3.5 Chapter Summary
Chapter three provides a comprehensive overview of the technological shifts in the world of golf, highlighting the significant impact of technology on various aspects of the sport. Technology has revolutionized golf, including digital connectivity, equipment advancements, swing analysis tools, course management innovations, live streaming, virtual reality, wearable tech, and environmental sustainability. It anticipates future developments that will redefine the golfing experience.
E-mail marketing is presented as a cost-effective CRM tool, emphasizing measurability and utilizing a customer’s inbox as a vital touch point. The chapter covers the historical context, types of e-mails, and commercial applications, underscoring the importance of strategic planning and evaluation.
The chapter also defined PPC advertising, highlighting its revolutionary impact on online advertising, particularly in search engine results. It introduces the concept of advertisers paying for each click on their ads and sets the stage for a deeper exploration of PPC’s significance in online marketing.
Review Questions
- Why is it important for permission to be gained before marketing by e-mail to a prospect?
- What are the parts of an e-mail? Why should all marketers follow this format? Why is unsubscribe functionality important? Can you guess what might happen if a marketer fails to include this feature?
- As discussed in the text, marketers avoid words like “free,” “buy now,” and “discount” in order to prevent being marked as spam. What words might a marketer use instead?
- E-mail list cleansing and hygiene is very important to any marketer. Review the reasons why it is important. What do you think would happen if list cleaning and hygiene techniques were not applied regularly?
- A lot of testing goes into an e-mail marketing campaign. Describe one situation where testing is important. Describe how testing would improve campaign results in that particular situation.
- What is meant by “mass customization,” and why is this so beneficial?
- E-mails that are expected and recognized are more likely to be read. How can a marketer use this knowledge to increase the readership of e-mails?
- What do you think might be happening if you have high click-through rates but low conversion rates?
- Why do you think it is important to test different factors in an e-mail? What knowledge does a marketer hope to gain?
- What is the difference between the display URL and the landing page URL, and what is the function of each?
- How is the content network different from the search network? How do the differences affect the advertiser?
- What is the importance of long-tail keywords in a PPC (pay-per-click) campaign?
- Following the examples above, give examples of when you’d use exact match and negative match. When is it OK to use broad match?
- Why do you think the CTR and conversion rate are lower on content PPC advertisements than on search PPC advertisements?
- What is the function of the display URL? Do you think that this is misleading to a searcher? Why do you think the display and the destination URL are different?
Key Terms
Click-through rate: Is expressed as a percentage; this refers to the total clicks on a link divided by the number of times that link was shown.
Content network: Refers to websites other than search engines displaying PPC advertisements.
Email Marketing: Is a form of direct marketing that utilizes electronic means to deliver commercial messages to an audience.
Long tail: The sum of the low-volume searches matches the high-volume searches.
Newsletters: E-mails that are sent to provide information and keep customers informed.
Open rate: The percentage of emails determined as opened out of the total number of emails sent.
Pay-per-click (PPC): Advertising system where the advertisers pay only for each click on their advertisements.
Promotional emails: Highlight any sales or promotions that a customer may be interested in.
Return on investment (ROI): The ratio of cost to profit.
Search network: Will include the search engine that owns the platform (Google for AdWords) and other search engines for which that platform provides paid results (e.g., currently, Ask.com uses the AdWords platform for paid results).
Transactional emails: This may include order confirmations, invoicing, or shipping notifications.
