December 2003

This month's experts raise issues at diverse ends of the marketing spectrum, but provide timely and thoughtful information and advice.

Got a marketing problem that's been bugging you? Ask a BMA expert for his or her thoughts for a solution. Each month we present questions and answers that a broad spectrum of BMA members would find useful in their work.

Laurie Beasley, President, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.

"What impact would the new national anti-spam law pending before Congress have on the California email anti-spam law, SB 186?"

Among other things, the House-passed bill would preempt more than 35 state anti-spam laws, including California' s recently enacted spam bill (SB 186), which would otherwise take effect on January 1, 2004. In many ways, the national law will be fairer to email marketers and more punishing of spammers than many of the state laws.

Here are the provisions of the National Anti-Spam Law as of this publication date. (Keep in mind that it still may have some changes before it goes to President Bush for signature into law.)

The House's anti-spam bill would provide for criminal penalties for a variety of spammer tactics, including:

• Disguising the Internet addresses of their computers so they cannot be located.
• Using deceptive subject lines in messages.
• Not providing a warning label on unsolicited e-mail that contains pornographic content.

• Not making available to e-mail recipients a clear opportunity to remove themselves from future e-mailings.
• Not labeling all commercial e-mail as advertising in some fashion, though the bill would leave marketers free to choose how that labeling will occur.
• Not providing a physical address for the marketer in each e-mail.

• Harvests e-mail addresses from Web sites and sending spam to those e-addresses.
• Sending spam to millions of e-mail addresses that are randomly generated by special software programs.

The House bill — unlike the Senate bill — would not require prosecutors to demonstrate that spammers knew they were violating the law before they could be prosecuted.

For more information, attend the e-Marketing Roundtable, December 11 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am. We will discuss the implications of both of these laws and how they affect you as marketers. Please RSVP to Laurie Beasley by Tuesday, December 9 to lbeasley@beasleydirect.com, or go to: www.the-dma.org.

Donna Valentine, CMP, Vice President, Excel Meetings and Events

"What are the benefits of creating a strong visual identity for a meeting or event?"

Compelling content alone is no guarantee of attendance unless meeting information reaches the appropriate audience and captures its attention. A strong visual identity is a key element of the event marketing strategy because:

• It grabs attention, communicates your goals and meeting objectives, creates interest early in the event marketing cycle and builds attendance.
• It sets the tone and expectations for the meeting by reflecting the location ambience. It communicates that it is a relationship-building retreat in a mountain lodge or a reward-based incentive program at a beach resort.
• It reinforces your corporate brand to internal and external stakeholders.
• It reinforces your core messages, before, during and especially after the meeting. It gives your attendees a "take away" - an easily remembered image of what they learned and experienced during the meeting.
• Most importantly, a strong identity builds long-term relationship with your attendees for regularly held annual meetings, and creates anticipation for the next meeting.