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  • Partial Client List

    KY Georgetown Scott County Chamber
    WA NUCA of Washington
    FL Greater Fort Myers Chamber
    MA Associated Builders and Contractors
    FL Greater Sarasota Chamber
    TX El Paso Home Builders Association
    FL Suncoast Utility Contractors Association
    FL Charlotte County Chamber
    TN Tennessee Home Builders Assoc.
    FL Hispanic Chamber of West Palm
    OR Bend Chamber of Commerce
    FL Christian Chamber of SW Florida
    MD Maryland National Capital BIA
    FL North Florida NUCA
    FL Carrollwood Area Business Assn
    FL Hardee County Chamber
    TX Texas Home Builders Assoc.
    NJ ACCA of New Jersey
    NH HBRA of New Hampshire
    OH PHCC of Ohio
    OR Oregon Home Builders Assoc.
    FL Central Pinellas Chamber

  • Recent Comments

    • Michael Sipe, President, CrossPoint Capital

      “Thank you for the Chamber Membership Drive Training with Oliver Group DIRECT. What I saw unfold as Rob and Kate Oliver worked their magic  on the room was one of the finest deliveries of fun, learning and practical marketing tools that I have seen from any platform anywhere in the

    • Anne Hotte, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

      Rob & Kate, No way!  These flowers are just beautiful!  Is this another example of “shock and awe”?  It works!  We are sharing the timeline and new approach to retention at the staff meeting tomorrow!  I am so excited about it!  Thank you for ALL that you did!  You make

    • Maria Patterson, Carrollwood Area Business Association

      Dear Rob & Kate, Thank you many times over for facilitating the most successful Membership Drive in the history of CABA!  We appreciate all you have taught us and all the expert information and advice you have generously shared.  You are both a joy to work with and thank you

    • Patricia Crowley, Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce

      Dear Rob and Kate, On behalf of the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, thank you for presenting your “DIRECTDrive” to our membership committee.  The teachings you shared certainly were a result of our successful Membership Drive.  We appreciate your support to the Chamber and look forward

  • Read All Comments

  • “Your Members are a Media!”

    Your Members are Your Best (and least expensive) Form of Media
    Promoting and marketing Trade Shows, Parades and other “open to the public” events can get really expensive. By the time you pay for newspaper, radio, TV and direct mail advertising your event marketing budget can go through the roof.
    One of the least utilized forms of media tends to be your own members and their huge sphere of influence.
    Kate and I have produced all kinds of Association events including Business EXPO’s Home Shows, Tours (Parades), Golf Events and Membership Drives. Typically, there wasn’t a pile of cash just waiting to be spent on event advertising and marketing so we had to put on our “Renegade Direct Marketing Hats” and find inexpensive ways to get the word out about the events.
    The number one tool that has been the most effective and inexpensive is using the association members as a media. The real key to the success of this type of marketing is to make it very easy for your members to help. Most of your members will be happy to participate in the marketing of your event if you just give them the tools they need and tell them what to do.
    Here are just a couple ways we were able to take advantage of the vast network of connections the members have access to:
    1.) All of your members send out some type of mail every day. This mail includes invoices, statements, vendor payments, sales letters and the list goes on and on. They are already paying for postage so there is no additional cost to add a “statement stuffer” (a small 1/3 of a page flyer about your event) or “Dollar Off admission coupon” to their existing mail. All you have to do is make it easy for them.
    At the membership meeting or committee meeting prior to your big event just create bundles of flyers or coupons and ask your members to take as many as they need and add them to their own mail when appropriate. Guess what? They will be happy to help and the reality is in many cases that your member’s sphere of influence is exactly the target market you are looking for. We have used and tested the response using this process and the results are amazing.
    2.) Nearly all of your members have huge email contact lists that they will happily send promotional information about your event to – if you make it easy. Remember, you can’t just email to their lists for them – that’s spam. But, if they send the information for you to their friends and business associates it’s perfectly appropriate.
    For your next event create a simple promotional letter in “Word” with the key points about your event. Do not make it a PDF. Send the “Word” document along with a sample note your members can send with your promotional letter to their contact list.
    It might look something like this:
    “The Association that I belong to is hosting their 25th Annual Trade Show on October 15th an 16th. It’s a great event and they have asked me to invite everyone I know. The information below will give you all the details. I hope you can attend”.
    Pretty simple, I know. Send the sample “note” and the “Word” document and ask them to “cut and paste” the text from it into their email and send it to their list (attachments tend to get stuck in spam filters).  It’s that simple.
    If you ask your members to help and give them the tools they need, most are more than willing to promote your event for you for free. Imagine if just 10% of your members promoted your event to their “lists” for you. The numbers really can be staggering!
    Just give it a try!

  • Recent Blog Posts

  • Recent Comments

    • Michael Sipe, President, CrossPoint Capital

      “Thank you for the Chamber Membership Drive Training with Oliver Group DIRECT. What I saw unfold as Rob and Kate Oliver worked their magic  on the room was one of the finest deliveries of fun, learning and practical marketing tools that I have seen from any platform anywhere in the

    • Anne Hotte, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

      Rob & Kate, No way!  These flowers are just beautiful!  Is this another example of “shock and awe”?  It works!  We are sharing the timeline and new approach to retention at the staff meeting tomorrow!  I am so excited about it!  Thank you for ALL that you did!  You make

    • Maria Patterson, Carrollwood Area Business Association

      Dear Rob & Kate, Thank you many times over for facilitating the most successful Membership Drive in the history of CABA!  We appreciate all you have taught us and all the expert information and advice you have generously shared.  You are both a joy to work with and thank you

    • Patricia Crowley, Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce

      Dear Rob and Kate, On behalf of the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, thank you for presenting your “DIRECTDrive” to our membership committee.  The teachings you shared certainly were a result of our successful Membership Drive.  We appreciate your support to the Chamber and look forward

  • Read all comments link

  • New Member Companies

    2005 - 2015

    37,997

    New Member Companies
    Recruited Using the
    Oliver Group Direct Drive

    Process as of December 2015

  • phone and email

    p. 941.235.2202
    f. 509.769.0204
    email Rob Oliver
    email Kate Oliver