In a second round of cutbacks in recent months, the Direct Marketing Association today let go 26 employees and canceled some events.
With its staff reduced by more than 50 employees in the past five months, bringing the current staff roster to 86, DMA is positioning itself to have “less dependence on the more volatile parts of our traditional revenue, especially our large portfolio of conferences and events,” wrote John Greco, president of DMA, in a letter to members. “Like everyone else, we are resetting to make sure we’re prepared to ride out this recession.”
DMA will proceed with events such as DMA09, DMDays, the Nonprofit Federation conferences and the Email Evolution Conference, as well as its partner events such as ACCM, NCOF and NCDM. All other existing events will be canceled or included within its premiere events.
“First and foremost, we are positioning ourselves to continue to provide outstanding member service,” wrote Sue Geramian, SVP of communications, media and PR at DMA, in an e-mail. “With this in mind, we will focus on strengths that we know the direct marketing community counts on us for, such as our own signature conferences and events and partner events.”
The organization plans to make changes in the research department, including outsourcing more of the process and changing the service delivery model. It will continue to publish key reports such as Power of Direct, Statistical Fact Book and Response Rate Report. It will partner with others for additional reports and studies.
“Across our entire value proposition DMA members can count on us to do more with less by being innovative and reinventing the way we do things,” wrote Greco in the letter.
DMA will supplement its independent efforts to address issues such as behavioral marketing, privacy and do-not-mail legislation by taking leadership positions within strong coalitions such as Mail Moves America, the Internet Alliance and The National Advertising Review Council.
In education and professional skills development, DMA will attempt to do more for members with fewer resources by using online platforms to deliver information.
