Direct Marketing Association Conference - A Marketers Timeline

By: Joseph Kiefer

I have been in the Direct Marketing world for the last 10 years and have made the trip to the annual DMA (Direct Marketing Association) show 8 of those 10. This year will be only the second DMA conference I have missed. I have mixed feelings about missing this years conference and put a lot of thought into it before I made my final decision. This got me thinking about the major reasons for attending the show and the different reasons I have attended over the years.

When I initially started going to DMA shows ten years ago I was attracted to the sessions that were offered. My college experience was great, but direct marketing was not covered in great detail by any stretch of the imagination. The DMA conference accelerated my learning curve and I always left with a notebook full of thoughts, ideas and questions. As the years have passed the sessions have become less of a focal point and there are years when I never make it into a session. I think there are so many teleconferences and online learning options available at this point that I am able to learn about relevant marketing topics in a timely manner, at a low price, without waiting for the next DMA conference. For example, in the last 12 months the hottest topic in the marketing world has been social media. Rather then waiting for the DMA conference I just started finding online white papers, webinars, teleconferences... and I have had a wonderful experience. As far as just the sessions go at the DMA conference, I believe I can get a better and more timely experience through alternative channels.

As I got a better understanding of the direct marketing world I started to work more closely with our vendors. It is always helpful to schedule face to face meetings with your vendors on a consistent basis. Quarterly always seemed like a good number to me, but depending on the vendor this can vary greatly and everyone has their own preferences. The DMA conference quickly became a place for me to get in 3 or 4 vendor meetings in a very short time. It also saved me the time of traveling to each of their different locations. I still liked traveling to each vendors location, but it is not necessary for every meeting. I think this makes all of the sense in the world and will actually save you money in the long run. This year we happen to start working with a couple of vendors that are much closer in proximity to us and some of our vendors are not going to the show this year so the number of meetings I would have been able to schedule was pretty limited.

Most recently, I have found myself drawn to the DMA exhibit hall and I can actually spend a full day or two exploring. I have become much more involved in new business development initiatives, along with new marketing ideas and strategies and the exhibit hall is a great place to learn a lot quickly. Being able to meet and ask questions with such a large group is extremely beneficial. I usually bring home a bag full of business cards, marketing materials and notes with follow up plans. For those of you who have not seriously walked an exhibit hall, I would recommend it to every marketing professional of any experience level. You are bound to learn something and meet some great peers. I have heard the exhibit hall is going to be a decent amount smaller this year, but this will still be the part of the show that I miss most.

I am sure I will be back again next year, but like many others, the cost is hard to justify at this point in time. San Diego is an expensive trip to take so we have focused our education efforts online and so far this has worked very well for us. As for the exhibit hall, we are dedicating one day to looking up every exhibitor and browsing their site to see if we think further research is needed. Any potential vendors will be followed up with in a timely manner. It will be interesting to see the results from this effort compared to past years in the exhibit hall. For those of you going to the DMA San Diego, I would love to hear how it goes.