From Search to Surface: Digital Strategy and the Professional Association
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The websites and online resources of professional associations are too often designed around the organizational structure of the association itself, instead of the information seeking behavior and workflows of their members. What are some strategies associations might consider that put the needs of their members and other users first?
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From Search to Surface: Digital Strategy and the Professional Association
- 1. From Search to Surface: Digital Strategy and the Professional Association Michael Clarke ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition 10 August 2014 Nashville
- 2. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 2 On a recent trip to Paris I discovered I had forgotten a raincoat. The forecast was for rain all week.
- 3. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 3 Not to worry, I figured. Paris is known the world over for its shopping.
- 4. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 4 Parisian department stores, like most in Europe, are organized around brands..
- 5. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 5 Shopping for a raincoat involves looking in many different sections dedicated to different designers.
- 6. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 6
- 7. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 7 Contrast this with most American department stores which are organized around clothing types.
- 8. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 8 The user journey is much easier for a user with a specific need (like a raincoat).
- 9. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 9 Association websites are often like Paris department stores in that they are organized around the wrong silos.
- 10. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 0 A search for information on hypertension can require looking in many places.
- 11. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 1
- 12. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 2 Organizing to align with information seeking behaviors of your users can significantly improve the user’s experience.
- 13. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 3 With digital information (unlike department stores), multiple types of information seeking behavior can be supported simultaneously.
- 14. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 4 Connecting topics with information formats is easy with the right digital systems and practices.
- 15. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 5 The AMA is able to leverage a #1 Google search result to showcase not only this result by additional, less visible association content.
- 16. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 6 This JAMA article highlights additional resources available from the AMA on the topic of high blood pressure.
- 17. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 7 The AMA uses this article as a hub, linking together other resources from the association on the same topic (see list of resources on the right).
- 18. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 8 Related collections allow users to travel between topics, using a familiar hub and spoke approach.
- 19. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 1 9 ISACA uses Google keyword ads to reach prospective members in a field that is relatively new to the association.
- 20. Users that click through find this ISACA “nexus” bringing together all of the association’s resources on the topic of cybersecurity.
- 21. c l a r k e & c o m p a n y 2 1 1 Provide an integrated user experience that meets the evolving needs and expectations of customers, members, and other stakeholders 2 Expose users to valuable content they would not otherwise know existed 3 Increase revenues by upselling content and services 4 Provide a platform for the development of new products & services 5 Increase customer insight by constructing 360 degree view of their engagement with you Why can a digital strategy do?
- 22. Michael Clarke President, Clarke & Company mclarke@clarke-company.com @mtclarke
Editor's Notes
- I was in Paris last spring on business. It was raining – a scenario I think we can all relate to today – and I realized I had forgotten my raincoat. After an initial bout of kicking myself, I began to view this an opportunity as my raincoat was a bit old and tattered and I needed a new one anyway and WHERE BETTER to find a rain coat than Paris in the spring. And where better in Paris to find a raincoat than the department store NAMED after spring – PRINTEMPS I would be able to find “Un Manteau très à la mode” – much better than buying a raincoat back in the US. This was my plan.
- So I hopped on the metro and zipped over to PRINTEMPS. I entered the building assuming I would find, it being spring in a store named after the season, the veritable treasure trove of rain coats.
- But this is what I found. Actually this is a radically simplified version of what I found because – I am only showing you one section and of course there are also many floors. But in each section, the clothing was not organized by type of clothing, it was organized by BRAND. So you have Ralph Lauren, and then you have Hugo Boss, and then you have Calvin Klein, and so on.
- Each brand has its own zone and within that zone, tucked back on various racks, might be that brand’s take on a raincoat (if they happen to make one).
- So in order to shop for a raincoat, you have to go to each brand’s area and root around to see if they have a raincoat. Not only is this highly inefficient, but also it also makes it very difficult to compare several raincoats. Not the most direct path here. Maybe this is the way French people like to shop. Perhaps they are very brand conscious. Who I am I to tell Printemps how to organize their store – they apparently have a good thing going.
- A few weeks later I found myself in New York, one again without a rain coat. This time I went to Saks Fifth Avenue and walked off the elevator to find… Sections organized by the type of clothing, including a large selection of…. Raincoats.
- A tried on a few and within a couple of minutes found the perfect rain coat and left to the register. Success. So WHY IN THE WORLD AM I TALKING ABOUT RAINCOATS? Here you are, travelled all the way to Nashville to hear about digital strategy and this Clarke guy is telling you about raincoats!
- Well what if instead of department stores, we talked about association websites. And what if instead of “brand areas” we talk about “resource areas” or “format silos”?
- And what if instead of raincoats, we talked about topics of interest to your members? Here the topic is “hypertension” Obviously this is a medical topic, more specifically cardiology, but you can imagine the topics of most relevance to your members.
- And instead of a silly American who knows nothing of French brands wandering aimlessly around a department store let’s say we talk about a subspecialist – or a special interest group – or just a member of your association interesting in a particular topic or in answering a particular question. Most association’s digital presence is organized like PRINTEMPs. (Across the street is your Facebook page, Twitter is up a floor, etc.)
- When what this member wants is not to know about ALL YOUR RESOURCES but just the resources they need, on this one topic, at this point in time.
- Brand world is on the right – but the user is oriented to the topics on the left.
- What are some examples of how this works in real life?
- AMA - client
- Another type of example. ISACA – Client Working on developing a new area – cybersecurity. They have a lot of content on cybersecurity but are not yet the home for cybersecurity professionals, something they are trying to change.