eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Marketing in a Digital World - 6th Edition

Reviewed by Kathleen Ferris-Costa, Associate Professor, Bridgewater State University on 12/6/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Very well set up and easy to follow.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content was unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Content was up to date for a 2018 revision.

Clarity rating: 5

Content was clear and consistent with industry terminology.

Consistency rating: 5

Content was consistent with its use of terminology and setup.

Modularity rating: 5

The different sections were easy to follow and useful in setting up student reading assignments.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Conent was well organized.

Interface rating: 4

I suggest putting the references at the back of the book by chapter as opposed to the end of each section.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Would have like to have seen more information from a global perspective.

Comments

The book covers most of the relevant marketing principles. It was last updated in 2018 and is probably due for an update since the field of digital marketing is always evolving. I would suggest the addition of referencing current examples in class to provide relevant updates to students. As with other reviewers, I did find it lacking in the area of global marketing. I would also like to have seen a chapter on digital marketing ethics. Overall, a very good resource for a digital marketing course.

Reviewed by Reto Felix, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 11/25/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text is quite comprehensive and embraces important topics in eMarketing, including eCommerce, digital copywriting, digital advertising (search, online, social media), content marketing, social media platforms and strategies, video marketing, data analytics/KPIs, and SEO. In addition, the first six chapters of the book address more generic marketing and user experience (UX) topics, such as strategy (including SWOT and the marketing mix), customer behavior, market research, UX, and web development.
There are two topics that are currently missing and that I would have liked to see in the book: 1) A chapter on social media ethics (or “digital” ethics in general), and 2) an outline and sample for a social media marketing plan. However, I feel that instructors should be able to include these topics based on additional external sources.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Accuracy is high and the book provides rich detail without overwhelming the reader with technical jargon. Some textbooks tend to remain at times a bit superficial or generic, and this is certainly not the case for the current book. Overall, the author does a great job in presenting somewhat more complex issues in user-friendly ways.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I would argue that it lies in the nature of the topic that some of the more specific parts of a textbook on eMarketing/Social Media Marketing become outdated very quickly. This is indeed particularly visible for, e.g., search engine algorithms and social media platforms, which are in a constant flux. For example, the book does embrace the most important social media platforms in chapter 16 (including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest) and also comments on blogging and podcasts, but given that the last edition of the book was published in 2018, TikTok is indeed completely missing. Nevertheless, I would argue that the book is quite successful in presenting content that remains relevant for the reader and that integrating newer developments in eMarketing and social media into the course should be relatively easy for instructors, given the modular structure of the chapters and the sub-sections within each chapter.

Clarity rating: 5

In my assessment, the language used in this book is clear and concise, and it introduces important technical expressions without drifting towards overusing jargon.

Consistency rating: 5

I found the text to be very consistent and I did not see any contradictions within or between the different chapters in the book. In addition, the 21 chapters of the book are well balanced when it comes to word count/length, and they have a similar structure throughout.

Modularity rating: 5

Modularity between the chapters is very good (i.e., individual chapters can be easily used as independent building blocks in a course). Within each chapter, modularity is possibly a little bit more limited because it may be difficult to identify larger themes within each chapter. However, because the individual chapters are relatively short, I don’t feel that this is an issue for those instructors who only want to use parts of the book. I also feel that the current chapter structure allows instructors to rearrange them easily. For example, an instructor who would like to address SEO (currently chapter 8) more towards the end of a course or video marketing (currently chapter 19) more towards the beginning of a course should easily be able to do so.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I very much liked the organization of the text. The individual chapters are relatively short, and it is easy to navigate through them without getting lost. Sub-sections and individual paragraphs are also relatively short, which increases user-friendliness. Each chapter contains a decent number of figures (sometimes also photos), which enhances the reading experience. Each chapter contains at the beginning a table with key terms and concepts (including definitions), which is very helpful. There are some minor redundancies here and there between the different chapters, but nothing that would be problematic or disturbing.

Interface rating: 4

As indicated by other reviewers, the book comes as a pdf file with two pages of the book grouped on one landscape page of the pdf. This makes navigation even on larger screens not very user-friendly, and users trying to read the text on a smaller screen will most probably not have a satisfying user experience. It might be better in my opinion to use traditional portrait pages in the pdf, and (if possible) in addition offer a web-based version that could dynamically adjust the width of the text to the reader’s screen.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Similar to other reviewers, I did not see any grammar or spelling issues (however, I am not a native English speaker). I found the text to be concise and relatively easy to read.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

As indicated by other reviewers, the author of the book is from South Africa and at times some of the provided links refer back to a South African context. However, I would argue that the book is overall culturally neutral and should be meaningful in any cultural context. I did not see anything in the book that I would flag as culturally insensitive or offensive.

Comments

Contrary to “established” topics such as marketing management or services marketing, my perception is that it is still not easy to find high-quality textbooks on eMarketing and social media. The current book is in my opinion better than many commercially available textbooks from publishers such as Pearson, McGraw-Hill, or Cengage, and I am impressed by the work the author put into this content-rich and detailed book. Regarding the continuity of the textbook (which may be an important factor for instructors when deciding about adopting a textbook), personal email communication with the author/publisher (Red&Yellow) confirmed that the 7th edition is planned to be released in or about April of 2022.

Reviewed by Kashef Majid, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Mary Washington on 7/10/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book does a great job covering topics such as search engine optimization and analytics. I found that the section on advertising was quite good but would have liked to see a discussion of the ad server waterfall as well as header bidding. The concept and creation of header bidding has disrupted the traditional ad server waterfall and I felt that needed more inclusion.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

It was quite good except header bidding relating to online advertising was omitted.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Very practical and relevant. The inclusion of case studies as helpful as well as the images to walk you through some of the steps of advertising on Facebook and Google Analytics.

Clarity rating: 5

Very clear with additional links to further information and images that showed you how to do things step-by-step.

Consistency rating: 5

I could see no inconsistencies here.

Modularity rating: 5

Absolutely, the book does a great job dividing into relevant sections. It was very easy to follow.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Similar to modularity, very easy to follow. Progressed logically.

Interface rating: 5

No distortions that I could see.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I could not find any errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I'm not quite sure this section is relevant to this book.

Reviewed by Klara Karol, Instructor of Business Administration, Holyoke Community College on 6/29/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The content of the book is relevant and covers most marketing principles. One area I find missing is Global Marketing. Especially from e-marketing perspective it's important to cover the ever flattening global environment and its benefits and challenges. I like the structure Think, Create, Engage, Retain, Optimise. The Glossary is helpful too.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is accurate, however not absolutely up to date. E-Marketing is difficult to cover in a textbook with the speed of industry changes. There are almost daily changes and new features to social media accounts, changes to SEO and technology used in eficient e-marketing. So by it's nature at the time book is published information needs updates.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

As described in the point above, the relevance of this topic is very short lived, because of the very fast changes in e-marketing. Some topics like The Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Voice Marketing ( Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa) could be covered with more emphases, since that is the are of future growth and concentration.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is very well organized and clear. All used terms are well described on beginning of the chapter they are most relevant for and later reinforced throughout the text.

Consistency rating: 5

All the concepts explained and used throughout the book are consistently reinforced with relevant examples.

Modularity rating: 5

As mentioned above, I like the structure of the text: Think, Create, Engage, Retain, Optimise. Also the color coding for each chapter and clear numbering and font change for subchapters helps the reader to navigate around.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book's organization, structure and flow are very logical and are easy to follow. Each chapter defines the learning outcomes first, has introduction and continues with the definition of key concepts. Practical examples and case studies help reinforce the learning and comprehension. Most chapters end with summary, chapter questions and further reading. This is well organized text.

Interface rating: 3

The only modality I see is a PDF version, which isn't the most reader friendly. It can make it difficult to read on some smart devices. The links in the text are hyperlinked well and bring you to additional resources. All images and charts are displayed without problems, however can't be open as an independent object, that could be enlarged, copied or used in other way.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn't find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way, however I would like to see more global marketing examples.

Comments

No

Reviewed by Erica Elliott, Instructor of Digital Marketing, Grace College on 1/6/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Overall, a majority of the digital marketing fundamentals the text covers are still relevant today, and it includes an applicable Table of Contents, Glossary and Index. The text does do a good job of introducing the digital marketing concepts and tying their relationship to marketing principles and the importance of how they should integrate into a comprehensive marketing plan, and not stand in isolation.

However, since the last update to the text was done, there have been many changes in the digital space, which are either not covered or minimally discussed, such as Artificial Intelligence and its use in Programmatic Advertising and Chabot technology, social media advertising, visual search, and the growth of interactive “smart” devices like Siri, Google and Alexa.

Instructors will want to supplement this text with additional books, articles or guides to ensure updated information is presented to the students. While terminology and an examples are provided within the book, instructors should also be prepared to use other tools or assignments for students to get a better understanding through application of the material.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

From a fundamentals perspective, the main concepts covered in the text are still applicable and accurate, but as mentioned before, since it has been several years since the text has been updated, many of the supporting links, data points and examples are no longer valid or out of date.

When the material is covered in the classroom, it’s advised to make the students aware of the out of date information and be provided updated links or data to substantiate a concept or point.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

For the most part, the primary digital marketing concepts and marketing principles are relevant, and most of the terms are still used today. There are a few exceptions:
1. technology has advanced causing many additional opportunities and changes in the digital space
2. the authors of the e-textbook, Rob Stokes and the minds at Quirk, originate from South Africa, which could cause some of the content such as links and statistics to be irrelevant depending on which country the e-textbook is being used.

The text is written in such a way that it could be easily updated.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in such a way that someone that’s never had any experience in digital marketing could understand it on a fundamental level.

Consistency rating: 5

Terms and concepts used throughout the text are consistently used and reinforced.

Modularity rating: 5

The book does a nice job of grouping the main content ideas into individual chapters or sections. The structure of the book is easy to follow with the use of sections, sub-sections, type formatting (bold, font size), colors, reference boxes and callout boxes.

Sidebar callouts are used to cross-reference to other sections of the book that contain relevant, applicable material.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The flow of the content is logical. Each chapter includes an introduction and key terms and concept section at the beginning. This helps provide an overview of the content being presented in the chapter and summary of the terminology that’ll used. It provides a good reference for when going through the text. The case studies and supporting material at the end of each chapter provide a summary of the information presented in the chapter.

Interface rating: 3

The text was only available in PDF format. The pages are grouped to be a spread (two pages at time). The pages could not be viewed individually. The experience could vary depending on what type of device and software used to view the text. If reading it on a large monitor, it was easy to navigate and view each spread and read without limitations. However, when trying to read it on a smartphone or tablet, it made it much more difficult to read.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No major grammatical errors were found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text was not offensive in any manner.

Comments

NOTE: In 2016, Quirk was purchased by WPP and was changed to Mirum South Africa. The 6th edition of eMarketing - The Essential Guide To Marketing In A Digital World was released in 2018 written by Rob Stokes under Red & Yellow Creative School of Business (https://www.redandyellow.co.za/textbook/).

Reviewed by Ye Wang, Associate Professor, University of Missouri - Kansas City on 10/22/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The introduction does a great job of summarizing all aspects of digital advertising into four words (Think, Create, Engage, Optimize), and points out the key challenges (niche communities, influential media personalities, and fragmented attention).
I really appreciate that the book makes two things clear early on: 1) research always goes first, and 2) optimization (measuring) is required.
This book does not assume that all students have the basic knowledge of marketing/advertising. Thus, it includes not only all essentials of digital advertising, but also content about marketing planning in general. Thus, it helps students to see a bigger picture of marketing and where digital advertising fits in.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate. For example, SEO is a highly technical component of digital advertising. Chapter 9 does a great job of including all terms, aspects, and steps of doing SEO. This chapter also has a healthy amount of SEO in source codes, not too much, nor too little.
Chapter 18 and Chapter 19 about measurement reflect the current practices and future directions of optimizing and measuring website performance. Chapter 19 addresses A/B testing, and optimizing landing pages. All content is current and accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book is highly relevant to digital advertising. It covers digital advertising planning, various strategies, pricing models, optimization and measuring. Content marketing is an important topic that the book could emphasize a little bit more. For example, the book could address issues like internal and external communication based upon a publishing calendar, or other practices in the industry.

Clarity rating: 5

Each chapter has a case study that helps student to understand concepts. The writing is easy to understand. In particular, it does a great job of explaining some of the technical terms in analytics.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent in terms of the depth of knowledge in each chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

I have been teaching this course for 5 years without a textbook, but I can easily adapt the book to fit my syllabus.
Each chapter deals with a component. While there are inner connections, it is quite ease to modify the chapters to fit various teaching needs. For example, Chapter 2 is a great resource for writing situation analysis, and Chapter 3 is where one can find every important aspect of marketing research. As these chapters are comparatively independent to each other, I can easily direct my students to Chapter 2 for situation analysis as an assignment and point them to Chapter 3 if I want them to do marketing research.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of this book is outstanding. It is the best of its kind. It starts with basics of marketing/advertising planning, and gradually ease students in. This feature is particularly beneficial to accommodating students with various levels of knowledge.
The organization of the book also reflects insightful understanding of the process of digital advertising. Websites should be the base for other forms of digital communication. It is where transaction-oriented communication occurs, and it is the most important component of online presence. The book addresses not only content issues of websites but also navigation issues. SEO is briefly addressed in Chapter 7, and extensively explained in Chapter 9.

Interface rating: 5

High quality images and layout.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Includes a wide variety of cases.

Reviewed by Rick Olsen, Professor and Chair, University of North Carolina Wilmington on 5/21/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Very comprehensive and their shift from digital marketing to marketing in a digital world makes for a positive shift in framing the challenges the book addresses. There is a good blend of “tried and true” such as SWOT and updates such as adding “people” as a 5th P to the four Ps of marketing. Appendices that include the history of the internet are ideal as they do not clutter the text and distract from primary focus but can provide context, especially for younger students.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I was impressed with the thoroughness of the update and the details of each chapter. The sources cited are recent and that is important in this topic. I did not see a bias in any negative way, especially with regards to methodologies which can often be a source of bias.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The topic provides significant challenges for staying relevant. But, the focus on fundamental principles (think, create, engage, optimize) helps keep the shelf life long. In addition, they seem committed to updates. The examples were current but also significant enough and clear enough in the principles they were illustrating that they would have sufficient shelf life.

Clarity rating: 5

The writing is for the most part clear and crisp. The conceptual clarity was also strong. The only thing I see as potential for improvement is the discussion questions at the end of the chapter. They could do more to foster clarity for the reader. They are a bit uneven and overly general in a few of the chapters. The tables of key terms are wonderful for students new to the topic.

Consistency rating: 5

The overall model helps here and they are very consistent with tense and pulling through definitions and issues throughout. Concepts are used consistently throughout as well. For example, SMART goals is mentioned in the introductory chapter and then used in more detail in chapter 15. The formatting is also consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

The fact that they have an overarching model (think, create, engage, optimize) helps a lot here. There was not a lot of sophisticated engagement with digital media or required link outs to activities, etc. so in that sense the bar was low here, but it works well for what it is.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Some of the sections do feel a bit short. But, the breakouts for key quotes, statistics, diagrams, etc. work well. They break it up without feeling choppy or “busy.” Color coding of each segment of the model was a nice touch.

Interface rating: 5

The link outs to free resources in section 3.7 and throughout was a real plus. Index was comprehensive and accurate as far as I could tell.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Writing was very good. Clean, clear. No issues other than the occasional blip on my end from British spelling. But that of course is me as a US reader. I do not see it as an obstacle and overall it is a very well written text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Use of Nike and other examples kept it relevant. I would have actually enjoyed a bit wider range of examples and some NPO examples and controversy a bit more. I know that is risky but it also an inherent risk with marketing in a digital world.

Comments

For me the main strength of the text is the ability to go from zero to state of the market in one textbook. Very rare to cover that much ground that efficiently. On the (very minor) downside for me the two column format. On screen it required frequent toggling up and down as I got the bottom of the left column and then had to go up to the top of the right column. Small inconvenience though given the overall strength of the text.

Reviewed by Catherine Jai, Associate Professor, Texas Tech University on 3/27/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book provides a nice 4-step strategical framework (think, create, engage and optimize) to introduce digital marketing. Under each section, there are a list of closely related subtopics covered. It is comprehensive in the way that covers many basic concepts/terminologies that students need to know before they start to do digital marketing. In the 5th edition, a comprehensive glossary and index section are provided in section Viii and iX.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The author explained the concepts well and accurately. However, since the textbook was published in year 2013, many references or hyperlinks provided in the text may not be applicable. Instructors who plan to adopt the textbook may need to let students be aware of this issue or may need to modify/delete some expired hyperlinks from the book.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Digital marketing is a rapid changing field and it’s extremely difficult to keep up the pace with the industry. The content is highly relevant to the fundamental concepts about digital marketing. What I would suggest to an instructor who is considering adopting the book is using the concept framework and supplement with more recent e-commerce stats and case studies.

Clarity rating: 5

The author did explain the jargon and technical terminology fairly well. Even if students forget a certain word, with searchable pdf file format, it’s easy to locate the definitions.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is very consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The 4-step strategical framework and the corresponding subtitles make it easy to break the content into smaller modules. Instructors who adopt this textbook can easily pick and choose what topics they would like to include in their courses.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization/structure of this textbook is so far the best I have seen. The Think, Create, Engage and Optimize steps lead the students go through the necessary thought process of someone who wants to do digital marketing.

Interface rating: 4

The text doesn’t have much problem with image distortion, however, as mentioned earlier, many reference URL and interactive interface (e.g. p.472, the QR code for the GottaQuirk blog) were broken. The broken information may cause students lack of interest in the textbook or lose their trust towards the textbook. I was also hoping that the URL links would work too. Right now, in the 5th edition, you can only copy and paste the hyperlinks into a browser to see the content.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text is easy to understand and no obvious grammar errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Overall, the content is culturally neutral. The text was written in British English and some of the hyperlinks provided in the textbook were South African versions. The instructor may need to remove unnecessary URLs to reduce confusion.

Reviewed by Sayed Gilani, PhD researcher, Glasgow Caledonian University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I was very impressed with how comprehensive the book was in relation to small business management. Additionally, there is a big appendix in Chapter 16 which reviews ideas within the book.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

There were some minor mistakes in the book but overall the content was accurate. I would recommend a better approach towards proof reading in future editions.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I do not believe there is an expiration date for the content within the book as small businesses will always exist and this book is a guide to small business management. The authors have written the book with the approach that small business management is a practical human activity rather than a theoretical concept.

Clarity rating: 4

I believe the book has been written for all types of readers where all the concepts are straight forward to grasp. Additionally, the appendix at the end of the book aids the reader further through a mini-dictionary, especially, in the case of any jargon or technical terminology.

Consistency rating: 5

I believe the book keeps a consistent tone, writing style along with consistency in framework and terminology discussed in the book where there are no contradictions.

Modularity rating: 4

In terms of modularity, the text within the book is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sub-sections which can then be assigned to different points. There is an element of flexibility in the case of re-arranging the text to represent any other points.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I found the book's organisation, structure and flow very user friendly. There are plenty of paragraphs, smaller sentences along with logical arrangement of related topics.

Interface rating: 5

In terms of interface, I have had minimal to absolutely no issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

there were some errors within the text which can be addressed for future editions through maybe adding a bigger proof reading team to the pre-launch activity associated with the future editions.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I believe the book is very relevant in terms of culture where although the book is set in the USA, most concepts and ideas can be transferred over to the British society.

Comments

I found the book a comfortable read where I liked the author's approach in writing key words in bold within their discussion in order to highlight their points to the reader. This allowed me to remain on the same wavelength as the authors while reading the book.

Reviewed by Minh Huynh, Associate Professor, Southeastern Louisiana University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This textbook has an excellent coverage of the subject matter. It includes almost all aspects in e-marketing ranging from emarketing tactics to strategy as well as Web design, writing for the web, marketing research. It is good for giving students a broad introduction of emarketing. The index and glossary are good.

Unfortunately, the comprehensiveness makes it difficult to focus on certain areas where students seem to be more interested in. For instance, the social media and the mobile advertising are today's hot areas, but the textbook could not elevate these areas over others. Also, a lot of content in the book are aging. Given the comprehensive nature of this book, it will take author(s) much time and effort to remove the obsolete content, update the existing content, and include the new content.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

Although the content was accurate at the time of writing, it has been less accurate in the passage of time. The problem is that the subject of emarketing is like fast moving target. It is constantly changing. Things get old quickly and new things keep coming out. Therefore, what used to be accurate could become quickly obsolete or less accurate. For instance, statistics used were not longer accurate and tools/software mentioned no longer were used or did not exist in the present context. Looking at the references at the end of each chapter, most were around 2008. A lot of changes have taken place even in one year, let alone a decade.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

This is related to the comment #1 and #2. The relevance/longevity of this particular edition of the textbook is low. This is not the fault of the author(s). The content just need to be updated to bring relevance to the present context. The subject of emarketing tends to have short longevity.

Clarity rating: 4

The book did a good job in explaining and illustrating the concept, tactics, and real-world examples. The jagon/terminology was explained. There was no need for any technical or business background to understand the content.

Consistency rating: 4

The consistency is high.

Modularity rating: 4

Although the text already has some degree of modularity. In the later edition, the modularity is much better. For instance in the 4th edition published in 2011, the book was divided into four key modules: Think, Create, Engage, and Optimize. All the chapters fit well under each of the modules. Sections inside the chapters are well organized to support the chapters and the modules. With a high level of modularity, the text provides instructors leeway to pick and choose areas to cover and to emphasize.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Overall, the organization/structure/flow of this textbook is fair. However, the later edition has improved even more. The organization flows in a logical fashion and the content is linked by the key modules: Think, Create, Engage, and Optimize.

Interface rating: 3

The book is easy to read and follow. All the illustrations are well crafted. The use of color is quite good. However, to print the e-book is little more challenging. Due to the light color of some texts, while they look OK on the screen, some texts did not print out well on the paper. Also, there is NO mobile friendly version. PDF format lacks the responsiveness when it is read from a mobile device.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors, but one needs to be aware that it was written in British English.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The text tries to reach out to the global audience. It used examples and cases from different countries including Europe, S. Africa, and the U.S. Although this is a good attempt, in practice trying to reach global audience makes the text less cultural relevance to a specific country. For instance, when the text was adopted and used in the U.S., students seemed not to be able to appreciate or relate to tools/services/software from other countries. They never heard of companies or organizations that might be familiar to others. Perhaps, it could be the same case for students in other countries to appreciate when things related to U.S. were presented in the textbook. In this subject of emarketing, it is more difficult to be cultural relevance. I think therefore it might be better just to include country specific information rather than trying to reaching to many different countries.

Comments

Overall, the text is a good text for emarketing at the time of its writing (about 10 years ago). However, things have changed much since then. In order to be accurate, relevant, consistent, and informative, the text needs to be updated. Obsolete content needs to be removed. Old content needs to be updated. New content needs to be added.

My recommendation is not to adopt the existing edition of the text currently posted in the Open Textbook Library. If anyone likes the text, he/she should look for the newer edition of the same text. It has all the strengths of this text but with up-to-date information. More recent references, update links, relevant materials, and current and future trends are among the features in the newer edition of the text. I adopted and used the 4th Edition (published in 2011). Even this one is already aged. Unfortunately, the more recent edition is no longer free and open as the older edition.

Reviewed by Susan E. Bouchard, Adjunct Faculty, Rhode Island College on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This is a good base text for an introductory digital marketing course. It could be supplemented with current social media concepts and practices for third and fourth year students. It offers an overview of the structure of essential marketing concepts, with enough information to provide the context students need to have a thorough understanding of online marketing.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content was accurate, but the many of the references are dated.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Due to the rapid changes in digital marketing, I often turn to non-traditional books that are very current. One thing that those books lack is the structural overview that traditional textbooks provide. This textbook helps fill in those gaps and while many of the references are dated, such as examples from the 2008 presidential campaign, the overall concepts discussed add another dimension to a course.

Clarity rating: 5

This book introduces a lot of industry terminology that marketing students need to know. In a field filled with industry jargon, the author does an excellent job of explaining each term in very clear, concise language. This overview of terms and in-depth explanations is easily understood by students.

Consistency rating: 5

This textbook is well-written, clear and consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

Each chapter of the book has an introduction, content and references. This structure makes it easy to use the entire book or incorporate only the pieces that fit into a specific course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Each section flows logically from one to the next.

Interface rating: 4

Several of the links in the book no longer function, but overall most work and were both relevant and useful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

This reviewer observed no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This reviewer observed no culturally insensitive or offensive content.

Comments

I began incorporating sections of this textbook into my digital marketing courses this year. It is a very useful book and I recommend it. This text is a helpful addition to what we already have in place because it offers very concise explanations of a wide range of concepts. In this rapidly changing field, I think this text strikes a good balance by offering some theory along with relevant examples that are fairly up-to-date. This book is an excellent base text to work with while adding up-to-the moment content in the classroom.

Reviewed by Laura Lott Valenti, Instructor of Marketing, Nicholls State University on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text adequately addresses the major and minor details of e-marketing and in some cases provide a “how-to” section, allowing practitioners to use it as a reference. One area missing for the classroom is an international comparison of e-marketing use and success, which is helpful for both students in today’s marketplace and practitioners who may work in global organizations.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The examples used, case studies featured, screen shots illustrated, and figures presented are all seemingly accurate. The content is spot-on, and thoroughly presents a plethora of relevant information that comprise e-marketing. I am not sure the timeline in Chapter 1 reviews all key dates, though.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

There are good, relevant examples and content included here. The information ties marketing research concepts to e-marketing platforms nicely, and easily connects the intricacies of e-marketing to a bigger, holistic picture. There is relevancy for students and practitioners.

Clarity rating: 5

While some industry-specific terms and acronyms are used, they are clearly defined and written for both the eye and ear of a novice versus an expert. The conciseness of the concepts and their relevancy does not create shortcomings in clarity.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is clearly written with one voice, made obvious by the consistency in sentence structure, word choice, concept definition and application, and overall framework of the content.

Modularity rating: 5

With well-placed lists throughout the text, the reader can quickly find relevant points without being bogged down with unnecessary word-heavy paragraphs, making it easy for the text content to be used wholly or in parts. Key content is made obvious by sentence structure and overall layout. On the flip side, there are a lot of lists (though helpful).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The short chapters are an easy read, with some key features that add value for the reader. The paragraphs flow well, and the use of figures helps with visualization of content while also breaking the monotony of text. There could be more figures, and some of the present figures need dates or timeframes as a reference point. The “key takeaways” sections serve as a nice review (easy to incorporate into the classroom). The exercises are relevant, they stimulate critical thinking, and are practitioner-based.

Interface rating: 4

The text is easy to navigate and nicely labeled. Placing the references at the end of each chapter allows modularity of the content, but does require extra space before beginning the next chapter.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There were no grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

I did not find there to be any level of cultural insensitiveness in the text. As an additional chapter, it would be neat to compare e-marketing as it is known and used in America to other countries.

Comments

This book would be great for an intro to e-marketing class because of its thoroughness, or as a supplemental book for advertising or social media courses because the concise content can serve as a reference tool. Detailed and robust, it is an easy read with good “chunks” of up-to-date knowledge.

Reviewed by Michael Adams, Instructor, Chemeketa Community College on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text is very comprehensive, compared to two other emarketing texts that I have used. Emarketing is a fast moving subject area, so it is challenging to cover all of the emerging aspects of this topic. The author manages to do this in a way that allows the instructor to build on the author's conceptual framework as needed. The text is organized in a way that allows the instructor and students to self-determine how deep they wish to go into each topical chapter. There was no index in the PDF version of the text, which would have helped to demonstrate how comprehensive the text is.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no inaccuracies or biases in the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The fundamental concepts have long term relevance. The terminology and examples could use some updating. The text would benefit from an accompanying website that provides supplementary content to each chapter with newer material, e.g. the new expanded domain extensions such as .tech, .vin, etc. This could even be user-provided content, organized by the same chapter framework as the text.

Clarity rating: 5

The writing is clear, and provides extensive definitions and examples of any technical terms that were used. There was no glossary in the PDF version, which would have made it even clearer to understand.

Consistency rating: 4

All of the chapters are organized in the same, logical framework, so the student will find it easy to navigate from one chapter to another and within each chapter. The chapters and sub-chapter sections are all numbered in a logical sequence. However, there was no table of contents in the PDF version, with that same numbering scheme.

Modularity rating: 5

The modular structure was one of the best features of this text. Most of the chapters are written in a way that permits them to be used as stand-alone lessons, and taken in any order. It would be simple for the instructor (or students) to supplement the text with their own material or chapters. It would be interesting for the students to search for relevant videos, for example, to illustrate some of the concepts in the text.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organizational structure in each chapter moves from the general to the specific. I really like the sub-chapters with a single Learning Objective, each, and then Key Learnings at the end of the chapters. This reinforces the modular organization.

Interface rating: 5

The diagrams and images are all laid out in a professional manner, and all of the links that I tested worked fine. The colors, fonts and layout are also consistent from chapter to chapter.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammatical errors in the text. It is very well edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text culturally inclusive, and has no observable biases.

Comments

The author has a deep understanding of the subject matter, as well as clever approaches to explain it to students in bite-size portions. It is lengthy (almost 500 pages); but the modular structure makes it easy for the instructor to use just the chapters of interest. The PDF version really needs a "book cover" illustration, table of contents, including sub-chapter numbered headings; a glossary and an index. The promotion for the text indicates that these all exist; but I was unable to find them.
I highly recommend this text for courses in eMarketing. It is also a useful reference book for professionals working in this field.

Reviewed by Barb Dodd, Adjunct Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University on 12/5/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book offers an overall perspective of e-marketing. Although app development and current technology has impacted e-marketing the text provides perspective.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Although many of the links need updating (due to rapid change in the industry) there were no typos.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text could be updated with current links and new techniques, yet for undergraduates (especially digital natives) it is key to understand basic strategies. There are excellent charts and takeaways that are relevant. Picking and choosing what you need for a specific area (such as pay-per-click) make it useful.

Clarity rating: 5

Well written and easy to understand.

Consistency rating: 5

Terminology is consistent throughout the text; index, references and table of contents are all clear.

Modularity rating: 5

Using smaller parts of this book is feasible to supplement more current information online. It provides breadth not readily available in most blog/social media size snippets of information.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Flows well; good continuity. Major concepts are easy to understand and tie together in a logical order.

Interface rating: 5

PDF version worked well.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammar, spelling or errors in the writing.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Examples are broad and varied.

Comments

This book provides clear information regarding tactics, techniques and strategies used in electronic marketing. The examples are somewhat dated because the industry changes quickly--however, the concepts are the same. I would recommend this text.

Reviewed by Dave Seng, Adjunct Professor, University of Arizona on 6/10/15

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text covers all areas of emarketing. Very thorough, complete, and comprehensive.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no errors, seems to be unbiased and accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The author uses a lot of political data that will lose relevancy. Also, some material regarding web sites and marketing issues are dated. Other than that, the big overall concepts are still relevant and valid. Still, a very good text for undergraduates.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is free of complex jargon. Perfect for undergraduates. The writing is clear, thoughtful, and articulate.

Consistency rating: 5

The internal coherence of the book is very good. Consistent and clear.

Modularity rating: 5

I only use parts of this text for my class. I just use it to augment what we already have in place. One of the reasons I use this text is for the modularity. It is easy to use just the chapters you need.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The scaffolding is perfect for undergraduates. Key concepts are always defined and clarified.

Interface rating: 5

There are no problems with the books interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammar, syntax, spelling or mechanical issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is free of race, class, gender insensitivities.

Comments

I use this text to augment my digital commerce class. It works well when we come to discuss emarketing. It falls short of a stand alone text for my class because in addition to emarketing, we cover the creation and distribution of information and the social and political ramifications of the information economy. That said, this text is a fantastic book on emarketing and all the basics are covered and should make a very nice textbook of an undergrad emarketing class. The parts I've used are precise, clear, and concise. I have no problems with this text.