Integrating Multiple Media to Speak With One Voice.

I recently heard a speaker put forth a hypothetical timeline: Suppose that the Internet was developed several hundred years ago, prior to the invention of the printing press. Anyone could get needed information simply by surfing the Web and finding all the sites related to their area of interest. Then, about 20 years later, a fellow named Gutenberg came along with his printing press. People got the bright idea to assemble all the data available on a specific subject and print it. Those interested in the topic could have it all delivered in one neat package--a magazine--without having to search the Internet.

The story made me realize that it's important not to think about our current world just in terms of the Internet Age, but rather as an age that creates more opportunities in every medium. Rather than needing to make a choice between electronic or print media, for example, we now have the ability to integrate all choices to form a customized package that comes closer to suiting each member's particular needs. With that advantage comes the challenge of maintaining consistency of quality and image among the various media.

Those same concepts--integration, customization, and image--drove the recent migration of several ASAE departments into our renamed Marketing and Communications Division. The expanded division now includes the design department as a partner with the production department to coordinate those activities across all ASAE divisions. The marketing and brand services department joins the division to oversee and provide cross-divisional market research expertise. The new structure, built upon existing editorial, advertising, and book publishing activities, is designed to help you take better advantage of all of ASAE's resources.

Our strategy to coordinate our communication efforts, while still new, may serve as an example of the types of activities that can be integrated under the communication and marketing umbrella and includes

* delivering monthly newsletters to members via e-mail, and also publishing an in-depth quarterly print product for each interest section;

* providing eBoard (bimonthly ASAE updates to the board via e-mail);

* packaging online and print advertising information to highlight for potential advertisers the opportunities that best meet their business needs;

* implementing a cross-divisional marketing function to ensure consistency of quality, customization, and brand;

* centralizing design and production activities for all divisions to better control quality and cost, while ensuring consistency of image; and

* incorporating the Web as a sales tool for ASAE book publishing, with online catalog and book purchasing opportunities.

Since Gutenberg came first in our world, ASAE's publishing division has always shared the latest in all professional disciplines via ink on paper--ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT magazine, Who's Who in Association Management, newsletters, books, and advertising. We'll continue that tradition, enhancing it with additional editorial staff skilled in the techniques required for the Web. The final element to be integrated into the mix is you, our member. By continuing to share your ideas, you'll help us balance Gutenberg with the World Wide Web to bring you what you want, when you want it, and the way you want it.