Three important factors are having an impact on the growth of direct marketing in the U.K.: price, service, and time.
Colin Lloyd, chief executive of the U.K. Direct Marketing Association, told a gathering of U.S. DMers here yesterday that as many markets hit price thresholds, they look to DM as a way to build the business.
“Price has never been a more serious concerns than it is now,” he said, noting that the concept of service follows close behind.
The U.S., he said, “is a definite service culture. I’m always concerned that the British culture doesn’t embrace it” as well as it should. U.K. DMers “need to learn not only the technology of service but the psychology as well.”
Consumers’ lack of time and information overload is the third factor affecting DM, said Lloyd, noting that relationship marketing (“the number one issue for marketing directors in Great Britain”) is the way to address that dilemma. He cited the bank First Direct as a leader toward that goal.
DM’s penetration into the U.K. ad marketplace is at an all-time high, Lloyd said. Ninety percent of all U.K. newspaper advertising has a DM mechanism, as does 13% of all magazine ads, 24% of all television commercials, and 40% of all radio spots. Plus, Web addresses appear in 21% of all U.K. advertisements.
But while the Web is starting to thrive, direct mail continues to grow, he said, noting it will no doubt be helped by the recent second class one-cent postal rate decrease.
The International DM Fair began yesterday in London and concludes today.
Network
