From the Copilot's Seat by Gary Fitch, Executive Vice President
Marketing AMA and your club
AMA marketing is a broad topic that encompasses several areas. How can we market ourselves to the rest of the world and become a household brand name? How do we grow our membership, which increases our revenue for member programs, internal operations, insurance costs, and savings?
AMA has struggled with these questions for decades. We now connect with our members through email and social media. We send emails to lapsed members reminding them to renew. We have partnered with other organizations to bring the benefits of an AMA membership to them. We are now starting an aggressive advertising campaign in non-AMA print and digital publications. All of this is showing some success and membership numbers are slowly increasing.
Because of our size, we don’t have millions of dollars to spend on national ad campaigns each year as do large corporations. AMA ads on TV are only a dream. The only national press model aviation typically receives is when someone does something wrong.
We haven’t had a dues increase in more than 13 years for fear of losing members. In that time, the cost of a home, car, food, fuel, and taxes has nearly doubled. Our mandatory annual expenses have increased approximately $1 million, and our revenue has decreased roughly the same amount in that same time frame.
The fact that we are still a viable organization in good financial standing is a testimony to the AMA staff, Executive Council, and income from the Affinity Programs in which our members participate. We have taken a negative and turned it into a positive. We aren’t a Fortune 500 company with Coca-Cola’s branding, but we still need to market ourselves.
When inventorying what AMA is today, we can proudly say that we are the world’s largest model aviation organization, protector of model aviation in this country, and a model for the rest of the world’s model aircraft organizations. Highlights of what we provide include:
- The world’s largest model aircraft museum.
- $2.5 million of primary liability insurance for each flying site.
- $2.5 million of primary liability insurance for all chartered club officers.
- Secondary liability insurance for each member.
We engage and work with the FAA, FCC, the Environmental Protection Agency, and NASA, not to mention being the largest group in the National Aeronautics Association. We have the best print and digital model aircraft publications in the world and we offer educational programs promoting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiatives for clubs to use when working with primary and secondary science and math teachers.
We provide for model aircraft competition and help fund America’s teams in world competition. We provide Flying Site Grants for clubs as well as Take Off And Grow (TAG) and Intro Pilot programs helping our chartered clubs obtain and improve their fields, grow their clubs, and assist with disaster grants for clubs that have experienced a natural disaster.
If you have read this far, you get the message. This organization has much of which to be proud. Our members boosting AMA is the key, and you are AMA. The best marketing program is still the old tried-and-true word of mouth, and best of all, it is still free.
Greet a new person who shows up at your field in a positive manner. Talk about the fun, companionship, and learning that model aviation offers, and that it is truly a hobby for a lifetime. Promote your club’s training program. Offer to have that person try his or her hand at flying model aircraft. You never know who that new person is, or what he or she might be able to offer the club.
While staffing the AMA booth in Akron, Ohio, at the Northeast Ohio Electric Festival in March, a man asked if he could leave his gear by our booth. We introduced ourselves and Jim returned a short while later with more packages, so I offered the use of one of our tables rather than have him trying to operate off the floor. He was thankful and went about the business of flying his Champ. He later returned with the wing cut off by another airplane. I offered to help him fix it using glue that was new to him. Shortly thereafter, Jim had more successful flights with the Champ. He enjoyed his afternoon and we enjoyed his company.
Upon leaving, Jim gave me his card. He is a U.S. District Federal Court judge and said to let him know if I ever need help. That blew me away. Little did Jim know that he made my afternoon and I made a new friend just by saying hello and offering some help. You never know to whom you speak.
You can successfully grow your club’s membership—and AMA’s membership—by remembering why you first started in model aviation and those who helped you. We will eventually brand the Academy of Model Aeronautics as a common household name, but until that happens I challenge each of you to this: become your club’s ambassador, and as a result, AMA’s.
Imagine the gain if every club’s roster grows by only two members each year. Everyone benefits and grows, and maybe five years from now we will have the discussion that AMA dues haven’t increased in 18 years.
Thanks for reading. I invite your comments and/or marketing ideas.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
