Like the Talking Heads, as the DM industry counts down to the year 2000, you may indeed be wondering how we got here. But while “What have we done?” is an important question, what are and what will we be doing are two better ones.
As Dec. 31 edges closer, DIRECT thought it would be appropriate to take a once in a lifetime – well, our lifetimes anyway – wnd of the century look at the current porfile of the direct marketing industry, both from within and without.
We begin with Thom Weidlich’s take on how the tech-savvy new breed of Web DMers interacts with the old guard. Jonathan Boornstein then addresses the question of whether this new-attitude style of marketing deserves a new name as well. How to keep good people at your company – new, old or otherwise – is at the heart of Kris Oser’s article on retention marketing.
Meanwhile, we know DM is a good thing. But does the rest of the world? Beth Negus looks at the state of the mainstream media’s coverage of DM, while Ray Schultz offers some classic comments on the business. And in a piece on focus groups, Joan Throckmorton shows how to find out what your customers really think.
Our special section concludes with a roundup of merger and acquisition activity by Richard H. Levey, and Katie Muldoon’s primer on how to critique your online presence – a specialty of the new school of direct marketing.
Without a doubt, direct marketing is definitely not “same as it ever was.”
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