Idea No. 21 for keeping AAJA extraordinary:

If we want to raise AAJA’s profile in the media industry, we’ve got to be more proactive in publicizing our wins and telling everyone how awesome we are. Journalists who cover the media shouldn’t be hearing from us only when something unfortunate happens. Rather, we should be telling them positive stories such as: we’ve raised more than $1.25 million for scholarships, or our membership is up 19 percent compared to this time last year (both true).

Why do this? Because we should be getting out in front of the news and telling our stories before other people try to put their spin on it.

What does AAJA get out of it? This is a perfect way to tap into our talented members who know all about public relations, marketing, branding and social media. Not only should we be mining their expertise, we should be recruiting more former journalists who’ve gone into these fields to come join AAJA. We shouldn’t wait until something bad happens to figure out which of our members are experts in media relations or crisis management; we should have them all on speed-dial.