Most association executives will admit this quietly if you catch them offstage: they didn’t sign up to be marketers. They were elected, hired, or volunteered to advance a mission, advocate for their members, and keep the organization running. Yet the brutal reality is that no association survives on mission statements alone. Growth lives or dies depending on whether you can market what you do. That is why having an association marketing plan is not a “nice-to-have document,” it is the hidden engine that keeps membership pipelines flowing, events filled, and sponsors writing checks.
Too many associations either skip the plan entirely or bury it in jargon so dense that non-marketers throw up their hands. What follows is a reframing: a plain-language roadmap that strips away the MBA vocabulary and shows how to build an association marketing plan anyone can understand, run, and measure.
Every business publication from The Economist to MIT Sloan Management Review agrees on one thing: planning is the difference between momentum and drift. Associations are no exception. The MGI Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report (2024) makes it uncomfortably clear: the organizations that grew their memberships were the ones that didn’t “wing it.” They treated marketing as a structured system, not as an afterthought.
When associations skip this step, the fallout is visible. Membership growth stalls, retention drops, and events feel like they are marketed with guesswork rather than precision. In contrast, associations that maintain a written marketing strategy are more likely to hit their marketing goals, attract new members, and engage existing ones through consistent campaigns.
Why? Because a marketing plan does three things that memory and improvisation never will:
It ties marketing efforts directly to organizational objectives.
It forces leadership to define a target market clearly.
It creates accountability by putting goals, channels, and timelines on paper.
In other words, if you want to grow membership, you need an association marketing plan that is visible, actionable, and updated with discipline.
What Is an Association Marketing Plan
Let’s ditch the jargon. An association marketing plan is simply a roadmap. It answers three questions in plain language:
Who are we trying to reach? (target audience)
What do we want them to do? (marketing goal)
How will we get them to do it? (campaigns, channels, and messages)
That’s it. No need for 50-page binders. Think of it as the GPS for your growth journey: you type in the destination (membership growth, event registrations, retention), it calculates the route (content, email, events, social media), and it updates as conditions change.
This roadmap doesn’t need to be written for marketers. It needs to be written for the executives, board members, and staff who must execute it. Which means keeping terms like “campaign” and “channel” grounded in everyday language.
At its core, every effective association marketing plan has the same components. Here’s the breakdown, stripped of jargon:
Business Goal: A measurable organizational outcome. Example: grow dues revenue by 8 percent in 12 months.
Marketing Goals: 3–5 smaller goals that support the big one. Example: increase renewal rates, lift event-to-member conversions, acquire 1,000 new prospects.
Target Market Profiles: Short descriptions of who you’re speaking to. Keep it to three lines: role, pain point, proof they need.
Campaigns: The focused efforts you’ll run over a defined period to achieve those goals.
Marketing Channels: The places you’ll deliver those campaigns (email, social media platforms, events, website).
Marketing Materials: The actual assets—emails, blogs, videos, graphics, landing pages.
Metrics: A small set of numbers to track whether it worked (joins, renewals, registrations, cost per member).
Budget and Resources: How much money and staff time you’ll dedicate.
Review Cadence: When you’ll evaluate and update (monthly quick check, annual formal refresh).
It’s not rocket science. It’s clarity.
Marketing Strategies for Associations Inside Your Association Marketing Plan
Once you have the framework, you need strategies that work in the real world. Here are the most effective types of marketing associations can use today, explained without jargon.
Content Marketing
This is creating and sharing helpful resources that your members and prospects actually want to read. Think: blogs, guides, infographics, or member stories. A smart content strategy positions your association as the go-to source in your industry. Done right, it improves your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) and builds long-term trust.
Email Campaigns
Despite predictions of its death, email marketing still delivers. For associations, it is the backbone of renewals, event promotion, and onboarding new members. Benchmarks show nonprofit open rates hover around 28 percent, meaning people are still paying attention when the content is relevant. A strong email program is structured, not random.
Pick two social media platforms your members already use and commit to showing up consistently. The goal is not vanity metrics but building brand awareness, visibility, and community. Highlight member achievements, post quick wins, and remind audiences about upcoming events.
Event Marketing
Events are not just programs; they are marketing channels in disguise. Virtual roundtables, hybrid conferences, and in-person networking events all create opportunities to engage members, capture prospects, and convert attendees into dues-paying members. The trick is treating events as campaigns, with promotion before, engagement during, and follow-ups after.
Partnerships and Sponsorships
Why do it alone when you can collaborate? Partnerships and sponsorships extend your reach to audiences you could never engage in on your own. Think joint webinars, shared content, or sponsor-led campaigns that introduce your association to new networks.
Digital Tools and Platforms in an Association Marketing Plan
Here’s where most non-marketers get tripped up: technology. To keep it plain, think of your stack in three layers:
AMS (Association Management Software): This is your operational backbone—membership records, dues, event registrations, permissions.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management): This is your relationship memory—notes, conversations, sponsors, partners.
Marketing Automation: This is your autopilot—emails, renewals, workflows, reminders.
The truth is, juggling three separate systems is exhausting. That’s why platforms like Glue Up integrate AMS, CRM, and marketing automation in one place. For non-marketers, the benefit is simple: less juggling, more clarity.
Step By Step Guide to Building Your Association Marketing Plan
Here’s the plain-language roadmap you can use immediately.
Set One Business Goal, Then 3–5 Marketing Goals
Example: grow membership revenue by 8 percent. Supporting goals: acquire 1,000 prospects, increase renewal rate from 82 to 86 percent, lift event conversions by 15 percent.
Define the Audience Like a Person
Write it in three lines: “HR director at a mid-sized firm, overwhelmed by compliance, needs proof that membership will save time.”
Choose Four Campaign Types Max
Content campaign, email campaign, social campaign, event campaign. Keep it manageable.
Pick Channels You Can Actually Maintain
Website, email, LinkedIn, and one event format. Better to do fewer channels well than scatter energy across 10.
Write One Message Per Audience
Template: “Join to get [specific outcome], even if [common barrier], because [credibility proof].”
Build a 90-Day Calendar
Month 1: awareness (blogs, webinars).
Month 2: mid-funnel (checklists, testimonials).
Month 3: conversion (trial offers, renewal pushes).
Decide on a Small Metric Set
Reach (unique visitors), interest (downloads, registrations), action (joins, renewals), cost (spend per joined member).
Assign Names and Budgets
No ghost ownership. Each campaign has a name next to it.
Capture Proof Monthly
One testimonial, one member story, one quick stat. Proof fuels the next cycle.
Examples of Successful Association Marketing Campaigns
Sometimes the simplest campaigns deliver the biggest impact.
IPC’s Membership Growth: A value-first campaign led to a 17 percent increase in membership. Proof that consistent messaging beats scattershot efforts.
ASTS Event Invite: A simple chair-recorded video embedded in an email boosted attendance by 6 percent year over year and delivered 7.5x ROI. Sometimes one authentic voice is worth more than a thousand polished graphics.
The lesson: successful marketing doesn’t require Madison Avenue budgets. It requires clarity, consistency, and proof.
FAQs About Your Association Marketing Plan
How Do You Market an Association Effectively?
Tie marketing to a single business goal, run 3–5 simple campaigns, and measure small sets of metrics. Focus especially on new member growth, which correlates directly with overall growth.
What Are the Best Ways to Grow Membership?
Consistent email marketing, events treated as campaigns, content marketing that addresses real pain points, and targeted digital ads. Pair that with one fresh member story each month.
How Often Should You Update Your Marketing Plan?
Quick check monthly, formal refresh annually. The SBA recommends annual plan reviews with ROI-driven adjustments.
What Role Does Technology Play?
AMS for records, CRM for relationships, automation for execution. Together, they reduce guesswork and make marketing accessible to non-marketers.
Take Control of Your Association Marketing Plan with Glue Up
You don’t need to be a marketer to run a strong association marketing plan. You need clarity, consistency, and the right tools. That’s where Glue Up comes in. By combining membership management, CRM, event marketing, and email automation into one ecosystem, Glue Up removes the complexity and gives leaders a roadmap they can follow.
Book a demo today and see how Glue Up helps associations effectively market, grow, and engage their members—even if marketing isn’t your day job.
