Young people in headset listening to music flat vector illustration. Youth in radio studio recording podcast cartoon characters. Sound recording equipment, microphone, headset isolated design element

With Monetization and Engagement as Goals, Podcasters Look for the Best Ways to Measure

by Media

Content metrics has become huge in all that we do, and podcasts are no different. “One of the things the industry is going to really grapple with is downloads versus impressions,” Lizzie Widhelm, SVP of ad innovation and B2B marketing at SXM Media, told Digiday, “…It is important to understand the difference. The gold standard is someone actually listening to the show…”

In my article yesterday on the print landscape, Bridget Murray Law, editor-in-chief of The ASHA Leader, the magazine of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, said that one “challenge is that there aren’t metrics on print, so it’s difficult to measure engagement. That’s also part of the reason why we’re seeing advertisers leaving print because they can’t measure the success of their ads.”

Podcasts are having a similar problem, but given their digital nature, solutions may soon be at hand. “We are building the ad tech for the future and measurement solutions for the future, so clients feel like they can plan, produce, buy and measure in this ecosystem,” Widhelm told Digiday. “Advertisers want planning tools and to understand where audiences are. Our targeting solutions allow brands to topically target, and understand audiences by gender and geo for networks. They want the audience targeting that they’re used to. And on the post-sales side, a way to measure their ROI. We are working hard, with our vendors, on location measurement, sentiment analysis, audience segmentation, audience-based buying tactics and ad effectiveness measurement that [advertisers] expect.”

In a recent Muck Rack report and survey of 594 professional podcasters—62% are independent and 26% are backed by a media company—titled, The State of Podcasting 2021, downloads are the leading metric among podcasters (78%), followed by listeners, streams or starts (46%). While revenue was previously stated as low priority in terms of goals (22%), it is commonly used as a benchmark for success by respondents (37%). Paid subscribers, podcast mailing list subscriptions and favorites were the least cited measurements of podcast success.

Here are more takeaways from the report with another quote from Widhelm:

Almost three-fourths of respondents are monetizing their podcasts. Ads are the most popular method to do this, with 52% using ads. Paid subscriptions (e.g. Patreon) was the next most popular method (26%). Sponsorships, donations and merchandise were popular under “other” (21%). Premium content (12%) and paid guests (4%) were last.

As for how podcasts are using ads, Widhelm said: “For certain shows, you can insert a commercial break where you could easily have announcer-read ads that make a ton of sense. Some shows are so intimate, so specific, that maybe to interrupt with an announcer won’t feel natural. What we are doing with our partners is figuring out when is the right time to have an ad break. TV has been doing this for a long time; Hulu does this. It’s really about finding the right prescription, the right break moment on all these different show types.”

Two-thirds of respondents are not offering paid content. Of the 34% that are, exclusive or bonus episodes are the most popular. In the ‘Other’ category, a few said they offer product discounts, listener shoutouts, exclusive merchandise and/or ad-free content to paid subscribers.

Almost half of the podcasters are posting new episodes once a week. Of the remaining respondents, 24% are posting more than once a week, and 25% are publishing less.

Driving awareness and education (42%) is a bigger reason for podcasting than revenue (22%). Enjoyment and passion actually came in second at 28%.

Apple is the clear leader for audience streams (75%), with Spotify as the next popular platform (10%). Interestingly, a number of respondents who selected ‘Other’ (10%) said they did not know which platform accounted for most of their streams.

Other than Libsyn (26%), there is a lot of variation between preferred publishing platforms. Other platforms include Megaphone, Podbean, Anchor, SoundCloud, BuzzSprout, SimpleCast, Spreaker, Acast, Omny and Blubrry.

Twitter seems to be the social platform for the podcast crowd. Podcast hosts reach 41% of their followers on Twitter. Facebook (19%), Instagram (18%) and LinkedIn (16%) are next. Twitter (68%) is also the leading social platform to promote podcasts.

Again, here is the link to the Muck Rack report.

Product Shots

Communication and Planning Are Best Ways to Weather Print’s ‘Perfect Storm’

by Media

With any good relationship, communication plays a huge role, and a publisher and their printer is no different. In last month’s AM&P Network Lunch & Learn—Printageddon: How to Keep Your Print Business Profitable in 2022—six experts on all sides of the print and postal fence weighed in on the state of their industry.

“We have a cycle that allows us to have some flexibility in terms of delivery dates, so because we’re seeing the postage service being a little bit slower than in the past, we have been able to say to the printer, ‘when can you fit us in the press?’ and they have been able to accommodate some of our requests,” said Bibiana Campos-Seijo, editor in chief of Chemical & Engineering News and VP of the C&EN Media Group for the American Chemical Society, “I like [having] a conversation or dialogue there… We’re lucky that we have this long-standing relationship with them.”

The occasion was one of the most engaging AM&P Network Lunch & Learns to date, as the panelists painted a real-life picture of pandemic-related issues, urging publishers to plan ahead and talk to their printers to find the best middle ground.

“The attitude that we have taken is that there are some costs that we will have to absorb,” Campos-Seijo said. “We need to offer flexibility to the printer as well, so that they can get things done, specifically with paper… We are not doing 2- and 3-week turnaround projects anymore; now it’s 2 and 3 months so that they know what’s coming up and can secure the resources.”

“Just goes to show that good communication is always helpful to whatever situation you’re in,” said Mark Sterne, president of Print and Marketing Solutions Group, who did a great job moderating the session.

Here are more takeaways from the subjects discussed:

Weathering a perfect storm. Learn from this year. “[Our situation is] pretty comparable with what Bibi was just talking about; the news from our printer all year long has not been good,” said Bridget Murray Law, editor-in-chief of The ASHA Leader, the magazine of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. “…We appreciate that they’ve been so transparent about it, and they are doing their best to communicate with us and keeping the lines open. But we’ve seen multiple postage hikes this year. And then, of course, freight and then at the same time print advertising is declining. So it’s kind of like a perfect storm, to use the hackneyed expression, but that’s what it is.”

No matter how big a role print has played for ASHA, Murray Law knows that she has to look at the bigger picture.

”We’re trying to really assess the value of print for our members, so I’m just taking a step back and saying, ‘What is it that our members are really getting out of print and how do we maximize that?’ So we’re really trying to do almost like an existential exercise around what the benefits of print are… The challenge is that there aren’t metrics on print, so it’s difficult to measure engagement. That’s also part of the reason why we’re seeing advertisers leaving print because they can’t measure the success of their ads.”

Murray Law said they’re trying to take learnings from their member surveys, e-newsletter and online channels to determine what drives engagement among members and apply that learning to print.

B2B? You might have to take some different paths. It was also good to get the view of a B2B media company. Curt Pordes, VP of production operations for Endeavor Business Media, said that regardless of your specs, size and paper, every title has been impacted. Endeavor has a diversity of products—mainly from a number of small and not-so-small acquisitions over the past few years—that required business integration aspects and trim-size standardization to become manageable. He’s now seeing the same challenges as far as pricing (with no near-term ceiling), allocation and purchasing (they buy their own paper).

“We’ve produced additional supplements and inserts for our ancillary products that go with our publications that we very well may not have been able to produce had we not had our own paper on the floor,” Pordes said. “And we’ve had some very real-life situations on that just within the last couple of weeks… One of the challenges right now is that our hands are kind of tied on making any changes because of that allocation, so it’s not very easy to start flipping paper stocks around.”

Expect more shortages with paper and labor. Martin Sullivan, director of procurement for the CJK Group (parent company to Sheridan and KnowledgeWorks Global, Ltd.), has a lot of experience and calls it a “really unprecedented time. Most of you are probably well aware of paper shortages, but you may not know we’ve been dealing with a glue allocation [issue and other shortages] since April/May of this year,” he said. “The vast majority of mills are now on a strict allocation. I can only think of one that isn’t, and they’re actually sold out until about May of next year.”

He went on to speak about how allocations work, finishing by saying that today’s unpredictability “has made it almost impossible to project and give advice on what to expect until a mill actually issues you that month’s allocation. And every mill has started with a different set of rules and procedures… I was actually in a webinar where one industry expert stated that 10 years of decline was experienced in 10 months of 2020, and for the first time in history, it puts the mills ahead of the curve and the rest of us struggling to find the supply.”

Brian Grimes, logistics mail manager for Sheridan Ohio, brought up another current problem. “There is a definite labor shortage,” he said. “Most printers that I’ve talked to, if not all, are in hiring mode right now, so we have some equipment that is not running due to strictly a lack of labor, and some shipments that are not ready. We’re seeing probably somewhere between a four-to-one difference from last year in the [resumes we get], so it’s pretty tight all around.”

Sullivan said that all the mills have announced another paper increase effective December. “I’ve seen a lot of industry stuff on this, and they’re saying it’s going to level off the middle of the year. If you budgeted in the 6-10% range per quarter on paper, you’re probably going to be somewhere closer to the mark.”

Be flexible. Grimes advised to be flexible with your paper options. “And remember, to work with your printer. If you’re doing a standard mail piece if it’s under four ounces, your post [may not] be affected at all by the change. So keep in mind what you’re mailing and if a paper change is something that you could negotiate with your printer, they may have something in stock that fits you perfectly well and won’t affect you as much as you might think it will.

“Then design your mail piece to flow through the USPS as best as possible… There’s a lot of different stuff you can do to decrease your postage overall if you’re willing to add a little to your time frames. There are options out there to help.” Again, communication with your printer is vital.

For associations, decide what concessions make sense for you. As far as other active measures to combat the print problems brought on by the pandemic, Campos-Seijo said that they’ve had to stop the variability of page lengths for their books, limiting them to 40-48 pages. “In a way, that allows us to have an easier time with the printer in that they don’t have to bring in more paper. We have really been faithful to that…

“One of the other things that we have been doing over the last few years is consolidating services. So within my association, there are other publications that we still print, and we now consolidate them within the same organization. And also things like color correction which we were getting done elsewhere, we’re doing them with the same company so they are doing more for us, which again, gives us some leverage in terms of negotiations and prices.

“If you have a good provider, stick with them,” she urges, “because there’s a lot of uncertainty within the business at the moment, and it could really hurt you to move to another printer at the time when we have these shortages, staff as well. In terms of how we are negotiating the existing contract, we are seeing increases in inks and polybag and those kinds of things, and our printer is absorbing a lot of those.”

Campos-Seijo also said that if conditions continue they might have to consider moving their weekly publication to a monthly. “That wouldn’t happen quickly, but that’s something that the current situation [dictates]. Certainly 2022 is going to be pretty critical in terms of if that shift has to happen. We’re also planning a lot further in advance because when it comes to things like supplements and cover wraps, we need to make sure that the printer is on board, so again 2-3 weeks become 2-3 months.”

Murray Law agreed that more steps will need to be considered in 2022, and that ASHA has also made some concessions. “We’ve already switched to the least expensive stock, and we already co-mail,” she said. They expect their circulation of 218,000 to go up, but “when your circulation is going up, your costs go up, and you can’t scale back the number of issues you send out because it’s the member benefit. What we have done in the immediate term is to reduce our pages from 72 to 64—we come out 10 times a year.

For publishers, don’t underestimate the increased staff roles, especially editorial. “We have a podcast that we put out and an online version of our magazine which publishes almost every day. So it’s really added to our workload,” Murray Law said. “That’s a point that needs to be made here from an editorial side as well because content is expensive, and people underestimate that sometimes… We may have to reduce the issue frequency. And we’re looking at a project that really is going to be about re-envisioning our print member benefits. There’s room for really reimagining the way that we think about print here, and this could be sort of like a silver lining of all this. Do we really need to package content by date anymore? What about curating it based on topic, and then packaging that for members?”

Print still has a place in B2B. Pordes knows that print—and the advertising that comes with it—still works for Endeavor. “Many of our publications have been around for a long time, and they’ve had their origins from print,” said Pordes. “Print media is still an important part of our total brand deliverable into the marketplace. Our company still feels like print is going to be around for a while. Obviously with a large portfolio, you have some properties that have a more favorable contribution from their print product, but again it’s the total presentation of the brand in print and online.”

Think revenue, costs and flexibility. Sterne reminded folks to always keep in mind the revenue side before you make a cost-side decision. As you’ve heard, he said, it’s important to do more pre-planning with publishing teams and printers than in the past. For many of the challenges that were touched on, communication is key, and just checking with your printer first on paper and other issues.

Lastly, Sullivan talked about the importance of being flexible. “There are some very good options out there, and going into next year [flexibility will be key]. If you’re prepared to switch grades or maybe a mat instead of a gloss, uncoated instead of coated. I can only speak for us, but we have lots of paper sitting on the floor that we we’re trying to use up, and if there’s a bit of flexibility there, we can certainly accommodate some of those extra items with that.

To access the members-only session, click here and use the password R=7pBgKF

jeff-joseph-1080x1080

From the CEO: Notes from TTC Roundtable

by Policy

By Jeff Joseph, President, SIIA

I was honored to serve as one of four presenters at a session held November 18, 2021 by the U.S. Department of Commerce as the agency seeks input to inform US government participation in the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC). The session provided a forum to enable a variety of stakeholders to discuss the importance of digital tools to the success of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and identify their needs, experiences, strategies and best practices with a “view to ensuring a better understanding of the barriers to their digital empowerment.”

I made four key points during my presentation:

First, we need to foster a regulatory environment that reflects the unique needs of SMEs. Specifically, we need tailored rules. As we have learned during the pandemic, small businesses require more flexibility now than ever before. A law that broadens its scope to expand the definition and provides leeway to include more small business exemptions would greatly benefit many sinking businesses that are trying to stay afloat. More, a lack of tailored regulations not only creates barriers for SME’s, it ultimately is anti-consumer and anti-economic growth, by slowing or preventing new innovations from coming to market altogether.

Annual or periodic filing requirements with regulators provides one example of the challenges presented by a one size fits all approach. It is one thing to require public companies to make annual filings with regulators. It is quite another to require essentially the same level of reporting and disclosure of SMEs and startups that cannot afford to slow-track innovation and hire a cadre of lawyers.

We’ve also seen close hand how the GDPR has made it harder for US-based SMEs to operate in Europe. The standard contractual clauses require American businesses to submit to the jurisdiction of a European regulator.  They also create third party beneficiary rights in data subjects via contract, giving them private causes of action against businesses that allegedly mishandle their information. A small business cannot afford to litigate overseas.

Second, we must ensure that the US and EU work together to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Our members are united in a shared belief that promoting better outcomes in DEI is not only morally correct but will lead to more innovation – research proves diverse organizations provide better business results – and expand economic opportunity.

This is not just esoteric. This view translates into the policy realm in many concrete ways for the TTC.

One, we should explore measures to increase access to high-speed broadband. There is a wide division of access across the EU as 36 percent of the Central and Eastern European population lack connectivity, compared to roughly 19 percent in Western Europe. While there are similar problems in the US we are extremely pleased that Congress has enacted measures to expand broadband access.

Two, we should develop joint US-EU credentialing and apprenticeship programs to create a diverse, multinational workforce, leveraging the available resources of the US and EU governments to support cross-border education and training opportunities.

And three, we should explore ways to enhance education, including upskilling and continuing education, to foster a diverse, skilled and robust workforce for the digital economy in both the US and the EU. This includes identifying policies that undermine these efforts such as those in place in the EU that impede access to US-based students and researchers to existing programs.

Third, regulators must recognize that efforts to regulate large tech companies can have debilitating, if not devastating, impacts on SMEs and continued innovation. More than 5,000 European and American companies – the vast majority small- or medium-sized – long relied on the Privacy Shield Framework to govern the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the U.S. In July 2020, the EU’s Court of Justice invalidated that framework in a case that’s become known as “Schrems II” – and thus launched a new era of legal peril for the vast daily transfer of transatlantic data. Large enterprises can afford the legal support to review and execute the now required standard contractual clauses. Not so for most SMEs.

In a similar vein, overly broad regulations governing competition in the tech sector and data privacy can handcuff smaller enterprises that lack the necessary legal and public policy resources, discourage investment and thus chill continued innovation.

And finally, we must collaborate to create a framework for a democratic digital era in this period of intense and expanded competition to set de facto or real global standards for the digital economy. The TTC can be one of the most important forums for shaping a global model and consensus to promote democratic values across a healthy digital ecosystem in a world that is being transformed by technological advancement.

Data localization requirements have grown exponentially in recent years. The rise of digital protectionism serves the interests of those who would segregate the Internet and use technology to further anti-democratic ends. As President Biden told the United Nations earlier this year, we must, together, “Ensure a future where technologies are a vital tool to solving human challenges and empowering human potential, not a source of greater strife and repression.”

We urge US officials to continue to reinforce these goals and focus on how the US and EU have deep, shared interests. Simply put, there is much more that brings us together than separates us.

freightwaves

‘Start With Participants and Their Needs’; Event Design Must Focus on Experience

by Media

“Providing custom experiences—not just events—is more emotionally compelling,” said Derrick Johnson, chief diversity officer and director of event strategy at Talley Management Group, Inc., in a recent Associations Now article. That’s more meaningful than “cookie-cutter events that are designed for a broad audience.”

When it comes to events in 2022 and beyond, whether in-person, hybrid or virtual, event designers will have to think audience first—and that means designing an experience.

“Organizations will have to be more agile and listen to weak signals so they can develop programming and an experience based on what the participant’s needs are,” said Sherrif Karamat, president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association. “Forget about the event and start with the participant and their needs. If you listen to your members [and audience], you will understand how to design the event.”

Karamat backs up his words with actions. PCMA has a VP of knowledge and experience design.The virtual portion of their EduCon event this summer was called the EduCon Digital Experience. “Participants aren’t getting the full experience that could be created in the virtual medium,” he told Informa’s MeetingsNet. “EduCon [showed] the world how business events can be a catalyst for bringing us back together to create deeper, meaningful, and safe interactions through a fusion of both in-person and digital experiences.”

So while content may still be king, it’s all the better if part of an overall experience. Here are a few more examples:

Strive for more interactivity. Josh London, chief marketing officer for Reuters, told The Drum that the high level of interest in their Reuters Next event—which debuted in January and takes place again virtually next week—was a culmination of a strategy which “all stems from customer experience… Thousands of hours’ worth of research [was conducted] to understand the needs of the delegates and match that with a speaker agenda so that we can make sure that the time that they are investing is best spent,” he said. The free event features a very interactive agenda: access to 3 days of live presentations, fireside chats and breaking news; on-demand sessions; and “make your voice heard through live Q&As.” Their tagline is “Taking virtual events to the NEXT step.”

Create a video experience. A 2021 Neal Awards finalist for Best New Product is FreightWaves Virtual Events. Their tagline is, “You haven’t experienced an event until you’ve been to a FreightWaves Event.” In a promo video on their site (the photo is excerpted from it), CEO Craig Fuller says that “the idea of the FreightWaves Live Experience is to bring you into the action, make you a part of the experience—letting you see how technology is going to shape the future of our industry.” Their events feature Fireside Chats, WavesTalks. Rapid-Fire Demos and immersive networking. They must be successful because virtual events are planned well into 2022.

Devote a brand to experience. Questex has relaunched and expanded XLIVE, “a brand at the nexus of the event experience.” XLIVE will provide year-round engagement via newsletters, website, events and virtual solutions. Its new content hub, XLIVE Global, will cover two areas of the live experience: XLIVE B2B Experience for corporate/event planners, venues, and facilities; and XLIVE Fan Experience for event management, production professionals, producers, marketing agencies and more. “As we return to in-person gatherings this is the perfect time to rethink how professionals can deliver better experiences,” said Paul Miller, CEO, Questex. They just hosted XLIVE@LDI in Las Vegas, which gathered “decision makers who are driving event experiences and the suppliers, services and solutions providers that support them.”

Add gamification to your event. LabX, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, has a monthly show they call Wrong Answers Only, “an interactive show featuring celebrity guests who play games and quizzes while learning about exciting research with the help of a scientific expert.” The next episode on Dec. 6 will be their public health edition featuring Chris Pernell—“she is especially known for her passionate work in health equity and making this world a healthier place for everyone.” Their tagline? Three Comedians. One Expert. So many ridiculously wrong answers. The idea is certainly to present their audience—probably a hoped-for younger one—with a unique experience that they will come back to.

Align with sustainability. The growing sustainability movement also may propel virtual event experiences. Haymarket Media has become a member of ISLA, a not-for-profit organization that is focused on accelerating the events industry’s transition to a sustainable future. As a member of ISLA, Haymarket will have access to sustainability training for its live event teams, and procurement will be able to use Isla’s carbon calculator to assess the carbon footprint of each event. “The communications industry connects brands with people and, through events and experiences, we have the power to shape a narrative to drive positive behavioral change across a breadth of audiences,” said ISLA co-founder Anna Abdelnoor.

brandpurpose

Personalization, Value Propositions and Brand Purpose Can Bring in and Keep Audiences

by Media

Marketing General’s 2021 Benchmarking Report indicates that the top reason leaders think people join/subscribe is to network (63%), followed by continuing education (46%), accessing specialized information (32%) and learning best practices (30%). In its email report, Litmus adds one more: world awareness. “Empathy is more important than ever,” they write.

What’s your value proposition look like? Only 52% of organizations surveyed by Marketing General this year believe their value proposition to be compelling or very compelling (up from 48% in 2020 and 49% in 2019). Another 40% consider their value proposition to be somewhat compelling.

The connection to revenue is clear. For those organizations that saw an increase in new members over the last couple years—which is just 29%—they reported that providing a compelling value proposition was critical to their success.

According to Litmus’ recent 2021 State of Email Report, organizations must also embrace the state of the world—brand purpose matters. As we struggle to attract and/or maintain younger members (24% loss, up from 17% in 2020), 62% of marketers “at least sometimes change the tone of an email in reaction to what’s happening around the world.”

Sustainability, DEI and climate change are all huge issues today, particularly for young people—83% of millennials say it’s important that companies they buy from also align with their values, and 73% of 35-54 year olds and 60% of 55+ year olds agree.

Here are more trends for publishers to take note of from these two reports. Download Marketing General here and Litmus here.

Word of mouth is still a huge driver. When it comes to which recruitment marketing channels get your organization the most new members, word of mouth was number one at 57%. Email placed next at 50% followed by organization-sponsored events/meetings at 40%. There’s a big drop after that before you get to personal sales calls (19%), member get a member (18%) and organic social media (17%). Chapter engagement can also be a big driver—perhaps volunteer committees could be the B2B media company equivalent to that.

Personalize the experience. According to Litmus, 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences, and 83% of customers are willing to share their data to create a more personalized experience. That also means more segmentation. More than 65% of marketers are creating at least two versions of an email on average. Nearly 16% are creating four or more. “Run an A/B test with your subscribers, with and without personalization, then look at your analytics to see how subscribers engage with both emails,” they advise.

Hone your welcome letter. Welcome letters are the second-most popular emails that marketers send at 79%, just behind newsletters at 81%. Numbers show that getting new members/subscribers engaged from the outset proves enormously important when renewals come up. Litmus advises these tips: Present one clear CTA—what’s the next best step for your new subscribers? Send out your welcome email quickly. Use your welcome email or series to ask questions of your subscribers. Reference your call-to-action in the subject line with something like “Let’s get going!”

Consider a first-year dues discount. This was the number two most effective offer for recruiting new members for organizations. Also high up were giving additional months free, multiple year discounts and free trials—which is the only initiative gaining traction. I just received an email concerning my year-old New York Times digital subscription, saying that my introductory rate is going up to support their “journalists as they seek the truth and help people understand the world.” I stayed with it at the slightly higher rate.

Use a mix of channels to reach your audience. Said one association leader: “Multi-channel, surround-sound offers (direct mail, email, paid ads)…they work together to increase overall response rate.” Another leader advised, “Use a multitude of channels. There are no silver bullet ‘one channel’ strategies for membership.”

Ask and you may receive. Speaking of renewals, 39% start the process 3 months prior to expiration, 18% start 2 months prior and 22% report they do not stop contacting lapsed members. “With hope on the horizon for a better year ahead, lapsed members may now be in a better position to reinstate their membership, but will not do so unless asked.” Don’t assume people have read all your renewal emails. (Phone contacting went from 37% to 50% last year.) Organizations reporting renewals of 80% or higher are significantly more likely to consider staff phone calls an effective tool for reinstating lapsed members.

Build better dashboards. The top data challenges for membership growth include a lack of marketing results to track and analyze reporting (37%, down from 39% in 2020), inadequate membership dashboards and reporting tools (34%, same as in 2020), and a lack of skilled data professionals to manage and work with the association’s data (33%, down from 34% in 2020). Finding data analysts has become a big challenge for media companies.

Become more innovative. Associations report that they have focused more on innovation, which could lead to a stronger value proposition. They have accomplished this by focusing on communication and collaboration (62%, up from 53% in 2020), providing encouragement to innovative employees (52%, up from 38% in 2020), and driving innovation from the top down (45%, up from 41% in 2020). However, only 20% of association executives report that their association has a process in place to encourage innovation and new ideas. More than half (54%) say they do not.