Question

Topic: Strategy

Need Experience / Opinion On Marketing Committees

Posted by aguilford on 12/19/2011 at 1:18 PM ET 500 Points
I am a marketing manager for a not-for-profit member association for medical professionals. We have member committees for everything ... except marketing.

Recently our CEO has asked us to directly include the "voice of the customer" in our pricing strategy for our products, possibly by creating a member committee for marketing and pricing. I would really appreciate your feedback or opinions on this idea, especially if you have experience with marketing committees.

Here are some specific questions:

What was the origin of setting up this committee?

What were you trying to achieve?

Do you have volunteer members that sit on the committee?

How long do they serve?

How do you recruit members for the committee?

How often do you meet?

Does your committee participate in pricing of products?

What are things that work?

What are things that do not work?

What would you have looked at prior to setting up this committee, if you could do it over?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 12/19/2011 at 11:23 PM Accepted
    First, I always made sure all committees are in the business of marketing. You may be outreach, collaboration, membership, fundraising but you are all promoting the nonprofit. Communications dept reviewed all to make sure we were all saying the same message and nothing went out without their stamp of approval. Everyone is responsible for fundraising. Any good nonprofit management book will tell you that is a board level (and down) responsibility.

    Of course they were primarily volunteers. Our boards were volunteers. As far as recruiting that is a big question. We targetted those who are tied to target sponsors. It is ongoing.

    The committee chair ran their committee and decided on meeting frequency. They did report at monthly board meetings what they are working on. Once a year we did strategic planning and they laid out next year plans.

    They served two years. If they want to leave early there is little to do about it. The chair is elected, the chair is in charge of the committee.

    Yes they did contribute to pricing. And they did a SWOT and competitive analysis like any for profit entity.

    Working with volunteers in a nonprofit develops true leadership skill. You have no sticks and few carrots. Even if your charter is to "find a cure for cancer" you find that different people have taken this to heart for their own reasons. And you must accomodate or loose them.
  • Posted by greg on 12/21/2011 at 2:37 PM Accepted
    I sit on a number of non-prof committees and boards, and have had the opportunity to experience what works and what doesn't.
    In my estimation, for the Marketing sub-committee to be effective it needs a leader who clearly understands marketing (a pro, in other words), and very clearly stated goals from the outset. I can't tell you how many hours I've sat "in committee" and listened to individuals pontificate about this and that only because there was no established end game and the leader was not leading.
    Regarding membership, I think a 2-year stint with an option to renew is best. It gives the committee a chance to get its collective legs underneath itself and build up a head of steam.
    Membership-wise, if it were my job I would try to recruit those who have had marketing experience. The bait that's hooked me to sign on has been more of an altruistic focus, rather than personal or professional gain. Also, those in the biz get what it means to effectively pursue a marketing goal and how to go about getting it done. Non-marketers tend to wander down all manner of paths that simply lead nowhere. The most potent marketing groups have been comprised of both number-cruncher types and high concept ad folks; it seems to make for a good balance of reality and "what if...?"
    Finally, regarding the pricing of products seems like it could be answered after gathering research. The research aspect would probably be a committee objective and would reveal a trove of competitive and target audience information.
    I think I've kind of answered most of your questions in a round-about fashion. Please feel free to contact me personally (greg at dingthinking dot com) if you'd like to pursue a thought farther.

    Greg
  • Posted by crisanp on 12/21/2011 at 2:53 PM Member
    my opinion , if you don't know nothing about marketing ,the best is to employ a marketing consultant
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 12/21/2011 at 7:09 PM Accepted
    Trust me, creatively, NOTHING good, valuable, useful, or directionally applicable EVER comes out of a committee.

    Opinions in committees are like assholes: everyone's got one and they all stink.

    Committees are where great ideas go to have the crap kicked out of them by spineless morons.
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 12/22/2011 at 1:10 AM Member
    Gary makes my point exactly on how in nonprofits, you truly learn to lead. Everyone wants a say, but with volunteers you can't just simply say, "this is what I have decided". I've been involved in a nonprofit most my adult life. In most, I have been involved at board level, with a dual job of committee chair. If committees are painful, board meetings can be worse. Its easy to say "if you don't know anyting about marketing, hire someone" That committee meeting would last months.

    In my most recent nonprofit, we found someone with marketing experience who wanted to establish himself a niche of marketing nonprofits. So did a lot of work for us as a volunteer. His niche biz never really evolved the way he thought it would-- nonprofits won't pay for this as a rule. But the advice to actively recruit someone with experience is sound. But then, people tend to go to the committees where they feel they can contribute the most, drawing from their expertise.
  • Posted by aguilford on 12/22/2011 at 7:23 PM Author
    Hello All,
    Thank you very much for your responses. You all make valuable points. I will be sure to share them, unedited, with my vice president. Our marketing department has shared similar thoughts, so it is nice to that we are on target with this issue.
    Thank you again, and enjoy your holidays!

    I'll leave this discussion open for a few more days, because the feedback so far has been very good.
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