CAMICB credentials professional managers of common interest communities including condominiums, coops, and homeowners associations. Growing the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) credentialing program requires a multi-pronged approach that we recently outlined in a co-presentation given with the CAMICB Executive Director at the Institute for Credentialing Excellence Exchange Conference in Austin, TX.
The marketing efforts must reach, and impact, non-credentialed managers, current credential holders, homeowners in common interest communities, management company principals, and state legislators and regulators.
CAMICB has a small staff and a Board mandate to expend 12%-16% of annual operating funds on targeted marketing and branding efforts. Over the last several years, we have worked with them to develop a strategic marketing and branding program that delivers consistent messaging and consistent impact across a broad range of platforms. The program is categorized into three areas:
- Maintenance Marketing: Efforts central to the day-to-day operation of the organization.
- Branding Initiatives: Broad-based activities and often time-delineated efforts, to reach a specific audience.
- Response Marketing: Initiatives developed on an as needed basis in response to a specific issue or legislative/regulatory challenge.
Our session detailed efforts in each of these areas. Important highlights included the use of key social media platforms to push out and magnify messaging, direct interaction with key stakeholders, strategic use of advertising, retargeting, and other techniques to message strongly and consistently. We also described some of the resources that have been developed to reinforce awareness of, and value of, the CMCA credential. Finally, we emphasized the importance of a marketing and branding audit, the critical role a skilled marketing consultant can play in maximizing the effectiveness of those resources, and the importance of innovation, agility, and consistency in building and maintaining a marketing and branding program.
Below are links to some of the resources described in the session:
Marketing Plan Template (Excel)
- Includes three tabs, one for each of the focus areas.
- Broken down by quarterly activities/tasks.
Editorial Calendar (Excel)
- Map out your calendar and pre-schedule some of your social media posts.
SmartBrief – Email outreach/news aggregator that can be branded for your organization.
- CAMICB SmartBrief Example (email/link)
- SmartBrief Website (link)
Social Media Campaign Example – Earn the CMCA credential and excel in a field that is thriving!
- Blog article (link)
- Social media post example (paid ad)
- Webinar (link)
- Quizlet is a free resource for organizations and exam takers – upload key terms and definitions to provide a fun experience for those who are studying to take your exam.
