Three Keys to Making Your Club's Communications More Effective
BoardRoom magazine
Educating the private club industry for over 28 years. Replace Emotion with Fact.
Year after year, private club members demand ever-greater transparency and expect their servant leaders to communicate more effectively. In our experience, club leaders are responding, but the fact is that communications are only effective if they are two-way. Leaders must deliver effective communications, but members must open and read what is sent.
To develop communications your members want to read, Linda Dillenbeck, a seasoned communications and brand management expert and director at GGA Partners? ,?offers three keys for club leaders seeking to improve the quality and relevance of the information they send to members:
Although club members consistently criticize club communications, club leaders consistently put quantity over quality while citing their many attempts to communicate. In most cases, more is not better.
Dillenbeck advises, "The first thing a club can do to manage communications is to develop a Brand Standards Manual."? This document serves as a guide for staff and board members by outlining the overall messages and tone to be used in all internal or external communications. Not only does this help those who may find writing a difficult task, but it also ensures that your messages stay consistent with the image you are projecting of your brand.
With a Brand Standards Manual in place, the board and management team should develop a timeline for communicating with members. "The rule to follow in this regard is to communicate only when there is relevant information to share," added Dillenbeck. "That means sending a weekly update may not be necessary; rather, every other week may suffice. Otherwise, your messages will be unread."
One concern many clubs face is measuring the effectiveness of communications. How does one know if members are getting the message? "The most reliable way to track effectiveness is to use an email service that provides data about how many members opened the email, clicked on a link or responded to a question," stated Dillenbeck. "If the numbers are low, club leaders must ask members why they are not opening the correspondence through intermittent member surveys.
Effective club communications set top-performing boards apart from other well-intentioned club boards. It is said that one should not feed the pigeons because they return wanting more when – in fact – feeding your members a steady diet of interesting and helpful messaging keeps your club relevant in their lives.
Henry DeLozier is partner with GGA Partners?
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