There is a common belief in project management and general business management that overcommunicating is better than undercommunicating. And that can be true in marketing, as well. In my experience, it's not unusual for members to actually know very little about what their association does, beyond the meetings they've actually participated in. So in one sense, many of us are probably not communicating as much as we should be to our members.

But of course, there is a fine line between overcommunicating and overwhelming your audience, causing them to stop listening.

A client (director of marketing) told me she had been at a board meeting where the board chairman had told her he had unsubscribed from all emails coming from the association. He had recently counted the number of emails he received from the association in one week. His total? 54. Fifty four messages in one week. That's over seven messages PER DAY.

When your board chair tells you you're sending too much email...you're sending too much email.

The key is to be intentional and selective about how we market (and communicate in general). We need to understand our audience and speak to them about things that matter to them. It has always been true that targeted marketing is better than a shotgun approach, and in this day of digital overload, it's never been truer.

So make sure you're overcommunicating, but not overwhelming!