A conceptual definition of direct marketing

Abstract

The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of Gene Laczniak and two anonymous reviewers, along with commenfs and suggestions from Connie Bauer s graduate direct marketing students ABSTRACTThe purpose of this article is to inspire critical thinking about what constitutes direct marketing. To accomplish this, we discuss problems with the prevailing current definition and present a new conceptual definition of direct marketing. This definition distinguishes direct marketing from direct mail, direct response advertising alone, direct selling, and consumer goods telemarketing.

Direct marketing in the UK: Trials and tribulations

“…36 This point is also discussed by Bauer and Miglautsch, who state that 'the definer's own subjective view is also flawed by the influence of their working environment, tending to taint the definition'. 37 Roberts and Berger state that:…”

Direct marketing: Passages, definitions, and Déjà vu

“…Although many authors cite the DMA definition, it is unacceptable to many direct marketers. Several examples of their alternative definitions are listed and characterized in Tables 1 and 2 (5,7,11,17,24,25). These tables show widespread disagreement about the components of a good definition of direct marketing; some authors limit their definitions to direct mail, others include telephone marketing, and still others include advertising and database usage.…”

“…Other definers, such as Kobs (17 in ref. 31) and Bauer and Miglautsch (5), offered definitions that reflected their agendas for the domain of direct marketing and thus ignored one or more aspects for a good definition of direct marketing (e.g., telephone). Table 2 profiles the characteristics of selected definitions of direct marketing.…”

“…However, by easing communication among direct marketers, a new definition should lead to improved practice and theory. By establishing the domain of direct marketing, a new definition could: 1) contribute to the professional image of direct marketing among consumers and business people; and 2) delineate the areas of research and teaching that can affect the development of direct marketing ( 5 ) .…”

Bank managers’ direct marketing dilemmas – customers’ attitudes and purchase intention

“…Rosenfield (1998) suggests that the obsession with nomenclature is a sign of both insecurity and dissatisfaction, describing definitions of direct marketing as a Pandora's box of terminologies. For those interested in the debate about what direct marketing is, what it could be and what it should be, see for example, Bauer and Miglautsch (1992) and Schofield (1995). We do not enter into this debate as no definition would be acceptable to all, and providing a penultimate definition is not the aim of this paper.…”