Marketing Terms You Need to Know

If you’re marketing online, it’s imperative that you master the language of marketing in order to maximize your results.

That’s right – knowing the language of marketing can actually increase your income. For example, if you don’t know what A/B testing is, then you’re not doing it. And if you’re not testing, I can almost guarantee you are losing sales that rightfully should be yours.

Just like any other profession or business, there is a learning curve. And part of that education is mastering the terms and concepts you need to succeed.

 

Here is a handy lexicon of marketing terms you should know:

A/B Testing

Testing two versions of a webpage, email subject line, landing page, CTA, etc. to see which one performs better.

Analytics

Tracking data and creating meaningful patterns from it that inform future marketing endeavors. The data can come from website traffic, conversions, social media, etc.

Backlink

An incoming hyperlink from one web page to another website.

Bounce Rate

Website — The number of people who land on a page of your website and leave without clicking on anything before moving away from your site.

Email — In email marketing bounce rate refers to the percentage of email addresses in your subscriber list that didn't receive your message because it was returned by a recipient mail server.

Buyer Persona

A summary of your ideal buyer, based on market research, data, and hypothesis. The representation helps marketers define their ideal audience and it helps salespeople determine lead quality.

Call to Action

An instruction located on a web page, social post, article, whitepaper, or infographic that’s designed to prompt a user to take a specific action that aligns with a company's long-term goal.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

This number shows the people that move through your website or marketing campaigns. It’s actually the “clicks” or actions prospects take, divided by the total number of actions people could take. Hence, the name “clickthrough rate.”

Content Management System (CMS)

The software on which a website or blog is built to manage its content.

Content Marketing

A strategic approach to marketing that's focused on consistently creating and distributing high-quality, valuable content to attract, engage, and convert a specific audience and drive profitable action. 

Content Marketing Funnel

The different stages — from education to purchase — that content strategies take leads through.

Content Metrics

The system of measurement that companies and individuals use to determine their content’s success, including traffic, social shares, engagement, conversions, number of leads generated, time on site, page views, etc.

Content Syndication

The process of republishing content a company has created, such as a blog post, infographic, or video, on third-party sites to maximize reach and, typically, earn a link back to the original post.

Contributor

Someone who writes and publishes a piece of content in an external publication or media outlet.

Conversion Path

The path, or course of actions, a prospect will go through to eventually become a lead. These events can include a call to action, lead form, thank you page, downloadable content, etc.

Conversion Rate

Percentage of people who take a desired action, such as filling out a form, registering, signing up for a newsletter, or any activity other than just browsing a web page.

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

The total cost marketing pays to acquire a lead. It is an important metric to keep track of and it influences your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

Customer Acquisition Cost

A measurement that allows you to assess the cost of scaling up your business.

It can be calculated by dividing the time and money spent on customer acquisition for a specific period of time by the number of new customers gained.

(Money + Time Spent)/Number of New Customers

Customer Loyalty

When a consumer is a repeat buyer of a product, service, or brand.

Customer Relationship Management

A system that manages a company’s interactions with current and potential customers by using technology to organize, automate, and integrate sales calls and emails.

Demographics

A specific profiling aspect that takes into consideration age, gender, income, family life, social class, etc. It’s often used in segmentation or for focal points in marketing and advertising strategies.

Digital Marketing (Online Marketing)

Marketing to a target audience solely via the internet. Could be email marketing, content marketing, ads, etc.

Earned Media

Media exposure a company earns organically, often by accomplishing something truly newsworthy and attracting media attention, distributing press releases, securing press mentions, contributing thought leadership content to publications, and achieving word of mouth.

Ebook

Also referred to as a lead magnet, ebooks are generally a piece of longer content designed to generate leads.

E-Commerce

The means of selling products digitally on the internet.

Editorial Calendar

The schedule an organization uses to plan content creation, manage content production, and ensure consistent publication each month.

Email Marketing

The process of sending a strategic message directly to a contact or group of contacts via email for the purposes of educating, engaging, and/or encouraging them to take a specific, profitable action.

Engagement Rate

A measurement of likes, shares, comments or other interaction a particular piece of content receives.

Evergreen Content

Content that is valuable to a reader today, in 5 years, and in 10 years. This “evergreen” content is timeless, offers the highest-quality information, and offers huge SEO benefits.

Friction

Any aspect of your website that is hard to understand, distracting, or causes visitors to move on from your page.

Gated Content

High-quality owned content, housed behind a form, that website visitors can only access by submitting contact information and that fuels a company's lead generation.

Geographic Segmentation

Segmenting a group of audiences based on where they live or where they are located.

Guest Post

An original piece of high-quality, expert content, such as a written guest post, infographic, or video, that's contributed to an external publication or outlet to help a thought leader reach, engage, and build trust with a new audience.

Infographic

A type of content that is visual in nature, making complex information easy to understand and digest.

Keyword

A specific word or phrase that describes the content of a webpage.

It should always align with your target audience.

Knowledge Bank

A customizable template that stores and organizes a thought leader's expertise, audience insights, and industry knowledge to enable consistent, efficient content creation.

Landing Page

A page on your website that houses a form that prospects will fill out and exchange their personal information for a lead magnet or free offer (such as an ebook, demo or consultation).

Lifetime Customer Value

A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

Marketing

The process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements in a profitable way.

Marketing Automation

Software platforms and technologies designed for marketers to more effectively manage online marketing and automate repetitive tasks.

Marketing Funnel

A model illustrating the process companies use to attract visitors, convert them into leads, and nurture them before they finally reach the buying moment.

Monthly Recurring Revenue

The amount of income produced each month from subscriptions to your products or services.

Niche Market/Business

A very specific segment of a market in which you are trying to meet the needs of that market.

Offer

This is an asset that you’ll offer prospects on a landing page. The offer is designed to help you generate leads, and they can include everything from a webinar, ebook, checklist, template, demo, and more.

Organic Distribution

A method of distribution by which content is naturally circulated among an audience, such as through social media shares, referrals, and search engine results.

Owned Media

Marketing assets a company has control over, including its website, blog, whitepapers, and email campaigns.

Paid Distribution

A method of distribution by which content is circulated and amplified among a target audience via paid promotion, such as promoted posts on social media and paid ads on search.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

A method of advertising on the internet where you only pay when someone “clicks” on your ad.

Responsive Design

A website that changes based on the device the consumer uses. Mobile, laptop, and desktop devices offer different views of a website, and responsive design accommodates for each view, without having to build separate websites for each one.

Return on Investment (ROI)

A way to measure the profitability of the investment you make in marketing, sales, etc. If the ROI on an investment is negative, it generally means you’re losing money on that endeavor. Measuring the ROI on your marketing is a smart way to ensure you’re putting your money into the strategies that bring results.

Relationship Marketing

Establishing relationships with the intent of developing a long-term association with a prospect or potential customer. This strategy is much less expensive that gaining new customers.

Sales Funnel

The entire sales process as a whole – from prospect to paying customer – and all marketing, advertising, and sales processes in between.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A method to increase a webpage’s performance in web search results. By tweaking elements on a webpage (there are on-page and off-page SEO factors), you can move a webpage up on a search result “page.” Marketers generally want to get their website page to appear on page 1 of search results, ideally at the very top of the page. SEO elements include keywords, title and image tags, links, and more.

Target Marketing

A group of customers toward which a business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and merchandise.

Thought Leader

An industry expert who shares his or her expertise with a broader, targeted audience with the purpose of educating, improving, and providing value to the industry as a whole and building trust with key audiences. 

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

A factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the low cost, the quality, etc.

Unique Visitors per Month

The number of new people who visit a website in one month.

User Experience

The experience a user has with your brand/website, from the moment they discover you, through the purchase and beyond – where customers become advocates.

Viral Marketing

A method of product promotion that relies on getting customers to market an idea, product, or service on their own.

Webinar

An online seminar hosted by a company or multiple companies in partnership that provides value and education to a specific audience and fuels lead generation by requiring attendees fill out a registration form.

Website Traffic

A measurement of the number of visits a website receives.

Whitepaper

Content, which is usually gated, that educates audiences by providing exclusive and in-depth information, analysis, and research about a particular topic on which a company is an expert.