Do you ever hear a new marketing buzzword and head straight to Google to look up what it means? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Marketing is full of acronyms, initialisms and straight-up jargon. If you run any kind of business, it’s well worth getting on top of the basics.
Well, we’ve done the hard work for you and put together definitions for some of the marketing world’s most popular jargon. Save this blog as your standby jargon buster!
Algorithm
We get this term from programming, which gets it from maths. For our purposes, it’s how certain websites rank content. For instance, Google has an algorithm to determine how websites rank for a given search. All the social media platforms have algorithms to determine who will see your posts. It’s worth learning at least the basics of the algorithms for any site you post on, to make sure your content isn’t getting lost!
B2B (Business-to-business)
This refers to commerce, trade or transactions between businesses. In essence, this is businesses selling to other businesses. In any marketing, it’s essential to know your audience. So, if you’re doing B2B marketing, you have to bear that in mind!
B2C (Business-to-consumer)
In contrast, B2C is where businesses sell to consumers (so, non-businesses).
Blog
Blogs are long-form written content hosted on your site. You can use them to try to rank for certain keywords, share news, entertain your audience, inform them … What’s important is to post regularly. Google will rank websites higher if they’re regularly updated.
Bounce rate
This is when a visitor goes to your website and only views one page. The easiest way to calculate your bounce rate is to divide the number of one-page visits by the total number of people that visit your website.
Clickbait
Clickbait is a strategy used to attract the attention of an audience so that they click on a link to a website. This could be achieved by using snappy headlines, thumbnails or images. BuzzFeed is a pioneer of this, but you’ll see it everywhere from newspapers to YouTube videos. You don’t want to overdo the clickbait with your titles, but it can be effective when called for!
CTR (Click-through rate)
CTR is the number of clicks you get on an ad, divided by how many times your ad is shown. How many times your ad is shown is also referred to as ‘impressions’. So, it’s: clicks ÷ impressions = CTR. CTR is a great tool for analysing the quality of your ads and to determine which listings are successful.
CRO (Conversion rate optimisation)
CRO is the practice of increasing the percentage of users who perform a desired action (also known as a conversion – more on that later) on a website or app. An example of this would be a ‘sign up now’ button that follows the user as they scroll up and down a web page.
CTA (Call to action)
A CTA functions as an instruction for readers or users. Typically, these are used at the end of the content and prompt your audience to act. An example would be “sign up here”. Your CTAs should always be as clear as possible.
CPC (Cost per click)
In simple terms, CPC refers to the cost each time someone clicks on an ad. Also referred to as PPC (pay per click), it’s a bidding model where advertisers will pay a cost to a publisher for every click. As an equation: total ad cost ÷ clicks received = CPC.
Conversion
Remember the role of a CTA? Well, a conversion is when your audience follows your prompt and takes the desired action.
Inbound marketing
This is the process of putting out content with the goal of drawing people to your product or website. A lot of proactive marketing strategies fall under this including blogs, email newsletters, and social media.
In-market audience
Imagine Google rounded up audiences that have been searching for a product like yours, which then allowed you to target potential customers with an intent to buy. This is described as an in-market audience.
Landing page
This is the web page, often called “destination page”, that a user is directed to when they click on a specific link. Links can be given to an audience via email marketing, search engines or social media.
Outbound marketing
In contrast to inbound marketing, outbound marketing focuses on getting people to look at your product by reaching out to audiences and customers directly. Two examples would be cold-calling or in-person contact.
SEO (Search engine optimization)
A heavily used marketing term, SEO is the process of raising a website’s ranking in search engine results. This can be achieved by using relevant keywords, sub-headings, titles, and detailed URL’s. If you’d like more on SEO, we’ve got a useful article here.
USP (Unique selling point)
A USP is something about your product that makes it unique and stand out. Your USP separates you from your competitors in the market.
UX (User experience)
This one’s quite self-explanatory. UX is a term used to describe the overall end-user experience and interaction with a company’s product or service, often with a focus on website. Customers need an easy to navigate website with an overall positive experience. Want to learn more about UX? Click here.
Lead generation
Lead generation is simply attracting, or converting people, to your business or product. Ultimately, the goal is to generate potential sales lead or future clients. Examples of lead generation strategies include social media and email marketing.
Organic reach
This is used to describe an audience who have seen your content or website without the prompt from paid distribution, such as an ad.
Sales funnel
A sales funnel is a series of steps a consumer, user or reader takes along the sales process. This is the path consumers take from being a perspective sales prospects right through to becoming a purchaser.
Target market
This term describes a group of people or audiences with a specific demographic that you are trying to target as potential customers. Deciding on your target audience will help you create engaging and focused content. If you’re wondering how to decide your target audience, we have some pointers here.
Thought leadership
Is content generated by someone with an expertise or authority in a specific field or industry. It can be a great strategy to help strengthen your brands reputation and position yourself as an industry expert. Thought leadership pieces give back over time, increasing exposure, audiences, and new leads.
User-generated content
We know brands put out all different types of content. But sometimes, this content will be created by users themselves. Do you remember when Coca-Cola put names on their bottles? A good example of user-generated content was when customers took to social media to share images of themselves with these bottles.
Final thoughts
And it doesn’t stop there. There’s a whole bunch of marketing terminology we didn’t get to cover in this article, and as digital marketing continues to evolve, more jargon will creep in. Getting familiar with the most used buzzwords can help you market your business successfully and keep you up to date with industry trends.