Cover-worthy Association Milestones

If your association has a magazine, how do you choose what goes on the most-viewed piece of your media outreach–your cover? Oftentimes it’s determined by the culture of your organization, your membership, your leadership, and publisher. Some organizations put smiling member faces on the cover each issue. Some choose a concept cover. Many choose a mix, but how often do you celebrate and commemorate your organization’s milestones on the cover?

Joe Rominiecki explores associations’ cover decisions regarding membership in his recent article, “What Your Magazine Cover Says About Membership” for Associations Now. He writes, “Associations are built by and for members, which is why one association promised to put its 15,000th member on the cover of its magazine.” The magazines of the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) and its sister organization, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE), made a promise to propel membership numbers by featuring their 15,000th member on the cover. Adam Turteltaub, CCEP, CHC, vice president of membership development at SCCE/HCCA said, “What better way to celebrate the milestone than to focus on the individual who put us across the next line?”

Rominiecki says, “The trick for any association publisher is to find members with compelling stories—or to find the compelling stories in their members.” And it’s true. If you’re featuring a face on your cover, that face needs to have a powerful story. In non-milestone issues, Rominiecki says, “featured members tend to be thought leaders or innovators in the industry.” The author also compares associations to people-curators: “…the association still has a great power to identify interesting people who are doing important work or have compelling stories to tell and to shine a light on them for the rest of the community.”

In addition to membership, associations have industry milestones that can be celebrated and illustrated. By digging into the history of the organization, founders’ stories, industry timelines, and member communities, there may be overlooked milestones to feature and tie into the topics that are important to members today. After reading Rominiecki’s article, I am reminded to take a look forward and a look back to find powerful and relevant ways to help our clients feature their association’s milestones.

— Andrea Exter, Cofounder, Monarch Media & Consulting, Inc.