DMA West

In 2009, the world we live and work in has changed remarkably. The housing boom has turned to credit crunch and this in turn has started to affect people’s jobs and their livelihoods. In direct marketing, this will mean tighter budgets with pressures on marketing spend at a level that we haven’t seen for a very long time. From the DMA West perspective, it is therefore hugely important that we continue to develop a regional identity to ensure our members can continue to retain and attract business in these difficult times.

Direct marketing had already begun to see more change in the last five years than at any time in the previous 20. The advent of digital media and the possibilities this creates ensures that we need to be continually developing our offerings in how we communicate with our customers and prospects as well as suppliers. Consumers are articulating their choices with their feet, or more often than not, their mouse and we need to stay ahead of their preferences.

In addition, with other environmental factors such as waste charging, recycling targets and government pressure, it is clear we are in for a volatile period of change.

With the DMA West Council, our focus is on keeping ahead of the curve and providing assistance to members to help them achieve success. For many, success this year will simply be ensuring the current level of business and employment is sustained and we will continue to provide networking opportunities to aid this. For others, success will be the development of new streams of business or channels to market and we will be offering seminars and events to help keep everyone up-to-date with new developments. And for others again, success will be a new qualification or increased learning which is why we are determined to ensure the IDM’s Certificate in Direct and Interactive Marketing runs in the South West. Our plans to achieve this are contained in the business plan for the year.

This year, we are delighted to be welcoming a number of new Council members who will provide new perspectives and ideas. There is an increasing representation from the client side, plus a number of volunteers who develop the projects within the working parties.

We are obviously reliant on members giving up a portion of their hectic work schedules to support the DMA in the West. Therefore the more volunteers we can get, the more we can achieve, so if you’d like to assist, please contact myself or DMA West Regional Manager, Andrew Buffrey and we will be delighted to get you involved.

Scott Logie
Chairman DMA West