The Bear Facts

Entry Details

In 2019-2020, The Golden State Chapter’s weekly, The Bear Facts, has been developed into a continuous scroll email that has consistent, concise subsections, each labeled with clear, descriptive headings. The lead content as well as subsections in the current issue are listed at the top of each The Bear Facts. Overall, this has enhanced the chapter by creating ease of use and efficiency for members perusing content and by creating more opportunities to highlight TGSC Partners and Buyer’s Guide Participants, helping them have a stronger ROI on their investment with us.

Specifically, in terms of recurrent subsections, this idea has enhanced our chapter in the following ways.
1. Header: Creates a non-invasive opportunity for sponsorship revenue and a concise overview of the current edition
2. Lead material: Highlights the chapter’s latest podcast or other content relevant to a wide swath of members
3. This Week’s Webinar Recording: Makes the week’s webinar recording available and easily accessible for anyone needing it, particularly members who could not attend
4. New Members: Providing position information and pictures of new members at the beginning of each month creates an opportunity for them to be more readily recognized by their CMAA peers
5. Member Request: Facilitates support for managers from their peers by creating a place where requests can be made with directions for response
6. Member News: Keeps members abreast of each other’s community outreach, creative events, videos being sent to their members, and news appearances as well as the chapter podcast episodes which feature various members
7. This Week’s Events: Tells the story of in-person events via pictures (when local restrictions permit) and through the words of a member as she or he completes a simple, templated Through the Eyes of a Member report
8. Upcoming Events: With opportunities to register hyperlinked, this section creates a consistent place that members can register for events from week-to-week
9. Buyer’s Guide Showcase: Showcases new entries to TGSC’s Buyer’s Guide, allowing introductory exposure of the vendor to members
10. Vendor Insights: Provides an opportunity for partners to support members by providing resources, checklists, updates about their own company, and more
11. Partner & Buyer’s Guide Promotions: As an opportunity for more exposure to the chapter, for two months out of each year, TGSC Partners and Buyer’s Guide Participants can promote an exclusive offer to TGSC members
12. CMAA News: Keeps the most important happenings of the national association in front of members
13. Article of the Week: By providing a link to another publication, offers members exciting strategies or suggestions related to the club world specifically or leadership at large.

Implementation

To implement this design, we use Klaviyo as our email marketing platform. It is designed for ecommerce, but the functionalities and design interface of the platform work well for the chapter’s needs. One of our team members created the subheadings and overall design, and we are able to seamlessly delete, copy, and create content blocks from week to week.

Chapter members have been very enthused about the design with consistent compliments coming from members and board members. Members submit content for our Member Request and Member News sections. Open rates are strong, hovering just under 40%.