On the eve of next week’s Chicago Direct Marketing Days, Direct Newsline talked with Holly Harle about how DM in Chicago is starting to rebound after a tough year. Harle is president of the Chicago Direct Marketing Association and an account executive with Mid-America Mailers Inc.
Harle’s father, Donald Harle, was president of the association from 1985-1986, making she and her dad the first father/child team in her knowledge to run CADM. “I always brag that I’m the first second generation. Whether I should be bragging I don’t know,” she laughed.
DIRECT: How has the DM climate been in Chicago over the past year?
HARLE: I would say not very bright. The recession seems to have dragged on. In terms of what I’m seeing as a sales person in the marketplace, things are finally picking up. It seems in the last six to eight weeks, that we’ve gotten busier and that I’m quoting a lot more work and the agencies are doing more. But up to this point it’s been a rough year.
DIRECT: It’s interesting that you say the last six to eight weeks. Do you think the war is having any impact on that?
HARLE: That’s not what I’m hearing from people. But now that you mention it, it is curious. I only have one customer who has told me that they’ve put all of their marketing projects on hold because of the war, but they’re travel related, so that’s kind of obvious.
DIRECT: How has the consolidation on the agency side affected CADM members?
HARLE: It seems like last year there was just a lot of layoffs in the agency world. I’m not sure if it was so much because of acquisitions or because of the depressed economy. Again, I’m hearing that’s turning around in the last month or so, that people are starting to build back up and get some new clients.
DIRECT: Are CADM members cutting back, or trying new things in their marketing initiatives?
HARLE: It’s tough, because people are so tight lipped about what they’re doing from a marketing standpoint. Certainly people are cutting back on staff. People are trying to diversify the channels they use, they’re not relying on one advertising medium as much as they would have before, whether its telemarketing or mail or Internet. But that’s a trend that’s been going on for a long time.
DIRECT: Are people looking to the association for different things?
HARLE: Certainly educational stuff. People are paying a lot of attention to what’s going on at the federal level, privacy issues. The postal legislation that just passed will have a big impact on rates, and there’s also the telemarketing rule. We did an educational event for CADM in March on it.
Also, job networking. The climate has gotten so shaky that everyone realizes they’ve got to be out there looking and know people. And not just new jobs, but new business. You can’t just rely on the customers you’ve relied on for three or four years. You’ve got to be out there making new contacts.
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