Marketing Your Association’s Annual Celebration

Every day of the year has observances. Some are lighthearted (like National Hazelnut Cake Day and National Cream-Filled Donut Day) and some help to raise awareness or funds for causes or professions like Giving Tuesday. The team at Ewald Consulting has been able to capitalize on these celebrations and observances for our clients, increasing the name recognition for the associations and tapping into the energy focused observances can bring to the industries they serve. Our work has helped increase visibility for the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (NAPO) GO Month, the American Society of Extracorporeal Technology (AmSECT) Perfusion Week and the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) participation in World Stroke Thrombectomy Day, among others.

Here are some tips and success stories from our marketing experts to help make your awareness event a success.

Plan Ahead

Just like planning for a conference, it is vital to plan in advance (more than 6 months if possible, with 12 months even more desirable) when planning any observances for your association. Our marketing team collaborates across an association’s entire staff and with committee volunteers so that everyone knows the plan and has input along the way. Allow ample time for any applicable staff and volunteer teams to review the plan as well as deliverables.

It’s essential for the marketing team to collaborate with association committees. Volunteers provide insights on what is likely to resonate with members and other audiences. They can provide subject matter expertise — and help with the tasks involved in a successful observance. Ewald Consulting Marketing Manager Rebecca Wegscheid says, “Having (an involved volunteer as point person) takes the responsibility solely off the shoulders of staff and allows our subject matter experts, our member volunteers, to own a key part of the campaign and to provide key insights into relevant topics and trends.” NAPO’s marketing team also coordinates with our Sales & Partnership Development team to highlight NAPO’s business partners. Having clear policies and communication about partner benefits and deadlines helps set expectations.

Do Your Research

Know your targets and your messaging. Learn whether there are other organizations or associations that your association could collaborate with to make an even bigger impact. If you are just beginning a collaboration, it can take time to make the right connections and work through any formal agreements. Here are a few examples of associations that partner to make a bigger impact:

• NAPO collaborates with partners like The Container Store for in-store events during Get Organized & Be Productive (GO Month) in January.

• The American Foregut Society (AFS) partners with the Esophageal Cancer Action Network (ECAN) to promote Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month in April by collaborating on a podcast and a paid ad in New York City’s Times Square (shown below).

• SVIN collaborates with Mission Thrombectomy to promote World Stroke Thrombectomy Day on May 15 to bring awareness to the benefits of stroke treatment intervention.

Make It Easy for Members to Participate

Our marketing team has found that toolkits help members to create their own unique messages as well as ensuring that social media posts and other user-created content stay true to the association’s brand. We provide access to the toolkits (which are usually housed on the association’s website) early and communicate often through standalone emails, newsletters, and other communications. For NAPO’s GO Month, we share the first mention of the event about six months in advance, with reminders about a month before the observance begins; we then follow up with additional resources each week. During GO Month, we send information and reminders with messaging, hashtags, and NAPO’s profiles. NAPO has a very active member online community, making it a great avenue to share information. If the association has chapters or special interest groups, be sure to engage leaders of those groups to help push out messages. Because every association has its own preferences for communication, put out your messages on the channels where you know members will see and respond to them.

NAPO also holds a contest during World Organizing Day, where prospective members can win a year of membership and current members can get a free year of membership. NAPO does collect data from people for this contest on Instagram, but we keep the process as simple as possible so that the barrier to participation remains low.

During Perfusion Week (May 1-7 each year), our team has increased the impact of member social media posts by liking, sharing and reposting. Rebecca notes, “The more you engage with other people’s content, the more they engage with yours. It can snowball fast and keep energy high.”

The image above is just one example of many that members shared.

Measure Your Results

We gauge the effectiveness of our clients’ work through website analytics, social listening and other tools. We can see where traffic is coming from and the pages where visitors land on the website; it can tell us which social media platforms work best for different associations and where to focus our work next time. It’s also important to look at year-over-year metrics to see trends and identify the strategies and tactics that worked best (as well as what may need to be tweaked).

For example, during GO Month, traffic on NAPO’s website and social media channels is very high, as is engagement. Traffic and engagement in the following month or two is likely to be much lower — but still above the annual average.

Play the Long Game

It can take several years to see an awareness celebration really take flight. GO Month has seen greater participation and better results every year.

To help lay the groundwork for success next year, inform members about your success once this year’s event concludes. AmSECT includes a house ad in its quarterly newsletter and shares social media posts about Perfusion Week, for example.

The image above shows a house ad that AmSECT staff created to celebrate the success of Perfusion Week 2025.

The image above is an example of AmSECT’s social media posts thanking members for participating in Perfusion Week 2025.