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Unscientific surveys tell us that less than ten percent of U.S. retailers do any form of direct marketing.
When the European Direct Marketing Association (EDMA) held its annual meeting in Brussels this year, they set aside a special session dealing with "Retail Direct Mail." They had an expert to address the group and lead the discussion. More than 20 men and women attended. But not one of them was a retailer!
Those that came, direct marketing professionals, wanted to find out what was new, different and exciting in retail direct mail. But no retailers showed up! The discussion went on as scheduled however and the group agreed that "retailers have much to gain from direct mail," that "there is a growing awareness of the importance of relationship marketing," and that "mass communications instruments are becoming less effective."
Do you get the feeling the people being-spoken-to were absent? It's like talking to the church members about those that skipped the meeting? Wondering what could be done to convince retailers there really is something to be gained from "retail direct marketing."
Deja vu: I wrote an article for this magazine in 1964 about a successful direct mail campaign we did for our store. The editor called and said, "That's an exciting story....