letterspacing (spacing between letters in words).
also called portfolio tracking, monitoring the performance of a portfolio, usually to analyze the extent to which its price movements conform or deviate from those of a benchmark. In an indexing strategy, it would be done by determining the standard deviation between the index and the portfolio designed to replicate it. There should be no deviation, so any significant dispersion would comprise a tracking error.
In general: monitoring a process or the results of an action.
Direct marketing: process involving post-promotion follow-up, consisting of tabulating and analyzing the performance of various elements of a promotion campaign. Tracking looks at four stages in the life cycle of a promotion: early response, response at the halfway point, final response, and long-term results. Early-response tracking involves flash-counts and weigh counts, which give a quick estimate of gross response. Response at the halfway point is measured in terms of both gross and net paid response to the promotion as a means of projecting the total expected response, so that budgets and subsequent promotions can be adjusted accordingly and so that production and fulfillment departments can be prepared for the total volume expected. The final analysis looks at net response in terms of the number of cash orders and paid credit orders that were sold without cancellation or returns, and determines the profitability of the campaign. The long-term analysis looks at long-term results, such as whether first-time buyers created by the promotion have made subsequent purchases from the marketer.
It is this ability to track and measure the results of a promotion that most differentiates direct marketing from advertising. The direct marketer knows, via key codes, who received which promotion and whether that individual ordered, paid, and/or ordered again. A limited amount of tracking is possible in advertising, such as monitoring changes in product sales volumes following an advertising campaign, but the advertiser is not able to clearly and definitely attribute those changes to the advertising campaign.
Advertising:
- making an audio recording (sound track), by moving a stylus along a track in a record.
- making a film recording (video track), by moving the camera along a straight path as on a track.
