DMA conference

DMA 2011

Published On: October 24, 2011 | Categories: Advertising and Marketing |

I had the opportunity to attend this year’s DMA Conference, October 3 – 5. Nearly 10,000 marketing professionals met in Boston to network and learn the latest in results-oriented marketing.

I arrived ready to learn more about data mining, email metrics and reporting and mobile marketing. The three key points that were repeated by each speaker in all of the different sessions were:

• Your strategy must have a purpose
• You need to know who to target, it’s all in the data
• You need to be able to measure results

With budgets being cut the last few years we need to make the best use of all of the resources, from most effective creative, best targeted list and best results reporting so we learn from each campaign, sharpening the pencil each time. Many of the reporting functions can be created up front to allow us to better analyze when the project is complete. Testing different pieces, measuring, tracking all the way.

One speaker talked about creating collisions. What he means by that is creating interactions with those around you. Make a collision an opportunity to collaborate. We all have unique strengths and passions to bring to the table, we need to force the collision and share more often. We will all learn and grow from these exchanges.

I also had the pleasure of meeting a couple of our suppliers face to face for the first time. We were able to brainstorm about future campaigns and talk about ways to improve current processes. It is always nice to finally put a face to the voice on the phone!

I came back with a lot of information along with a lot of questions we need to be asking ourselves and our clients. The opportunity for more detailed reporting and analysis is all around us, but we need to find a way to fit it into the current process. Constantly improving our campaigns, process, and eventually, our campaign results is the goal.

I have to say I probably arrived home with more questions than answers, but as we seek to find the answers we will become much stronger and more informed partners for our clients.

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