Brand Consistency for Components: Stop Policing, Start Empowering

My colleague and friend (let's call him Ryan) is the director of chapters at a midsize membership association. He is responsible for managing all aspects of component relations for more than 100 chapters across the U.S. From my viewpoint as marketing director, it seems like herding cats —respectfully, of course.

Ryan often comes to me with questions from chapter leaders: Do we have a template for event flyers that they can tailor? Do we have standard language for promoting membership to students in the industry? These requests are wonderful and show engagement from volunteers who want to represent the association as best they can. The problem is, we only hear from some of them.

Many chapter leaders—emboldened by Canva, PowerPoint and (gasp) AI tools—are creating their own marketing collateral without guidance from the national staff. When we come across a piece that is truly appalling, my knee-jerk reaction is, "Why didn't they just ask us?" But the reality is two-fold: First, they don't know what they don't know. And, second, if everyone asked for help, Ryan would be drowning in requests.

Please select this link to read the complete article from ASAE's Center for Association Leadership.