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"If there weren't a show like Technology for Marketing, you would have to invent one to fill the gap," says Terry Hiles, the managing director of address management company Capscan. The event, which now covers technology for customer relationship management (CRM), database marketing, marketing analytics, customer contact solutions, email, web and mobile marketing, will return to Olympia in February and looks set to continue the growth it has experienced since its launch in 2001. The inaugural show had 86 exhibitors and 2,746 visitors. Last year's boasted 146 exhibitors and 4,091 visitors.

Simon Mills, the event's director, offers this explanation for its success: "Over the past six years, technology has become more important to marketers and they now realise it. We might even have been ahead of our time in 2001 but the market has now caught up and we have successfully developed a reputation as the best place for marketers to find out about the technology that can help them do their jobs better."

Delegates at last year's show claimed to have a combined technology budget of about £750 million, while 46 per cent said they were actively researching a technology purchase at the time of the event. It is figures like this that will bring more than 200 exhibitors to TFM 2006 and the organisers are expecting more than 4,000 visitors.

Paul Crabtree, the marketing director at digital marketing agency Adestra, says: "People should visit the event if they use email marketing in their role. Eight of the main email marketing players will be exhibiting, giving attendees the opportunity to browse the best email marketing systems available, talk to suppliers about their individual needs and influence the next generation of email marketing systems. They will also be able to pick up nuggets of best practice that may help them improve their promotions."

It is not only email marketers who can reap these benefits. Louis Halpern, the chief executive of integrated agency Halpern Cowan, says: "Spend on traditional media is declining but increasing on digital media. TFM is the UK's only dedicated event for both marketing and CRM-related technologies and is therefore very important."

Among those who have already signed up to the show are household brands such as Vodafone, Microsoft and Sage. The Chartered Institute of Marketing will also be there, as will many publications and agencies specialising in this field. However, most of the exhibitors are specialist marketing technology companies.

Dun & Bradstreet, for instance, will be showcasing Market Insight, its marketing analytics programme designed to help marketers understand and use the intelligence contained inside their customer and prospect databases.

D&B says it enables marketers to assess the size of new markets, get the best from their sales forces, plan their key accounts and find their best prospects.

Elsewhere, MapInfo will be demonstrating its analytics solution, which focuses on site location, modelling, profiling and segmentation. The product's promised benefits include customer retention, increased sales, reduced costs and a sharper focus on the most profitable locations.

Design UK, a digital agency that works for Butlins, the RAC, TK Maxx, Diesel and Hackett, will show visitors its content management suite, Lava.

This, the company claims, will give direct marketers a better understanding of how to make their customers more valuable.

Chris Cuffe, the managing director of data solutions provider helpIT, comments: "Keeping data current and free of errors is a challenge facing all companies and is crucial to daily decision-making and long-term success.

We'll be demonstrating our self-serve data cleansing and data enhancement products. Visitors will be able to see at first hand how matchIT uses fuzzy matching to identify duplication, enhance addresses, append datasets, suppress against leading suppression files and mailsort in a single process."

Many of the exhibitors will be using the occasion to launch products.

Adestra will release the latest edition of its Message Focus email marketing system, which will now include tools for easier contact database manipulation, better pre-send email checking, advanced spam reporting and dynamic reporting elements.

Capscan will launch its pay-per-search International Addressing ASP service.

This promises to be an affordable international address, data capture and validation service for low- to medium-volume users, who will only pay for what they use.

Marketing management solutions provider TimeAct will be launching its latest product, TimeAct Client. Peter Smith, the managing director of TimeAct, says: "According to industry research, up to 40 per cent of marketing budgets are eaten up unproductively.

This workflow management system combines direct marketing, PR, analyst relations, events and advertising into a single solution and can cut inefficiency by more than 25 per cent. By enabling online collaboration with agencies and real-time reporting, TimeAct Client reduces admin, streamlines business processes and simplifies supplier and financial management."

Bringing technology to life

Despite all this, the exhibitors' stands are not the main reason why many people attend TFM. The event boasts a large number of other features, most designed to bring technology to life. Mills explains: "It's important that we show how the technology on display can be implemented as practical solutions. This is why, a couple of years ago, we started running free seminars at TFM. This year there will be an expanded Learning Zone with 48 free, 30-minute seminars in four dedicated theatres on the showroom floor."

There will also be keynote speeches on each of the two days. Drayton Bird, chairman of the Drayton Bird Partnership, will talk on the first day about how technology can bring value and impetus to DM campaigns, but only when used correctly. On the second day, Professor Angus Jenkinson, founder member of the Institute of Direct Marketing, chief executive of Stepping Stones Consultancy and director of the Centre for Integrated Marketing at the University of Luton Business School, will talk about using technology to drive profits through "moments of truth".

Marketing software provider Aprimo will be sponsoring the VIP lounge, where senior buyers and top management can make use of the business facilities and network while enjoying some high-quality catering. Other visitors will have access to the internet cafe, sponsored by smartFOCUS, where they can make contact with their offices, check their emails or just relax over coffee.

At a time when many shows are struggling to attract exhibitors and visitors, the industry seems to agree that TFM is worth a visit. "The role of the exhibition is dying," says Guy Tweedale, the managing director of Saratoga Systems, a CRM software vendor. "But TFM remains well supported because you don't see exhibitors standing around twiddling their thumbs. We have been as visitors in the past and have been impressed by how the organisers have structured it so that visitors and exhibitors interact. This is what's persuaded us to exhibit this time around."

An event with the right focus

Adestra's Crabtree adds: "At present, there are too many marketing shows in the UK. Each of them has to offer me the chance to meet people with a need, interest and budget, to evaluate our products against competitors, and to piggyback effectively on the show's promotion. The key to an event's success is focus. I want to reach focused audiences of decision-makers and do not want to spend my day filtering off-target prospects. TFM manages to do this well."

Yet there is room for improvement. Crabtree would like less of an emphasis on free seminars, which attract junior staff, and more effort put into attracting senior decision-makers, perhaps with round-table sessions where they could brainstorm tricky issues. Ray Jones, PR manager at the Chartered Institute of Marketing says: "Although we get a good return on our investment in TFM, I think it could be made even more interesting if a structured networking session for exhibitors and visitors was organised as a part of the event itself, not for an extra cost."

Overall, however, this year's event promises to be as successful as previous shows and a great way for direct marketers to meet colleagues, find out about new technologies and learn more about implementing them. Andrew Yates, the senior vice-president EMEA and Asia Pacific at Aprimo, says: "We are exhibiting at TFM for the first time this year because a number of our customers have suggested it to us. Many marketers consider it to be the must-attend event of the first half of 2006."

Yates believes marketers' jobs are getting tougher as they come under increasing pressure from boards to demonstrate a return on marketing activity.

They also face a complex marketing environment as the number of communications channels increases and target audiences become more discerning. He concludes: "They owe it to themselves to visit shows such as TFM to keep abreast of the tools that can help give them an edge in this more demanding marketing setting."

TECHNOLOGY FOR MARKETING 2006: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Date 7-8 February.

Venue National Hall, Olympia, London.

Registration Tickets are free if purchased in advance or cost £20 on the door. To book advance tickets, visit www.t-f-m.co.uk or call (0870) 429 4652 to request a postal registration form.

Opening times 10am-5pm on both days.

How to get there

By London Underground: Kensington Olympia Tube station on the District Line is situated adjacent to the venue.

By bus: From Hammersmith Road, take the numbers 9, 10, 27 or 28. From Holland Road, take the 49. From North End Road, take the 391. For the latest travel information, call London Transport on (020) 7222 1234.

By rail: Kensington Olympia mainline station has regular direct services to and from Clapham Junction, Watford Junction, Brighton, Gatwick Airport, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Rugby.

By car: Olympia is located on Hammersmith Road, the A315.

On-site parking is available for up to 630 vehicles and there are several car parks within walking distance of the venue. Visit www.eco.co.uk for more details.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

The Learning Zone is a series of 48 half-hour seminars, held in four theatres: Database Marketing and Marketing Analytics; Clickstream Technologies; Email, Mobile and Web Marketing; and Sage CRM. Each theatre will host six seminars a day on topics such as e-CRM, search engine optimisation and mobile marketing.

The Institute of Direct Marketing is sponsoring the fourth theatre for the first time and each of the 12 lectures there will be presented by an IDM-affiliated expert. For example, on day one Mark Cripps of Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel will demonstrate a series of techniques to retain and reward consumers for their continued online participation.

On day two, Lee Chadwick of CommuniGator Software will talk about minimising invalid addresses.

IDM members attending these seminars will be able to count them towards their Continuous Professional Development points. Places are limited and allocated on a first come, first served basis.