Webinars

Join us for our series of webinars hosted by some of the most experienced marketers in the field of association promotion and growth, including MGI officers and senior account directors.

The webinars are community service presentations by MGI and there is no fee charged for participation. Spend an hour with association membership marketing experts learning about the hot topics of our industry. The final 15 minutes of each session are set aside for questions and answers with participants.

Making the Case to Double Your Membership Recruitment Budget!

By Michelle Peterson, Managing Director Account Services, Elisa Joseph Anders, Senior Account Director

Is your Board pushing for membership growth while your recruitment budget remains stagnant? This webinar dives into how you can make a compelling case for a significant budget increase.

Discover how to:

  • Unlock hidden value: Understand the four types of value your members bring and calculate how much to invest in new member acquisition.
  • Leverage data: Use accessible data to identify growth opportunities and build a persuasive argument for a larger budget.
  • Create a winning pitch: Build a powerful presentation that will get your executive team and board on board with a bigger membership recruitment budget.

Watch the full recording to get the strategies and tools you need to drive your membership success!

For further information and to obtain copies of the webinar handouts, the Membership Math Workbook and Making Your Case Template, contact John Sample at JSample@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0346.

Recorded: September 18, 2024 Running time: 45 minutes

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Key Takeaways and Insights from MGI's 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President, Elisa Joseph Anders, Senior Account Director, Adina Wasserman, PhD, Director, Marketing Research

Association membership is on the rise after a challenging few years. The 2024 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report brings exciting news: membership is thriving and expanding.

This year’s report highlights significant growth trends, historic low declines, and the importance of a compelling value proposition. Discover how associations are prioritizing new member recruitment, leveraging digital marketing, and continuously innovating to expand their membership.

Watch the recording to hear industry leaders Tony, Elisa, and Adina share key takeaways and actionable findings from the report. Discover strategies to elevate your association’s impact and drive sustained growth.

For further information, contact:

Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360
Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339

Recorded: July 25, 2024 Running time: 65 minutes

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Highlights and Insights from MGI’s 2024 Association Economic Outlook Report

By Adina Wasserman, PhD, MGI Research Director, McKay Wright, PhD, MGI Market Research Analyst, Rick Whelan, CDM, MGI President

Associations have faced a lot of disruption and uncertainty during the past five years. With this disruption has come many growth opportunities.

MGI’s 2024 Association Economic Outlook Report shows that associations have a positive outlook for 2024. The majority of associations anticipate growth in key metrics such as membership counts, non-dues revenue, and overall revenue. Most association leaders tell us that they plan to develop new products and services to meet members’ needs, and they anticipate increases in member engagement this year.

Join us as we discuss the report's key findings, trends, and opportunities within the association landscape.

For further information, contact:

Rick Whelan at Rick@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0350

Recorded: March 28, 2024 Running time: 49 minutes

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Key Takeaways and Insights from MGI's 2023 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President, Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director, Adina Wasserman, PhD, Marketing Research Director

Association membership is rebounding from a very challenging few years.

This year’s Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report shares encouraging news for association leaders. Membership is rebounding after the challenges of the past several years.

What can you learn from MGI’s 2023 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report and how can you apply the results? What can you do to drive growth for your association during this membership rebound?

Join us as we discuss actionable findings from the report that you can use to improve your association’s membership results now and in the future.

For further information, contact:
Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360
Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339

Recorded: October 18, 2023 Running time: 60 minutes

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Tune-Up and Rev-Up: Improving Your Membership Recruitment Program's Mileage

By Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director

Presented by:
Elisa Joseph Anders, Senior Account Director, MGI

With Guests:
Julie Boggs, Vice President, Membership Development, ConnexFM | The Multi-Site Facilities Management Network
Tim Fest, CAE, Director of Membership, USCAP - United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology
Matt Rankin, CAE, Director of Membership Development, Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)


Want to get more mileage from your membership recruitment program? In this webinar, you’ll learn how to get more members from your recruitment budget.

Join Elisa and guests as they walk through the Membership Recruitment Program Tune-up Toolkit, which includes 8 “tools” that are best practices for recruiting members. Hear case studies about how associations used these tools to recruit new members.

Learn how to evaluate key elements of your membership recruitment program. See if your program needs a tune-up, or if it’s ready to be revved-up so you can productively spend more budget dollars and drive membership growth.

During the webinar, you’ll get a link to the New Member Engine Checklist, which gives you tools you can apply right away to your program.

Don’t wait until you’re “down the road” to improve your results – watch this MGI webinar today and get valuable takeaways you can use in your next membership recruitment campaign.

For further information, contact:
Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339

Recorded: April 26, 2023 Running time: 44 minutes

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Key Takeaways and Insights from MGI's 2022 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President, Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director, Jana Darling, MGI Vice President, Account Services

Association membership is rebounding from a very challenging few years.

Our 2021 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report shared drastic declines caused by the pandemic. This year, we see a substantial turnaround–the start of a membership rebound and encouraging signs for its continuing recovery.

What can you learn from MGI’s 2022 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report and how can you apply the results? What can you do to drive growth for your association during this membership rebound?

Join us as we discuss actionable findings from the report that you can use to improve your association’s membership results now and into the future.

For further information, contact:
Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360
Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339
Jana Darling at JDarling@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0349.

Recorded: July 20, 2022 Running time: 60 minutes

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Charting Your Course Through the Storm--With Your Members' Guidance

By Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director

Moderator:
Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director

Panelists:
Jen Rhodes, Membership & External Relations Director, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
Ashley Hodak Sullivan, Director, Membership & Marketing, National Association of College and University Attorneys
Greg Wilder, Chief Operating Officer, Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants


Whether your organization is in the eye of the storm, battling strong winds, or trying to rebuild in the aftermath, how should you chart your course? A critical success factor: get guidance from your members so you can adjust your value proposition to meet their needs.

Hear how three associations–one individual membership association and two trade associations—have used member guidance to strengthen their value propositions, rebuild dues and non-dues revenue streams, and further their missions during the pandemic.

Learn why seeking guidance from your members is important, especially during a crisis. Understand how to put these tactics into practice to weather the next storm. Get valuable takeaways to apply to your association as we continue to navigate through the pandemic and beyond.

For further information, contact:
Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339

Recorded: November 16, 2021 Running time: 60 minutes

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Challenges and Hopes: Insights from MGI's 2021 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President, Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director & Jana Darling, MGI Managing Director, Account Services

It has been a challenging year for association membership, with large percentages of associations reporting declines in their membership and other adverse impacts from the pandemic. Fortunately, a variety of positive signs provide hope for a forceful membership rebound.

What can you learn from this year's Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, and how can you apply it? How can you position your association for a membership rebound?

Join us as we discuss actionable findings from the report that you can use to improve your association's membership results now and into the future.

For further information, contact:
Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360
Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339
Jana Darling at JDarling@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0349.

Recorded: July 27, 2021 Running time: 63 minutes

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Conversation with Membership Marketing Expert Tony Rossell About His Recently Released Book: Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President & Rick Whelan, MGI President

An Interview with Author Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President, MGI
Moderated by Rick Whelan, President, MGI

Why is a growing membership so important? How can a thriving membership program be planned and executed? What is required to achieve long-term membership resiliency? Tony Rossell will answer these questions and more during this exclusive interview.

Hear Tony share practical guidance and reflections from his book, which explains why an effective membership recruitment program is the key to association growth, financial health, and mission success.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from Tony’s extensive experience and wisdom.

Recorded: May 06, 2021 Running time: 57 minutes

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Re-imagining and Marketing Your Meeting in 2021

By Raylene Woods, MGI Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

Tina Morris, Ph.D., Executive Director and Joy Davis, Managing Director, Member Products, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) share how they reimagined and reinvented their annual meeting by including the entire management team in ideation and planning. MGI’s Raylene Woods discusses how MGI promoted the event, developing marketing strategies and tactics to address each interest area and promoting it in integrated channel campaigns. The result: a highly successful event held completely online in 2020. Please note that due to technical issues, the beginning of the webinar did not record properly. Please enjoy watching this, and contact Raylene at Raylene@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0344 if you’re interested in receiving a copy of the slide deck from the full presentation.

Recorded: February 24, 2021 Running time: 32 minutes

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Your Membership Marketing Playbook: Game Changers for Driving Membership Growth

By Elisa Joseph Anders, MGI Senior Account Director

Elisa Joseph Anders shares strategies and tactics you can use to drive membership growth during the pandemic and beyond. For further information, contact Elisa at emjoseph@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0339.

Recorded: November 18, 2020 Running time: 64 minutes

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Challenges and Hopes: Insights from MGI’s 12th Edition Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President

What should you do to recruit more members, increase your renewal rates, and grow your membership? How can you improve your association’s membership results now and into the future?

Join MGI Senior Vice President Tony Rossell on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, and dive into the findings from this year’s Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report.

For further information, contact Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360.

Recorded: October 21, 2020 Running time: 70 minutes

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How Does Your Association Compare? The 2018 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President and Matt Kerr, MGI Research Manager

Join MGI as we dive into the findings from the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report.

For further information, contact Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360.

Recorded: July 24, 2018 Running time: 62 minutes

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Growing Membership in the Digital Age

By Rick Whelan, MGI President

Electronic tools of all kinds are available to membership marketers. Which ones are right for you?

For further information, contact Rick Whelan at rick@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0350.

Recorded: April 16, 2018 Running time: 57 minutes

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Telemarketing Still Has a Place in Today's Association Marketing Mix

By Tim Butte, MGI Relationship Director and Charity Moody, MGI Manager of Telemarketing Services

Spend an hour finding out why telemarketing is still useful for the membership marketing mix.

For further information, contact Tim Butte at TButte@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0397, or Charity Moody at CMoody@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0376.

Recorded: January 16, 2018 Running time: 57 minutes

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Ask MGI: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Membership Marketing but Were Afraid to Ask Webinar

By MGI Senior Account Directors Harold Maurer and Elisa Joseph Anders

Harold and Elisa will unravel a few mysteries of marketing management.

For further information, contact Harold Maurer at HMaurer@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0391, or Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339.

Recorded: October 17, 2017 Running time: 59 minutes

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The 2017 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report Webinar

By Adina Wasserman, MGI Director of Research and Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President

Hear from the authors and researchers of MGI’s 2017 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report about the association growth trends, challenges, and opportunities revealed in the report.

For further information, contact Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360.

Recorded: June 13, 2017 Running time: 53 minutes

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Membership Marketing: Beyond The Basics

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President

MGI Senior Vice President Tony Rossell shares insights on vital membership models, marketing methods, and analytics methods that will improve the performance of membership marketing programs.

For further information, contact Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360.

Recorded: February 14, 2017 Running time: 60 minutes

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Membership Recruitment and Renewal Strategies: Membership Essentials Webinar

By Tony Rossell, MGI Senior Vice President

Tony Rossell shares insights from his contribution to ASAE’s 2016 edition of Membership Essentials: Recruiting, Retention, Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources.

For further information, contact Tony Rossell at Tony@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0360.

Recorded: December 06, 2016 Running time: 47 minutes

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Developing and Implementing Marketing Personas Webinar

By Arina Polukhina, MGI Data Analytics Manager and Erik Schonher, MGI Vice President

MGI Data Analytics Manager Arina Polukhina and MGI Vice President Erik Schonher discuss how to segment your membership data to develop successful targeted marketing campaigns.

For further information, contact Arina Polukhina at apolukhina@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0338 or Rick Whelan at rick@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0350.

Recorded: October 25, 2016 Running time: 58 minutes

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Engaging Your Members Webinar

By Erik Schonher, MGI Vice President and guest Ian King, Executive Director of Membership for the American Psychological Association

Erik Schonher, Vice President of Marketing General Incorporated, and a special guest present a discussion on engagement, the emotional key to financial success in membership organizations. Learn about the latest tactics and techniques being used by associations to effectively communicate and compel members to renew and buy more of your services and products.

For further information, contact Rick Whelan at rick@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0350.

Recorded: February 23, 2016 Running time: 61 minutes

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Understanding Key Performance Indicators Webinar

By Jason Gudenius, MGI Senior Account Director

Jason Gudenius, Senior Account Director of MGI, along with guests Trevor Mitchell, Director of Membership & Strategy for American Mensa, LTD, and Tori Liu, Vice President of Technology and Strategic Initiatives for the Global Cold Chain Alliance, will present a high level overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) along with 3 case studies looking at KPIs through different lenses:

  1. KPIs tying individual staff members to organizational goals
  2. Building organizational dashboards to effectively impact acquisition and retention
  3. Using KPI modeling to evaluate behaviors tied to renewal likelihood

For further information, contact Jason Gudenius at jgudenius@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0392.

Recorded: December 08, 2015 Running time: 61 minutes

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Membership Acquisition for Associations Webinar

By Scott Seril, MGI Senior Director

MGI Senior Director Scott Seril discusses the importance of lists, creative, testing, and integrating multiple channels to achieve the best results for your acquisition program.

For further information, contact Scott Seril at SSeril@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0316.

Recorded: November 17, 2015 Running time: 30 minutes

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Wow! Look at All These Leads. Now What?

By Harold Maurer, MGI Account Services Managing Director and Account Director, Elisa Joseph Anders

MGI Account Services Managing Director Harold Maurer and Account Director Elisa Joseph Anders will introduce and probe proven techniques for generating membership leads including some new approaches through social media marketing. Then, for the second half of the session, Harold and Elisa will share the promise and pitfalls of how to make leads profitable in terms of membership and financial gain. Loaded with ideas and techniques you can apply to your organization, you’ll benefit immediately through these new, creative approaches to lead management and fulfillment.

For further information, contact Harold Maurer at HMaurer@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0391, or Elisa Joseph Anders at EMJoseph@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0339.

 

Recorded: October 13, 2015 Running time: 56 minutes

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Benchmark Your Branding Efforts Webinar

By Raylene Woods, MGI Vice President/COO and Director of Market Research, Adina Wasserman, PhD

MGI Vice President/COO Raylene Woods and Director of Research Adina Wasserman, Ph.D., share insights on the most common strategies used by associations in reviewing and redesigning their brand.

For further information, contact Raylene Woods at Raylene@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0344, or Adina Wasserman at AWasserman@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0373.

Recorded: September 22, 2015 Running time: 44 minutes

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Membership and Marketing Analytics Webinar

By Tom Beauchamp, MGI Vice President and Arina Polukhina, MGI Data Analytics Manager

MGI Vice President Tom Beauchamp and Data Analytics Manager Arina Polukhina will discuss how to use analytics to find new insights about your customer base, and how to identify and push specific actions that lead to a sale!

For further information, contact Tom Beauchamp at TBeauchamp@MarketingGeneral.com or 703.706.0377, or Arina Polukhina at apolukhina@marketinggeneral.com or 703.706.0338.

 

Recorded: July 29, 2015 Running time: 35 minutes

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The Decision NOT to Join

By Rick Whelan, MGI President

In this webinar, you will hear about the ten main reasons prospects do not join your association and members let their membership lapse. You’ll learn why your acquisition and renewal marketing may not work, and how to best overcome the roadblocks to getting more people to join and renew—by creating and executing effective strategies to better target prospects, tailor benefits, include the right messaging and better offers to appeal to individuals as individuals.

For further information, contact Rick at Rick@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0350.

Recorded: June 16, 2015 Running time: 54 minutes

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How to Make Your Online Community Better!

By Erik Schonher, MGI Vice President; Jason Gudenius, MGI Account Director; Andy Steggles, HigherLogic President and Chief Customer Officer; and Ben Martin, CAE, Online Community Results Founder and CEO

In this webinar, you will hear how several member- and customer-based organizations measure their online member engagement and how it correlates to increased revenue and/or greater member satisfaction. This webinar will discuss the core elements of a successful online community and the most significant findings from a benchmarking study of over 400 organizations.

For further information, contact Rick Whelan at rick@marketinggeneral.com or phone 703.706.0350.

Recorded: March 19, 2015 Running time: 61 minutes

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Breathing New Air Into Your Value Proposition

By Jason Gudenius, MGI Account Director

In this webinar, we will cover two aspects of value propositions. First, we’ll walk through thinking and writing exercises designed to help you refresh what you offer, and how to present that value to new and current members. The second half will review methods to analyze your value proposition, including research techniques and interpreting key membership metrics.

For further information, contact Jason at JGudenius@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0392.

Recorded: February 19, 2015 Running time: 59 minutes

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Five Power Tips to Improve Your Membership Marketing Program

By Harold Maurer, MGI Managing Director, Account Services

In this webinar we will review the five important things you can do to run or improve your membership marketing program. These tips reflect the knowledge Marketing General has accumulated in its 30-plus years of successful membership marketing for our clients. Whether yours is a small start-up organization striving for stability or a large, well-established organization caught in the struggle to stay financially viable, current and valuable for your members, this session will help you improve your current situation help achieve your goals.

For further information, contact Harold at HMaurer@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0391.

Recorded: December 18, 2014 Running time: 50 minutes

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How to Utilize Free Content to Generate Leads Online

By Todd Michaels, MGI Online Marketing Director

Building your prospect database is a highly important component of membership marketing. With more and more of the population spending time online, it is vital that your association have an effective plan in place to source leads online so you can convert them into paying members. In this webinar, you will learn what types of free content best drive leads to your website, how you should make your content available, the elements of a successful landing page, and how to continue to follow up with additional free content to convert your prospects to members.

For further information, contact Todd at TMichaels@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0398.

Recorded: October 28, 2014 Running time: 54 minutes

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25 Quick and Easy Tips to Improve Your Renewal Rate

By Scott Seril, MGI Senior Account Director

Renewals are a vital component of an association’s lifeblood. We know that retaining current members is a much less costly investment than acquiring new ones.

In this session, we will discuss 25 simple tips, techniques and strategies that will help improve your renewal rates—from the number of efforts you include in your program, to how you ask for the renewal.

For further information, contact Scott at SSeril@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0316.

Recorded: September 24, 2014 Running time: 30 minutes

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Meetings Marketing 101: The Must-haves for your Meetings Marketing Collateral

By Raylene Woods, MGI Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer and guest presenter Lauren Kramer, Director of Meetings, International Council of Ophthalmology

Spend an hour and find out first-hand how to get the most out of your conference marketing materials in an interactive webinar hosted by MGI Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Raylene Woods, and guest presenter Lauren Kramer, Director of Meetings, International Council of Ophthalmology.

In this webinar participants will receive pointers on how to assess their own meetings marketing materials, with some special tips on marketing international events.

For further information, contact Raylene at Raylene@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0344.

Recorded: July 22, 2014 Running time: 55 minutes

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Setting and Measuring Long-Term Membership Goals

By Harold Maurer, MGI Managing Director of Account Services

A successful membership program thrives over time, not just based on next month’s results. If you are following your response rates, click rates, open rates, bounce rates, and the cost of your campaigns vs. dollars they brought in – you might actually be harming your success by completely missing the big picture – your lifetime membership goal.

In this webinar participants will learn how to determine their membership program’s financial health and how to keep it healthy.

For further information, contact Harold at HMaurer@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0391.

Recorded: May 06, 2014 Running time: 61 minutes

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The Economics of Membership: 7 essential formulas

By Jason Gudenius, MGI Account Director

Knowing the fundamental mathematics formulas marketers and membership managers use to measure their organization’s health is a must to achieve successful membership and revenue growth. In this webinar participants will learn these measurements and how to apply them.

For further information, contact Jason at JGudenius@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0392.

Recorded: January 14, 2014 Running time: 59 minutes

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Membership Acquisition: Improving results on the road to growth

By Rick Whelan, MGI President

Acquiring new members is a constant process; without new ones a membership organization will fail because attrition is always driving down membership numbers.

For further information, contact Rick at Rick@MarketingGeneral.com or phone 703.706.0350.

Recorded: October 01, 2013 Running time: 60 minutes

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