Direct Marketing

A brief history

The term direct marketing is believed to have been first used in 1967 in a speech by Lester Wunderman, who pioneered direct marketing techniques with brands such as American Express and Columbia Records.

The practice of mail order selling (direct marketing via mail) essentially began in the U.S. upon invention of the typewriter in 1867. The first modern mail-order catalog was produced by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872.

Direct marketing's history in Europe can be traced to the 15th century. Upon Gutenberg's invention of movable type, the first trade catalogs from printer-publishers appeared sometime around 1450.

Definition

Direct marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it attempts to send its messages directly to prostomers, without the use of intervening media. This involves commercial communication (direct mail, e-mail, telemarketing) with prostomers or businesses, usually unsolicited. The second characteristic is that it is focused on driving a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable responses from prostomers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium. If the communication asks the prostomers to take a specific action, then the effort is considered to be direct response advertising.

A lot has changed since those good old days and PCS-Advantage has kept up with and helped pioneer some of the changes we see and use today. Saying this PCS-Advantage is now looking into the future with products such as onlinereply and complete multi channel connectivity using todays technolgies fused together with the traditional methods.


Call 01905 455556 to find out more about the future of Direct Marketing today.