MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING
INFRASTRUCTURE 2016-2019
Introduction
The following analysis has been conducted for the board of PRSANY in order to inform its decision making process for investments
in marketing technologies. It takes a big picture view of the state
of the PR industry, including the nature and degree of digital
disruption that has provoked the need for upgrades to the
organization’s membership & marketing infrastructure. The
opportunities for growth are examined, as well as the chapter’s
current capabilities to seize them. Finally, recommendations are
provided to close the gap between the current and potential
states for the period of 2016-2019.
I. Where we are
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PR industry & PRSA
Size & degree of disruption
II. Closing the gap
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•
•
•
Sizing the opportunity
SWOT analysis
Best practices used by competitors
Pilot program test results
III. What we looked at
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•
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Vendors
Factors for comparison
Limitations
IV. Recommendations
I. Where we are
The PR industry has suffered a significant
decline in mindshare over the past
decade...
Google Searches for “Public Relations”
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
In nearly lock-step fashion, the industry’s
main trade group has also suffered a large
drop in interest.
Google Searches for “Public Relations Society of America”
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
Much of this decline can be sourced to
competition from new communications
disciplines – disciplines that overlap with,
and in many quarters are already
integrated into – public relations.
Google Searches
SEO
Public Relations
Social Media
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
Within the PR field, much of the value
proposition of membership organizations
has been replaced by free & fast resources.
Value Proposition
New resources
Education
Learn new & niche skills
•
YouTube | Lynda.com| Podcasts| SlideShare |Blogs
Get answers and advice from
industry experts
•
•
Google| Quora| LinkedIn Groups
“PR & Marketing Czars” Facebook group (18k members)
Networking
Find employers/employees
LinkedIn| Twitter
Events
Platforms: MeetUp, EventBrite
New competitors
• Content Marketing Association
• Search Engine Marketing Organization
• Creative Mornings
PRSA-NY is far from alone in having its
business model disrupted, and from having
to make significant upgrades to compete.
World’s biggest…
•
•
•
•
•
Media company creates no content | Facebook
Taxi company owns no taxis | Uber
Hotel owns no real estate | Airbnb
Cinema owns no theaters | NetFlix
Software vendor doesn’t write apps | Google
II. Closing the gap
How big is the opportunity gap?
679
42,404*
PRSA-NY members for 2015
Comms. pros within 25 miles of NYC
Channel
Number
Title
Number
Event attendees, 2013
625
Social media
8,806
Event attendees, 2014
769
Public relations
5,582
Event attendees, 2015
590
PR
3,707
PRSANY.org site
2,000 visits/month
Marketing communications
2,742
Website bounce rate
62%
SEO
2,404
Site visit duration
0:49 seconds
Publicity
1,393
Percent of traffic from social
1.5%
Corporate communications
1,232
Twitter followers
3,557
Community manager
1,075
Facebook members
458 Likes
Media relations
957
LinkedIn Group members
4,628
Content marketing
432
Email database
2945
*Source = LinkedIn
What’s the chapter’s ability to close it?
Strengths
•
•
•
•
Historical authority
Brand recognition
Non-profit status
Membership
Weaknesses
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dated online properties
Previous upgrade in chapter tools happened prior
to rise of social media, SEO, paid social & search
digital marketing era
Few analytics to know level of interest in events
Over-communicating/irritating user base w/email
“Generalist” message isn’t as powerful as nichespecific messages
Digital marketing skills to use new platforms
Opportunities
Threats
•
•
•
•
•
Offer PR’s “earned” ethos to new disciplines
Use the credibility of industry’s senior leaders
Tap financial resources to achieve parity with
competing organizations
Board digital experts can train staff
•
•
Competing organizations continue to advance
their digital marketing techniques & budgets
Increasing proportion of digital-native
professionals less patient with established
organizations
Multiplication of sub-disciplines will continue to
draw members & prospective members away
Closing the gap will require adopting the
digital marketing practices currently
deployed by our competitors.
 Modern website with beautiful art & symbols people want to associate with more than
those provided by competing organizations
 Mobile-friendly user interface that allows for easy event discovery &ticket purchase
 Focusing on a larger number of small niches
 Eliminating blast emails; emailing only when absolutely necessary to precise targets
(primary method of marketing would shift to social media, SEO, digital advertising
would continue)
 Analytics to measure level of interest in events in real-time (make informed go/no-go
decisions on events)
 Analytics to measure which words and pictures provoke the most interest
 Analytics to measure which days of the week/times of day get highest response rate
In 2015 we ran two pilot tests of each of
these practices…
Partially out of necessity (current PRSANY.org technology did not allow for easy installation of
new art or analytics to track activity), and partially to test new techniques, the MeetUp.com
platform was adopted to target two previously untouched communities: social media
professionals on Wall Street and Content Marketers.
…and measured how well they performed.
Events
4
Events
2
Site visits
5,120
Site visits
3,053
Website bounce rate
76%
Website bounce rate
76%
Visit duration
1:13
Visit duration
1:18
Group members
276
Group members
224
Event attendees
116
Event attendees
110
Return visitor
18%
Return visitor
22%
Age 18-24
11%
Age 18-24
28%
Age 25-34
45%
Age 25-34
34%
Age 35-44
18%
Age 35-44
16%
Age 45-54
19%
Age 45-54
13%
Age 55+
7%
Age 55+
11%
Over the span of six events, the two sites reached as many people as the PRSANY.org site reaches in four months. The
time on-site increased 53%, revealing the tangible benefits of mobile access and modern design. While membership in
the groups is free, the number of new professionals reached totaled 500, a strong signal for how well the technique of
hyper-targeting to niche markets performs. Further, loyalty, measured as returned visit rate, averaged 20%, or 1,600
individuals. Finally, dispelling the assumption that social media skews young, 89% of #SocialWallStreet visitors were over
the age of 25, as were 74% of #ContentHackers, solidly in-line with membership target ages.
III. What we looked at
Over a period of 24 months, The Charles Group (TCG), along with
several volunteers and representatives of the executive
committee, examined dozens of potential vendors. The
technology review included companies that provided integrated
“suites” of tools and a la carte leaders, vendors that serviced
small- and medium-sized enterprises, and a sub-set that
specialized in member-based organizations.
Steps taken for the final vendor list include:
• Interviews with other PRSA chapters around the country
• Review of vendor documentation
• Live demonstrations of the software
• Reference checks & related financial due diligence measures
At the conclusion of this review, the executive board and TCG
found that working with a vendor that specialized in memberbased organizations and offered a “suite” approach would offer
the best value for the cost.
Four platforms were reviewed in the final round of consideration:
1. StarChapter (current platform)
2. YourMembership
3. MemberClicks
4. 123SignUp
42 factors compared
 Track members in a database, including dues, event payment history, and email
interactions
 Install and administer back-end system with minimum amount of time and training
(critical for keeping TCG costs down and reducing the time needed to onboarding
volunteers to the tools)
 Degree of sophistication in aesthetics and ability to work with internal & external
design resources
 Create custom landing pages (important for micro-targeting and keeping the site fresh
at a low cost)
 Email system (a must-have ability to micro-target members based on their interests,
reduce spam violations, track open-rates and which headlines & graphics work best)
 Ability to sell products beyond events
 Track engagement, performance, experimentation & optimization
 Social media channel integration
 Upfront and ongoing costs
IV. Recommendation
Naturally, each platform was found to have strengths and weaknesses. That said, three of the four platforms
had weaknesses in areas that were considered to be of high importance to the chapter, namely:
1. StarChapter (current platform)
• Limited database capability; difficulty creating groups and targeting by demographic
• Very limited, if any, reliable analytics
• Outdated graphic templates for email marketing
• Limited event customization
• Significant functionality limitations requiring extensive time to create and implement workarounds
2. MemberClicks
• Limited database capability that didn’t allow for targeting by demographic
• Very limited analytics
• Outdated graphic templates for email
• Limited event customization
3. 123SignUp
• Limited database capability that didn’t allow for targeting by demographic
• Very limited analytics
• Outdated graphic templates for email
• Limited event customization
• No community functionality for forums, blogs
IV. Recommendation
Given its strengths, coupled with the weaknesses with the other “final four” options, the executive
committee recommends proceeding with YourMembership. The platform’s combination of powerful
database, effective content delivery, and analytics stands out given the chapter’s needs, in particular:
• Fully-integrated email platform (Informz) providing customizable templates and detailed analytics to
optimize impact and deliverability. Expected to be a game-changer for interaction with members and
prospective members.
• Templates or custom developed website design with modern look & feel and Google Analytics
embedded on the back-end.
• Established SQL database to generate list/reports by any field enabling targeted email
communication. This enables hyper-targeting and provides intelligence to inform decision making for
the organization.
• Ease of use on both front and back ends delivers lower costs in time and budget for training TCG,
board members, and volunteers. This is important given typical turnover rates in new board
membership each year and continuous flow of new volunteers into PRSA-NY activities.
• Ability to create groups and communities with their own dedicated pages for events and blogs. This
will allow the chapter to convene conversations and enable more interactions between the chapter
and its members and members with each other.
• Flexible event management suite to respond to specific event needs, including custom landing pages.
This feature allows us to generate pleasing art to promote events and switch it out if the analytics tell
us it’s not generating the expected interest.
YourMembership/Informz Investment
One-time Setup Fee
One-time Integration Fee
Annual Fee - YM
Annual Fee - Add'l Email Platform
TOTAL 2016 Cost:
TOTAL Ongoing Cost:
$2,495.00
0
$6,995.00
$4,500.00
$13,990.00
$11,495.00
Method of payment
The executive committee recommends drawing from the chapter’s $141,800 in reserves (first year
expense = 10%) to cover the costs of the upfront setup, and then using a combination of reserves and
new revenues to cover the annualized costs over the next three years (the expected lifespan of the
platform before the next tech evaluation would need to be done).
ROI
The committee is expecting to see returns along three lines:
1. Increased event revenue due the ability to use modern graphics and design, micro-target
audiences, and optimize messages in emails
2. Increased membership revenue following an increase in affinity for the chapter as a relevant and
modern community to join
3. Reduced revenue losses due to increased competition, the preference for event ticket buyers to
purchase via mobile, and reduction in membership churn.
Questions?
Given the importance of this initiative, we want to ensure everyone is able to ask
questions and review more detailed information about the platforms.
1. Please email Carol Davis Grossman (caroldg@thecharlesgroup.com) with any
questions. We will collect the answers and redistribute them to the board
members the week of 11/23
2. Attend the PRSA-NY board retreat on Wednesday, November 18th. This deck
will be presented during the meeting, and David Rosen and The Charles Group
will be available afterwards to answer questions.