By William Henry, Content Marketing Manager at Feathr

One of the most established marketing principles is the 7 rules. This indicates that the prospect has to interact with the brand at least seven times before he takes the desired action.

But the rule takes on new meaning in the digital age, as information overload online forces brands to demand more visibility. Think 7 to 21 touchpoints, according to Doug Hoekstra, Director of Digital Content at Financial Executives International (FEI).

Good news? Today’s digital marketing platforms make it easy for associations to adopt strategies such as retargeting, a powerful way to regain website traffic. Retargeting allows the association’s marketer to serve digital ads even after the customer has left her website of the association and re-attract customers on her website externally via their IP address. .

“The best approach is multifaceted,” says Hoekstra. “You can target high-potential prospects at the bottom of the funnel, like past event attendees, but cast a broader net at the top of the funnel to create awareness campaigns for a general audience. You can also run

Hoekstra’s marketing goals at the FEI, an association of approximately 9,000 senior-level financial executives, are similar to most: increasing membership, event attendance, and non-dues income. And like most associations, the FEI’s small but strong marketing team must take a strategic approach to digital marketing to have a significant impact on bottom line.

For example, when the pandemic hit, the FEI switched all in-person events to digital alternatives, while simultaneously shifting its marketing efforts to retargeting platforms.

“After everyone started interacting primarily in a virtual environment, we increased our focus on digital initiatives, including an emphasis on retargeting campaigns,” says Hoekstra. “It worked out well for us.”

Today, as pandemic concerns subside, the FEI is adopting a hybrid approach, resuming in-person events with virtual options in some cases and remaining completely virtual in others. We continue to use retargeting campaigns for both events and virtual events.

Leverage multiple campaign types and include sponsors

Using the best digital marketing platforms, association marketers can geo-fencing to target visitors in specific locations (e.g. competing trade fairs) or target prospects who share similar characteristics with members Several campaign types are available, including lookalike audience campaigns.

According to Hoekstra, email mapping (CRM retargeting) campaigns have proven particularly effective for the FEI, which uses digital marketing platform Feathr to run its advertising campaigns.

“All you need is a list of email addresses to load onto the platform, including past conference attendees and expired members,” he said. “The platform then associates the email address with his IP address using back-end algorithms and cookies. Sometimes we can serve ads.”

The FEI runs expiring membership campaigns once or twice a year, as well as a year-round general membership campaign for visitors to the association’s website. The Feathr platform sells programmatic advertising media in multiple billing structures per 1,000 impressions, making it easier for the FEI to manage costs.

“We have tags set to delist individuals who convert, so we don’t waste our budget,” says Hoekstra.

The FEI originally contracted a marketing platform provider to run the association’s internal retargeting campaigns. Since then, according to Hoekstra, the team has started offering retargeting his packages to association sponsors, allowing them to reach more people with their message.

This strategy creates a new source of income for the association beyond dues while avoiding intrusive advertising on the FEI website.

“We want our members to come to the scene without worrying about the noise,” he said. “The great thing about retargeting campaigns is that they target audiences on external websites, so members don’t see as much ad clutter. When I do, I see banners advertising associations and sponsors.”

Find real-time data and customer-centric support

Out of all the features the association should consider in a digital marketing platform, Hoekstra said amazing customer support is the most important.

“Price is obviously one of the most important considerations, but continuous customer service is very important,” he said. “We have account representatives who can explain anything. increase.”

Responsive customer support is especially important for associations that offer retargeting campaigns to sponsors, Hoekstra said. So does the ability to give sponsors insight into campaign performance through real-time spend and her ROI data.

“It’s great to be able to give our sponsors a real-time data dashboard, so we can say, ‘Don’t hesitate to contact us and we can fine-tune the campaign in any way you see fit,’” he said. Told. “Having the option to customize these dashboards also helps avoid confusion on the sponsor side.”

Feathr’s team is a marketing platform that helps associations serve highly targeted advertising based on interests and behavior. He thanks Doug Hoekstra, Director of Digital Content at the FEI, for sharing tips on effective retargeting. Learn more about how Feathr helps over 900 associations increase awareness, grow membership, drive events and generate new income at featr.co/solutions/association.

(Distribution photo)