For over a century, an educational association with more than 25,000 members has been a pillar of support for education, promoting collaboration and advocacy for teachers and students across diverse learning environments. Recognizing the need to enhance its marketing and member engagement efforts, the association set its sights on establishing a marketing center of excellence. This initiative required a comprehensive evaluation of its marketing and membership strategies, workflows, deliverable quality and process improvement opportunities. It was essential to identify and address these opportunities to improve member retention and growth, ensuring the association's continued success and expansion.
Why MCI USA?
MCI USA is known for their strong strategic insights and ability to tackle unique challenges for associations, which made it an appealing partner for the association. A prior relationship in sales helped build a solid trust between the organizations, positioning the organizations for success.
Solution
MCI USA completed a thorough analysis, conducting a marketing communications audit, membership strategy analysis and financial analysis. Unique to this partnership, MCI USA’s experts integrated with the association's teams in real-time, offering coaching and support and ensuring the strategic recommendations were aligned with the group's aspirations for a marketing center of excellence. This collaborative approach ensured that insights and strategies were not only theoretically sound but also practically viable and tailored to the association's unique needs.
Impact and Future Directions
While the journey is ongoing, preliminary outcomes have signaled a shift toward a more strategic approach to marketing and membership engagement within the association. The collaboration has already laid the foundation for several key initiatives:
• Development of a compelling value proposition
• Implementation of social listening guidelines
• Creation of a distinct brand voice strategy
• Formulation of a comprehensive marketing plan for the annual convention
• Reimagining of membership communications
• Redefinition of membership strategies anchored in the newly developed value propositions
These initiatives are positioned to redefine how the association engages with its current and prospective members, setting the stage for increased engagement, retention and growth.
This collaboration demonstrates the positive impact of strategic teamwork. By addressing key challenges and using MCI USA’s innovative problem-solving approach, this association is moving toward its goal of creating a marketing center of excellence.
