I just got back from the International Direct Marketing Fair in London, where I had the chance to talk with some of the best direct marketing minds in the UK and the world as well, as well as catch up on all the latest direct marketing news, developements, products and trends.

While there was a lot to see and many great people to talk with, I was somewhat dissapointed as a direct marketers and as an internet marketer as well, especially from the content point of view.

Internet Marketing Is Officially Mainstream

If anyone isn't convinced of this yet, hearing just a few sessions from the Fair would convince them. All the sessions clearly demonstrated that internet marketing has already become mainstream and is being included in practically all marketing campaigns, mostly as a direct response vehicle.

What's especially surprising is that most companies are really doing a great job of integrating the internet with their traditional marketing campaigns and are finally starting to move some serious budget online.

RSS and Blogs Don't Exist?

While there was no shortage of internet marketing sessions, there was no mention of RSS or blogs in any of them. Very sad considering that 2005 has been dubbed as the year of RSS and blogs.

Does this mean that the speakers themselves haven't started using RSS yet or that the UK marketing industry as a whole hasn't discovered this channel yet?

The greatest surprise was that the speakers I did ask about RSS (even those that were speaking about search engine marketing, for which RSS is a real blessing) only demonstrated acknowledgement of the channel, but no real understanding of its marketing potential and were more or less oblivious on the subject.

A wake-up call to the direct marketing industry is definetly needed here: yes, RSS is a great direct response and customer management channel, which might prove even more effective than e-mail in due course. And yes, if you're in search engine marketing, you need RSS to achieve best results. Knowing that RSS exists is not enough, it's time to start using it.

On the other hand, this is a great opportunity for marketing agencies that are willing to embrace this channel and start integrating it in their clients' campaigns.

On a more positive note: one SEM speaker actually did know a little bit more about RSS and they are actually using it for their SEM campaigns. Kudos to them:)

Pay-Per-Click is Huge!

If UK internet marketers seem oblivious about RSS that certainly doesn't go for Pay-Per-Click search engine campaigns. The IDMF demonstrated that "search" has become a mainstream advertising/direct marketing tool, which is swiftly taking budget away from most other internet marketing tools, as well as traditional media.

Everyone is doing it and it seems the providers really got their game right.

How About Split-Testing?

Split-testing (as well as in-depth web site visitor clicktracks analysis) is another topic that wasn't on the menu and wasn't mentioned even once, which again is very sad for a direct marketing event, even worse than not talking about RSS and blogs.

Isn't anyone doing it?

It's All About the List

The age-old direct marketing adage "it's all in the list" couldn't be more true or more evident at the IDMF. Actually, the Fair could easily be called the "List Brokerage Direct Marketing Fair", as there was an abundance of list providers, consultants, analysts and so on.

You can practically get a list for any target audience you want to reach, segmented and targeted directly for your needs. And the "list people" certainly seem to know what they're doing.

You can buy or rent lists ranging from various vertical markets to specialized lists that cover "recent house movers" (those with known names and those that are still "annonymous") and surpression lists containing people that recently died, and so on.

Where's DRTV?

There was absolutely no talk about DRTV (Direct Response Television Advertising), which I do find somewhat strange, since this is one of the key direct marketing channels.

Is this something that doesn't interest UK direct marketers, as opposed to the US, or is it just something that other conferences cover?

Digital Print

The second "theme of the evening", next to list brokerage, was digital print, taking about 1/5 of the showing floor. These people can now print out personalized mailings at about 54.000 copies per hour, and really offer some interesting creative solutions as well.

With the low costs involved, there's now no excuse for not personalizing your direct mail campaings.

Nothing Much New

In the end, my prevailing feeling about the Fair is that there really wasn't anything new, but mostly summaries of what we already know, especially in terms of internet marketing.

But still, the people were great, and I'm looking forward to going there again.

Hopefully I'll get some time this week to give you some details on the more interesting sessions I listened to.