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Most DM practitioners have witnessed the first green shoots of recovery, but, it seems, there is a long way to go before they will be gathering in the harvest. Chris Whitson warns that nay sign of complacency and the upturn could potentially hold a nasty sting.

As the past few days in politics have shown, no one can afford to rest on their laurels; and the same could easily be said for the direct marketing industry.
The latest IPA Bellwether Report is a case in point. While it made reassuring reading for most of the advertising world, by suggesting that optimism is creeping back into the nation’s marketing departments, it is far from a done deal.

To be fair, this optimism seems to match the anecdotal feeling across the direct marketing community that is all very busy at the moment. New business in particular seems to be significantly increased on last year. All this optimism though must be tempered with a tingle of concern because, whilst the report showed DM to be in a good position at the start of 2010, many marketing directors believe their DM budgets will decrease as the year progresses.

Understandably the increases optimism has led some marketers to think more about a return to main media channels and disciplines and the early indicators are that, to finance it, direct budgets will suffer.

It is crucial then for those in direct marketing to promote the role they should play in a recovering economy and post digital landscape. We have all spent the last few years honing the new skills required for the new media environment.

Indeed, all the agencies represented on the IPA DM Group talk specifically about how the work they are doing for their clients and the specialist resources they have to call upon is dramatically different to what it was even two years ago.
DM agencies, then, are well placed to advise their clients on everything from social media, mobile and information architecture, but, importantly, they can do it with a deeper understanding of managing customer behaviour and creating sustainable relationships.

In a year where numerous specialists are cropping up to meet the need clients have for these new and perhaps scary media channels it is crucial for DM agencies to prove their ability and focus on the importance of their discipline.
If we don’t, we may lose the best opportunity we’ve had for sometime to change the perception of direct marketing forever, as one of a modern communications discipline.

Chris Whitson is head of the IPA’s DM Group and planning partner of Stephen Francis Whitson (part of VCCP partnership)