The challenge of marketing direct to the consumer is a conversation that often comes up a lot in media, especially in book publishing. The reality is that although it gets a lot of voice there are very few examples of it actually happening.

I have just finished reading a short book from Larry Dignan the editor in chief at ZDNet and thought the following extract was a very interesting insight.

“Direct Marketing isn’t glamorous. Chasing leads is difficult. And you need reach and a lot of information systems – that can talk to each other – to make it work. Direct marketing is really on big math question. Let’s face it: Media people suck at math. Direct marketing is also a big information technology problem. Guess what? Media people generally stink at technology too.” The Business of Media

I think that this is becoming more and more obvious with the need for people to be effective in marketing to have comprehensive understanding of SEO, SGO and CRM (search engine optimisation, Social Graph Optimisation, Customer relationship Management)