Direct Marketing Industry Continues to Grow Globally

In an interesting article today from Business Wire, it is reported that the Direct Marketing industry continues to grow, year-over-year, at an accelerated pace (over 15% in 2005 -- still calculating actual numbers for 2006).

This news bodes well for all of us Direct Marketers -- and the even better news is that with the expanding customer acceptance of receiving direct marketing messages from different sources/channels, this upward trend will most definitely continue.

While telemarketing and direct mail still are the bread-and-butter for most direct marketing campaigns, this article reports that "there is increasing spend in the channels that are able to deliver much more detailed customer data, which allows for more highly targeted, highly responsive campaigns. Many organizations have also invested in customer relationship management (CRM) software applications, which allow them to collect more detailed customer information."

Finally, the article points out the focus on database and data-management solutions. Utilizing smart database marketing and customer data integration practices will allow companies to build very detailed customer databases -- and more effectively track their customer relationships. It is in these areas that direct marketing will continue to deliver the kind of return on investment that is needed in today's highly competitive economic environment.

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