4 Reasons Why You Should Join the American Marketing Association

One focus of the AMA NEO this year is to recruit volunteers to serve as either members or on the Board. We need more members for a few reasons. Those reasons include expanding our reach across the Northeast Ohio marketing community for awareness, diving deeper to find experts in more refined and innovative niches (healthcare, software development, corporate sponsorships), and of course, more members equal more money so we can host more attractive speakers and more engaging virtual or (in the future) in-person events. 

But, there is one widely accepted rule in marketing: it’s not about us. It’s about YOU. What is the value-add of joining for you? Given that we need to recruit, let us give you not just one- but four solid reasons why you should volunteer and become a part of the AMA. 

  1. Leadership

Any and every single role with us shows leadership. If you manage a team of volunteers, or yourself, serving on this Board shows that you are the leader of your own career. You create your own path, validate your own skills – heck, maybe even learn some new ones! And, you connect with leaders who can help you grow both personally and professionally.

Don’t have a leadership role (or any growth opportunities) at your current job? No problem. Stop on into our virtual office. We will give you some! 

Do you want to become your own freelancer but have no experience? We will give you some. 

Have you never been offered the opportunity to manage a team, or even one single person? We have management opportunities!

Do you value diversity and want to incorporate ethical standards into the field of marketing but don’t know how to start? Join our conversations. 

     2. Strengthening the Value of Marketing

I’m about to sound like a COVID-19 Hallmark card but here it goes: We are better together. As a community, and as an industry. It’s the collaborative ability of marketers that helps family-owned businesses, non-profits, and global corporations achieve their goals. From IT to HR, marketing is intertwined in all of our daily tasks and long-term strategic goals. With a wider, more talented core team of marketing professionals in our community, we can highlight our importance in the workplace and show our worth. 

Perhaps your supervisor “doesn’t do Facebook” and therefore, might not understand the value of such immediate, personal, analytical-driven platforms. We have the tools to help you support your ideas and make them a reality

      3. Relationships

Have you ever heard, or said, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” Well, sadly, that is somewhat true. But, regardless of how you landed a job, you will ultimately need to prove your skills either to your supervisor, your colleagues, and somewhere down the line, yourself. However, it’s not not true. Meaning, sometimes you need to call a person who’s experienced a similar great opportunity or difficult challenge at work. If you’re a one-person team in your current role, where do you turn? To Google? Sure, maybe. But sometimes, it’s a personal connection with a mentor, a peer, a friend, who can fully understand your situation to offer you the best advice. And if it’s the worst advice – at least you know what not to do!

       4. Skills// Toolkits, Certifications, Webinars 

Here at the AMA, toolkits, webinars, and certifications are the NORM! Whatever skills you have or don’t have – the AMA has a nifty excel sheet, quick webinar, or lengthy certification that will support your raise, your next job, your side-hustle, your value!

If you’ve read this far, I’m confident that you are at least a tiny bit interested in joining – or at the very least, learning more. If I’m correct, please keep on.

Here a few ways to join, that don’t require too much time.

  1. Spotlight Blogger: Do you have one blog a month in you? About anything? Great. Let’s talk. One blog every four months, once a quarter, once a year? It’s all great!
  2. Social Media Freelancer: Have some idea to spotlight your company and the great marketing work you’re doing either here in Northeast Ohio or beyond? Are you driven by data to create engaging social content? We need you.
  3. Behind-the-Scenes Organization: Maybe you like making spreadsheets, organizing files, making timelines, budgets, and keeping yourself and other people on track. We all need people like that in our life and on our team!

I hope you feel inspired to volunteer, or at least, send us a quick email to learn more!

Feel free to send us an email at president@amaneo.org.

Written by Katie Boland

About Katie:

Katie Boland joined Northeast Ohio’s AMA as Secretary in July 2019. She graduated from Cleveland State University in 2011, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, and will be heading back to her Alma Mater in Fall 2019 for her MBA. Katie is looking forward to learning from other members’ experiences and points of view, and having the opportunity to share her own. She likes to be “doer” is excited to learn some good proactive habits of community marketers and stay on top of current tools and trends related to digital marketing and social media.

Katie Boland

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