Can the DMA Survive the 21st Century?

In a case of sad or comical symbolism—depending on how you look at it—when the Direct Marketing Association sent an e-mail last week announcing president and CEO John Greco was resigning, I didn’t see the message for two days.

Why? Because it went to my spam folder.

Here was a case where a mammoth marketing trade association that hasn’t been able to bring itself to renounce unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail suffered—in at least one inbox—the exact consequences its members will suffer if they take seriously the DMA’s post-Bob-Weintzen era tacit approval to spam.

When Wientzen was the DMA’s president, the organization’s pro-spam stance wasn’t tacit. It was overt.

In any case, the DMA’s board of directors faces a herculean challenge in keeping the organization relevant in the 21^st century.

For example, beyond the spam issue—as has been pointed out here before—the DMA’s track record on interactive marketing has been a disaster. The DMA acquired the Association for Interactive Marketing in 1998 and slowly strangled it until it breathed its last breath in 2003—though, to be fair, the dot-com crash of 2001 helped speed its demise.

In 2007, the DMA acquired the Email Experience Council to try and gain some much-needed credibility in e-mail marketing circles. Despite the efforts of some highly talented executive volunteers, the EEC has largely become a non-entity. According to sources, the EEC gets little to no organizational support, and volunteers with full-time jobs outside the DMA can only do so much.

Moreover, executives who considers themselves online marketers generally don’t think of the DMA as the advocacy organization that meets their needs.

And the DMA’s problems extend well beyond troubles with interactive marketing. Catalogers believe they’ve been ignored by the organization’s leadership. Business-to-business marketers consider themselves a nonentity at the DMA, as well.

Then there’s the issue of perception that goes much further back than just the Greco years. The DMA lost its image of being a service-oriented organization a long time ago.

Too many members believe the DMA looks at them as a source of revenue rather than a constituency to be served. This has been the case for as long as I’ve been reporting on direct-marketing issues.

Part of the blame for this perception may be placed on the board. In a piece for Direct written by Richard Levey last week, board chairman Eugene Raitt said the three main metrics used to determine Greco’s controversial, high six-figure salary were top-line revenue growth and membership growth and retention.

Is it any wonder that the DMA seems a little overly money hungry when revenue is a primary metric used to gage its president’s effectiveness?

Of course, revenue is a necessity and can’t be ignored. However, it shouldn’t trump member service and satisfaction.

The DMA’s relevancy clock is ticking—loudly.