CMIS 549 - Fall 2019

Midterm Exam Study Guide by Jean-Philippe Harrisson-Boudreau

A. MIDTERM EXAM DESCRIPTION

The Midterm Exam is a test consisting of 5 to 10 multiple-choice questions, 10 true or false questions and 5 to 10 short
development answers. You will have 180 minutes to complete the exam. Please note that you will not have access to any
resources or references during the exam, except a non-scientific calculator. The exam is closed book and based on the
content areas listed below.

B. MIDTERM EXAM CONTENT: KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

● Content Area 1: The Marketing Funnel (RACE), D​igital Landscape & The Holiday Season
○ Understanding of the different buyer stages
○ Marketing mix VS Communication mix
○ Holiday best practices from a digital media perspective
○ Performance benchmarks (CPC, CPM, CTR, CVR, etc.)
● Content Area 2: Creative Direction, Advertising Budget & Digital Media Strategy
○ Unique value proposition (USP) & Advertising strategy process
○ Creative Direction (9 standards from Belch, advertising axis, big idea/tag line, and the source)
○ Advertising budgeting methods
○ Advertising media categories VS Advertising supports VS Traffic mediums VS Traffic sources
○ Paid media VS Organic media VS Earned media
○ Primary media VS Secondary medias
○ Setup of UTM parameters
● Content Area 3: Programmatic & Paid Social Media
○ Benefits & Hierarchy of formats (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest)
○ Programmatic/Real-time bidding definition, business model and benefits/pitfalls
○ Targeting/Audience options while doing paid social media
● Content Area 4: Earned Media and ePR
○ Blogger and influencer qualification best practices
○ Content digital lifecycle
○ Online PR fundamentals

● PLEASE NOTE THAT BOTH PAID SEARCH MARKETING (SEA) AND ORGANIC SEARCH (SEO)
WILL NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE MIDTERM EXAM

You can prepare for the exam by reviewing the following reference materials:
● Textbook chapter 7
● Lecture slides posted on MyCourses until October 10th, 2019

This table shows the content areas of the midterm exam and the approx. % of importance you can expect in each area:
1.The Marketing Funnel (RACE), Digital Landscape & The Holiday Season​ - 20%
2. Creative Direction, Advertising Budget & Digital Media Strategy ​- 30%
3. Programmatic & Paid Social Media ​- 30%
4. Earned Media and ePR​ - 20%

C. ​EXAMPLES​ OF QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHILE STUDYING

• Why it is so important to do strategy before tactics in digital media strategy?
• What is the "RACE Model"? Which ad formats and mediums/sources should be used at which stage?
• What is the relation between each stage of the "RACE Model"?
• Why the level of control of the brand is so important in Digital Media?
• How can you define the Marketing mix? The Communication mix?
• How can you define “Unique Selling Proposition”?
• How to avoid a poor brand positioning strategy? What is the very first step?
• How to build a successful Creative direction?
• What is the difference between the advertising axis, the big idea/tagline, and the source?
• Which advertising standards I should use when creating a digital ad?
• Which advertising budget method is appropriate/required? In which context?
• What is impacting media decisions? How to differentiate media and supports?
• Among case studies we have seen: what are the lesson learned and best practices to remember?
• When to use which ad formats? What are the targeting rules and criteria of each supports?
• What are the key differences between each type of social networks (conversational VS image VS knowledge)?
And between each social medias (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest)?
• What do the acronyms CLTV, CPC, CPM, CVR, ROAS and MOAS? How/Why they are used?
• What are the challenges with assisted conversions?
• What are UTM parameters? Why should we use it?
• How to define appropriate measures for traffic-building quantity and quality for digital media campaigns?
• What is the relevance of programmatic/real-time bidding advertising? Social media advertising? What are their
advantages and disadvantages?
• What is the specific business model of the programmatic and who decided to move forward with this?

D. REMINDER: LEARNING OUTCOMES AT ​THE END​ OF THE COURSE

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

- Demonstrate creativity in digital and align media efforts to a brand's DNA
- Monitor campaign performance and set UTM parameters
- Qualify bloggers & influencers
- Build traffic using several mediums
- Understand Search Engine Optimization essentials and define high-potential SEO battles - Create a digital
media plan and set accurate targets
- Optimize a digital media plan
- Build an eCommerce business plan scenario