Maybe Associations Need More Choruses
Over Memorial Day weekend, I took advantage of one of those free satellite radio promotions they always seem to run around holidays. I was flipping through stations when a song came on that I probably hadn’t heard in over a decade.
And somehow, I still knew every word.
Not most of the words. Every word.
Meanwhile, there are days I walk into a room and immediately forget why I’m there, and I honestly couldn’t tell you half of what I did last week without checking my calendar.
It got me thinking about memory and, oddly enough, association marketing.
Why do some things stick with us for years while other messages disappear almost instantly?
Songs have figured something out that organizations are still trying to master. They combine repetition, emotion, rhythm, identity, and experience in a way that makes information unforgettable. We don’t just remember lyrics because we heard them a lot. We remember them because they became attached to moments in our lives.
Through my work with associations over the years, I've noticed that many communicate value logically:
Networking opportunities
Professional development
Advocacy
Community
Resources
All important things. But facts alone rarely stay with people.
What members remember are experiences.
They remember the conference where they met someone who changed the trajectory of their career. They remember the mentor who answered a call when they needed help. They remember the legislative issue that directly affected their business. They remember feeling understood by people in the same profession.
That’s the part that sticks.
I think sometimes associations spend so much time trying to explain their value that we forget to create memorable moments around it.
Take networking, for example. Associations often describe it as an opportunity to “expand your professional network.” Technically true, but not especially memorable.
What people actually remember is the conversation that opened a door they didn’t expect. The person who introduced them to a future client, employer, mentor, or friend. The moment they realized they weren’t the only one dealing with a particular challenge.
Professional development is similar. Members may sign up for credits or certifications, but what stays with them is the session that changed how they approached their work on Monday morning. The speaker who said something that made them feel more confident, more prepared, or simply less alone in their profession.
Even advocacy can become more meaningful when it’s framed differently. Most members will never see the conversations happening behind the scenes or the problems that were prevented before they ever reached them. But there is value in knowing someone is in the room representing your profession when important decisions are being made.
And community? Community is rarely about attendance numbers or member directories. It’s the feeling of walking into a room where people already understand the pressures, frustrations, and realities of your work without needing a long explanation first.
The same goes for resources. Most people won’t remember a list of downloadable tools. They’ll remember finding the right answer five minutes before a deadline or avoiding a major mistake because someone had already created a resource to help.
Those are the moments members talk about later.
The best songs don’t just have verses. They have choruses. The part people repeat without even trying.
Associations probably need more choruses.
Not literally, although I’m still not completely opposed to the idea of a theme song.
But we do need:
stories people retell
traditions members look forward to
recognizable moments at events
consistent language that reinforces identity
experiences that make people feel like they belong
There’s also something to be said for repetition. In marketing, we sometimes abandon messages too quickly because we’re tired of hearing them ourselves. But the audience may only be hearing them occasionally. Songs repeat the hook over and over, and nobody complains when it’s a good one.
Maybe associations should think more like musicians and less like marketers.
At Up10, we spend a lot of time helping organizations communicate their value, strengthen member engagement, and create experiences people want to come back to. The associations that stand out aren't always the ones with the biggest budgets or the most messages. They're the ones that create moments worth remembering.
When people remember how you made them feel, they're far more likely to remember why they belong in the first place.
And if we can make our value proposition stick like a favorite song from years ago, members may not just hear the message. They’ll carry it with them long after the conference ends, the email is deleted, or the campaign wraps up.
