INSTANT RECOGNITION
The members and the marketplace dictate what seminars the DMA offers Everyone knows how an influx of new audiences can change the demographic profile of a database and require a company to modify its offerings to meet the new demands.
Therefore, one might assume that Direct Marketing Association would change its menu of ever-popular seminars. But has it?
“I have a couple of answers to that,” says Anne Schaeffer, vice president of professional development and training for the DMA. “We have an instant imprinteur on the marketplace and we have been taking advantage of that.”
The acquisition of AIM, for example, gave a new audience “instant awareness” of the DMA. Furthermore, Schaeffer points out, the DMA got the benefit of AIM’s expertise in organizing e-commerce programs, allowing the DMA to develop better content than it could have done itself. She describes the results as “stunningly successful.”
On the other hand, the Internet Alliance has a different membership, one Schaeffer maintains puts a different spin on content and the market. “The acquisitions of Internet organizations has made the DMA more believable to younger people in the interactive world,” she says.
“Nothing yet from the nonprofit group, but it’s fairly new,” Schaeffer explains, adding, “But we’ve always had nonprofits.”
She predicts that with more members than “normal” in the segment, professional programs will have more depth.
As for the seminars and programs themselves, DMA members are more likely to attend DMA seminars than non-members. Many companies use DMA seminars to train their employees. Schaeffer notes playfully that enrollment is built through smart direct marketing.
Contrary to most expectations, she claims that the proliferation of conferences and seminars do not cannibalize from one another. “We’ve doubled the number of offerings over the last couple of years,” she says, “and we’ve doubled the number of people attending.”
Currently the two most popular programs are E-Commerce 101 and the Basic Institute. Both are offered “18 or 20 times a year and fill up. We can’t do enough of them.”
Schaeffer stresses that the DMA is always developing new product.”We have five or six on the drawing board right now,” she says. “Web stuff. Lots of interactive. How to create Web sites, how to drive prospects to Web sites, advanced e-commerce.”
There have also been meetings about seminars dedicated to customer relationship management.
