(Direct Newsline) The Direct Market Association’s Net.marketing conference, thought earlier this year to be able to draw 1,000 attendees, now looks to have hosted a mere 300 or so, according to attendees and exhibitors interviewed. And only 14 exhibitors were in the hall.
“Obviously the industry has contracted,” says DMA CEO H. Robert Wientzen in explaining the low turnout.
But the exhibitors weren’t unhappy. “We’ve been very busy because there’s so few exhibits,” says Josh Glantz, vice president of ePrize, a promotions company based in New York. “I think the leads we made here will pay for our participation over the next two weeks.”
“More for me, dammit,” quips Deb Goldstein, president of IDG List Services in Framingham, MA.
But some Net.marketing stalwarts, such as DoubleClick and Worldata, are noticeably absent. List company Worldata, based in nearby Boca Raton, canceled its exhibit, DMA spokesperson Christina Duffney confirms. Worldata corporate vice president Jay Schwedelson wouldn’t comment.
Online marketing company DoubleClick never signed up, Duffney notes.
IDG List Services was the only list company exhibiting. “What’s good is anyone with a list question comes to me,” says Goldstein.
The type of exhibitor that had filled previous net.marketing halls has changed. The e-mail service providers that used to pass out premiums on every aisle have been replaced by search engine companies such as Google, Overture, FindWhat, and Looksmart.
Internet marketers say that is a sign of the evolving times. Direct marketers have discovered that search engine marketing is the new prospecting channel, Goldstein says.
“Paid search is paid relevance,” says Steve Smith, CEO of San Francisco-based e-mail service provider Mindshare Design, who came to the show as an attendee. “You’re buying relevance.”
“A lot of people are still not sure about search engine marketing,” says Gala Lawrence, marketing coordinator at Overture, fielding questions from knots of attendees at her booth.