Many associations still struggling to break out of communication silos

Many associations still struggling to break out of communication silos

At a time of unprecedented budget pressure, information clutter and limited attention spans, associations know that each of their communication vehicles must have a well-defined target audience, editorial purpose and publication frequency that staff members can clearly articulate. How well are they doing? According to last month’s Association Adviser enews reader poll, only half (50.1%) of the 73 respondents felt their organization has properly nailed down each of their communication vehicles’ missions. One in five (19.8%) expect to be at that point a year from now, but for many, there is still much work to be done to cut down on ineffective and redundant membership communication.

On a related matter, more than 62 percent of the nearly 700 association respondents to our 2011 Association Communications Benchmarking Survey said their members ignore at least half of all the communications they send them. Less than half (45.8%) believe their members would say they’re communicating more effectively than they did three years ago.

Chances are, your publishing and communications teams really understand your industry and have a lot of great information to share with members. But no matter how great the content they’re producing, if it’s being done in a vacuum, they’re going to duplicate the efforts of their other hardworking colleagues and continue confusing members.