More Than Marketing: The Power of Strategic Communications

Recorded live at ASAE's Marketing, Membership, Communications + Tech Conference, guest host Nikki Golden, CAE, of Association Laboratory, welcomes Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP, editor-in-chief and director of content at the American Academy of Actuaries, for a conversation on the evolving role of association communications and marketing. Together, they explore how the two disciplines work hand in hand to build trust, engage members, and advance organizational goals. They also discuss the growing influence of AI, the importance of strategic storytelling, and why communications professionals must continue developing the skills needed to lead in an increasingly complex and technology-driven environment. Check out the video podcast here: https://youtu.be/7UaKw4Ycgqo Associations NOW Presents is produced by Association Briefings.   Transcript Nikki Golden, CAE: [00:00:00] Welcome to this month's episode of Association NOW Presents, an original podcast series from the American Society of Association Executives. I'm Nikki Golden, CAE, managing director and strategist at Association Laboratory. I'm also incoming vice chair of the Communications Professionals Council of ASAE. We're recording today from ASAE's MM&C Conference in Washington, DC, where association professionals from across the country and industry are gathering to share ideas, build connections, and explore what's next for the community. Today, I'm talking to Preeti, who is one of my fellow council members, and so we're excited to be here with you. Preeti, do you wanna introduce yourself?  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: Yeah, sure, Nikki, I'm so excited to be chatting with you. I am Preeti Vasishtha, and I am the editor-in-chief at the American Academy of Actuaries, and I'm also the director of content. I've had various roles in [00:01:00] communications throughout my career at associations in Washington, DC, so I'm really excited to be here. Nikki Golden, CAE: Great, and since we are at MM&CC+Tech, I'm wondering, what do you think is so valuable about this conference for the communications community?  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: Yeah. First off, this is my first MM&C+Tech. Oh, great. Yeah. I've been to ASAE's, but this time I was like, "I have to go to MM&C+Tech." So I think one of the things that when I was doing the research for my... I was planning my schedule, looking at all the sessions, and one thing that struck me, I was like, "Wow, I can go to this. I can go for this. This really speaks to me. This session really speaks to me." And when I was doing that, I realized this conference, this event is really built around our jobs of marketing and communications, right? Nikki Golden, CAE: And membership.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: Yeah, and I'll get to that.  Nikki Golden, CAE: Yeah. You're right, and tech. Like, the three, like, let's- Yeah ... like the pillars of a, a stool.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: Yeah. And when I was looking at the sessions, I wasn't even looking whether [00:02:00] it's marketing, whether it's tech, whether it's branding. I was just going, "Yeah, I can go to all of these." Yeah. So I think that's the power of this conference. I also feel the name represents all the four tools of an organization, right? We are the main characters here.  Nikki Golden, CAE: Yeah.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: Right? This is about us.  Nikki Golden, CAE: Yeah.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: So I wasn't struggling to find meaningful, sort of, sessions. Say, "Ah, I don't know which ssession I should go to at this spot." So I think that was really great, and I know, Nikki, you've talked about this previously, but really, you can look at it as three or four distinct areas. Yeah. But none of us really is sticking to our lane. It's also interconnected.  Nikki Golden, CAE: Yeah, very much so.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: I think MMC and tech gets that complexity of our lives, and it just showcases the reality of what we are doing in our daily lives. Nikki Golden, CAE: And it creates that commonality among these four different groups that really need to work [00:03:00] together in order to have- Agreed ... a solid engagement from your members. So I agree with that. Exactly.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: So coming to our favorite question, we've talked about this a lot.  Nikki Golden, CAE: Yeah.  Preeti Vasishtha, AAiP: And we can go on talking about this a lot. We talk of marketing and communications, so how would you, Nikki, what do you see as the differences between the two?  Nikki Golden, CAE: I really think of marketing as really driving that brand awareness. There's a lot of product sales that are involved in it. And communications, I think, really manages that narrative and t