Yesterday, I presented to the Direct Marketing Association at their B2B Marketing Conference on the subject of Return on Search Marketing Investment. I love talking to direct marketers, because they understand how to market on the Web, but they don’t know they do. When I show them how to take what they know and apply it to this new online world, watching the light bulbs go on is very gratifying.
Direct marketers frequently don’t know how much they know. They already understand the idea of measuring the response to every marketing tactic, how to experiment, and how to test. They get the concept of changing copy and images to increase response rates. They know how to sell without salespeople.
That’s what selling on the Web is all about.
Instead of being threatened by the Web, direct marketers should look at interactive marketing as the biggest direct marketing opportunity to ever come down the pike. If direct marketers are willing to learn the new ways of the Web, they’ll find they already know 80% of what’s required to become successful Web marketers.
