Test Your Marketing I.Q. Get up-to-speed fast on these 10 critical marketing facts and trends by taking our quick quiz, then reading the answers and in-depth explanations provided by our marketing expert.

Would you consider yourself a marketing pro? How up to date areyou on the most important marketing trends? We've got a fastway for you to test your knowledge. Take our short, 10-questionquiz to discover the information you need to keep your companyahead of the pack.

Questions
1. Choose the advertising medium that influences the mostlocal purchase decisions:

A. Local newspapers
B. Local online ads
C. Local television
D. Local radio

2. This new advertising medium is the nation's secondfastest growing (after the internet), is highly effective,extremely low cost, and is available in virtually every city andtown. Is it:

A. Cable television
B. Ads in supermarkets
C. Cinema advertising
D. Ads on taxi tops

3. Multicultural marketing offers lucrative new productniches to entrepreneurs nationwide. Which minority or ethnic grouphas the greatest buying power, spends almost twice as much as thegeneral population on clothing and accessories and tends to makebuying decisions based on brand rather than price?

A. Hispanics
B. Blacks
C. Asian Americans
D. Arab Americans

4. Many entrepreneurs send permission-based e-mailmarketing messages to in-house lists. When it comes to thismarketing method, which of these is on the decline?

A. Conversion rates
B. Orders per e-mail
C. Open rates
D. Bounce rates

5. Which of the following best describes cable TVadvertising:

A. Production can cost between $500 and $1,200 per spot.
B. It reaches narrowly defined audiences within special-interestprogramming.
C. Time is sold by geographic zone.
D. All of the above

6. Which direct-response medium has the highest averageresponse rate?

A. Dimensional mail
B. Catalogs
C. E-mail
D. Flat direct mail

7. Blogs are hot, and many offer superior advertisingopportunities for entrepreneurs. Which of the following bestdescribes the characteristics of the majority of blog readers?

A. Significantly likely to live in wealthier households
B. Younger than the average internet user
C. More likely to buy products or services online
D. All of the above

8. When placing a print ad campaign, the term"frequency" applies to what?

A. The number of times your ad runs
B. How often you change ads
C. The number of times your target audience sees your ads
D. The number of different publications that carry yourads

9. What percentage of consumers regularly or occasionallygo online to conduct research before making an in-storepurchase?

A. 40 percent
B. 25 percent
C. 75 percent
D. None of the above

10. Ads on stadium snack-packs, posters in publicrestrooms and campus laundry rooms, advertising on golf coursehospitality carts, and ads on the scoreboards of public tenniscourts and swimming pools are all examples of:

A. Ambient marketing
B. Place-based advertising
C. Outdoor advertising
D. Viral marketing

Answers

1. B
Local online ads persuade shoppers more than ads in other forms ofmedia. That's the conclusion of a study released in April 2005by the Dieringer Research Group. According to the report, HowConsumers Use Media to Make Local Purchase Decisions, localonline shoppers reported that the internet influenced at leastseven of their purchases in the fourth quarter of 2004, whilenewspapers were an influential factor for just 3.5 purchases andlocal TV ads affected only 2 buying decisions. Although televisionand radio are considered informative, two out of three onlineshoppers specifically research local stores and servicesonline.

2. C
Advertising on movie screens is now available to entrepreneurs inmost communities nationwide. A study published in April 2005 thatwas conducted by TNS and sponsored by Screenvision found thatmoviegoers who saw in-theater ads were 44 percent more likely toremember them than consumers who saw ads for the same products orservices on television. The two predominant sales units for cinemaadvertising are Screenvision and National CineMedia, and rates arebased on a weekly cost-per-screen for advertising slides that aredisplayed during the pre-show. If your local theater has 10screens, you may pay as little as $25 weekly per screen ($1,000dollars per month) to reach all moviegoers who see every movie inthat theater.

3. A
According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the Universityof Georgia, Hispanic buying power is projected to reach $778billion this year. And the Hispanic Opinion Tracker, a studypublished by People en Espanol in July 2005, revealed thatHispanics index high for the usage of beauty products and are majorconsumers of clothing and accessories. The report states that"56 percent of Hispanics love to shop vs. 39 percent of thegeneral population." Entrepreneurs targeting the Hispanicmarket should focus on branding efforts, as Hispanic women areloyal to brands they know and trust, even if they cost a bitmore.

4. C
Open rates have declined over just one year ago, according to datareleased in mid-September by ad serving company DoubleClick. Openrates in the second three months of the year dropped to 27.5percent, down from 36 percent in the second quarter of 2004. Muchof this decline may be due to new image-blocking measures put inplace by e-mail clients and ISPs, which prevent e-mails from beingread. The good news is conversions and orders per e-mail are up(about 28 percent and 18 percent respectively), makingpermission-based e-mail marketing a smart, effective tactic.

5. D
Advertising on cable television is newly accessible and affordable,thanks to major companies such as Comcast, which serves areas fromLos Angeles to Miami and offers low-cost production for localadvertisers through its Comcast Spotlight division. The advantageof cable TV advertising is that you can select programmingthat's of special interest to your unique target audience. Fromgardening and auto maintenance to history programming, viewers whoare engaged in the shows they're watching are more likely toremember your spot. And advertising is available in zones, allowingyou to reach just a part of a single metro area or severalcities.

6. A
The Direct Marketing Association's 2004 Response RateReport studied data on how 1,406 campaigns from 25 industriesused 12 different media. Dimensional mail (typically in a box ortube) averaged a higher overall response rate than flat directmail, pulling a 5.49 percent response rate compared to flatmail's 2.73 percent. The catalog industry average was 2.45percent, and e-mail had an average response rate of just 1.12percent, although its low cost made it index among the highest forreturn on investment. Entrepreneurs targeting highly qualified,small B2B audiences can successfully use dimensional mail to costeffectively get past screeners and make a strong impression on keydecision makers.

7. D
Behaviors of the Blogosphere, a study by comScore Networksreleased in August 2005, revealed 50 million U.S. internet usersvisited blog sites in the first quarter of the year. These visitorswere 11 percent more likely than the average internet user to haveincomes of $75,000 or more, 30 percent more likely to live inhouseholds where the head is 18 to 34 years old, and 30 percentmore likely to buy products or services online. In fact, the reportshowed the average blog visitor who shopped online spentapproximately 6 percent more than the average online buyer.Together, these characteristics make blog readers an attractivetarget audience.

8. C
Novice media buyers often erroneously believe that frequency is thenumber of times a single ad runs. Instead, it's the number oftimes your unique target audience is expected to actually see yourad. For example, most of a magazine's subscribers won't seeevery page of every issue. That's why it's essential toadvertise more than once to achieve a frequency of one--even ifyou're using a full-page ad--and continue advertising withsufficient frequency for your message to penetrate.

9. C
In the Consumer Intentions and Actions survey released inMarch 2005 by BIGresearch, seventy-five percent of consumers saidthey conduct online research before buying off-line. So ifyou're a brick-and-mortar retailer with an online presence,this underscores the need to make the shopping experience customershave on your website mirror the positive experiences they enjoy inyour store. If you sell solely online, it's essential tocapture and hold the interest of shoppers by providing in-depthinformation, on-site search, product photos, online customerservice and multiple payment options. Incentives such as freeshipping also work to ensure shoppers complete their purchases onyour site.

10. B
Place-based media, or what the industry calls "alternativeout-of-home," goes anywhere and everywhere consumers do. Thebest place-based media venues reach your prospects when they'rein a position to buy what you sell or are in the right frame ofmind to be receptive to your message. You can reach exercisers atthe gym, businesspeople on their way to work or pet owners--byacquiring naming rights--on the local hiking trail. The options forplace-based media are almost limitless.

How Did You Score?
Nine or more correct: Congratulations! You're amarketing expert.
Six to eight correct: Your marketing knowledge is a bitrusty. Time to brush up.
Five or fewer correct: You may be a marketing novice, soread and learn all you can.