What are good trade organizations that a marketing and creative services agency should belong to?

As always, the answer to a question like this depends on what you want to accomplish. Generally, the purpose of networking is to get prospects.

If that’s what you’re hoping to do, go to events/places that either have prospects or else have centers of influence on your prospects. For example, you may wish to consider travel associations, health & beauty associations, etc.

For programming built around big brands, check out the American Marketing Association. If you’re targeting smaller businesses, you’ll still get good info from AMA, but you may not find the relationships you’re seeking to move your company forward.

The AIGA (American Institute for Graphic Arts) at the national level also targets large agencies and big brands, but the local chapters have terrific activities where you can meet good people you can work with on smaller projects.

Don’t forget to have your own value proposition and 30 second elevator speech figured out before you venture into the networking world!

Rex