Every day, your association is competing for attention not just with other professional resources, but with everything else in your audience’s digital lives: Slack messages, emails, social media, text messages, and breaking news. The bar to remain relevant keeps rising, and the pressure to constantly create new, exciting, and engaging content is immense.
Organizations must be on a quest to create content that earns opens, clicks, and trust. These practical content ideas are designed to integrate directly into your association’s existing marketing plan, ensuring that you keep your members engaged without burning yourself out.
Share a Weekly Tip in Your Email Newsletter.
Your email newsletter remains one of your most valuable engagement tools. It’s permission-based, direct, and reliable.
A simple way to make it indispensable is to include a weekly tip that members cannot find anywhere else. Frame this as an exclusive benefit. The tip should be short, actionable, and fully contained within the email so members receive value immediately.
This approach supports stronger digital engagement overall. rasa.io’s perspective on association digital engagement highlights how consistent, value-first email content builds trust and long-term attention.
A few best practices for implementing this strategy include:
- Keep each tip focused on one idea.
- Rotate contributors to reduce internal bottlenecks.
- Add a light CTA, such as “What do you want to learn next? Reply and tell us.”
Extend the life of this content by including a “See Past Tips” link that directs members to a “Tip Archive” on your website. You can easily build this archive within your site’s content management system (CMS) by creating a dedicated category for these posts.
This turns a single newsletter section into a growing content library that supports SEO and onboarding.
Create Member Spotlights.
Testimonials are helpful, but they often lack depth. Member spotlights work best when they tell a more complete story.
Instead of asking for a quote, conduct a short interview with an engaged member. Clowder’s member engagement guide recommends featuring members who go above and beyond, such as frequent volunteers or event attendees.
Ask about their career journey, professional challenges, and how they use association resources in practice. This works because it helps deliver:
- Authentic social proof.
- Credible, human-centered content.
- Clear examples of member value.
When a testimonial is ready, you can distribute it by doing the following:
- Publish the full interview as a blog post.
- Feature a compelling quote and photo in your email newsletter.
- Link back to the full story in your email for members who want more detail.
Ultimately, using testimonials in email campaigns and other outreach showcases real member voices and can significantly improve credibility and engagement.
Stop Juggling Multiple Email Tools
Send newsletters, launch campaigns, and personalize every message—all from one platform built specifically for associations.
Host an “Ask Me Anything” Session With Leadership.
An Ask Me Anything (AMA) or Ask An Expert session builds transparency and trust by giving members direct access to leadership, board members, or subject matter experts. This type of content reinforces value across the entire member journey, from onboarding through renewal.
You can host AMAs as:
- Live video sessions.
- Text-based discussions in your online community.
- Limited-time Q&A threads with submitted questions.
After the session, publish a “Top 5 Questions” recap or a full transcript on your website. This transforms a one-time event into evergreen content that can be shared repeatedly in your email newsletter and other outreach.
Publish a “Quick Poll” and Share the Results.
Polls are low-effort and highly engaging. One question is enough. You can use your email newsletter to drive members to a poll hosted within your online community or on your website.
To ensure these invitations aren’t overlooked in a crowded inbox, pay close attention to how you package the request. Cornershop Creative’s email marketing guide recommends creating strong, descriptive subject lines with the recipient’s name, up to three punctuation marks, and potentially emojis to boost opens and participation.
Example questions include:
- “What is your biggest professional challenge right now?”
- “Which member benefit do you use most often?”
- “What topic should we cover next quarter?”
The real content comes after the participation window closes, and you start to analyze the data. Once results are in, publish a follow-up email or blog post. Lead with clarity:
“We asked, you answered. Sixty-seven percent of members said…” Then add expert context. What does this mean for the profession? How is your association responding?
This cycle not only provides fresh content but also supports long-term strategies for re-engaging members who may have become less active.
Wrapping Up
Fresh association content does not require constant reinvention. It requires consistency, intention, and a clear focus on member value.
Your email newsletter should be the engine that drives engagement with your content. This channel is a central member touchpoint for sustaining relationships over time. When it delivers steady value, members pay attention.
Start small. Choose one idea. Commit to it for a month. Measure engagement and build from there.
Strong association content marketing is not about volume. It is about relevance, trust, and showing members that their time is respected and valued.
