Industry trade associations as we know them today are hitting the wall. And it’s not because they’re not full of well-meaning and tenured people truly working hard for their members. The chaos revolves around leadership. CEO’s for associations are under extreme pressure and, in my opinion, probably worse than the industries they serve. Trade show and conference revenues are in the tank and businesses continue to cost cut away their association fees. To survive, associations have to respond. Associations have no choice but to take dramatic steps to re-energize membership dues and service revenues that individuals and companies are willing to pay for today.

So how does an Association supercharge its’ charter and offer the right services to the right members at the right time?

Five Lessons Learned
Raine has helped several Associations work through these challenges to create new road maps. In addition, Raine is currently working with IDEAlliance (formerly Graphic Communications Association) to launch a new association called WGMT (Women in Graphic Media and Technology). Here are five lessons we’ve learned that we think Association leaders may want to take note:

Clean the slate, re-segment the market, and revise the ideal member profile.
Industry lines are blurring. The collision between content management and print production makes member profiles a moving target. Recent studies have found that the pendulum has swung from member companies paying for its employee memberships to the employees having to pay dues out of their own pockets. Subsequently, members join fewer associations and want immediate demonstrable value when they make their decisions.

Decide whether the Association is an "information clearing house" or a clearinghouse for business transactions between customers and printers.
The revenue models for each are very different and so is the competition. Investments in infrastructure and technology as well as liabilities grow exponentially when moving to commerce-type association models. More importantly, be sure it’s not conflicting with your ideal member profile.

Set goals for mind share versus market share (and how much to spend on each).
The cost to maintain a wide gamut of services for all dues-paying individuals is at an all-time high. Reduced resources will force a balancing act of events, membership drives, service offerings, and distribution channels both virtual and in-person delivery. Confusion still exists around E-Business and Digital Print as to whether these are in fact SIG’s (Special Interest Groups) or the reinvented association.

Hire scouts to find leading edge tools, methodologies, and research that will help members with their business problems.
The challenge is not to keep pace. The challenge is to be on the frontier with the new world of work and communications. The fastest way to the frontier is to get out of the not-invented-here syndrome and the fear of losing neutrality by aligning with private and public alliances/partnerships. The Associations’ biggest advantage is their ability to build and distribute industry support services that drives economies while going to scale.

Build a P3 for the future (i.e. Public Private Partnership)
In the Information Age, sustainable not-for-profit Associations will be built on a new business model; one we call P3 = Public Private Partnership. A simple model yet one that is full circle: create, distribute, and measure the social good between private and public businesses. For example, one of the largest P3’s in the world is the $60 billion alliance between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the fight against aids in South Africa. I know it’s unrealistic to expect industry associations to fix world hunger but understanding how to deliver both personal value and business value through one organization is powerful. By blending the best of both worlds, linking and interchanging value, and advancing knowledge to leadership sustainability is what it’s all about.