ABSTRACT
Direct marketing means selling or promoting straight to the customer, without the intervention of an intermediary such as a retailer, wholesaler or sales agent. For large parts of the publishing industry and the general trade in particular, direct communication with its customers is both relatively recent and has been hard won. Direct selling to customers for specialist and professional titles therefore grew in sophistication and the associated expertise and in particular information management techniques began pollinating the rest of the industry. Effective direct marketing requires the same precision of thinking and clarity as for other disciplines of marketing, and can play a key part in setting the standards for an organisation’s overall marketing activities. Modern direct marketing typically comprises a strategically planned campaign, made up of multiple individual campaign elements that work together to create the desired sales outcome. Customer databases, or customer relationship management systems, make deep personalisation of direct mail possible.
