President's Perspective
Dave Brown AMA president
THIS PAST MONTH has brought much mail from members, and most of it has not been complimentary toward the latest AMA marketing effort, the video offer.
Direct marketing is never popular, and many members obviously think AMA should not be involved in such an activity. I would rather not have to deal with it, but it is nearly a necessity in today's world of association management.
If you were to do the research, you would find that most successful associations are reliant on dues income for approximately 50% of their revenue—plus or minus 10%—with the remainder of their income coming from "other" sources. For most associations, those "other" sources involve the marketing of something to their members.
I know of associations that sell books, T-shirts, insurance, etc. to their members. What most successful associations have in common is sales of something.
AMA is roughly 80% dependent on dues income and as a result, it must continually adjust the dues to maintain its operations. Marketing something to the membership is one alternative to using dues increases to keep up with the rising cost of operations.
Each program we have participated in has been approved by the members of the Executive Council (EC). If you think AMA should not attempt to decrease its dependence on dues by such endeavors, make your thoughts known to your district vice president.
Have we learned anything from this exercise? Of course we have. In the future, I expect that we will let the members know what is coming to them before it arrives.
We will make the portion of the literature that states that you are not required to return or pay for any unsolicited marketing item more obvious. (It was there with the video offer, but it was contained in the small print near the end of the letter.)
Unsolicited merchandise is never subject to any requirement to pay for it or to return it; this is the law. If you receive unsolicited merchandise in the mail, you do not have to do anything with it.
If you choose to pay for it or return it, that will benefit the organization that sent it to you. If that organization is one to which you pay dues, your purchase may help to reduce the need for dues increases.
The recent program should produce between $50,000 and $100,000 per year for AMA, and that is money for which we do not need to rely on dues income.
The recent marketing efforts on behalf of AMA have been done in cooperation with business partners. There is no AMA investment in the production or distribution of the products. Financially, AMA has much to gain and nothing to lose as a result of these offers.
The companies that AMA has partnered with are reliable companies that have been recommended by other customer organizations. In spite of this, we have learned that some of the wording of their solicitations has upset several AMA members, and we are working on rewording the documents to minimize these concerns.
Obviously, we have the option of eliminating any such marketing altogether, but that would simply increase our reliance on dues increases in order to keep pace with increased expenses. The EC doesn't want to increase dues until it is unavoidable.
The majority of the complaints I received about the marketing program have disdained the marketing methods, yet many of them have praised the product they received. It's obvious that the members are not thrilled with the amount of unsolicited mail they receive, and I can assure you that AMA will be sensitive to this in the future.
If you do not want to receive marketing materials from AMA, you have the option of checking off the box to remove your name from any AMA marketing efforts when you renew your membership. However, if these programs are successful, they can reduce your dues.
In spite of the hullabaloo surrounding the most recent marketing program, the result has exceeded the estimates that were made when it was presented. The information I have seen indicates that the AMA offer has slightly surpassed the best result the partner organization has had with any other organization. Go figure!
AMA's official annual membership meeting was held in conjunction with the Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In in Greenville, South Carolina, and it was a success.
The estimated attendance was 400–600 people. Those present asked good questions and suggested several programs or changes to programs that AMA can implement. Thanks to Pat Hartness for allowing us to use this great venue for the meeting.
If you have never been to Joe Nall, you have missed a great event. During the meeting, I mentioned that I believe this is the largest, one-week event in aeromodeling worldwide, and it is at one of the most beautiful sites imaginable.
Til next month. MA
Dave Brown AMA president [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
