History of Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing.

Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that is unique in its expectation for a response from individual prospects. Direct marketing is used to solicit sales, establish new customer relationships and to receive feedback. Telemarketing and direct mail are two common media used for direct marketing, according to BusinessDictionary.com. Companies also use other traditional media (television, radio, magazines, newspapers) and electronic mail (email) is growing in prominence among direct marketers.

Mail-Order Shopping

The Encyclopedia of Business (2nd edition) at Referenceforbusiness.com points out a common misconception that direct marketing is synonymous with mail order and direct mail. While direct mail is a pervasive medium for direct marketing, its emphasis in the early history of interactive marketing is why people make that false assumption. Mail-order shopping and direct mail grew immensely in the 1880s with emerging catalogs like Montgomery Ward, and Sears' distribution of fliers. However, the Encyclopedia of Business notes that garden and seed catalogs existed in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War.

L.L. Bean

A next major milestone in direct marketing came when Freeport, Maine's L.L. Bean started his mail-order business in 1913. The company currently operates several stores in the New England area but generates much of its $1.4 billion-plus business from catalog customers. Currently an outdoor recreation retailer, Bean originated with a "single-sheet flier advertising his Maine hunting boots," according to the Encyclopedia of Business. Bean later emerged as an innovator in the use of "satisfaction guaranteed" in its sales and grew immensely in the 1990s and early 2000s through growth in customer acquisitions through database technology.

Credit Cards

One of the single most important business and modern innovations in history, credit cards emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, coinciding with what the Encyclopedia of Business calls the development of direct marketing as a marketing function in the 1970s. Direct marketing was actually used to market and sell credit card acceptance to customers who would in turn, use the cards to make purchases of products sold through direct marketing campaigns.

21st Century

In 2010, direct marketing remains a popular format for marketers who desire the ability to receive immediate responses from consumers, according to BusinessLink.gov. Direct mail and telemarketing remain popular media for direct marketing, but growth in e-commerce on the web and email marketing have cause growth in electronic direct marketing. Companies are establishing online relationships with customers and tracking those relationships through automated database software programs. This enables collection of customer data, history tracking, and more target sales and marketing efforts to specific customers.

References

• Business Dictionary: Direct Marketing Definition
• Encyclopedia of Business (2nd ed.): Direct Marketing
• L.L. Bean: Company Information
• Business Link: Why Use Direct Marketing?