By Kathryn Deen, PAR

When it comes to business development, many associations are leaving money or influence on the table. Whether they’ve been strapped for time or resources, narrowly focused, pulled in too many directions — or just plain don’t know what they don’t know — missed opportunities of the past could be an association’s possibilities of today. PAR’s four new Leadership Advisory Board members reveal where the biggest missed opportunities lie and how associations can start capitalizing on them now.

1. Maximizing content’s reach and use

Associations tend to create valuable research, content, and training programs — and then use it once for a narrow audience.

“There are real revenue opportunities in repurposing that content for different formats and markets to create ongoing revenue streams,” says Amy Michalski, MBA, CIP, chief business development officer at Association for Intelligent Information Management.

She especially encourages associations to seek out opportunities in international markets.

“We've found partners who are eager to bring our certification programs and content to their regions,” Michalski says. “The demand is there, and honestly, it's not as complex as most associations think.”

2. Co-creating solutions with partnerships and sponsorships

Many associations are still selling booths and logo placement instead of co-creating solutions with partners.

“Deeper partnerships supporting pilots, research, learning programs, and others command more revenue and shape the market — but require clearer outcomes and longer-term thinking, as well as positioning partnership development (of all kinds) as a cross-organizational capability, rather than a standalone function,” says Veronica Diaz, PhD, CAE, senior director of professional learning and development at EDUCAUSE.

3. Converting consumers from free to paid

Associations often have low success rates in converting consumers from free to paid, but you don’t have to be one of them.

“Free webinars and content often aren’t intentionally designed to convert into paid programs, subscriptions, or services,” Diaz says. “Being more intentional about that strategy and messaging can make those free events do the heavy lifting for reach and increase their ROI.”

4. Collaborating internally

Fragmented internal ownership and lack of collaboration can keep associations from reaching their potential.

“Revenue-generating strategies and tactics slow down when learning, research, marketing, and member engagement work in silos instead of together,” Diaz says. “The real growth and capability development happens when teams jointly own products and partnerships from idea to delivery.”

5. Measuring outcomes versus activity

If you’re measuring your association’s activity instead of its outcomes, you’re not alone — but there’s a better way.

“Many teams track outputs — events held, sponsors signed, programs launched — without clearly connecting that work to larger goals like membership growth, deeper institutional engagement, retention, or expansion,” Diaz says. “When departmental initiatives aren’t tied to association-wide outcomes, it’s hard to see what’s truly driving value, leading to busy work and missed opportunities for long-term revenue and stronger relationships.”

6. Treating learning as a B2B capability

Are you treating learning as a B2C catalog instead of a B2B capability? Jeff Cobb, a co-founder and managing director of Tagoras, gives guidance.

“Even individual member organizations sit inside employer-driven markets,” Cobb says. “Employers will pay for seats, cohorts, and subscriptions at scale  — but that requires account-style relationship building, clear offers for teams, and follow-through. Most associations haven't identified that as a business development opportunity and invested in it appropriately, so they keep fighting for one registration at a time.”

7. Shaping your story

Plenty of associations haven’t tapped into the power of telling their own story.

“Right now, we’re focused on capturing our industry’s rich history and sharing it in a way that tells our story the way we want it told,” says Jennifer Troke, PhD, vice president of membership at The Association of Progressive Rental Organizations. “Using SEO and GEO to shape and distribute that narrative has become one of our most powerful advocacy efforts.”

This work has also pushed APRO to look back and digitize large amounts of organizational content that still carries real value, documenting the evolution of its industry’s work, priorities, and mindset.

“We were surprised by how much rich information was sitting on our shelves waiting to be shared,” Troke says.

What’s on your shelves?