Turning the DMA Tide
Chief Marketer's sister publication Direct recently talked with interim Direct Marketing Association president and CEO Robert “Bob” Allen about his tour of duty helming the embattled trade group. For more of the conversation, visit http://directmag.com/news/dma-allen-interview-digital-staff-0517/index.html
DIRECT: Talk about some of the unanticipated challenges you've faced so far.
ALLEN: I knew there had been two downsizings [prior to his taking the position], so I was worried we'd be severely understaffed, and as a result maybe underperforming. I was pleasantly surprised that that wasn't happening. While no one here would say they are overstaffed, I really feel that we are staffed at a level at which we can serve membership. We are working very hard and are having some success. Membership is stabilizing. We've had a declining membership for a couple of years, I think largely due to either the economy and/or misinformation about DMA.
DIRECT: Talk about the corporate outreach efforts the DMA is doing — the efforts to win new or win back companies that may have fallen off. What's the message?
ALLEN: The message is that there is value here in the areas we are very successful in, conferences and events, education and in advocacy. In spite of the reductions in staff, we are still doing those things quite well. The first communication I sent out to the membership was that DMA is a place for both the small and maybe even traditional marketer and the very large ones. I think we also can and should appeal to the Amazons and the Googles and the larger direct marketers, both traditional and non.
DIRECT: Why do Amazon and/or Google need you?
ALLEN: They need us for the full umbrella of all the services, but I think they would look to us first for the advocacy role that we do down in Washington. If you were to hire your own group to monitor what is going on in Washington, and lobby and advocate for the industry, it would cost you many, many times what a membership in DMA is. I think they see great value in the advocacy, and I hope and believe they still see value in education and the other things we do. Amazon is a good example of a pure-play Internet sort of business [that is] now looking at putting things in the mail. Google is now looking at putting things in the mail. We've talked about how DMA could be a resource for them.
