Direct marketing in the UK: Trials and tribulations
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Shena Mitchell is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at The University of Portsmouth. She specialises in teaching Marketing Communications and Marketing Research at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She is a research active member of staff, presently finishing her PhD and has published numerous papers in the area of direct marketing and consumer privacy. Shena also works as a marketing consultant for The University of Portsmouth Enterprise Limited and as an external examiner for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine critically what constitutes direct marketing. The term direct marketing has variously been defined as a marketing strategy, a subset of relationship marketing, a communications technique and/or a distribution technique. It is not, therefore, surprising that these conflicting views have generated some confusion. The paper aims to examine the need for a definition, discuss some of the issues and terminology that create uncertainty, thus providing a framework that at least highlights, if not explains, some of the weaknesses identified within the literature.
NEED FOR DEFINITION Academics agree that there is a need for a definition of direct marketing.1–6 Schultz states that ‘to us, the definition of direct marketing is very important. It defines what we are and what we are doing’.7 He continues: ‘The definition of a field and discipline is important. If we are going to study direct marketing, we need to clearly define direct marketing . . . to the researcher, definitions are important. And they will likely become more important in the future’.
Shena Mitchell Marketing Lecturer, University of Portsmouth, Dept of Business and Management, Locksway Road, Milton, Southsea, PO4 8JF. Tel: 023 92844204; Fax: 023 92844319; e-mail: [email protected]
It would indeed be difficult to address various direct marketing issues such as trends, privacy, intrusion, data control, the environment and accuracy, without a precise definition of what direct marketing actually means. Schultz makes the following point: ‘Let’s start by defining what we mean by direct marketing and database marketing, relationship
䉷 Henry Stewart Publications 1350-2328 (2000)
Vol. 8, 1, 17–27
marketing and all the other terms and buzz words which are creeping into our vocabulary. If we don’t I fear that what you are talking about when you say direct marketing may have absolutely no relationship to what I consider direct marketing. And for an academic discipline, that is the worst of all possible worlds.’
Bauer and Miglautsch also discuss the importance of a theoretical, conceptual or operational definition, stating that: ‘There are several reasons why a direct marketing definition is important. First, the definition of a business area contributes to the professional image among the consumer and the business sectors. Second, the definition of a business area is used to delineate the area of academic purposes of research and teaching, diagnostic applied research purposes, and for identi
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