Organization doubles ad revenues by outsourcing.
By hiring a dedicated event publishing company, the American College of Rheumatology improved the content of their meeting publications and saw sales revenue climb dramatically.
After the American College of Rheumatology’s 2004 annual meeting, Tammy Tilley decided it was time for a change. As the organization’s senior director of communications and marketing and the only staff person dedicated to meeting communications, Tilley had outsourced production of the meeting’s daily newspapers to a marketing and communications firm. The results didn’t meet her expectations, or the expectations of the meeting’s 11,000 scientific attendees.
“We developed a shell for the daily ahead of time and dropped in some numbers and facts during the show,” Tilley said. “We simply didn’t have the resources to send reporters to all the sessions, and therefore we were unable to offer much live content.”
As a result, the newspapers were not well read. The meeting’s highly educated attendees expected specific medical information and meeting news, but the writers from the marketing and communications firm were not knowledgeable enough to cover the highly scientific sessions and write to the audience.
After researching her options, Tilley turned to TriStar Publishing the following year. A relatively new company formed by industry veterans, TriStar had quickly generated a buzz in the event publishing industry after providing first-class meeting publications for several high-profile clients, including the American Diabetes Association, the American Society of Hypertension, and the American College of Chest Physicians.
“The challenges that the American College of Rheumatology was facing—producing polished, professional meeting publications with limited time and resources—are very common among associations,” said Eric Reynolds, TriStar’s chief executive officer and a founding partner in the company.
“TriStar was formed specifically to tackle these challenges for associations both in and outside the healthcare sector. We have the editorial, sales, and production expertise to provide event publishing services for any size meeting.”
At the American College of Rheumatology’s 2005 annual meeting, this meant producing three 24-page daily newspapers with expert medical content produced onsite. The difference was immediately evident to the meeting’s attendees.
“The greatest change has been TriStar’s professional level of industry-specific writing,” Tilley said. “They understand the nuances of tradeshow publications and brought experienced writers to provide excellent content. They approached our business to understand our culture and membership. They knew what great tradeshow publications should look like, and brought the right staff to elevate our tradeshow publishing.”
The switch to TriStar has also elevated the organization’s bottom line. Since 2005, Tilley reports that advertising revenue from the organization’s tradeshow publishing has more than doubled.
“Tradeshow publishing is our focus, rather than a small piece of an overall marketing plan,” Reynolds said. “We are able to smooth the publishing process for our customers so they can focus on what they do best, which is market their association.”
The American College of Rheumatology is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy, and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.
TriStar Publishing is one of the most successful medical event publishing companies in the world. TriStar’s committed team of publishing professionals is comprised of highly skilled medical editors and writers, graphic designers, production coordinators, and sales representatives. Since the company was formed in 2003, its full-time team has tripled as its revenues, client base, and product portfolio continues to grow.
Outsourcing brings in more revenue, reduces workload for association.
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