Bringing Event Energy Online to Grow Membership 12%
How Rebuilding the Path to Membership Brought the Chapter to Its Highest Count Since 2020
AMA Pittsburgh has served the region’s marketers since 1946. With so many of them working in higher education, health care, tech, and CPG, membership still reached only a fraction.
People who came to AMA Pittsburgh events saw what the chapter offered. The website, emails, and join page didn’t show it, and renewals had been historically low.
Shawn Graham led this work as a volunteer, serving on the AMA Pittsburgh board as VP of Membership and Retention, together with the board and the chapter’s communications team.
Services provided:
Marketing Strategy
Messaging
Website Optimization
Email Marketing
Giving Prospective Members a Reason to Join
The homepage opened with the chapter’s mission statement, which said AMA Pittsburgh “inspires, connects and educates the Pittsburgh regional community of marketers to be their best and give back.” A visitor deciding whether to join couldn’t immediately tell what membership included or feel a connection.
The new homepage opens with “Marketing doesn’t stand still, and neither should you.” It names what the chapter offers, from subject matter experts and industry-driven professional development to the mentor program and the Marketing Leaders Council, and closes on “Pittsburgh has a serious marketing community. AMA Pittsburgh is where it shows up.”
People join for two kinds of reasons, and the messaging covers both. Some do the math, so the copy spells out what members save, 50% off chapter events and $100 off PCM® certification. Others want to help move the region’s marketing community forward, including encouraging students in the college chapters to pursue marketing careers.
Prioritizing Membership, Volunteering, and Events
We simplified the website navigation so visitors reach the membership, volunteer, and events pages first.
On the membership page, we replaced generic benefit icons with photos from chapter events and set each benefit as a bolded statement instead of a bulleted list. We also added a sizzle reel from the Marquee Awards, the chapter’s flagship annual event, so prospective members and volunteers could see themselves in the organization.
The sponsors page also shows who’s already in the chapter. Members come from 20 industries, from healthcare and manufacturing to higher education and professional services. 45% hold director, VP, or C-suite roles, 37% are mid-level managers and experienced practitioners, 12% are academics and educators, and 5% are early-career marketers.
The results below compare January 1 through November 2, 2026, with the same period in 2025.