Direct Marketing Growing in Importance

Direct marketing is a broad term that encompasses any marketing activities that use some type of offer intended to motivate a prospect to take action. In other words, it's your lead generation programs: email, direct mail, telemarketing, infomercials, statement inserts, and anything else you do to get people to call you, visit your website, register for a webinar, or even place an order.

According to the Direct Marketing Association's annual survey (as published in Target Marketing Magazine), direct marketing expenditures in 2007 will account for 50.4% of total advertising spend in the U.S. Here's where the direct marketing dollars will be spent:

• Telemarketing: 26.4%
• Direct Mail (non catalog): 19.9%
• Direct TV: 12.9%
• Catalog Direct Mail: 12%
• Non-email internet marketing: 11.2%
• Direct Newspaper: 7.4%
• Direct Magazine: 5%
• Direct Radio: 2.9%
• Other 1.6%
• Inserts: 0.5%
• Commercial email: 0.3%

Other research and my own experience with a variety of clients indicate that, for the business-to-business marketer, telemarketing (actually, teleprospecting), direct mail and email continue to be the most powerful combination of lead generation activities.