CMO--Chief Marketing Officer

Working for associations, I long ago realized that my member is my product, not my customer.  Think about it. 

What does your association do?  If you represent your members, promote what they do or advance their interests, members are your product.  Sure they must access your services and you need to spell their names right, but if you want to be the Chief Marketing Officer, not brochure girl or sales guy, you need to be clear about the gameboard.

Ideally, the very fact of joining sets your members apart from nonmember competitors. How?  It might be adherence to a code of ethics, a guarantee, or a promise to uphold voluntary standards.  In some cases it is merely identifying with your mission, your purpose.  If you are an 'honest broker,' members align with your reputation.

So are you promoting that difference to those whom members serve or just selling stuff to members?  Are you setting the agenda for internal budget meetings or are you defending promotion budgets, hiding behind net revenue projections? 

If you are a true CMO, not brochure girl or sales guy, you know that your member is your product and that distinction affects how you approach pricing, where you invest your promotion dollars, and how you design your website.

For example, if members are your product, continuing education must be product enhancement. By definition, your members are Release 3.0 when nonmembers are in Beta.  As anyone can buy education workshops, though, what sets your members apart? Mandatory continuing education, not mandatory purchase of your continuing education offerings, could be the difference and send a powerful signal to members' potential customers, clients or employers, as well as regulators and industry watchdogs. 

Government affairs staff argue that if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.  True CMOs own the table.