DM News, whose print edition is one of the world's leading marketing brands, and whose Web site, www.DMNews.com, is one of the Internet's leading marketing destinations, has reaffirmed its long-term market and mission and confirmed its commitment to remain DM News, The Newspaper of Direct, Database and Internet Marketing.
This rededication also calls for the reactivation of www.iMarketingNews.com later this year, in recognition of the expanded and integrated influence of all forms of online and Internet marketing, which have revolutionized the worlds of business, commerce, media and marketing.
According to DM News founder/CEO Adrian Courtenay, this move will enable DM News to preserve and revitalize the two related brands, whose markets and subject matter have become inextricably intertwined in recent years.
DM News, which celebrated its silver anniversary last year, has covered direct and database marketing since 1979, and the growth of Internet marketing since the mid-1990s. Its sister publication, iMarketing News, was launched in March 1999 as a monthly and upgraded to a weekly in 2000.
“We pulled back iMarketing News after the dot-com bust of 2000-2001, incorporating it into a weekly section of DM News,” said Courtenay. “But the underlying technology was revolutionary, and it continues to change the world in ways that were not foreseen even in the headiest days before the Internet financial bubble burst. When it returns, iMarketingNews.com will further enrich our coverage of the Internet's impact on business and commerce.”
Courtenay indicated that DM News will continue to provide the same timely, in-depth coverage of traditional DM channels and suppliers in the mailing, list management and brokerage fields and other services affiliated with direct mail, telemarketing, DRTV and insert marketing.
“It's all database and customer relationship marketing,” he said, “regardless of the marketing mix. These are concepts that were pioneered and developed in the traditional DM field, and they will only continue to be refined in tandem with the new technologies introduced by the Internet. But make no mistake about it. The Internet revolution is not a bunch of empty marketing slogans. It's technology-based and here to stay. This is the ultimate 'Revenge of the Nerds.' The readers of our print and online editions — be they direct, online or offline marketers — are all hungry for the new technology because they need to go where their customers are.
“One of the primary editorial missions, with the help of industry thought leaders, will be to describe and explain the new developments in search marketing, affiliate marketing and other forms of online advertising and e-commerce that are facilitating enhanced communications and relationships with customers.”
Courtenay pointed out that many Internet-related exhibitors at the recent Ad-tech conference in San Francisco made no secret of the fact that their technologies and services were direct marketing-related. One speaker, Safa Rashtchy of the research firm Piper Jaffray, predicted that the next big wave of search marketing users would indeed be direct marketers.
The DM trade press has been no less affected by the Internet than its readers and suppliers, said Courtenay, and must update its products and coverage to stay ahead of the curve. For this reason, he said, arrangements are being finalized and contracts are being signed for an extensive revamping of the DMNews.com and iMarketingNews.com sites to offer many of the latest online publishing services such as RSS feeds, blogs, webinars and niche-e-letters.
Last week, DM News announced that a magazine supplement called “The Direct Marketer's Essential Guide to Search Engine Marketing” will be published in its July 25 issue. A number of prominent search marketing experts have already signed on as editorial contributors, and major search suppliers have similarly signed on as advertisers, said Courtenay.
