If you work in the world of association marketing and media, chances are you know the 54-year-old content marketing and integrated communications agency, GLC. The company offers a full-service menu of custom solutions for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Based in Skokie, Illinois, GLC serves a wide variety of industries and organizations, including, for example, the American Hospital Association, National Association of REALTORS®, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and EnSYNC Corporation.
The association part of GLC’s business is headed up by Vice President of Association Growth, Joe Stella.
Fox Associates is also well established in the association space and frequently crosses paths with Joe and GLC. We wanted to catch up with Joe to compare notes and impart insights and innovations to our Fox Tales readers. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation with Joe.
The association part of GLC’s business is headed up by Vice President of Business Development, Associations, Joe Stella.
Joe Stella.
Fox Associates is also well established in the association space and frequently crosses paths with GLC and Stella. We wanted to catch up with Joe to compare notes and impart insights and innovations to our Fox Tales readers. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation with Joe.
Fox Tales: Describe the scope of the GLC practice’s client base. Is it primarily associations and non-profits? How has it evolved?
Joe Stella: GLC has always had a diverse portfolio of clients. Among the sectors we serve are associations/nonprofits, healthcare, retail/wholesale, technology/SaaS, legal, and business consulting. Each sector has unique challenges and opportunities, but one business goal they share is nurturing their current customers and engaging prospects. When it comes to building loyalty and expanding audiences, nothing is as effective as a well-crafted and well-executed content-marketing strategy.
Fox Tales: What advantages do associations have over their for-profit media cousins in selling integrated marketing and communications plans?
Stella: Trust and authority are intrinsic association attributes. If dues-paying members didn’t believe in them, they wouldn’t exist. For that reason, membership audiences are considered high-value to industry service partners. The double-edge sword is that there is tremendous scrutiny applied to association-produced content, programs and products. If they are seen as subpar, that trust is broken and the value proposition of membership is greatly diminished.
Fox Tales: GLC offers a range of services, from research to branding, developing campaign creative, content development, web integration, and media buying. For your association customers, where does the journey begin in their own customer development?
Stella: Associations have tremendous insight into their member segments in terms of career stage and professional-development needs. From there, we can begin to paint an accurate picture of the various audience personas to craft a value proposition and key messaging that resonates with a particular segment. Combined with an analysis of consumption habits and preferences, we activate a content-marketing plan with various stops and checks along the way to make sure the campaign is optimized. If not, we iterate.
Fox Tales: What do you see as their most common pain points?
Stella: Most associations are dealing with a member-pipeline issue. There aren’t enough young members coming up through the ranks to keep the association vibrant and relevant. There are some that are addressing these issues by providing younger/newer members with a voice and a clear path to contribute and elevate their position within the association. The other perennial pain point is increasing non-dues revenue. That’s why it’s important for associations to align with agencies like ours and business-development firms like Fox, so they can respond to opportunities in a marketplace, which are rapidly evolving and shifting.
Fox Tales: How have you seen content marketing evolve? What works best and what do customers seem to want?
Stella: The technologies and toolsets we use (not to mention AI, which we are just beginning to understand) have evolved, but the core tenet remains: You must demonstrate value to your customer to establish long-term relationships, and the most surefire way to do that is through content that is timely, relevant and actionable.