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2019: A Year of Many Milestones for Marketing and Communications at SIAM

By Becky Kerner

It has been a year of transition for the SIAM Marketing and Communications team; while we’ve welcomed new faces, Michelle Montgomery—our leader of 30 years—retired from her position as full-time director. But don’t worry, she is still involved at SIAM as project director of MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge. I have the honor of filling her (very large!) shoes on the Marketing side.

So, who comprises SIAM Marketing and what do we do? We are the folks behind www.siam.org, the monthly “Unwrapped” e-newsletter, design and brand management, video projects, social media, sponsorships, promotion of new products and programs, and even the SIAM Job Board. We set the brand vision. We put strategies in place to help make SIAM profitable, successful, and better able to serve its members. We work to ensure that SIAM’s position as a key thought leader in the applied mathematics space is consistent and well established. We make sure that members have access to the resources they need. And we share information about the value of math and individual members’ work with the larger mathematics community. Here are some ways that we have worked to accomplish these goals this year:

  • Video: In 2019 alone, the videos on our YouTube page were viewed a whopping 4,500+ hours to date. This year also saw the launch of 11 new videos (check out the seven-part animation series on YouTube, plus four additional informational videos shot at the 2019 SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering).

  • News and Media: We landed coverage twice in Forbes this year; both instances focused on research that came from our community. SIAM and our members have also been specifically cited in more than 90 U.S.-based news articles in 2019, primarily pertaining to research that was featured in a SIAM journal or at a SIAM conference.

  • SIAM Website: In April, we distributed a member survey that solicited feedback on the newly-revamped www.siam.org website, which launched in June 2018. Nearly 800 members offered their input, and the survey feedback will drive future changes to the site. You will likely see some improvements in 2020, so keep an eye out.

  • Email: SIAM has partnered with a marketing automation software company to refine its management of mass email. The goal is to send out targeted, tailored content that is most relevant to you based on your area of research, stage of career, location, and so on. As an aside, members have opened Unwrapped more than 75,000 times in 2019. Thank you for reading!

  • Design and Merchandise: SIAM’s top-notch, in-house designers create hundreds of design and marketing materials each year. These products include digital and printed materials (like SIAM News inserts), SIAM t-shirts, branded flashlights, luggage tags, and more. Next time you are representing SIAM out in the world, post pictures on social media and tag us! We have seen our members proudly wear SIAM t-shirts at professional sporting events, in Spanish cathedrals, and on mountaintops in Utah. Where in the world will you rep your SIAM shirt?

  • Social Media: Do you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube? We now have a combined 49,000 followers on these channels who are keeping up-to-date with SIAM happenings and general math in the news. Join the online conversation!

The SIAM community is continuously moving and shaking, and it is our duty to make sure the world knows. Thank you for the work you are doing, which provides important research and helps us spread the word about the value of mathematics. We are thrilled to have clocked a milestone year and look forward to further successes in 2020. Cheers!

SIAM t-shirts and merchandise have popped up all over the world, including in the snowy Rocky Mountains of Utah. SIAM photo.


P.S. Got quotes? If you love SIAM, let us know. We’re always looking for testimonials to share from members. Whether it is membership, journals, books, conferences, or another specific program that tickles your fancy, tell us how SIAM has impacted your life for the better. Send quotes to [email protected] and they will go into our repository.

  Becky Kerner is the director of Marketing and Communications at SIAM.