The Australian Marketing Institute celebrates its accomplishments for 2019. Since 1933, AMI has been supporting progress in the careers of our members and advancing the marketing profession. The past year in particular, has been a very progressive period for the AMI. We have focused on evolving the core benefits we provide to our members – and the wider marketing cohort – most notably around building the status of the marketing profession and further enhancing member professional recognition. AMI has continued to listen and act on feedback from members on what they want from their Institute – opportunities to further their knowledge which will help maintain their career currency: ensuring they are on top of the latest practices and trends occurring in marketing, writes Lynda Cavalera, AMI’s Chairperson of the Board.
Remaining relevant and valued by members
Like any other Not-for-Profit, small, professional institute, AMI faces many challenges each year. AMI has managed to overcome some of them very successfully in the past financial year.
The Board and Management continue to focus on ensuring that the AMI remains relevant and valued by our members – and future members, taking steps to promote growth through 2019-2020, while ensuring the organisation is financially sound to continue to grow and invest in delivering on its core mission.
Engaging the community through thought leadership
In the past financial year, the AMI delivered over 200 pieces of thought leadership through the Marketing Voice blog, and members-only AMI Content Library; collaborating with key members in the community to produce high-value content for members.
AMI has grown the online community to over 12,000 e-newsletter subscribers, and 24,000+ followers on social media, half of which belong to AMI’s LinkedIn audience. Thanks to the engagement of the community, AMI’s reach has grown to over 320,000 social media impressions with 4000+ Marketing Voice blog views per month and 5,000+ website visitors per month respectively.
Creating member-value through strategic partnerships
The creation of over 30 strategic partnerships has delivered relevant new services for our members. Having strong and strategic partnerships is vital for the growth of the industry, the marketing profession, and for the individuals who are empowered through the value co-created with AMI’s supporters. A few of these partnerships include:
- A partnership with Vetassess to develop new Government relations capability. We have fostered effective government relations in order to move the Marketing specialist category from short term to medium to long term occupation listing, and improving the quality of Marketing occupation assessments.
- A partnership with fellow associations APPA (The Australasian Promotional Products Association), AMSRO (Association of Marketing and Social Research organisation), and AMAA (Audited Media Association Australia)
- Association Insurance Australia (AIA) for professional indemnity insurance for financial members
- ADMA, 50 new Online and IQ Training Courses
- Growth Faculty third party events partnership, featuring Simon Sinek, Hilary Rodham Clinton, Jim Collins, and the On-Demand Future Thinkers Series subscription for CPMs
- Facilitated LinkedIn, Copywriting, SEO, Video, Facebook, Powerpoint Training Courses
- PowerfulPoints professional presentation services
- Attention Experts paid social media strategy and amplification
- UVideo video production
- Redback Connect premium webinar hosting
- ChillIT IT support & Business Intelligence
- Arid Zone promotional products
- Engage Australia mobile messaging platform
- Icon Agency PR strategy and execution
- CMO Mag (IDG Communications) events and marketing offers
- Marketing Mag (Niche Media), B&T, and CMO Mag complimentary subscriptions for members
- Deakin University marketing micro-credentials
- Navitas Professional PY program for students
Career success is underpinned by quality education
In the last financial year, the AMI extended its focus on Tertiary Accreditation and Vocational Education Endorsement. I am pleased to say that we now have 47 courses accredited from 18 universities with 5 vocational endorsements including one with Open Colleges, which is distributed in Australia and 5 Asian markets.
Thanks to the dedication of the mentors, state committees, and our sponsors, TafeSA, Monash and Macquarie Business School, our Emerging Marketer Program has expanded from the successful program in Victoria and New South Wales to South Australia, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
Recognising industry achievements
AMI’s Awards program is our premier event, recognising the industry’s most remarkable achievements of 2019, while celebrating the marketing talent from across Australia. This year’s program is the most successful in the 36-year history of the Awards. This year we had 208 Awards entries across 23 categories, judged by 120 Certified Practising Marketers and the AMI Board. The Marketing Excellence Gala was attended by close to 400 marketers who came together with the community to celebrate industry success.
Building professionalism in Marketing
Not all marketers are created equal. It’s imperative that marketers become accredited and keep their skills up to date through continued learning. It’s our vision that we drive this – we marketers have a huge responsibility with significant mandates – building brand trust, customer centric organisations, and managing current and future revenue streams whilst also managing significant budgets and internal investments for technology/Martech. The combination of these efforts will allow us to engage with our audiences in a meaningful, relevant, personalised way that aligns to brand and creates sustainable value.
The Certified Practising Marketer (CPM) designation defines excellence in the marketing profession, promoting the profession of marketing by certifying only qualified, professional practitioners for their experience and seniority. Certified Practising Marketers are recognised by their peers, the industry and recruitment professionals.
During the past year, the AMI awarded more than 100 new Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM) certifications to senior marketers and launched its first ever directory for Certified Practising Marketers.
AMI’s pathway to ensure its sustainability
From our humble beginnings in 1933, we have seen the marketing profession evolve in ways that would have been unimaginable eight and half decades ago. The AMI has continued to grow and adapt to meet these changes. As we fuel the career progress of our members, it’s important to recognise the stewardship of the change program executed by the hardworking Board Directors, management, staff and army of volunteers across the country.
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