The Future of Direct Marketing

Dean Rieck wrote a superb eye opening post entitled 3 predictions for the future of direct marketing that comments on the present state of affairs and future of the “direct marketing selling method.”

He sees direct marketing as so pervasive that everyone uses direct marketing whether they recognize it as such or not.

In an article I wrote for DMNews “Talent dilemmas in watered-down DM,” I commented on how this pervasiveness and the fact that today’s marketers are not well grounded in the direct marketing discipline have hampered its effectiveness.

Dean’s post has some interesting perspectives on its future.

My concern is whether direct marketing and its various key strategies such as testing, sales analysis and offer development are well enough understood by marketing practitioners to leverage its true potential.