Rachel Friedmann

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McKinley is like The Daily Show as…

Written on October 2, 2012 by Rachel Friedmann in McKinley Advisors

Watching last week’s Rock Center with Brian Williams’ segment “The Daily Show goes to the dogs” I had to smile. If you visit McKinley’s office, one of the first things you will notice is Jodie’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Aidan, asleep on the job. Jodie will tell you that Aidan’s presence in our office epitomizes McKinley’s culture. He can be found watching the front door when his mom is visiting a client. Aidan helped Jodie interview me more than two years ago. He appeared as the last slide in her recent presentation on the topic of organizational culture at ASAE’s Great Ideas, Is Your Culture Eating Your Strategy for Breakfast?

Obviously there is more to McKinley’s culture besides Aidan, but his presence in our office is a nice reminder to take a break in the middle of a stressful day.

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A Year Since We Became McKinley Advisors

Written on May 30, 2012 by Rachel Friedmann in McKinley Advisors

Can you believe it has been a year since we became McKinley Advisors?

Just over a year ago, we decided to change our name to McKinley Advisors. We had helped associations succeed in areas well beyond marketing for many years and felt it was time to do what we constantly tell our clients to do – focus on the brand we convey. During our rebranding process we discussed how we wanted to be perceived and what we wanted our new brand to say about us. Words like collaborative, approachable and expert were thrown around, but one concept kept recurring, McKinley’s key differentiator is our people. The question then became how do we translate our people into our company’s brand? How do we articulate this almost indescribable attribute?

What is a brand anyway?

Some say your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Others say it’s the promise your organization makes, either implicitly or explicitly. When asked, I usually say a brand is similar to a personality. The American Marketing Association definition of “a brand is a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.” To me, the “accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service” is very similar to how we perceive a person’s personality.

When you think of McKinley, you might think of Shelley’s recent presentation at ASAE’s Great Ideas or Jodie’s acceptance speech when she was named to the prestigious Academy of Leaders. You might recall our Economic Impact on Associations study, the latest research deliverable by our marketing research rock star Patrick Glaser, a recent membership marketing plan that helped your association exceed your membership goals (see ASA case study), or a presentation by Jay at an ASAE conference years ago that inspired you to first hire McKinley. Or, there could be other ways we have influenced or affected you or your association over the years. All of your different experiences with McKinley help create how you feel about our brand, about our company’s personality. We hope you will agree with us — that it is our people who make our company and our people who make wonderful things happen for our clients, and therefore, our people are our brand. Their expertise, intelligence and commitment to excellence are the promise we make and hopefully what you talk about when we’re not in the room. What do you think? Is this your idea of the McKinley brand? We would love to hear from you, especially if you disagree!

Curious to learn more about our team? Take a look at our bios, which are full of personality.

~ Post by Rachel Friedmann, Marketing Manager

Meaningful Work

Written on January 19, 2012 by Rachel Friedmann in Marketing Research, Product Development

“My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary. Sure, it was great to make a profit, because that was what allowed you to make great products, but the products, not the profits, were the motivation.”

-Steve Jobs, in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs

Over the holiday break, I had the pleasure of finishing Walter Isaacson’s biography on Steve Jobs. While reading it, I couldn’t help but consider our clients, where I work and how McKinley’s leaders have shaped our company. Our growth over the last few years has been outstanding, yet we all feel it is not as much about profit as it is about our ability to help shape the association community. Association staff members are passionate and driven to serve their members and their organization’s mission, which in turn makes our work at McKinley incredibly meaningful. And I am thankful that Jodie and Jay are nothing like Jobs! (Click here to see Jodie’s acceptance speech for the Academy of Leaders award—it might make you cry.)

As I kept pondering this unlikely comparison, I realized Apple and associations have some intrinsic similarities, but their approaches are just different. Let me explain.

Passionate People. Associations are unique places to work. Many have a mix of employees who come from the industry the association serves, and others who have backgrounds in areas such as marketing, research or advocacy. Working for any non-profit usually means that you have altruistic motives and find fulfillment in the work you do rather than in your salary. Therefore, passion for what your organization does and those it serves is the primary driver for most association staff to create great products and services.

Associations are lucky in that they attract passionate people. In contrast, Jobs struggled for a good portion of his career to find the right mix of people and to motivate them appropriately. He seemed to finally find the right balance during his last years at Apple. One thing is clear: anyone working for Jobs had to be passionate about the product, which is not so unlike how an association’s staff must be passionate to create great resources for members.

Market-Oriented. Throughout his career, Jobs made it clear that he thought people could not envision or know what they want, so he did not believe in market research, such as surveys or focus groups. Jobs and his teams created products that they thought the world should own and ensured that these products integrated together beautifully.

Anyone familiar with McKinley knows this is the opposite of how we operate—most of our engagements begin with market research. Most association executives understand that research gives members a voice and yields valuable insights to help organizations make effective decisions to enhance the member experience. Without truly understanding members, their needs and their perceptions of the organization, it would be difficult for an association to effectively make decisions. Therefore, associations are market-oriented because they take the time to understand their market and then do what they can to fulfill their members’ needs.

Integrated Experience. Associations do not have the integrated end-to-end user experience that comes with owning an Apple product. But like Apple, an association’s services can certainly integrate beautifully together or be very effective on their own. For example, a member or potential member could just go to a conference, but if they fully embrace the association and all it has to offer, they will receive a lot more. The member who enrolls in continuing education webinars, participates in the online community and reads publications is likely to have a better, more fulfilling experience. This end result is not unlike what heavy-duty users and Mac fans say about Apple.

Apple doesn’t thrive on people who just have an iTunes account, they want people to buy in, “drink the Kool-Aid,” and invest in more Apple products. iTunes was developed as a gateway—a method of introducing people to the Apple experience. Also, Apple is genius when it comes to repurposing and remerchandising. Who really needs an iPod, an iPhone, an iPad and a Mac laptop? How many people have most or all of these items? Apple has created excitement over enhancements in their products and the unveiling of the latest version of a product. I constantly wonder how I manage to live without Siri on my iPhone. Apple has repurposed its products and content in such a way that encourages people to buy more. Associations can definitely learn something from Apple when engaging members and repurposing educational content. Conferences or online resources could be seen as gateways, like iTunes, to everything the association has to offer.

In addition to being reasons why associations produce meaningful, high-quality work, these are also the very same reasons I love working at McKinley. By being passionate about our work and helping associations, McKinley is an enduring company where people are motivated to do their best and create meaningful experiences for our association clientele.

~ Post by Rachel Friedmann, Marketing Manager