DMDays09: "Marketing is key - no matter what!" says Ivanka Trump

I had the chance to attend at the DM Days 09, a conference for direct marketers. Kim offered to lend me her company pass, and I was glad to accept and to pretended for 1 day to be someone else.

John Greco, the Director of the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), hits the stage. He starts the session by wishing his 84year old father a happy birthday. That is a good intro!

He emphasizes that the world has changed, and will continue to change. The marketers have to keep pace with the change, which produces new and unfamiliar opportunities. Therefore this present conference has a strong focus on digital education. Greco believes that the best of traditional and digital shall come together, on every channel, online and offline. I agree, and I could clearly see that there is a lot of potential in the digital world for some of the participants I talked to.

The economic downturn led to reduced marketing budgets at 75% (ANA), the overall advertising spending in the 1st quarter of 2009 had gone down by 12-14%, according to Nielsen. Another proof of the saying “Flat is the new up”.

I was impressed to hear that direct marketing activities generate for each dollar spent approximately 11.63 dollars on return on investment - which is way more than unpersonalized mass marketing achieves.

But between the lines the message sounded clear to me: the industry has to make the most out of the little which is left. Hope is expected from the digital market, but to be honest: that won't be the cure, marketing budgets have to be stretched as long as the recession is around. Why? Because the cut down of the marketing budget is what executives often do, if they have to reduce costs.

To summarize, this was a day well spent. I enjoyed the keynote of the smart and good looking Ivanka Trump, daughter of tycoon Donald Trump. She is a very bright minded person, who hit the stage and shared personal thoughts and experiences with the audience - without any Powerpoint slides.

I made a lot of notes, and with one expression I couldn't agree more: "Marketing is key - no matter what!" You can have the best product or service, if no one knows about it you wont sell a piece.

In the afternoon I learned a lot about Search Engine Optimization in a Bootcamp with Matt Bailey, President, SiteLogic Marketing - now I only have to apply what I've learned on my own websites. Which happens, will happen, soon.