Date | Article |
| 1/10/2013 | Ask Questions to Improve Publishing Performance in 2013 |
| | By Carla Kalogeridis
Do you want to improve your nonprofit's publishing performance in the year ahead? Hardy Smith, a consultant and speaker who maximizes performances of nonprofits and associations, says the first step is to ask key questions that identify priorities.
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| 1/10/2013 | January 15th: How to Choose a Web Host |
| | Choosing a web host can be confusing. Do you need a dedicated or a shared server? How much uptime can you expect? How can you tell if the host company is legit? Will you be able to reach customer service if something bad happens to your site?
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| 1/10/2013 | Try the Team Approach to Increase Sales |
| | Association Media & Publishing member AdBoom (a company that offers print, digital, and event sales services) says coaching a football team is a lot like leading your advertising sales team. "Successful sales teams are ones that work and collaborate well together,” AdBoom says. "In smaller companies where staff is limited, the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy may seem optimal, but give the team method a try and see if your ad sales are impacted.” |
| 12/10/2012 | Speak Up! Call for Lunch & Learn Speakers |
| | Your colleagues want to hear from you. They are interested in how your
associations are approaching many of the same challenges and opportunities they
face as association media and publishing professionals. Serving as a speaker
for a Lunch & Learn in Washington, DC, or for the New York or Chicago
education series, are great ways to develop professionally while helping others
do so as well.
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| 11/8/2012 | Productivity Tips for Home-Office Warriors |
| | Working at home can seem like a dreamy deal when you're stuck in traffic on the way to or from the office yet again; still at the office at 8 pm because of a boss's unreasonable demands; or faced with one more dreary, endless meeting. And it certainly can be rewarding to work at your own pace; save money on gas, clothing, and food; and set your schedule around family needs and commitments. What a boost to your mental health! |
| 10/8/2012 | Christian Science Monitor: A Case Study for Innovating Association Pubs |
| | Many of us have aging memberships, diminishing circulation numbers, a complicated relationship with our organization's name, a hesitation to go all-in on digital options, or a lack of relevance to young readers. |
| 9/20/2012 | Determining the Right Distribution Channels for Your Content |
| | By now, you know the drill. Are your members able to access your association's content from anywhere at any time? Hopefully, the answer is yes. Sure, it's a tall order, but it's what your members expect in the digital age. |
| 9/19/2012 | Finding and Working Well with Freelancers |
| | Publishers and editors today continually have to do more with less—less money, fewer employees. When faced with cutbacks in resources but increases in the workload, many employers would like to turn to freelance writers, editors, proofreaders, photographers, or illustrators—but don't always know how to find qualified ones, or how best to manage them. Here are a few tips that might help. |
| 8/22/2012 | Blow Up the Org Chart |
| | It used to be simple. Your association put out a member magazine. It had an editor who coordinated the content; an art director who designed the pages; and perhaps a writer or two to develop articles. The editor may have reported to a director of communications, who oversaw the magazine as well as the association's marketing and media relations functions. |
| 8/17/2012 | Free vs. Paid: Will Your Members Still Love You? |
| |
When we're talking about using social media as part of a content strategy, we are talking about having free content out there. One of the first questions an association might ask is: Does giving away free content lessen the value of membership in the association? |
| 7/26/2012 | 8 More Ways to Get Comments on Your Facebook Page |
| | As promised, here are another eight tips for getting fans commenting on your association's Facebook page. |
| 7/13/2012 | Three Ideas for Next-Generation Websites |
| | A roundtable discussion at the Association Media & Publishing Annual Meeting centered on the topic of Next Generation Websites. The group started the discussion by brainstorming some questions or concerns related to website management and design.
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| 7/12/2012 | 8 Ways to Get More Comments on Your Facebook Page |
| | Getting fans to comment on your association's Facebook Page can take a lot of time and effort—and it can be painful seeing other Facebook Pages who make engagement look easy. But even the most active Facebook Page walls began from a standing start. And many of them got to where they are today by making it easier for fans to comment on their page. |
| 6/12/2012 | Association Publishers: Ready to Invest in Media Products Again |
| | The Annual Meeting content is designed to help publishers maximize their performance in the association media sector. |
| 6/12/2012 | EXCEL Awards Celebrate the Year’s Best Work by Association Publishers |
| |
More than 275 association publishing professionals gathered last night at Association Media & Publishing's 32nd Annual EXCEL Awards Gala to celebrate the industry's most creative and innovative media products. Held at the Hilton Baltimore, the event was kicked off at a Pre-Gala Reception sponsored by MultiView and followed by the Awards Gala sponsored by Sheridan Magazines. |
| 6/12/2012 | Fast Company’s Robert Safian: Innovation in the Face of Chaos |
| | Drawing from his firsthand experiences with companies like Apple, Facebook, and Twitter, Robert Safian, editor and managing director of Fast Company, will give a presentation at the Association Media & Publishing Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 13th, about embracing innovation in tough times. |
| 6/3/2012 | What Does the CEO Want from the CPO? |
| | The second in Association Media & Publishing's new Chief Publishing Officer Think Tank educational series was held May 8, 2012 at Urbana in Washington, DC. As the core of an association's publishing department, chief publishing officers (CPO) are looking for opportunities to meet up and discuss the changing roles in the association landscape, and that is the purpose of this limited-seating gathering. |
| 5/15/2012 | Social Media Stay out of Trouble |
| | While social media continues to evolve—and much will change in the years to come—every association and association employee should understand a few simple things. Being ignorant of social media risks, best practices, and laws is no excuse for a staffer making career-ending mistakes or associations stumbling into costly legal and brand reputation errors. |
| 5/1/2012 | 5 Future-Proof Ideas for Your Website |
| | Predicting the future of the web is nearly impossible. Imagination outpaces invention, and invention outpaces convention, which is why we should focus less on technology and more on human nature when future-proofing our websites. If we bet on technology, we can either be really right, or really wrong. But if we bet on human nature, we can count on consistency and know that our website is going to be well positioned for the future. |
| 4/19/2012 | Email is Still Marketers’ Key Technology |
| | How do you create an email that readers will open and engage with? |
| 4/9/2012 | Association Leaders Explore Ideas on Creating a Sustainable, Competitive Advantage |
| | About 20 association executives attended Association Media & Publishing's first Chief Publishing Officer (CPO) Think Thank meeting on March 13, 2012, part of a new educational series that includes four programs in March, May, September, and November geared specifically toward c-level executives. The following themes emerged and drove the various discussions at the March CPO Think Tank. |
| 4/5/2012 | When Your Advertisers Need Advice |
| |
If you have ever had the opportunity to sell advertising, I am sure that current and potential advertisers have asked you questions that you did not expect. I am excited to help you with some of the questions I hear on a regular basis in the hopes that it allows you to better serve your current and prospective advertisers. |
| 3/20/2012 | 6 Steps to Creating Your Content Marketing Style Guide |
| |
Admittedly, creating a good style
guide is no small undertaking. But, if you follow these six steps, you'll
make the process a lot easier and your end product more valuable.
|
| 3/20/2012 | SEO for Public Relations: A Step-by-Step Guide |
| |
From our experience, using search as part of a content-creation plan can yield extraordinary returns, often doubling the amount of traffic interacting with your brand. Here are some tips to consider.
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| 2/22/2012 | Create New Revenue with Content You Already Own |
| |
As the creator and provider of a ton of content that has very high value
to all of your association's audiences, you are sitting on an incredibly
valuable asset that can increase your association's revenue. |
| 2/22/2012 | Seven Tips for Writing a Killer Blog Post that Actually Gets Read
|
| |
You're smart enough to decide
within a few seconds if you're getting what you need from this post. And it's
my job to keep you here so that you can at least get to the first subheading.
|
| 2/1/2012 | Out of the Box Job Search |
| | Alexis Grant can tell you how she got a job by telling people how to get jobs. Here's what happened. |
| 1/18/2012 | Five Steps to Launching International Social Media |
| | If your association operates multi-nationally, creating and perpetuating a social media presence globally will eventually become a consideration—if it's not already. |
| 1/18/2012 | Make Your Content Do Double Duty |
| | Offering your content in both print and electronic formats is one cost-effective way to stretch your budget. |
| 1/4/2012 | Do You Really Understand Plagiarism? |
| | Few authors intend to plagiarize—or take credit for—someone else's work. However, many inadvertently commit copyright infringement by using too much of the original text or failing to obtain proper permission. |
| 1/4/2012 | Five Ideas for Using Content to Recruit Members (Including Three You Haven’t Heard Before) |
| | Here's a list of good ideas on how to use content to recruit new members—and retain the ones you have. |
| 12/5/2011 | Insist that Readers Engage |
| | The importance of cross-platform publishing. |
| 12/5/2011 | Thank Your Publishing Team with Style this Holiday Season |
| | With so much emphasis on member and reader satisfaction, association professionals need to remember to acknowledge a crucial group: the staff themselves. |
| 11/14/2011 | See the Big Picture on Publication Strategy |
| | Your newsletter or magazine shouldn't be something that comes with a membership, but rather a reason for potential members to join your association. |
| 11/2/2011 | A Food Pyramid for Content Marketing |
| | While every content marketing program is different, here's a chart to show the basic portions of content that should keep most content marketing programs healthy and happy. |
| 11/2/2011 | Six Tips for Effective Content Delivery |
| | Here are some tips for developing such a strategy and for delivering your content in the most effective way for maximum member value and impact. |
| 10/17/2011 | Do Less—But Do it Better |
| | Dwindling budgets and staff reductions have taken their toll on associations in recent years, but expectations remain high for the quality and quantity of work produced by publications and communications departments on behalf of the members they serve. |
| 10/17/2011 | How to Recover a Lost Phone, Tablet, or Laptop |
| | Here are some terrific tools and tips from PC World for rescuing your wayward mobile devices and keeping your personal data from falling into the wrong hands. |
| 10/4/2011 | 10 Ways to Break Down the Advertising Wall
|
| | Here are some ideas on what you can do to get your prospect's attention. |
| 10/4/2011 | 6 Facebook Laws Your Nonprofit Must Obey to be Successful |
| | If you've been using Facebook to build a fan base and market your nonprofit, you've probably noticed consistent ways that Facebook users behave. Here are the six laws at work. |
| 9/19/2011 | Does Twitter Content Require Permission to Use? |
| | With the growing popularity of Twitter, the question of copyright comes up again. |
| 9/19/2011 | Ready to Take the Punctuation Paragraph Challenge? |
| | Association Media & Publishing puts its own twist on the 8th Annual National Punctuation Day contest. |
| 9/7/2011 | Get Your Head in the Clouds |
| | On the listserver, your colleagues discuss the best tools for collaborative editing online. |
| 8/26/2011 | New Views on Non-Dues Revenue |
| | Sabatier says your organization must answer the question, "Have we optimized our current non-dues revenue-generating programs and services?” |
| 8/23/2011 | Collecting Facebook Fans is No Longer Enough |
| | Associations need to move to the next stage in the social media evolution and start focusing on actively engaging their fans over a sustained period of time. |
| 8/23/2011 | You’ve Got an Audience: Now, What are You Doing With It? |
| | Your association's publication is an awareness builder, an example of your organization's knowledge and expertise, a membership recruitment and retention tool, a revenue generator, and much more. Here are some tips that will help you have success in all of these areas. |
| 8/8/2011 | It’s All in the Blog |
| | Add curator of content to your editorial staff's job descriptions. |
| 8/4/2011 | Filling the Pipeline |
| | Here are some simple strategies to help fill your association's online community with great content to get the conversations flowing. |
| 6/28/2011 | Why are Contracts Critical? |
| | Sign on that line—but make sure you include the right clauses first. |
| 6/28/2011 | Why Can’t We Be Friends?
|
| | Here are some practical tips on resolving the editorial-advertising dilemma. |
| 6/16/2011 | Top 14 Things Marketers Need to Know About QR Codes |
| | Here's a follow-up crash course on tools, tactics, and best practices to confidently help you jumpstart a 2D barcode marketing campaign. |
| 6/14/2011 | Small Association Staff: Managing the Media Mix |
| | Dwindling budgets and staff reductions have taken their toll on associations in recent years, but expectations remain high for the quality and quantity of work produced by publications and communications departments on behalf of the members they serve. |
| 4/15/2011 | 5 Tips for Outstanding Blog Posts |
| | A great blog post respects the needs of three distinct entities: (1) It educates and informs your audience, (2) optimizes for the search engines, and (3) sufficiently energizes you so that you do a good job creating it. |
| 4/11/2011 | 10 Reasons Message Integration is Crucial in 2011 |
| | The day of simply pushing the same message out to all of your channels is gone. It shouldn't come as any surprise to association publishers that now is the time for integration. |
| 2/28/2011 | Master Tips for Advertising Sales Teams |
| | Everyone is selling something, but in today's recovering economic climate, not everyone is buying. The ultimate challenge for today's association advertising salespeople is finding a way to get their piece of the pie. |
| 2/14/2011 | Publishing for Your Open Community |
| | Maddie Grant, CAE and Lindy Dreyer have recently published Open Community: a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web. Here, Grant provides a short excerpt, which talks about how organizations must get used to the fact that in this age of social media, everyone's a publisher. |
| 1/24/2011 | 7 Ways to Promote Your New eZine |
| | So you've launched your association's new e-zine…now what? How do you make sure the members know it's available? |
| 1/3/2011 | Easy on the Legalese |
| | Clear, direct language in author agreements helps prevent copyright trouble. |
| 11/29/2010 | Does Your Nonprofit’s Internet Policy Comply with Federal Labor Law |
| | A recent complaint issued by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) poses a new challenge for employers attempting to control their employees' use of the Internet. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, and other Internet postings have grown exponentially in recent years, both at home and at work. Many employers have adopted Internet policies to protect their organizations from disparagement and legal problems arising from employee postings. Those policies need to be carefully reviewed in light of recent developments in federal labor law. |
| 11/23/2010 | Why Editors Need More Mobility |
| | Associations come in all shapes and sizes, and in today's economy, all of those shapes and sizes face financial hurdles. Nonprofit associations, as the tag "nonprofit” often implies, certainly don't have spare change and can't afford to throw caution to the wind when it comes to spending. |
| 11/10/2010 | 10 Small Design Tips for Big Impact |
| | When there's no budget for a redesign, follow these tips to tweak your publication's look. |
| 10/26/2010 | Digital Advertising: It’s Hot—and Cold |
| | As magazines continue to launch cool-to-click digital editions, many association publishers are still waiting for the digital dough to start piling up in their ad sales coffers. Some have done quite well already—others, not so much. So what's making the difference? Ad sales strategies? The kinds of digital properties for sale? The specific market your association serves? The economy? |
| 10/18/2010 | A Glimpse of the Future |
| | Eric Owen, worldwide vice president of digital printing solutions for Kodak, provided an overview of what is happening in publishing and how we can prepare at a Sept. 23 session of Association Media & Publishing's Professional Publishing series, sponsored by Automated Graphic Solutions, in Washington, DC. |
| 10/01/2010 | The Cure for Writer's Block |
| | Here's a guide to writing faster, reporting better, and feeling good about starting the story in the middle. |
| 9/30/2010 | And Now, We Measure Droopiness |
| | Since the new USPS Deflection or "Droop” Requirements deflection test started June 7, and postage "penalties” start October 3, it's a good time for association publishers to be aware of this issue. |
| 9/20/2010 | National Geographic’s John Griffin Tackles ‘The Business of Association Publishing’ on November 17th |
| | Back by popular demand from Association Media & Publishing's Annual Meeting, John Q. Griffin, executive vice president and president of publishing for the National Geographic Society, will keynote a one-day learning seminar on "The Business of Association Publishing.” |
| 9/16/2010 | 5 Social Media Mistakes Associations Should Avoid |
| | Whether your association is neck high, knee deep, or simply dipping its toe in the social media waters, here are some quick tips (and for some of you, reminders) on how to make the most of using social media for an association. |
| 9/16/2010 | Association Media & Publishing Logo Wins Design Award
|
| | Association Media & Publishing is honored to announce that its new square logo, unveiled in December 2009, has been honored with a 2010 American Graphic Design Award. |
| 8/31/2010 | Best Blogs for Association Publishers |
| | Here are the results of an informal survey of Association Media & Publishing members regarding which blogs they find most valuable to their jobs as well as those they read for daily inspiration. |
| 8/30/2010 | SEO and Social Media for Press Releases |
| | With a few simple strategies, association communication professionals can make it easier for constituents to find their association's news online at the critical moment when members are looking for relevant information and are most open to the message. |
| 8/9/2010 | The Legal Scoop on Trademarks |
| | Before using trademarked material, associations must be clear on the appropriate protocol as well as the definition of a trademark, say Jefferson C. Glassie and Patrick Jennings, attorneys at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, in Washington, DC, who presented a talked titled, "The Legal Scoop on Trademarks, Copyrights, the Internet and Social Media” at Association Media & Publishing's Annual Conference recently. |
| 7/23/2010 | Selling in Today's Economy |
| | A marketer recently wrote, "In the age of Facebook and Twitter, the winners will be those who know how to work the phone." In today's soft economy that's a perfect segue to the perennial question that is stronger than ever: How do you close the advertising sale? |
| 6/30/2010 | Make Sure You’re Reporting Freelancers Correctly |
| | Are you seeing a crackdown on independent contractors versus employees? Do you require anything like this in your contracts? |
| 6/28/2010 | A Checklist for Social Media Legal Notices and Policies |
| | Online social networking sites, such as the popular offerings provided by FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, and MYSPACE present a variety of new ways for trade and professional associations to connect and interact with their membership and the community at-large. But, incorporating the use of social media and online networking sites into an association's larger communication, membership or marketing strategies raises a number of potential legal risks and liability issues for the association. With advance planning, these risks can be made more manageable. |
| 6/22/2010 | Maximizing Your Design Dollar |
| | Controlling costs has always been a top concern in association publishing. In the volatile economy of late, publishers are trying to cut back even more in every way they can. Here are six ways to save money in the design of your publication. |
| 5/1/2010 | 25 Great Ideas to Jumpstart a Blog Topic |
| | We've all wrestled with writer's block from time to time—and now, many association communicators are staring down blogger's block as well. Steve Aitchison, author of Change Your Thoughts and a lifecoach and freelance writer, recently posted "100 Ways to Find Ideas for Your Blog Posts" on LifeSnips, a blog dedicated to lifestyles and ways to optimize them |
| 5/1/2010 | SEO Optimization Quick Tips and Resources |
| | If you missed last fall's Association Media & Publishing Lunch & Learn session on SEO Optimization, here are some takeaway points that you may find helpful. |
| 5/1/2010 | Stretch Your Print Dollars |
| | Despite the rising popularity of digital media, associations still print everything from magazines, journals, newspapers, and newsletters to media kits, marketing and promotions, conference brochures, and annual reports. Straight from the mouths of three leading printers are several ways to keep your printing budget on track. |
| 06/04/2009 | Alone at the Helm |
| | When managing a magazine, you have to wear more than one hat. You're the editor, content creator, fact-checker, producer and extinguisher of any fires that come up. |
| 06/04/2009 | Audit Clinic: 25 Ways to Assess Publication Effectiveness |
| | A publication audit allows you to recognize challenges and identify opportunities, including financial, design and competition challenges. |
| 06/04/2009 | Celebrating the Best in Association Publishing |
| | Amy Lestition kicked off tonight's 29th Annual Excel Awards Gala with words of thanks for the volunteers, sponsors and attendees that made 2009 conference possible. |
| 06/04/2009 | Don Ranly: Making Your Publications Useful |
| | Don Ranly Ph.D., professor emeritus, Missouri School of Journalism, said that his challenge today would be squeezing a whole semester of information into one hour. Here he talks about the importance of writing content that users will find useful, as once they find information useless, "it's all over." |
| 06/04/2009 | Grab Your Readers' Attention |
| | Headlines, decks, captions and pull-quotes are small in size, but they have the ability to make a huge impact on your readers. |
| 06/04/2009 | Look Great As You Read |
| | Association publishers talk about making design and editorial work together--on a budget. The result? Beautiful magazines, award-winning content and a bottom line you can live with. |
| 06/04/2009 | Making Members Masters of Content and Marketing |
| | What if you could get your members to contribute good, quality content for your publications? Information, education and a sense of community could help your association. |
| 06/04/2009 | Managing the Interactive Shift |
| | Content is still king. It's how we prepare content; it's how we deliver content; it's how we learn from others about what to do with that content that matters even more. |
| 06/04/2009 | The Next Publishing Generation |
| | Tiffani Alexander and Janelle Harris from ACC Docket and Marilynn Jacobs of Worldcolor explain how Gens X and Y can change the face of association publishing. |
| 06/04/2009 | Thinking Visually |
| | Any problem can be solved with pictures. That's the mantra Dan Roam used to kick off his keynote about thinking visually during Association Media & Publishing 2009 Conference at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. |
| 06/04/2009 | Write Once, Read Many: Creating Managing and Distributing Agile Content |
| | Association publishers need to become more agile. Digital content will be reused (it already is), simpler processes help do more with less, standardized files support cost-effective future products and services, and it won't be just you deciding how your content is consumed. |
| 06/03/2009 | Crowdsourcing: How One Association Crowdsourced an Issue and Lived to Tell the Tale |
| | "Crowdsourcing" was coined in a 2006 article in Wired Magazine: The act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call. |
| 06/03/2009 | Engaging Your Audience With Online Video |
| | Richard Creighton and Cindy Stevens highlight the importance of your association using video content online. |
| 06/03/2009 | Going Social: How to Make the Most of Basic Social Networking Tools |
| | Lori Woerhle, director of corporate relations, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, gave 2009 Association Media and Publishing Conference attendees a quick run-down of what the most popular social media platforms have to offer. |
| 06/03/2009 | The Next Great Platform: Magazines and Mobile Devices |
| | From configuring websites to be mobile-friendly to smart phone apps, many organizations are already thinking about and using mobile communications. Jeff says it's the next big opportunity for associations who want to get their messages out to members and readers.
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