This session will dive into key findings from DSA’s 2019 Growth & Outlook market-sizing survey. More specifically, this session will provide actionable insight into how we can better compete with ecommerce companies for sales and attract the new generations of direct sellers to the channel in an increasingly competitive labor market.

DSA Industry Research Committee members will bring the results to life by sharing insights and perspective on trends they’re seeing at their companies and in the industry.

In some companies, there’s a tension between marketing and communication teams. It shows up in the annual battle over budget allocations and in debates over who owns certain tools, such as social media and video.

To minimize this, some companies centralize their marketing and communication talent in one large mega-function. But if marketing takes the lead, that approach can delay the development of strong corporate, employee and investor communication capabilities.

Other companies take a decentralized approach and spread communication disciplines across the business – employee to HR, corporate to the CEO, etc. This allows each area to stand up on its own but makes it harder to integrate, align and operate efficiently. 

Then there are targeting and messaging challenges. Although the two disciplines tend to serve different stakeholder groups, they use similar tools and channels to communicate. Messages aimed at one audience segment can spill over to other segments, causing confusion or even conflict.

Instead of working at odds, how can marketing and communication co-exist and deliver the most business value? What’s the right operating model? When does collaboration matter most – and when is it superfluous? Who needs to “know” and who has the authority to say “no?”  

This session will explore the unique management, structural and operating approaches that leading direct selling companies use to ensure marketing and communication harmony and maximize impact. Presenters will explain how they have integrated communications across functions and geographies to make 1+1=3, or even more.  

This session will examine the question, “What are sophisticated ecommerce and gig companies doing to get and keep people that direct selling companies are not?”  The answer is personalization.

Participants will learn:

• How Amazon, Uber, Netflix and others use the same type of data direct selling companies already have to drive sales from customers, engagement from independent reps and greater retention from both.

• What top direct selling companies are doing to bring more personalized experiences to customers and distributors

• The results of a behavioral analysis of 15 million distributors and customers in 85 countries

• A deeper view into segmenting your field and customers

• How leveraging  these segments gives us the ability to create more personalized and effective

  • Training

  •  Events

  • Communications

  • Promotions

  • Retention strategies

Discover the hidden competitive advantage direct selling companies have, but few are using—an advantage with the potential to make direct selling one of the most competitive and attractive models in the world. 

Have you been wondering what the new social movements such as #metoo and Time's Up, as well as an increasing cultural focus on diversity and inclusion mean to you as a leader, to your company as a field-centric social seller, and to our industry as a whole? In this interactive forum, we will take a practical look at the compliance & legal aspects from both a field and employee perspective. We will also assess the opportunities that are essential in surviving, thriving and setting the pace for the sustainability of our business model by providing you with specific tools and guidelines to navigate these often difficult and controversial issues. The goal will be to leave you with tools that can bring more awareness, provide key information and create a fearless environment and culture that will positively impact your company and team’s financial and social bottom line.

By 2020, Gen Z will make up 40 percent of consumers and 36 percent of the workforce, and significant differences between Gen Z and Millennials are emerging. Is your company ready?

Hear from direct selling execs who have already begun having success as well as an outside expert (and a member of Gen Z) who has done extensive research on this generation.

As the labor market nears full employment and there are unprecedented part-time, flexible earnings opportunities, this panel will share actionable insights into appealing to Gen Z and setting your company up for long-term success.

The new Congress and state legislatures have been passing a wide variety of laws that will impact direct selling—independent contractor status, data security and tax collection have been at the top of the list among many legislative priorities. Join experts on the front line of these policy discussions, from the broad business community and retail and direct selling sectors, to find out how these issues could impact your business.

You’re doing everything right in social media marketing: you’ve got buy-in from bosses, a strategy for success and your ROI is all figured out.  But if you don’t have a brand voice, you’ll never get from mediocre to amazing. We all know that a social media voice gives a brand a chance to develop a personality and style all its own.  But what is your voice—is it hip, communal, playful, educational, sophisticated, fun, irreverent, inspirational, helpful or a million other adjectives? So how do you find your brand’s voice?

This session will explore:

• Culture – how your corporate culture’s hallmarks can be uniquely represented in social media

• Community – how your community communicates on social media and how to find the right social media tone

• Social Media Channel – how to change to a brand personality that is comfortable, conversational and relatable, and entices your audience to engage in a way that optimizes any social media platform

In 2018, 18 percent of respondents to a Perkins Cole survey said they expect the retail sector to see the most investment in augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) technology in the next 12 months, compared to just 7 percent in 2014.

Augmented Reality (AR) has become a powerful marketing and customer engagement tool. Consumers’ real-world experiences are enhanced by integrating digital information with their environment by imposing a graphic on a background using a device application that is triggered by a marker.

Join us for this session as we explore the use of technology in creating immersive experiences to increase consumer engagement with your product and brand. Topics of the session will include:

• History of AR

• AR in everyday life

• AR, Quick Response (QR) and VR: What’s the difference?

• Different uses of AR: Promotional, Informational, 3D Viewers, Contextual Information, Gaming

• What does the future hold for AR?

Every attendee is unique. So why would you plan a cookie cutter event? Attendees crave personalization. They want events that allow them to hear content that resonates, network with others who share similar interests,and create experiences they’ll never forget. Luckily, personalization is easier than ever. With technology, you can gather data and automate tasks to treat attendees as individuals at every stage of your event.

In today's world of two-way communications, technology has ignited stark changes in consumer preferences and behaviors. Gone are the Mad Men days when communicators had a captive audience of consumers eager to soak up our brand’s vision of the American Dream. 

Today’s consumer does not want to be sold to: they want to be engaged, educated and even entertained. To meet this new demand, brands are engaging with surrogates—third-party voices—to demonstrate that they are credible, respected, popular and worthy of consumers’ business.

This workshop will explore how to use third-party voices to enhance the trust and transparency that sharpen your competitive edge among consumers.  We will also delve into how to maximize the range of third-party voices—media coverage, endorsements and other recognition—can carry an enormous amount of clout and credibility.

The relationship between technology and strategy is inseparable from the role of creating meaningful solutions to business problems.  Today, technology is a central part of strategic thinking at all levels.  Learn valuable insights gained over decades of experience on both the corporate and supplier side of direct selling; including how to develop a roadmap for achieving strategic goals for recruiting, sales and operational efficiency.  When you leverage technology to execute your strategy, you create the ideal environment for profitability and growth. During this workshop, you will receive the three keys that will unlock a new level of success for your company and representatives.