Impact of New Media on Database Marketing: Supersonic Energy

According to Spiller and Baier (2005, p 15) direct marketing contributes $2T to the U.S. economy and the industry employs 16.1 M people. They note that direct marketing is interactive, measurable, as well as response and database driven. MarketingCharts (see MarketingCharts ) reports that the Direct Marketing industry has experienced growth in the 18 quarters prior to first quarter 2008.

Direct marketing is the largest share of marketing services (see Share)


and Marketing Services is the largest segment of the media industry:


Business is changing its relationship with marketing. Spiller and Baier (2005, p 13) note that traditional advertising is largely unaccountable. Weber (2007, pp 115-116) notes there is a convergence between what management wants and what marketing can deliver with new media.

Additionally, direct marketing with the new media is addressable, interactive, dynamically customizable and contextual. Contextual means that corporate buyers will know how a customer came to them and have a basis for predicting where the customer is in the buying/subscribing/joining process. Database analytical services present context so marketers can “predict future behavior and use promotional strategies that will not only drive prospects to their web sites but also engage them in meaningful and ongoing transactions once there.” John Naisbit (see Spiller and Baier, 2005, p 13) says we are drowning in information but have little knowledge. Direct marketers are getting knowledge from database analytical services to customize messages to the buyer.

Larson (see FreeLibrary) says that more analytics are available with new database technology, and this enables marketers to refine their prospect list for customized messages more suitable to the specific publics being reached. Two other technology changes that have favored direct marketing according to Spiller and Baier (2005, p 16, 13) are in printing and the Internet. The powerful, low cost printing on PCs today as well as computerized type on large scale presses has initiated a “demassification” of print so that direct marketers can print sophisticated newsletters, brochures, and sales materials quickly and at low cost. The Internet is a ubiquitous medium for interactive, one-to-one communications from direct marketing to customers, ranging from email, to Web sites, to cell phones through SMS gateways, and a myriad of other creative approaches.

In summary, the growth of direct marketing is enhanced by high-tech such as New Media, and data mining. Goldstein (2006, p 16) concludes that high-tech is changing the nature of marketing, by enabling more targeted and values driven approaches that favor direct marketing.

“Brand and messaging strategies will become more targeted and values-driven. And to compete, companies will create their own direct channels to reach stakeholders with internet broadcasting, e-mail and other direct marketing techniques. Companies will establish their own databases of shareholders and customers willing to defend the firm.”



References
Goldstein, Stuart (2006). Fast forward: Future trends in corporate communication.
Strategic Communication Management. Retrieved from EBSCOHOST on August 18, 2008.

Larson, Boo (2008 ). How Direct is It? Osborn & Barr Communications, Kansas City, MO. COPYRIGHT 2008 Doane Information Service.

Spiller, Lisa and Martin Baier (2005). Contemporary Direct Marketing. Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

Weber, Larry (2007). Marketing to the Social Web. John Wiley.