To effectively promote your association’s brand and products, you need the right group of people on your marketing team. Learn how to use direct employees and freelancers and which mix will work best for your organization.When the time comes to assemble or expand your marketing team, there are many avenues to creating the right configuration. But how does an association know if they have the assembled the best mix for their needs?Here’s a look at different types of workers available ...

By Marcela Olson, AOE Customer Service ManagerOne of the biggest challenges industry associations are currently facing is revenue loss. Historically, associations’ revenue relied almost totally on membership dues. In fact, in 1953, a whopping 96 percent of revenue came from dues. Today, dues comprise only 30 percent while events, sponsorships and expos round out the top three sources of non-dues revenue. Because these sources have been all but eliminated in recent months due to the pandemi...

By Laura Merritt, AOE Special Projects Manager2020 has been challenging to say the least. The impact of the Coronavirus has been felt in all sectors, and businesses have been tasked with finding new ways to ensure the safety of their employees, clients and suppliers, while meeting expectations for the products, services and solutions they provide. We are navigating uncharted territory that necessitate our focus on the here and now—the challenges with working from home, drastic reduction in...

While you have likely read a lot of articles or even sat in on a webinar related to Work from Home (WFH) techniques, suggestions for managing virtual teams or even communicating during the pandemic, one topic that seems absent relates to the dreaded employee review process. And though I describe it as dreaded since that is the word many use associated with reviews, they are actually something I look forward to and strongly believe in. I know my sentiment is not widely shared though. Many manager...

It’s a good feeling when your association recruits new members. But it’s important to remember that retention and engagement are what will build your organization’s long-term success.MemberClicks, a software company that makes tools for association management, recently held a webinar offering tips for member onboarding, delivered by marketing expert Scott Oser. (You can watch the recorded webinar here.) Oser shared the statistic that a good onboarding process can improve member...

By Laura Merritt, AOE Special Projects ManagerWhen I began my career in public relations, the internet was in its infancy and social media was several years into the future. The press release was king and our target audience—print, tv and radio outlets—typically received our pitches over the phone and our releases by fax. A lot has changed…and we are better for it.Even as it has evolved to keep pace with changing technologies, traditional PR continues to play an important role...

By Laura Merritt, AOE Special Projects Manager Communications professionals have long recognized the value of traditional paid and earned media in marketing and public relations strategies. Yet, many of us have underestimated the power of owned media.Owned media is all the content your organization is responsible for creating and maintaining. This primarily includes your website where original content like articles, white papers, employee and customer stories and more are found. In add...

Launched in conjunction with the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Foundation, AOE has announced the establishment of The Advancing Organizational Excellence Fellowship.The AOE Fellowship honors Wendy O. Ward, a member of the AOE team for more than 10 years. She passed away at the early age of 32 from breast cancer. During her career, she was known throughout the concrete industry as a leading expert in helping organizations with their marketing and sales efforts. Ward wrote a column on those to...

If your company is an AIA Continuing Education Provider, 2020 has ushered in some updates you need to know about.Many product manufacturers and other companies/organizations benefit from developing courses in their area of expertise and having those courses qualified by the AIA to provide continuing education credits to architects. On-demand courses, typically hosted on the web, are particularly popular.As of January 1, 2019, the AIA published a new resource for education providers. Titled &ldqu...

By Jeffrey Coleman, The Coleman Law FirmAll contractors are required to have (and should have) a “Commercial General Liability Insurance Policy” otherwise known as a “GL Policy.” This policy generally covers the liability of contractors for accidents and resulting damage to persons or property. A comprehensive analysis of this policy is far beyond the scope of this article. In fact, a separate article could be written about almost each sentence of the GL Policy. There are...