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The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has a
difficult role - it's there to make sure the
marketing and advertising industry is
protected from over-zealous lawmakers and to
protect the recipients of advertising from
the worst excesses of the industry. Meridian
Delta have been members of the DMA since
2006.
Following are some important facts for you
to know as a potential customer of Meridian
Delta about the DMA and our membership of
it. If you have any questions of comments,
please call on freephone 0800 652 6627. |
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The DMA are a trade body set up in 1992 to represent the
interests of the industry and to introduce best practice
across all different forms of advertising and marketing.
As with all industries, the good, the bad and the worse are
represented in the marketing industry. For companies who are
not members of the DMA, you can still buy in complete
confidence from the overwhelming majority of them. Most
businesses in the sector, whether members of the DMA or not,
are very good companies keen to provide the best quality
services to their customers.
However, membership of the DMA is part of a company's
statement to abide by their rules. In addition to the laws
and regulations that must be followed when marketing, DMA
membership imposes extra regulations on its members to
protect customers and recipients of marketing. |
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The DMA take a pivotal and active role in enforcing marketing
laws via Government contract. Over the last 50 years, a
number of different schemes to protect marketing recipients
and marketing companies have launched.
Meridian Delta adheres to the preference and best practice
schemes run by the DMA. The schemes relevant to our business
activities are as follows... |
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There is currently no Email Preference Service run by the DMA
in the UK. However, the idea is often floated by legislative
bodies about establishing such a service. In the event that
the service is set up, the affected products and services
would be the UK Education Disc, UK Fax Disc, UK Charity
Disc, UK Public Sector and Charity Disc, B2B data and public
sector data.
Our datadisc and bespoke data products are future-proofed
for the set-up of this type of service. All the products and
services we sell containing email addresses comply with all
the relevant UK and EU laws together with the additional
restrictions imposed by our membership of the DMA. |
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| The Direct Marketing Commission (DMC) is the enforcement body
of the DMA. It is there to act as a balance between the
advertiser (and contractor) and the recipient, balancing
legal requirements with best practice. |
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The DMC adjudicates on all direct marketing
complaints against DMA members if the complaint
falls under the DMA's Direct Marketing Code of
Practice. This code forces DMA members to provide
protection and compliance to a higher standard than
statutes governing direct marketing. |
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The DMA requires its members to be open to audits and
inspections to ensure compliance to marketing laws and the
DMA's Direct Marketing Code of Practice is being
successfully implemented. It covers a wide range of topics
from disaster recovery procedures to data security to
legalities in advert design and copy.
During the inspection, the DMA will also make sure that any
complaints made by marketing recipients have been rectified
and that, barring accidents, no repeat will take place. The
average audit lasts about 3 hours and the DMA compliance
officer will meet a member's compliance office and sales
force. Members are also asked to provide samples of adverts
and data to ensure compliance is being successfully met. |
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Direct marketing is a fine balance. The companies and
organisations you want to send your offers to will, in the
overwhelming majority of cases, be fine with your contacting
them.
Despite how busy they are, despite how stressed their days,
recipients will always appreciate far more getting offers
that might make a difference to how they do - if they can
save a bit of money in the meantime, even better.
For recipients of your offers, we'll always encourage you
(and help you) to vary the types of marketing you do to them
- we'll help you keep it interesting, relevant and
well-timed. No-one likes to be slammed with marketing every
day by you or any other company - it's a charm drive over a
period of time. We'll help you put together a campaign
that'll make recipients smile and hopefully excited by you
and your company - we don't want to waste their time or your
money - nobody wins with that arrangement.
For our valued customers, we're more than just selling you
things. No matter what product or service we put together,
we'll make sure it's at a great price where service and
quality will never be sacrificed for short-term profit. Work
with us - contact us - we'll always help.
Our DMA membership makes us stronger by imposing strict
rules on how we do our business. We make sure that the real
benefits of being compliant are passed onto you - you'll see
that benefit by how you market your business and how
potential customers react to your contacting them. |
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Direct Marketing Association (the
body's main website)
Meridian Delta's entry showing
membership of the Direct Marketing Association (showing
our contact details)
DMA Best Practice Guidelines (shows
you the DMA's advice on various different types of
marketing)
Information on the Preference Services (includes links to the separate preference websites)
Direct Marketing Commission
(we're responsible and answerable to this commission as DMA
members) |
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