Direct mail may still be the most dominant form of Direct Marketing, but things are definitely changing. Recent technological developments are giving marketers more and more opportunities to get their message directly to their audience. In years to come both mobile marketing and social networking may be the most effective forms of Direct Marketing, but right now the biggest rival to the DM pack is undoubtedly email marketing.

More and more email clients are turning images off by default, as a privacy protection measure. Recipients have to click to allow images to be viewed. 

When designing an email, we should start with the lowest common denominator, by assuming that the user is unable to view any image content, or might not bother to turn them on at all.

The rise of social media is creating an exciting inbound marketing channel that serves as an excellent compliment to outbound email marketing efforts.  Marketers who allocate the time and resources to integrate programs can drive revenue while creating positive customer experiences.