Association as “Hub”: Why Embracing a Media Mindset Is Essential for Growth

If your association still believes members will automatically turn to you first for trusted information, it’s time for a wake-up call.

Every day, vendors, media companies, consultants, and influencers flood your members with a steady stream of content, some of it helpful, some not. In this crowded, noisy environment, relevance can no longer be taken for granted. It’s something associations have to actively and continually earn and protect.

Recently, Bruce Rosenthal posted on LinkedIn about a concept Bill Sheehan of D2L had been discussing: the idea of the association as the hub. It caught our attention immediately and sparked some important conversations at Lead Marvels about how associations can assert their role at the center of their industry's information ecosystem.

We caught up with Sheehan to dig deeper into the idea and its implications for associations. Drawing from his decades of experience as an association executive, consultant, and supplier, Sheehan made the stakes clear:

“If associations don’t step up and become the trusted knowledge hub for their industries, someone else will. And once members find value elsewhere, it’s very hard to get them back. Media companies recognized this long ago – those who control the flow of trusted, valued content are the ones that establish long and mutually beneficial relationships with their audience.”

Below, we explore why the hub concept matters now more than ever, what’s at stake if associations don’t adapt, and how adopting a few key strategies from media companies can help associations not just compete, but lead.

Not that long ago, associations were the go-to source for industry insights. Members turned to them for research, news, best practices, and professional development. But the information environment has changed fast.

Now, members are inundated with content from every direction: vendors with slick marketing teams, consultants with personal brands, and for-profit media companies with always-on publishing engines. Associations aren't just competing with other associations; they're competing with everyone for mindshare.

The challenge? Most associations aren't set up to win that competition.

For the most part, associations still rely on traditional content channels. Newsletters, print publications, committee-approved blog posts that move slowly and often feel disconnected from what members are searching for in real time. And in many cases, they're producing most of this content themselves, with limited bandwidth, few dedicated resources, and, quite often, competing priorities.

That's not a knock on associations. It's a reflection of structure, not value. Associations have what most content creators lack: trust, expertise, and a built-in community. But without a shift in mindset and strategy, that advantage risks being overshadowed by faster, louder voices in the space.

And the battle for attention is only intensifying. IDC predicts that the Global Datasphere will grow [PDF] from 33 zettabytes of data in 2018 to 175 zettabytes by 2025. To put that in perspective, a single zettabyte equals almost 50,000 Libraries of Congress.

While the volume of information continues to skyrocket, our capacity to focus is diminishing. Attention spans are steadily declining, making it even harder for associations to cut through the noise and hold mindshare.

For associations, this isn't just a communications issue. It's a relevance issue. And relevance is everything.

At first glance, media companies and associations may seem like very different animals. One sells content; the other sells membership. But at their core, both are in the business of building an audience and delivering ongoing value to keep that audience coming back.

Where they diverge is in how they approach that challenge.

Media companies are relentless about understanding their audience – what they care about, what they're searching for, what they'll click on. They use that insight to create high-frequency content that is timely, engaging, and easy to consume. They source content from a wide range of contributors, including staff writers, freelancers, influencers, and even their users, creating a steady flow of fresh material without relying solely on internal capacity.

Associations, on the other hand, tend to take a more structured, internally driven approach. Content is often created in-house or by trusted members and committees. Publishing cycles may be tied to board meetings or print schedules. And the mindset is mission-first rather than audience-first, which makes sense, but can lead to content that is well-intentioned yet misaligned with what members are actually looking for in that moment.

The association approach often produces more authoritative, vetted content that members can truly rely on for accuracy, offering a critical advantage in many fields where misinformation can have serious consequences. And this trustworthiness is the foundation of an association's value proposition and shouldn't be compromised.

The comparison below highlights a few of the key differences and where associations might benefit from borrowing a few pages out of the media playbook.

Media Company	Association	Shared Principles / Tension Points
Audience-first mindset: Success is measured by reach, engagement, and loyalty. Content is tailored to user interest and behavior.	Mission-first mindset: Membership growth is tied to a broader cause or professional purpose. Content often supports advocacy, education, or credentialing.	Both must understand and respond to what their audience actually wants, not just what internal stakeholders think is important.
Content is the product: Revenue comes from monetizing attention through ads, sponsorships, or subscriptions.	Membership is the product: Revenue comes from dues, events, certification, and member services.	Content still plays a central role, driving engagement and supporting revenue indirectly (and sometimes directly).
High-volume, high-frequency content: Speed and volume matter. Daily or hourly publishing is the norm.	Slow, periodic content cycles: Often constrained by staff bandwidth, volunteer review processes, or lengthy approval cycles.	Consistency matters, especially when members expect fresh, timely content experiences.
Flexible engagement: Often constrained by staff bandwidth, volunteer review processes, or lengthy approval cycles.	Binary engagement: You’re either a member or you’re not. Access is often gated.	Associations can explore lighter-weight engagement paths (e.g., free content access) as entry points to membership.
Sourced from many voices: Content comes from staff, freelancers, partners, contributors, and even user submissions.	Primarily homegrown: Most content is created internally or by trusted members and committees.	Associations can expand their content pipeline by tapping into third-party contributors and strategic sponsors.
Data-driven and trend-responsive: Content decisions are guided by analytics, SEO insights, and market trends.	Internally driven: Topics are often chosen by committees or staff based on strategic goals.	Associations can blend strategic goals with real-time audience data to surface more relevant, actionable content.

The goal, of course, isn't for associations to become media companies. It's about adopting the most effective parts of the media model, especially in terms of content strategy, speed, and sourcing, while staying true to their mission. Because when you combine the trust and purpose of an association with the agility of a media brand, that's when you become the true hub for your industry.

But while the opportunity is clear, so is the risk. Associations that hesitate to evolve risk falling behind. And once relevance is lost, it’s hard to win back.

Associations that cling to slow content cycles or inward-facing communications risk being overshadowed by louder, faster-moving voices. And once members start turning elsewhere for insights and community, it’s hard to win them back.

As Sheehan explained, the real risk isn’t just losing mindshare for a moment; it’s losing it for good:

“If an association stops being relevant, members who leave are difficult to bring back, and prospective members who find their needs met elsewhere may never consider you at all. To drive sustained growth and influence, associations must remain agile and innovative, ensuring they’re always positioned as essential to both their industry and members’ success.”

When current members drift away, it’s often because they’ve formed new habits and loyalties that are hard to undo. When prospective members turn elsewhere for knowledge, community, or professional growth, it’s even harder to bring them back—because by then, they’ve already found another source that meets their needs.

That’s why maintaining relevance isn’t just a communications challenge – it’s a survival strategy.

If associations want to reclaim their role as the trusted hub for their industries, it’s not about overhauling their mission; it’s about sharpening how they deliver value. Media companies have mastered the art of capturing attention and building loyal audiences, and associations can borrow some of those strategies to strengthen engagement and growth.

Here are three core tactics associations can adapt to stay relevant—and stay ahead.

1. Sharpen your content strategy

A common trap for associations is treating content as a series of one-off projects – an article here, a webinar there – rather than as part of a coordinated and integrated strategy. Media companies succeed because their content is deliberate, connected, and built around a clear understanding of what their audience values most.

Associations can take a page from that playbook by approaching content as an ongoing conversation, not a checklist. This means developing an editorial plan aligned with members' most pressing needs and organizing around key themes that reinforce the association's leadership role, whether that content is created internally or curated from trusted sources.

The goal isn't just to produce more content. It's about producing the right content in the right way to build deeper loyalty and stronger engagement over time.

2. Adopt an audience-first mindset

It's easy for associations to focus inward, shaping content around internal goals, committee priorities, or board initiatives, rather than around what their members actually need and want. Media companies take the opposite approach. They constantly look outward, tracking what their audiences are searching for, struggling with, and talking about, then responding with content that feels timely, relevant, and helpful.

For associations, adopting this outward focus means seeing every piece of content through the lens of the member experience. It means asking tough questions about each piece of content: Does this solve a real problem for our members? Is it relevant to what they're searching for right now? And most importantly, does it make their professional lives better in some tangible way?

Further, media companies typically rely heavily on audience data to guide these decisions, tracking engagement patterns, search behavior, and topic performance. While some associations have built strong data-driven practices, many lack the infrastructure or culture of editorial planning needed to adapt quickly. Closing this gap is essential for sustaining relevance and deepening member loyalty.

3. Expand your speed, frequency, and sourcing

In the attention economy, timing matters almost as much as quality. Media companies are built for speed. They publish frequently, respond to emerging conversations quickly, and keep a steady stream of new material in front of their audiences.

For many associations, traditional publishing cycles and limited staff resources make that kind of speed feel out of reach. But keeping pace doesn’t have to mean doing everything alone. Every industry has a wealth of experienced third-party experts, including consultants, researchers, solution providers, and thought leaders, who produce valuable insights.

Associations don’t need to be the sole source of information for their members. They can be the trusted platform that connects members with the knowledge they need, when they need it. In doing so, they can be faster and more responsive while still maintaining the quality and relevance their members expect.

This is becoming even more important as industries grow more specialized and members seek increasingly niche information to stay competitive and advance their careers. By curating insights from a broader network of experts, associations can expand the depth and relevance of their content while reinforcing their role as the essential hub for industry knowledge.

By adapting these approaches to leverage their existing strengths, like their deep industry knowledge, member trust, and community connections, associations can position themselves at the center of their industry's information ecosystem.

Associations don't have to rebuild from scratch to meet this moment. They already have what media companies spend years trying to create: industry authority, trust, community, and domain expertise. What's needed now is a strategy to deliver that value with greater speed, flexibility, and relevance.

That's exactly what Lead Marvels' Resource Library platform is designed to support.

By creating a centralized, fully branded hub that is white-labeled for your association’s website, the platform offers specific tools to help you implement the media company tactics we've discussed:

• Curate a steady stream of trusted, third-party thought leadership alongside your own content.
• Give members on-demand access to valuable insights when and where they need them.
• Understand member needs better through real-time engagement analytics.
• Establish your association as the essential gateway to vetted, high-impact industry knowledge.

In short, our interactive Resource Library platform helps accelerate your evolution into the indispensable hub your members need and expect.

In our next article, we'll explore how to operationalize the hub model using a digital content platform and share a simple framework to assess where your association stands today. In the meantime, request a quick, no-obligation demo to see how a digital Resource Library can power your association's transformation.

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