Arborist Association Changes its Name

An industry association that has been in business for 65 years is changing its name – in an attempt to better communicate its purpose to a multitude of audiences.

The National Arborist Association is now known as the Tree Care Industry Association. By removing the word ‘arborist’ from its name, the organization hopes to attract consumers and companies who don’t associate the word with tree care-related operations.

“We recognize that consumers look for ‘tree’ rather than ‘arborist,’” observed Mark Garvin, vice president of communications. “They squint a bit when they see the word ‘arborist’ and have to figure it out. So this change will certainly help us connect with consumers better and define who we are in the industry.”

The NAA’s board of directors has spent the past year researching possible actions that would increase the association’s value to its members, explained Cynthia Mills, president. “In addition to fielding ideas from our membership, the NAA also worked with facilitators specializing in strategic planning and integrated marketing to build the best possible future we can for our industry.”

Based on that research, the board decided a name change would be an effective step toward positioning the association as the “voice of the tree care industry,” she explained. And while a name may seem somewhat insignificant, Mills insists the recent change will boost the association’s exposure and appeal to its worldwide audience.

“A name affects everything,” she noted. “When potential customers go online in search of an arborist, they are going to look under ‘tree.’ When the media goes looking for information on tree care or post-storm activity, they are going to look under ‘tree.’ When the government seeks information on an industry that has to do with trees, they are going to search for ‘tree’ information. In each case, when they see the name ‘Tree Care Industry Association,’ they will know they found exactly what they need.”

Specific aspects of the name change were brought on by a combination of concerns, Garvin noted. The original name referred to a national association composed of individual arborists. However that name – the National Arborist Association – is not a true reflection of what the organization represents today.

Headquartered in New Hampshire, the association is actually an international association now – with a European office located in the United Kingdom. The organization’s largest international audience is centered in the United Kingdom, with a few hundred members found there. Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, South Africa and Japan also boast smaller clusters of membership.

Also, the shift from “arborist” to “tree care” was an attempt to match the association’s name with its actual purpose and membership, Garvin maintained.

“We are not an association of arborists, we are an association of companies,” he explained.

When the association was initiated in 1938, its membership was made up of arborists – since most were sole proprietors. But the face of the industry has changed, and so has the former National Arborist Association. Today the organization boasts a membership of more than 2,600 tree care companies – not individual arborists.

The name change will be somewhat gradual, with a new logo coming sometime this summer. The association has also acquired two new URLs to accompany the name change: www.treecareindustry.com and www.treecareindustry.org.

The author is Assistant Editor-Internet of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at aanderson@lawnandlandscape.com.