Excerpt from Choose
Your Nondues by Kim Fernandez
Associations Now May 2009
http://www.asaecenter.org/PublicationsResources/ANowDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=41680
“Look at National Geographic. Look
at AARP," says Steven Worth, president of Plexus
Consulting Group. "They place very little emphasis
on dues and, in some cases, don't really try to collect
dues, which are something minimal like $25 per year.
What they see as being important is in their database.
They look for demographics that would be interested
in the products and services they develop. Everything
points to an association's success being linked to their
success in developing products and services that the
market needs."
[…]
Worth says that makes sense. "The
generation that came of age in the 1990s when the internet
was really hitting its peak has grown up with that internet,"
he says. "They're very comfortable feeling that
everything in the world they could ever want is at their
fingertips. They can look anywhere in the world from
wherever they are and find anything at the best price.
So the question becomes, why should they belong to anything
when they really don't need to?"
Offering services online, he says, is
vital to capturing that demographic even when the economy
recovers and things aren't quite so tight. Just because
they can afford to travel, he says, doesn't mean they'll
want to. Often, they're just more comfortable sitting
right where they are and letting their keyboards bring
education, information, and jobs right to them.
About Plexus Consulting Group,
LLC
Plexus Consulting Group is a management-consulting
firm that provides marketing, management, and strategic
planning services to association, for-profit, and governmental
entities in North America, Europe, Latin America, and
Asia. Plexus’s network of affiliate offices covers
all these markets. The firm is headed by Steven Worth-a
25-year consulting veteran whose former professional
titles include: Director of International Public Affairs
and Communications, Deloitte, Touche, Tohmatsu; Managing
Director of Hill and Knowlton Brussels, and Press Liaison
for the U.S. Senate Majority Leader's office.
For more information, contact:
Steven M. Worth
President
Plexus Consulting Group
Telephone: 1-202-785-8940
E-Mail: steve_worth@plexusconsulting.com
www.plexusconsulting.com
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