Have you ever visited a web site and wondered what the company was thinking when they created it? Or perhaps you've visited a web site and thought it was fantastic.What made you think either or both of these things? The title of Chapter 4 is "Marketing on the Web".In this chapter, marketing strategies that relate to web sites are covered. Related topics such as search engines and domain name selection are included in this chapter.The assignment will require you to apply the material in the chapter.
1. Select a retail store with which you are familiar that has a Web site on which it sells products or services similar to those it sells in its physical retail stores. Explore the Web site and examine it carefully for features that indicate the level of service it provides. Using your experience in the physical store and your review of the Web site, write an evaluation of the company's touchpoint consistency using the first four stages of the 5 stage customer loyalty model. Be sure to explain where there are similarities and differences in the touchpoints of the two modes (web site and physical retail store.)Use a table or chart if that helps!
2. In the same web site as question 1, discuss if the company is using a product-based or customer-based marketing strategy.Explain your answer.
3. Explain how CRM analysts might use the information contained in a data warehouse to increase their company's online sales.Be sure to include a specific example.
4. Select a topic you are interested in knowing more about.You can pick any topic.Answer the following questions:
a. What was your topic and what search engine did you use?
b. Take a screen shot of the results of your search and include it in your homework.
c. Examine the top 3-5 links (actually click on them and examine them).
i.Why do you think those links are at the top of the search?
ii.Are there any in the top that surprised you?
iii.Discuss any banner, pop-up, pop-behind, interstitial, or rich media ads, etc. you encountered.
iv.If you did or did not encounter any of the above on these sites, in general, how do these make you feel?Why do you think they are used?
d. Use another browser and perform the same search.What search engine did you use?
e. Include a screen shot of those results.
f. Write a few sentencescomparing the results of the two search engines and explain the two results - why do you think they were similar/different?
5. Consider your own business....
a. Choose a business that you would like to own and write a short description of that business, including the business name, the products or services it would sell, and the types of customers the business would have.
B. Use BuyDomains.com or a similar online service to search for suitable domain names for the Web site for your business and to get an idea of the cost of those names. Evaluate at least three specific names to determine whether the cost of the name would be worth its benefits for your business. Be specific in what you discovered.
C. Explain how you would go about using a viral campaign for your business.
6. Read Case C1. Oxfam on pages 197-199.
a. Oxfam used its existing opt-in e-mail list only for this campaign; it did not purchase 9or borrow from other charitable organizations) any additional e-mail addresses. Explain at least two advantages and at least two disadvantages of acquiring other e-mail addresses for a campaign of this nature.
b. For this campaign, Oxfam chose to use e-mails that contained HTML, audio, and video elements rather than using plain-text e-mails.List at least two advantages and at least two disadvantages of using formats other than plain-text in this type of e-mail campaign.Be sure to identify any specific trade-offs that Oxfam faced in deciding not to use plain-text e-mail.