The growth of digital marketing is the most important yet unpredictable trend in marketing today. How can the online world be harnessed by the companies of today and tomorrow to grow their marketing impact? What role do information and databases have to play in this system? And why do some non-digital means of direct marketing still remain so powerful? Alan Tapp's successful text has long been a leading authority on direct marketing, and for this fifth edition he is joined by Ian Whitten and Matthew Housden for the most up-to-date book yet. The authors all bring great expertise across direct, database and digital marketing to provide comprehensive, compelling coverage of the key theory and debates of the fields. The fifth edition includes comprehensive coverage of all recent developments in digital marketing, including analysis of the seemingly relentless rise of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media. It has a range of thoroughly updated case studies covering companies and organisations from sports teams to car manufacturers and non-profits and contains a new chapter on Data Protection legislation and its impact on marketers.

Social marketing is receiving unprecedented focus and support from government, the private sector and charities internationally. Social marketing attempts to educate people in the hope that they will make 'informed'(i.e. healthy) choices regarding diet, lifestyle and health related issues. The effective application of social marketing principles can be complex and controversial. Social marketing planning cannot be reduced to a simple set of actions on a checklist; there is no single strategy for success and strategies that have proved successful with one population may not transfer to other populations. This text will explore the complexities involved in researching, planning and implementing effective social marketing programmes, using illustrative cases from both successful and unsuccessful real-world programmes. The authors provide a critical analysis of the origins of social marketing as a concept and of the claims made by its supporters and detractors in order to highlight what social marketing can and cannot achieve. This is followed by a review of strategic issues that must be considered in developing social marketing programmes, including persuasion resistance, message relevance and message framing. Key themes included in the text are the impact of cultural factors on health-related behaviours, ethical issues and attitudes as a key factor underlying health-related behaviours. The authors introduce concepts, theories and strategies that will aid the development, testing and implementation of social marketing interventions. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of business and marketing and those studying modules in social marketing.