Each year, Wilen makes a pilgrimage to the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference. The event offers "ideas, innovations and case studies presented by over 200 global marketing leaders from some of the world’s top brands," in addition to the opportunity to meet with many clients and industry professionals in one trip. We also get the chance to showcase our creativity through our booth in the exhibit hall.
The conference agenda is always packed with keynotes and presentations offering the opportunity to learn more about the latest trends and recent successes of direct marketing leaders. As if it wasn't difficult enough to find time and budget to attend a week-long conference, you have to sift through the program to find the sessions that will benefit you the most. DMA has some great tools to help you organize your schedule, but it's almost impossible not to miss something important. That's why we compiled a quick list to recap our Top 5 Takeaways from DMA14.
1. The Magic Johnson Keynote: Back to Basics
For all the new analytical tools, real-time engagement capabilities and other innovative platforms that promise the ability to reach consumers like never before—it's important to remember the basics. As Magic Johnson noted in his keynote speech, the key to success is to know your customer, over deliver, stay focused and self-assess your efforts. All the new tools and channels won't help if a brand doesn't know their customers and deliver a positive overall experience from the first engagement to the most recent. This specifically applies to your direct marketing efforts. Ask yourself—are your communications delivering value to the consumer?
2. Real-time marketing just got real
Previous attempts at real-time marketing platforms have attempted to enable brands to capture the zeitgeist of the moment. Shopping cart abandonment marketing is not a new idea—Adobe's new Campaign Message Center will allow marketers to target online shoppers faster than ever before, who placed an item in a shopping cart, but did not complete the purchase. This is a great example of how real-time marketing could generate real results for retailers.
3. Location, Location, Location
The age-old real estate adage holds true for direct marketers attempting to connect with their audiences in specific locations. Mobile technology affords brands the ability to reach consumers at the precise moment they're in the vicinity of a nearby outlet or retail location. Leveraging location to target consumers puts your brand conveniently in the context of your target's day. Plus, there's never been a greater opportunity to reach your audience in this way. Our friends at Pitney Bowes pointed out that 74% of customers with smartphones use location-based services.
4. Keep your customer's close, and their data closer
Data security is going to be a huge long-term issue for direct marketers leveraging their customer databases. Data breaches are the new reality. How a brand responds to them is going to be the key to consumer satisfaction, and building trust between your brand and consumers in general. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst—companies should invest upfront in data security—each data breach costs an average of $5.9M.
5. When it comes to innovation, just LE(t)GO
LEGO shared key learnings; they found when they relinquished control of product development directly to their end users, through the LEGO Ideas Platform. Consumers were invited to share their ideas and models of potential LEGO products and let community members decide whether they should be considered by LEGO for production. The platform not only provided a fun, positive consumer experience—it resulted in new, popular products. Don't be afraid to allow your customers to share their enthusiasm for your brand, and prepare to listen and learn. Your customers might already be telling you what they want.
Whether you were in attendance or not, we hope these five takeaways provide a helpful recap of key sentiments shared at the DMA14.
