education program. Be sure to reach potential learners and market upcoming courses and events in as many ways as possible.  

Try using the following marketing channels: 

• Social media platforms: LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and more.   

• Email marketing: Send important updates about a new course and registration information directly to your learners.   

• Association and learning program website(s): Ensure your website is updated with the latest information about your program. Additionally, make it easy for learners to register for an upcoming course. 

6. Leverage Success Stories 

To attract new learners, try highlighting the benefits of your learning program with testimonials, photos, and videos. Consider sharing video clips from your latest annual conference or a highlight reel from one of your hot topic webinars. You can also include photos and testimonials from learners who have recently completed a certification program. Sharing learner feedback on your social media and website is a great way to demonstrate the value of your continuing education program.  

Include photos and testimonials from learners who have recently completed a certification program. Sharing learner feedback on your social media and website is a great way to demonstrate the value of your continuing education program. 

7. Track Learner Data 

Lastly, be sure to utilize your learning management system (LMS) to track learner data. Tracking this information will help you measure the impact of your continuing education program. Good data will reassure you that your association marketing strategy is yielding results and help you make more informed decisions about your strategy.  

For a successful marketing strategy, it’s crucial to use an LMS that integrates seamlessly with your AMS. This integration ensures your data syncs and provides you with a comprehensive view of your program’s performance. With an LMS + AMS integration, you can track course registrations, certification completions, learner retention rates, new learner demographics, and more, empowering you to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy.