COVID Management for Association Members and Professionals
We all have questions related to COVID-19—When will it be safe to go to the store without a face covering? Will our children go back to school this academic year? Will Zoom happy hours become the new normal for how we spend time with our friends and family? While we may not have answers to these questions, we can help ease some of the concern for our members and support them with information related to operating their businesses during these uncertain times.
The National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA), one of AH’s client partners, is doing just that. They dedicated a section of their website with up-to-date COVID-19 information so members could easily stay informed with how the pandemic is affecting their industry and the way they run their businesses. NADCA’s mission is to support its members’ success—and that doesn’t stop during a global pandemic.
Tips for Creating a COVID-19 Online Resource Center
- Make it easy to find. Create a dedicated page within your association’s website to be the center hub for all information related to COVID-19. Make it easy
to access and navigate. Consider adding it to your website’s main toolbar or create a slider image on the homepage. - Stick to the facts. If you’re sharing information from other sources (state and federal governments, the CDC, etc.) link directly to those websites. Avoid linking to information from other sites, including social media. This will help ensure that you’re providing your members with what they need to know without making them sift through the noise.
-
Keep it updated and make it relevant. As new information becomes available and restrictions are put in place or lifted, keep your members informed. If it’s not relevant to their industry, leave it out.
- Develop an FAQ. By now, you’ve probably received at least a few questions related to COVID-19 from your members. Create an FAQ document and add it to your resource page. Anticipate some of the questions your members might have but aren’t asking.
- Do the heavy lifting. Whether or not a person or an industry falls into the “essential worker” category varies from state to state. In response to this, NADCA staff contacted governors of all 50 states, lobbying for air duct cleaning to be deemed an essential business operation. While advocating is critical, NADCA also encouraged its members to take action by contacting their local and state officials. To make this task a little less daunting, NADCA provided members with template letters that could be downloaded from the resource center.
Once developed, direct your members to the online resource center and encourage them to check back frequently for new updates. Alert them of updates through your email communications and your association’s social media channels.
