McKinley Marketing, which shares space with the Association Forum of Chicagoland, just published the results of a study about associations and the economy. Not surprisingly, associations envision downturns in meeting attendance and sponsorships and plan budget cuts and possibly layoffs.
What caught my attention are Key Finding #5 and Key Finding #6.
#5 says that direct mail, event marketing and PR are considered the most effective tactics to accomplish association goals and that online media tactics are the least effective.
#6 says that spending on traditional marketing tactics (those mentioned in #5) will be cut and spending on digital media will increase.
Excuse me. The tactics that respondents find the most effective are losing their funding and the thing they find least effective is gaining funding.
- Is digital ineffective because associations haven’t devoted enough resources to it and think it will be more successful if they do?
- Is digital gaining funding because it’s a fad?
- Is it gaining funding because it looks cheap next to printing and mailing?
- Do associations think digital can beat the 1%-2% return from direct mail?
- Are traditional methods considered more effective because the traditional marketing types make up most of the respondents and that’s what they have the most experience with?
Studies like this remind me of a book I read in college called How to Lie With Statistics. The point was that you can find data that supports any thesis you want to put forth. If you want to say that traditional marketing tactics are the most effective, this study is your proof. If you want to say that digital media is the wave of the future, this study is also your proof.
What’s missing is some analysis. Statisticians will insist that numbers don’t lie. But they do when they contradict each other–especially within two points of the same study.
Where is the lie? The individuals who responded to the survey reported that the most effective tactics for reaching their goals included traditional marketing methods such as direct mail. Yet, most organizations are drastically cutting their budget and in anticipation of this, many respondents stated that they will have less money to accomplish even greater results. Although conventional wisdom would have you think the answer is to go with what you know what works, however, reality says that there is no money for printing, postage, etc. Therefore, many individuals are looking for alternatives. No surprise. The survey and the results do not suggest this is the right or wrong action to take. It simply cites the response of the association community to the economic downturn.
I’m not saying that the numbers themselves are lies but that they show up a basic contradiction in what associations are doing. The assumption is that digital media will be cheaper than traditional methods that require printing and postage. Done well, digital media has considerable costs attached. The numbers that associations should be basing decisions on are ROI. Which media returns the best results? Test the various methods with your members and go with what provides results.