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Image Management:
The Greatest Untapped Strategy for Improving Member Loyalty and Creating Competitive Advantage

By John Gunn, CEO, John Gunn Marketing Partners

Image. A mental picture of something absent or imaginary, … the impression made on the public, as by a famous person – reputation. Every association has at least one image. What's yours? Does your board share your opinion? What about your members? Do they experience the same top-of-mind picture when they see or hear your acronym? Do your corporate supporters, media contacts, Capital Hill advocates, or the public at large share similar views of your association, … what it stands for and why it's important you exist?

For many associations, the development of an organizational image just happens, evolving without conscious thinking through the changing guards of new staff and volunteers – until problems arise. But some CEOs are eyeing image management as a strategy for reinforcing their unique value proposition and firmly establishing themselves as the best show in town.

Association mergers and industry consolidations often result in organizational identities that must be either redrafted or allowed to erode into a state of confusion. More CEOs are also hearing the footsteps of corporations that view associations as easy targets and efficient channels to lucrative markets. It's no wonder that more associations are looking for ways to solidify the loyalty of their members and create a competitive stronghold with an image that "sticks" and resonates with members. After all, … image is everything and strong brands beat commodities every time.

Makes perfect sense intellectually, right? But from a practical standpoint, where does one begin? Start by tapping into the minds of your stakeholders, by phone, mail, Web-based questionnaires or in person. Define in statistically reliable ways the collective impression your association projects on the audience you rely upon the most.

Capture the qualitative – the opinions, beliefs, perceptions, and rumors that shape your market position in the minds of stakeholders. Critical to the process is your (preferably accurate) understanding of the gaps that exist between your members' expectations and what you actually deliver. Get clarity from members about what matters most and how well you live up to expectations. What's the unique and valuable benefit you provide that your members can't buy anywhere else? What makes your association "the one to keep" for the long term?

Consider establishing benchmarks by asking members to use one or two adjectives that describe their perceptions about your association as it exists today, as they wish your association could become in the future, and what they hope your association never becomes. Is your association blue, red, green, gray, something in between? Ask members to describe your association in terms of colors and other abstracts – anything to give you a clear, explicit, and graphic depiction of the changes that need to occur to close the gap between what members currently see and what you want them to see.

In the process of gravitating closer to an organizational image that reflects the needs, interests, and aspirations of your stakeholders, you're bound to meet opposition. Ignore it. You've got the members' sentiments on your side. They'll notice your efforts and reward you.

Be sure that staff and volunteers "get it." Once you fine-tune your marketing messages and graphic imagery, make sure their implementation is consistent and pervasive. Realize that you may be opening opportunities to reexamine logos, organizational taglines, and other sacred-cow icons.

Make sure someone monitors literally everything from your association that touches your stakeholders – from high-visibility marketing collateral to staff voice-mail recordings, … from the glossy periodicals you publish to the interior of your reception space – it all must connect to reinforce and sustain the desired image you wish to convey.

Make the right impressions early – new employee and new member orientations – and keep the momentum through explicit education about your image and how it does and does not get communicated. Ensure chapters, districts, committees, and other extensions of your operation follow the lead and use printed "image primers" you provide to coach them along the way.

Your association's image must be managed by strategic evaluation, monitoring, adaptations, and adjustments–not happenstance. Actively manage it and unleash its full potential.

John Gunn is the CEO of John Gunn Marketing Partners, LLC,
specialists in marketing assessments, research, strategy and plans for associations. For more information, please contact the author at (703) 299-0774, jg@GunnMarketingPartners.com

For information about reprinting this article, please contact cr@gunnmarketingpartners.com

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