Understanding the Competitive Landscape for Your Association Advertising Program

Understand where advertisers are spending their money to better position yourself to win!

As an association professional, it is easy to become immersed in your organization’s world and lose sight of the broader marketplace. We have found this to be especially true when it comes to association advertising and sponsorship programs.

The advertising landscape can change quickly. New publications, digital platforms, social media groups, and competing associations can all affect what advertisers are willing to pay and where they choose to invest their budgets. That is why associations should regularly evaluate their competitive landscape.

Over the years, we have worked with association advertising programs that were significantly overpriced and others that were substantially underpriced. Oddly enough, underpricing is often the more difficult problem to correct. Advertisers quickly become accustomed to low rates, making future increases harder to implement.

A good time to conduct a competitive analysis is once a year, before launching the next year’s advertising and sponsorship opportunities although any time of year can work. The following process will help you understand where your program fits within the market.

Step 1: Identify Your Competitors

Begin by identifying the organizations and platforms competing for your advertisers’ marketing budgets. Group them into several categories:

• Related associations and trade groups

• Independent or privately owned industry publications

• Other ways to reach the audience, such as LinkedIn, industry websites, social media groups, podcasts, and digital advertising platforms

Related associations and trade groups should receive the most attention because they are often reaching an audience most similar to your own. However, the other categories still help define the broader range of options available to advertisers.

Step 2: Document Their Advertising Products

Review the advertising and sponsorship products offered by each competitor. Record each available product and organize the opportunities into common categories, such as:

• Print advertising

• Email newsletter advertising

• Website banners

• Dedicated emails

• Sponsored content

• Event sponsorships

• Directory listings

• Webinars or podcasts

For each product, record the available audience or circulation data, along with the advertised price.

Step 3: Calculate the Approximate CPM

Once you have the price and estimated reach for each product, calculate its approximate cost per thousand impressions, commonly referred to as CPM.

The basic formula is: CPM = Advertising Price ÷ (Audience Reach ÷ 1,000)

For example, an advertisement priced at $2,000 with a stated reach of 20,000 would have an approximate CPM of $100 - $2,000 ÷ (20,000 ÷ 1,000) = $100.

CPM will not tell the entire story, but it creates a useful starting point for comparing products that may otherwise appear very different.

Step 4: Organize the Results

Create a list or spreadsheet that groups the products first by competitor type and then by advertising category.

For example, you might compare all association email newsletter opportunities in one section, all privately owned publication newsletter opportunities in another, and all alternative digital audience options in a third.

This makes it easier to see the typical price range for each product and identify opportunities that appear unusually expensive or inexpensive.

For example:

Option	Audience	Price	Approx. CPM
Association newsletter	12,000	$1,800	$150
Competing association	15,000	$1,900	$127
Private publication	30,000	$2,000	$67

Step 5: Compare Similar Association Programs

Start by comparing your CPM rates with those of related associations and trade groups.

When the rates are not reasonably close, investigate why. A difference in price does not automatically mean that one organization is priced correctly and another is not.

Consider questions such as:

• Does one association reach a much larger percentage of the industry?

• Is the audience more specialized or difficult to reach?

• Are engagement or click-through rates significantly higher?

• Does the product include additional exposure or benefits?

• Is a competing organization simply underpricing its audience?

• Does your program have stronger brand recognition or greater credibility?

The goal is not necessarily to match a competitor’s price. It is to understand and clearly explain why your program should be priced differently.

Step 6: Compare Private Publications and Other Audience Options

Next, perform the same analysis for privately owned publications and alternative audience channels.

These competitors are generally less important than closely related associations and trade groups, but they still influence advertiser expectations. They can also help establish the lower end of the market because they may offer broader, less targeted, or less exclusive access to the industry.

When your association’s advertising is priced below these alternatives, it is worth taking a close look at your rates. Associations often provide advertisers with a highly concentrated, trusted, and difficult-to-reach professional audience. That value should usually command a premium—not a discount—compared with less targeted options.

Use the Findings to Guide Your Program

A competitive analysis should not result in automatic price changes. Instead, it should help you make more informed decisions about your products, pricing, positioning, and sales messaging.

You may discover that certain products are underpriced, while others are priced appropriately but need a stronger value proposition. You may also identify gaps in your program or new products that advertisers are already purchasing elsewhere.

Most importantly, understanding the competitive landscape allows you to explain where your advertising program fits within the market and why access to your association’s audience is worth the investment.