Pitney Bowes, Inc. (PBI)

[Rich]

Marketers arrived with a sense of optimism at last week’s Direct Marketing Association’s DMA: 2011 Conference & Exhibition held in Boston. According to a survey conducted by Pitney Bowes Inc., 80 percent of 231 attendees polled said they anticipate that their marketing budgets will increase in 2012.

The response comes in a year that marketing overall held its own against the budget chopping block. According to a report released by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), marketers will spend $163 billion on direct marketing during 2011, a 5.6% increase compared with last year.

“Our customers are using customer communications management to drive revenue growth,” said Leslie Abi Karam, Executive Vice President of Pitney Bowes Inc. and a DMA board member. “Marketers today are investing in customer interactions by creating relevant personalized messages across digital and physical channels.”