If you’re initiating a rebrand for your membership organization, you’ve probably known it needed to happen for a while. The evidence is clear as day: perhaps it’s been a decade since your brand got a refresh, or there’s a lack of cohesiveness in your brand elements. Or more than likely, your audiences (or services) are changing. 

While the branding need may be obvious, the way forward certainly isn’t. Rebranding requires a huge investment of your time, energy, financial resources, and reputation. And the reality is that a board member could shut the process down at the last minute and shelf your efforts. Frankly, you can’t afford that — in more ways than one. 

Follow these 10 steps to better ensure your staff and board adopt your rebranding plan. When they do, the enthusiasm of your organization’s members and prospects isn’t far behind. 

1. Identify the Stakeholders

The sooner you get buy-in from those critical to the rebranding success, the better. Naturally, that implies you need to identify just who those stakeholders are. Sure, that will include the CEO, but who else should be involved?

In addition, do some research and determine who was in your organization when branding was last approved. Understanding who made previous decisions and why they chose what they did is extremely valuable. What was that process like? 

If those who participated or witnessed the last brand evolution considered it a success, they may have emotional attachments to the results. If the last brand felt exceedingly difficult, stressful, or otherwise unsuccessful, you’ll need to have empathy for that. They may dread undergoing a rebrand as they imagine round two. 

2. Choose a Small Committee of Decision Makers

One to three people should work on the rebranding project from start to finish and make the decisions. Then, at key points, they can communicate the decisions to everyone else.

Invite whoever has the most to gain or lose on your project to serve on your committee — so long as they are trusted and respected. Make an ally out of them before they become an adversary. Of course anyone who has previous brand experience can be an asset, too. 

Whoever you choose to be on your committee has to be invested and willing to act as a champion for the rebrand. Most importantly, you’ll want to make sure committee members have integrity, energy, and resilience. After all, they’ve got to be able to speak authoritatively to your leadership and board. 

3. Get Sign-offs at Key Milestones

There are several points in the rebranding process in which you’ll want to include more than your committee. You’ll want your CEO and board president to sign off on:

• The creative brief so they agree on the goals and constraints of the project. 
• The chosen concepts, which aligns the team on the direction. 

You may want to pull in the department heads for involvement and approval as well. 

The rebranding process is a cumulative one — each decision impacts the following. When key players sign off at key milestones, they’ll all feel ownership and responsibility for its success. 

4. Listen to Staff and Board

Conduct a survey to gather feedback from staff and board members. Be sure to ask specific questions regarding their thoughts and feelings about your organization. Surveys can be done online or in person.

Weigh out whether to do it yourself or have a third-party administer the survey. Individuals will typically honestly and openly share their feelings in a survey given by a neutral source.

Listen and take into account valid concerns. Your staff and board will then feel legitimately connected to the branding project — and more likely to embrace and defend it.

5. Conduct End User Research

Staff and board aren’t the only ones you need to listen to. There’s no substitute for knowing the end-users: your members. 

It’s all too easy to extrapolate that other opinions might accurately represent your members.’ Working on that assumption, though, can prove costly. Instead, use objective quantitative data at your disposal (like demographics) and qualitative research (like surveys, focus groups, and interviews) to better respond to your members’ actual needs.

6. Present One Solution 

The entire board only needs to hear the one rebranding solution you’ve settled on. They ought to be told explicitly what problem it’s solving and how it solves it.

However, the board presentation is more than a courtesy call.

The board has chosen who is heading up the rebranding project. Now, it’s time for them to trust they’ve made the right choice and prove it with a vote of confidence. Or, if they identify serious issues with your solution, now’s the time for you to make adjustments. If step 4 is done properly, this shouldn’t be an issue.

7. Develop a Realistic Rollout Plan

Remember, the people on your committee have day jobs. The plan you outline needs to work within those human constraints. Ask these questions as you plan:

• Are specific team  members suited to specific tasks?
• Is the workload balanced and paced reasonably across staff?
• Do we have a budget for outside assistance? 
• What needs to be prioritized  on the timeline?
• What milestones should be on the timeline?

8. Build Strong and Comprehensive Brand Guidelines

Easily accessible and usable brand guidelines will help ensure that staff can implement new brand components. Your brand guidelines reflect your organization’s messaging, voice, and visuals. It’s the instruction manual from which you build your organization’s identity. Cohesiveness of all visual elements and messaging is vital as you communicate your new brand. 

9. Facilitate Staff Brand Awareness

Your entire organization should be introduced (or re-introduced) to the branding work upon its completion. Handing them a swag bag won’t cut it. Your staff members will be your biggest asset or liability, so you’ve got to educate them and convert them into brand champions.

Your brand is more than your logo and colors; it’s who your organization is. Have conversations about how your branding captures your organization’s purpose and promise. Show the staff all the new tools at their disposal. And encourage them to embody the brand with pride.

10. Make it fun.

It’s not everything, but your staff will love a swag bag. And they’ll enjoy a launch party. 

While it’s fun to wear a tee and drink from a mug featuring your updated logo, the results of rebranding work can actually be much more profound. Rebranding is not a “marketing thing.” When done right, rebranding can inspire and revitalize your entire organization.

Not long ago, it didn’t take much to stabilize or grow your association’s membership numbers. The benefits of joining were obvious. Membership dues provided unique networking opportunities, advocacy efforts, annual conferences, and professional education. Plus, people would join because others did — their parents, industry leaders, or coworkers. 

Today is a whole different ball game.

10,000 baby boomers are reaching retirement age in America every single day until 2030. That means many of your devoted members are leaving vacant seats. You can no longer assume your current members will renew, much less that new members will join. “Dad did, so I will” is no longer good enough. Networking on LinkedIn is easy and free, and advocacy and specialized education abound online. It’s all too easy for potential members to think that they don’t need your association. And rightly so — many associations can no longer prove their worth.

Syncing up with the attitudes, behaviors, desires, and values of your association’s next generation isn’t optional. It’s the only way to stay in the game. Here’s how.

1. Speak The Language of Digital Natives

Your retiring members can recall the days of navigating to a beach vacation with a paper map. Next generation members are guided to the beach with Siri’s help. 

These scenarios illustrate the difference between those who learned technology at some point in adulthood and those who are “digital natives” (who grew up with technology). Your association needs to master the language of digital natives — they’re your future. 

In order to communicate effectively with digital natives, you must bear in mind their tendency to:

• Choose the digital and readily available over the tactile and cumbersome. If digital natives have an industry-related question, they won’t dig through an old binder of conference notes. Any association information distributed on paper is headed straight for the recycling bin — guaranteed.  A quick, easy online browse must deliver the answers they need. 

• Rely on interconnectivity. Digital natives are accustomed to G-Suite. That means they are used to unified systems, apps for managing all facets of their lives, and sharing documents easily with others. If your association relies on disparate, disjointed systems, you’ll look clumsy and out of step to digital natives. 
  
  Oh, and let’s not forget social media. Is your association’s social media presence nonexistent, self-serving, or (maybe worse) boring? 

• Be confident in their ability to navigate digital spaces. They’re likely to move around your website with finesse — and make quick judgements about the relevance of your organization. Does your site guide them clearly, cleanly, and consistently? 

• Expect transparency and accountability. A healthy degree of skepticism is quite common. Digital natives want to know your intentions. They’ll look for social proof to verify you keep your promises. And they’ll hold you accountable for both. 

Digital natives are also highly selective. If you want their attention, you have to earn it. Thanks to complex algorithms, they’re used to being served up what they’re interested in. And that attention you earn? You may only have it for seconds. 

2. Show You “Get It” With Good Design

Instagram averages 500 million daily active users. Your association should care deeply about that number as it represents, in part, a global obsession with aesthetics. Whether it be a coffee grinder, sneakers, or a new event landing page, your next generation of members demands it looks good. “Functional” is assumed, and style is no longer optional. 

The next generation will draw conclusions about you by how your website looks and navigates. Your website should hold up to their scrutiny, so make sure you consider:

• Your online presence — centered on your website — must be visually appealing. To reach the next generation, your association needs to modernize and energize its imagery. Instead of using the same old snapshots and tired stock photos, leverage professional photography of your association active in your industry. Think beyond photos and utilize video, animation, and scannable copy.

• Next-generation members know how a website “should” work, and your website must be intuitive to them.  Billions of dollars are spent on making websites and digital tools easy to use. User experience standards are set by huge silicon valley companies — not other association websites.

• Your website must be accessible from any device. The experience of your website should be as good on mobile as it is on desktop. After all, nearly 54% of web traffic is through mobile phones. The next generation is in the habit of switching from device to device, from moment to moment. Can they shift from exploring your website on a laptop to a phone without missing a beat?

Organizations that will survive and thrive in the next decade need a cohesive — and attractive — online presence. Your association can be no exception. 

3. Tell Stories That Communicate Purpose and Grow Loyalty

The next generation needs a compelling reason to join your association. Tangible “benefits” like industry resources, education, and networking are not convincing anymore. This is true even if membership in your association is automatic, free, or obligatory. 

Your association needs to provide something exceptional: a sense of belonging and a chance to make a difference. The next generation of members is moved to participate when they feel they matter. And they will take action when they feel it has a measurable impact on something they care about. Essentially, your association needs to tug on their heart strings. 

Appealing to the heart is every bit as important as appealing to their sense of aesthetics — maybe more so. Translate your association’s mission into a unique story that proves your authenticity and purpose. And be aware: every aspect of your website adds (or potentially subtracts) from your story. 

When your association is walking your talk, your members have something they can be proud to be part of. So tap into the tools at your disposal — like members’ stories that share the impact your association has made on the industry.

Now is the best time to disrupt your association’s status quo. You can’t afford to waste any more time as more and more members retire or bypass renewal. Welcome change. Insist on innovation. And put in the work to prove your value to your future members.