Northern Illinois Newspaper Association

Winter 2003-04

You, too, can be an evangelist

By Pam Lannom
2003 NINA President

With my term as president of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association officially over, I have two words on my mind: grow membership.

How am I going to do it?

With your help. I need you all to be evangelists.

"But we're newspaper people," you might be thinking to yourselves. "We don't want to have anything to do with religion."

Relax. I don't need you to spread the good news as told by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. I need you to spread the good news about NINA.

Those of you familiar with Guy Kawasaki, former Apple computer guru and author of "How to Drive Your Competition Crazy: Creating Disruption for Fun and Profit," will realize this column comes straight out of Chapter 4 - Turn Customers into Evangelists.

Kawaski offers three reasons why you, as NINA members and therefore its customers, would want to help in this effort.

"First, there's the personal satisfaction of helping others discover a good product."

A good product is exactly what we have. An annual membership includes discounted rates for fall and spring conferences and training workshops, a quarterly newsletter that keeps members informed of when and where these events will be offered and some great networking opportunities.

"Second, there's the prestige of knowing that you found something good before others did - you're an on-top-of-things-early adopter."

In a business that thrives on scooping its competition, this should be an excellent motivator.

"Third, there's the attraction of belonging to a close-knit group."

And a close-knit group of working journalists is exactly what the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association is. Who wouldn't want the opportunity to network with us?

So, future evangelists, the next time you talk to a friend (or enemy, for that matter) who works at another newspaper, ask if they belong to NINA. Let them know how much you or another reporter at your paper learned from a workshop or seminar. Let them know how great the speakers were at the fall conference. Share with them what you've gotten out of your membership and encourage them to give me a call at 630-371-0516.

President Tom Martin, with about a week under his belt now, already has some great things planned for 2004. Let's make sure every newspaper in the northern part of the state knows what we have to offer so we can work together to strengthen our industry, our products and ourselves.

Pamela Lannom is the editor of The Doings Newspapers in Hinsdale and was NINA president in 2003. E-mail her at plannom@pioneerlocal.com.

Winter 2003-04 newsletter

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