For trade organizations, a strong brand is more than just a logo or tagline—it’s the story that connects you to your members, your industry, and the audiences you need to influence. In fact, when an association brand effectively communicates value, we see its positive impact on the business. Metrics such as improved member quality, increased policymaker and regulator visibility, expanded external thought leadership opportunities, stronger market traction of programs and products, and greater member retention and recruitment, all tell us that a brand is doing its job.
But what if it’s not? What if you’re feeling like member growth has stalled, or retention is slipping, or your industry voice no longer carries the weight it once had?
Those are all signals that it might be time for a brand checkup and here is why:
Why now?
Having experienced a recent influx of association brands looking to assess equity and perception, we can say with confidence that leadership is asking the right questions. With changing markets, new administrations, developing industries, and evolving member priorities, we’re seeing everything from industry terminology to audience messaging, naming and visual identities being questioned. Leaders are asking, “does our name still reflect who we are and who we serve?” “Does our logo make us feel dated?” “Are we telling the right story?” “Are we offering members the right products and programs?” “Are we still seen as the voice of an industry?”
Conducting a brand health assessment will undoubtedly help you surface how current members, prospective members, policymakers, and end-users perceive your brand, uncover the disconnects between internal experiences and external perceptions, assess the strength (and risks) of of legacy brand assets (from names to logos to programs), and identify opportunities to evolve offerings and messaging to better align with emerging industry priorities and member needs.
Where to start
With research, always. Consider the following research methodologies to dig deep and really understand brand perception and sentiment as drivers of business value:
- Stakeholder engagement: Talk to members, partners, policymakers, and regulators using interviews, roundtables, and surveys to uncover how they really see you. Is your value to them clear? Do they trust your brand and associate it with credibility and authority?
- Competitive audit: Look closely at your competitors and competimates. Are you standing out, or blending in? Are they winning share of mind and wallet?
- Brand audit: Revisit your current brand assets. Does your name, identity, and messaging still reflect your purpose and direction? Do they reflect the industry today and tomorrow? Do they meet the needs of your audiences looking forward?
- Product and program evaluation: Is what you’re offering aligned to audience needs? Market needs? Industry needs? How does what you offer further your position in market? How does it deliver value to your audiences? What do your audiences need that you may not be providing today? How does this impact the brand? Mechanisms to engage non-traditional vendors.
Turning insights into action
Once you’ve collected the data, the real work begins—using insights to guide decisions. This might mean refining your positioning strategy and messaging so they resonate with both current and future members, reimagining your identity system to preserve equity while signaling evolution, or building an activation plan that ensures consistency across every touchpoint.
The goal isn’t change for the sake of change. It’s about building a brand that feels authentic, relevant, and strong enough to support your members today—while preparing you to lead tomorrow.
How to prepare
Associations should be prepared to invest $50,000–$75,000 in evaluating brand efficacy for an association. Key factors in determining that range include the choice of research methodologies deployed (both for qualitative and quantitative insights) and the audiences we’ll need to engage (both known and unknown segments) in the process.
What’s more is the commitment needed to action the insights that surface from the assessment. From executing a strategic repositioning effort to initiating a full-scale rebrand, your organization should be prepared to put in the time, energy, and resources needed to build an effective brand framework.
Wondering what all goes into that? We share more insights in our “Are you Rebrand Ready” and “How Much Does a Rebrand Cost?” blogs.
The bottom line
Your brand is one of your most valuable assets. But like the industries you serve, it isn’t static. Associations that take time to measure brand equity, sentiment, and perception and evolve to stay relevant, differentiated, and deliver greater value to members and stakeholders, see greater organizational performance. It’s just that simple.
If you’re asking these same questions or are ready to assess your brand’s value, we’d love to hear from you. We promise you’ll be in good company and encourage you to check out more of the work we’ve done with other industry leaders here.