Latest in a recurring series of expert columns for association leaders interested in unlocking the potential of social technology

By Scott Klososky

Koslosky

In spite of the enormous upside of doing so, associations often ignore studying the fundamental steps of the journey that members travel through their relationship with a group. By understanding this journey in detail, associations can vastly improve their marketing efforts. Mapping the steps a member takes with you can define the digital content you deliver and how you interact with members in person and online, and dramatically increase loyalty. The best news: It costs nothing but time and deep thinking.

As soon as someone becomes aware of your association, the journey begins. You have the opportunity to navigate this person through a defined process. As the guide, you can shape every aspect of the journey. To harness this power properly you must understand your members and empathize with their needs as they engage with your organization. It sounds simple, and you may be thinking you already know everything about your members and their journey with you. Most leaders have an idea of the demographics of their members. Most understand most of what members want. But the psychology of members' cares and desires still has not been factored into their organization's relationship building. Meticulously mapping the member journey solves this problem.

Example of a journey map.

It's a multi-step process:

Define three to five constituent groups likely to engage with your association. For instance, one obvious constituency is CEOs. Discovering these will help you dive into the next step.

Create a specific persona—a representation of an individual who might consider doing business with you. This is where you stick your hands into the clay. You will get to know this persona: What does he look like, how old is he? Does she have kids? What's her occupation? What websites does she visit on a daily basis? What social channels are her favorites?

Craft specific scenarios that would drive this persona to your organization. If you sold life insurance, a scenario would be having just had a child, or recently been married.

With a persona fully documented and understood, you now outline the stages of the interaction between your organization and this persona. At each stage you will define goals, motivations, needs that can be met by you, the emotion felt in the moment and data that can be acquired. Stages track the entirety of a member persona's relationship with you from start to finish:

Recognition: Noticed a problem and is seeking a solution

Discovery: Narrowing down choices to solve the problem

Acquisition: Decided your group will be used to solve the problem

Onboarding: Has made a membership decision and is waiting to receive your services

Advocacy: Ongoing relationship with your organization and/or able to discuss your organization with personal and online networks.

Each of these stages represents potential touchpoints that your organization has with a persona and opportunities for interaction. Mapping is a great way of understanding how you should approach these touchpoints. If the persona is amenable to watching videos, then you can use them to influence actions. If your persona couldn't find a computer inside the Google campus, a paper document is probably a better option.

You also need to be aware of the staff within your organization who will be necessary to complete the journey. One staffer may be fine for online interaction, but another may be better suited to interact with a prospect who wants a face-to-face meeting. You will need to take that into account if you want to move a range of prospects from Recognition to Advocacy.

Journey mapping is an invaluable tool for online engagement. By developing these personas you will understand what is the best content to share online, the information that members need from you in digital formats, and what fields of data you can gather from them in order to know them better. This can help an organization decide on which social channels to focus your efforts and how best to craft updates. With it, you can even redesign your website to make the best use of the online real estate you have. You can also improve your website's navigation and tailor it to your ideal personas. You now understand them at a micro level and are able to market to—or influence—them in a very customized way.

Journey mapping is an evolution in marketing, but soon it will be a standard technique. By using this process now, you can gain a competitive advantage.

For a visual representation of a sample journey map, see this story posted on www.ceoupdate.com

Scott Klososky is a speaker, writer and consultant specializing in forecasting how technology can be leveraged to help groups. Clients include Fortune 500 corporations and associations.