Posts Tagged ‘direct marketing’
I just could not let it go. The DMA bought the trade show DMDays NY (DMDNY) several years ago. Not a bad move and it sort of made sense as a replacement for the now defunct DMA spring show. I’ve been in and around the direct marketing industry long enough to remember that it was once DM Day (singular). In recent years the show had moved to the cavernous Jacob Javits Center where it was one of at least two or three shows going on simultaneously, and even with that it was gobbled up by the immense expanse of the Javits.
Prior to the past several years the DMDNY show was at the NY Hilton. My associate Mickey Alam Khan – editor of Mobile Marketing Daily, put it best when he noted that the show at the Hilton promoted ‘butt-brushing’ since spaces were tight and people actually and literally ran into each other. That was a good thing! So after spotty attendance at least year’s show at the Javits the DMA decided to move the show back to the Hilton. Great move right? Well yes and no.
Well yes since it was always a giant pain to get over to lunch dates from the Javits. Restaurants abound near the NY Hilton and combined with the great Hilton bar, (where MANY meetings took place and where business really got done), made the Hilton a great choice. They got that right.
But the show itself? As my soon-to-be 17 year old daughter would note OMG! She could easily add WTF? Of course I discourage her from using that type of language. But she’d be so right. Digital Marketing Days. WTF? The name is changed but it was the same tired old show – no, it was more tired.
I readily acknowledge that the education tracks were much more shifted to digital marketing (social media, analytics, PPC, SE0/SEM) more than ever before. So some effort was made to change the tone. Yet in walking around the two floors of the exhibits it was sad, gray and depressing. Most of the people I talked to at the booths were disappointed in the turnout to put it mildly. And digital it was not. There were virtually no mobile marketing demos, and for whatever reason some printers and related companies. I could go on but you get the idea. Maybe those printers had a few digital presses, but it was not exactly what crossed my (or the people I talked to) mind when I thought of Digital Marketing Days. The show is for the most part irrelevant. There some good people speaking but for the most part you can get the tracks and discussion at a myriad of other conferences.
I insinuated in a post after the DMA annual conference last fall (held in San Diego) that AdTech had eaten the DMA’s lunch. Well to me now it looks like it’s only gotten worse. In contrast I had a very nice evening at the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation Rising Stars event down at Bridgewater’s at South Street Seaport. The DMEF is a great part of the DMA and its mission of helping promote and attract young talent to direct (and digital) marketing is right on. It’s uplifting to see young talent want to be involved in our business although after being at Digital Marketing Days I would wonder why.
Were you there? What did you think?
When Amazon.com came out with their recommendation system a number of years ago (strangely this was difficult to find out for certain) I along with many people thought that it was a very cool thing. Often imitated and seldom duplicated it remains one of the hallmarks of the entire Amazon platform.
Netflix had a ‘contest’ begun in 2008 with a prize of $ 1,000,000 to replace their movie recommendation system – it was so successful that they are repeating again this year and the money paid out is far less than they would have spend to develop an internal replacement. For what it is worth I feel that Netflix exhibited crowdsourcing as well as it can be done. (You can read Jeff Howe’s book if you want to learn more).
Any recommendation system is based on the ‘wisdom’ of the crowd. But Amazon’s system is getting a little long in the tooth. I realize that any recommendation system is only as effective as the data it has to leverage. I don’t give Amazon all that much but every search, every purchase everything I do on their site is tracked and segmented – or at least I expect that it is.
So why (you might ask) I am questioning Amazon’s recommendation system now? Well for one thing I searched on an SAT course for my then high school aged son in 2005. For some reason Amazon continually recommends that I might be interested in purchasing the 2010 version (they also asked that about 2006/7/8 and 9). Since I will assume Amazon is not implying that my son is still trying to excel on the SAT (or that he is an idiot), I postulated that maybe they know at present I have a daughter who is a high school junior. I checked my profile and nowhere do I mention my daughter (or anyone else family or friends). Amazon may be good but they’re not that good.
I also get recommendation for Japanese anime which I bought a book or two more than five years ago but have never purchased a like product since. Also included in my current recommendations – a Slinky (?), Jimi Hendrix – Valleys of Neptune, (ok I get that since I have bought music like that over the years), and a bunch of books on Direct Marketing – which is totally appropriate even if I have no personal interest in those recommendations.
What Amazon has failed to ask me is to fill out (I never have) my profile. If I were them I would even incent me to do so – think of all the MUCH more relevant recommendations they could make if that had some better intelligence. I would not have to be offered all that much – maybe free shipping on my next order? I’m not an Amazon Prime member and don’t buy enough to be one. But with more relevant recommendations I can almost guarantee that I’d buy more and so would other people.
I have always been a fan of Amazon.com and remain so but they are missing a big opportunity. If you have had similar or different experiences please share them as I’d love to read them.
Yell loud enough and people will hear you. That premise has enveloped television direct response ads for many years. Billy Mays was a prime example of an affable yeller. At the recent Direct Marketing Association conference I came away with a sense that maybe, just maybe the days of shouting out a promotional message are coming to an end. I hope that is the case.
Today’s consumer has many ‘channel choices’ when it comes to information. While there remain a substantial number of people that actually watch infomercials, (c’mon you know who you are) Gen Y’ers and Millennials look at infomercials with bemusement and at times with condescension. Those groups are the future of commerce. The real question is will people still respond to being shouted at?
Audience relevancy, offer, and interesting creative continue to rule the day when it comes to direct marketing and as far as I am concerned MARKETING in general. I can safely opine that this will not change. But in a world where the laws of attraction have taken hold in the advertising world is there still room for shouting out the message in order to be heard?
Today more than ever consumers need to be drawn to a brand and its message. We all talk about higher levels customer engagement, about creating a better and more enjoyable (even fun) customer experience. Personally when I am shouted at I shut down and really don’t hear the message.
Billy Mays was phenomenally successful and a true marketing legend. Here’s hoping that with his passing we see the beginning of the end of the shouting of advertising messages. We all deserve much better. Don’t you think so?
As I sit in the San Diego Airport waiting to go home I have just spent three nice days in one of America’s nicest cities. I have attended my 22nd DMA conference. This membership organization that began as the Direct Mail Association became the Direct Mail Marketing Association (DMMA) then and now the DMA.
Like many associations the industry conferences is the primary revenue source. After years of growth in attendance, vendor participation and offerings, the 2008 DMA saw a significant drop in all three areas. It took place in Las Vegas 2 months after the financial crisis ensued. In additional the DMA reduced its staff substantially and I still feel bad for former DMA employees I know for a long time who’ve yet to find new jobs.
My thoughts as I headed out to San Diego centered a testy proxy fight between a DMA board members and the DMA board itself. Many of our clients and my colleagues decided not to attend this year for various reasons, expense being the primary reason given. I think that those folks should regret their decision not to attend.
The DMA still has its feet firmly implanted in direct mail and old habits die hard. But the leadership of the DMA has recognized the move to new marketing channels and has made strides in making information and learning on new marketing channel a focus. The proxy fight was settled and I for one was happy with the points brought up and the resolution. The DMA is an organization that can well use some pot stirring. And the exhibit hall while a nice place to see old friends and associates but walking around the floor makes me feel like I am caught in my own ground-hog day moment. It’s not working and feels outdated.
We direct marketing folks like to cite the measurability of the direct marketing process. We are even a bit smug about it. For what reason I do not know as the rest of the advertising world has always considered direct marketers red-headed stepchildren as long as I have been involved. But I did hear a lot of honest talk (particularly at the DMA Global Leaders Forum held on Monday) questioning if direct marketers are measuring the right things when it comes to web analytics and e-commerce in general.
It’s fine to have all these cool tools but if the wrong things are being measured or the measurements are not indicative of what is really happening we are drinking our own Kool-Aid. I think it is great that these kinds of questions are asked and answered – or at least they are trying to be answered.
I read Ad Age, Adweek, DM News, and occasionally Brandweek, and more and more the stories are similar. All marketers and marketing agencies direct and otherwise are trying to do the same things for their clients –help acquire and retain more customers. The marketing world has been turned on its head in the past nearly two years. Lower marketing budgets, higher accountability and demand for better ROI have changed the landscape for ever more. I am more optimistic that the DMA is heading on the right path and can and will remain a relevant organization.
You have great people working together in your company toward common goals. If you didn’t you would be making changes or at least thinking about making changes. The people that you work with are most often your primary resources for getting things done.
But are you using ALL of your resources? As a relatively small (less than 20 people) direct and digital marketing agency we are, at times, growing our business by availing ourselves of great resources through partners and associates. In the end coming to work every day is about getting the most effective campaigns/highest ROI on behalf of our customers.
Yet one of the more difficult aspects of working in a smaller agency is bandwidth when it comes to how to handle the many marketing channels that are available. We are really good and deeply experienced in on-page, direct mail, digital and a wide range of e-commerce platforms. However we are not nearly as experienced in channels like broadcast and cable television, radio, telemarketing and OOH (out-of-home). There are times in reviewing what is best for the CUSTOMER; that best thing falls outside of our main areas of expertise. And like many agencies we have invested much time and effort in developing both the relationship as well as the understanding of our clients’ business. That’s where our outside resources help us help our customers.
By managing the overall communication stream across whatever channels are employed we keep the message consistent (something that is often lacking when there are multiple agencies working on behalf of a client but not with each other). And as such there are occasions (increasingly) that we will introduce our partner resources to our clients so we can then work WITH those partners in order to do the best possible work on behalf of our customer. We still own the agency/client relationship. And we remain the driving strategic force.
Does that make me concerned it could make our agency look weaker or that we could lose the customer to a larger agency with a broader range of in-house services? No not at all. Our resources offer insight and expertise that complements our own. By bringing qualified partners to the table we show our customers that we understand our own limitations, but we respect that there are many things to consider and we only want the best results for our customers. I think it makes us a much stronger agency and our customers have told us they feel the same way.
So – are you using all of your resources? You really should not be afraid!