The Direct Marketing Association’s Quarterly Business Review report projected direct marketing growth in all segments of the economy in the third quarter, but slower growth for firms with annual sales below $5 million.
Following lower projections in the second quarter, growth expectations have risen for the third quarter, according to Peter A. Johnson, director of the strategic information unit of the DMA. Overall the consumer products and services segment has outpaced the business-to-business segment.
Firms with sales between $5 million and $999 million are generally doing well with meeting internal forecasts. Firms with sales greater than $1 billion have apparently been overly conservative with internal forecasts and will likely exceed projections, according to the DMA.
The top marketing expenditures for most companies involve new customer acquisition and the Internet, followed by e-mail, database segmentation and statistical modeling.
