DM News recently published its 2009 Essential Guide to Lists, Database Marketing, and Data Services in which the feature story proclaims 2009 to be the year of integration. The article says:
"When Merkle CEO David Williams looks back at 2008, he sees something positive among all the relatively dismal economic news: the acceleration of database marketing's evolution. "The wind was at many [database marketers'] backs for a decade," he says. "Now, they're saying to themselves, 'If the economic climate or the consumer climate is going to get difficult, I'm going to have to be more innovative, I'm going to have to be more effective.'"
"Integration, Williams believes, is the key concept surrounding all of these ongoing efforts. Generally, integration has long been the goal of direct marketing, but to improve cost-effectiveness and ensure results, Williams and other experts say database sector firms must also integrate their services to improve cost-effectiveness and ensure continued strong results."
Integration across channels has been happening. Another form of integration is now emerging — integration among marketing service providers. Different service providers working closely together to deliver a seamless solution to marketers.
NextMark is currently working with service bureau partners to bridge the gap between data cards and data and to accelerate and improve list rental fulfillment. The long list of benefits includes easy access to data intelligence and quick access to list data.
And we we are working to realize the vision for a Direct Marketing Operating System that integrates all the marketing service providers needed to carry out a campaign.
Seems like we picked a good year to be focusing on integration!