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International Outreach Through Partnerships and Alliances Over the last few years, the trend to "go global" has many associations scurrying to launch an international outreach effort. Being an international organization sounds attractive, however it entails more than sending member applications to prospects outside of the US. You need a plan. Not necessarily a complex, convoluted strategy, just a well-thought out plan. With a bit of creativity and a layering approach, you can embark on a global outreach effort very inexpensively. The key is to start small and build a solid foundation. As you realize success, you can then decide if it's worthwhile to invest additional dollars to expand your efforts. You don't want to spend a lot of money up front on translations and other costs, only to realize that your efforts aren't going to yield the number of members you needed to justify the expenses. At the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, we employed the KISS principle (keep it simple, Sammy!). Despite the fact that SCTE did not aggressively solicit international members and all of its educational events were in the US, 800 individuals from 70 different countries had joined SCTE to access technical information and training. Consequently, SCTE's first objective was to service these members by delivering educational opportunities in their corners of the word without breaking the bank. That's where SCTE's first alliance came into play. SCTE, an individual membership association, partnered with the trade association serving the cable industry in Brazil, ABTA. ABTA was eager to deliver technical training to their constituents and SCTE specialized in this type of training. We linked our websites, cross-promoted events and exchanged membership lists. ABTA then paid the travel expenses to have an SCTE trainer conduct a seminar in Brazil. As the relationship evolved, the partnership expanded. ABTA was invaluable in supporting the efforts of SCTE's first local group outside of North America, similar to SCTE's US chapters. ABTA allowed them to hold their meetings at its headquarters, assisted in the currency exchange as individuals joined SCTE and provided translation to facilitate the communication among the local group's Portuguese-speaking leaders and SCTE staff. Within a year, the cable trade association in Argentina contacted SCTE to initiate a similar partnership. Recently, groups in Mexico and Columbia followed suit. Each partnership is unique, but all are very straight-forward. In every case, we started with a small exchange of goodwill efforts and in many cases they have blossomed into more, such as SCTE coordinating the technical program for one group's annual conference and writing technical articles for another's magazine. If a trade association isn't an option for you, there's still hope for an alliance. Perhaps there's a company in the industry that you serve that has an office in the locale. Or an association in a related industry. By aligning your organization with a well-established entity in the country that you are trying to penetrate, you'll realize many benefits. The partner will lend credibility to your organization as you work to raise awareness of your association among the constituency in that country. The alliance can also help you avoid cultural taboos and gain keen insight into the market. You may even be able to save on postage as you conduct your membership drive and promote your annual conference. Instead of mailing brochures to individuals, you can bulk ship materials to your partner who can then distributes them among its constituents. In addition, your partner may be able to assist with translation services and may even serve as a distributor for your organization's books. There's no telling where your partnership will take you. International partnerships have enabled SCTE to fulfill its mission of delivering professional development resources on a global scale, without investing a large amount of money or staff time. With this foundation in place, SCTE has begun to expand its efforts by offering some services in Spanish through an effort called Operation Espanol. Once again, SCTE is taking it in small, manageable steps. In January, the Society began offering its monthly newsletter in Spanish online. At the annual conference in June, one workshop was presented in Spanish and simultaneous interpretation in Spanish was available for several others. In addition, a staff person fluent in Spanish ensures the Society can reply to Spanish-speaking members' questions. Expanding your organization's mission to one of global proportions can be incredibly rewarding. With a smart plan in place, you'll be poised to reap the rewards. Good luck in your global endeavors! INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH TIPS 2. Pick a single location to start your efforts. This approach will enable you to test the waters to see if this is a worthwhile endeavor. Plus, you'll be able to make necessary tweaks before you roll it out in other countries. Do you have a concentration of members in a given country? That's probably a great place to start. 3. Do not translate your membership application into a language unless you can deliver member benefits in that language. You don't want to create an expectation that you can't meet. To start off, you may want to target English-speaking prospects. 4. If international travel isn't in your staff budget, you'll need a spokesperson in that area to raise awareness and provide you with feedback. At SCTE we created a role called an International Ambassador. Any member who travels frequently outside the US or who resides outside the US is eligible to serve as an ambassador. You can review SCTE's ambassador role description and additional details about the program pm SCTE's Web site. Contacting the Author |
