Home > Marketing Terms (Updated 9/23/2023)
Welcome to Marketing Terms and Definitions.
**This page is constantly being updated** Here you will find social media terms, content marketing, marketing terms, email marketing terms, and website optimization terms.
Here we have a full list of terms and definitions in our Marketing Glossary. It's jam-packed with popular marketing terms. Some you may use and some you may have never heard of before. From new to old, we'll cover them all.
A
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence, often abbreviated as AI, refers to the development of computer systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. AI has transformative applications for both businesses and consumers, offering various benefits.
Types of Artificial Intelligence
- AI writing generators
- AI image creation
- AI Chatbots
- Voice/Speech Recognition
- Predictive Analytics
- Campaign Automation
- AR Simulations
- AI Human Resources
Businesses can use AI for:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Automation
- Content
- Hiring/Onboarding
- Processes & Procedures
Additional AI Resources:
Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality is an enhanced version of reality where live direct or indirect views of physical real-world environments have superimposed computer-generated images over a user’s view of the real world. This then enhances the current perception of reality.
Types of Augmented Reality
- Maker based
- Markerless
- Projection Based
- Superimposition Based
Augmented reality can be displayed on various devices: screens, glasses, handheld devices, mobile phones, head-mounted displays.
Businesses can use augmented reality for:
- Education: Interactive models for learning and training purposes
- Marketing & Sales: Banners, sale notifications, price tags, branding
- Medicine/healthcare: to help diagnose, monitor, train, localize, etc.
- Military: for advanced navigation, marking objects in real time.
- Entertainment & Branding - Music, art, events, interactive games
- Tourism: Destinations, Sightseeing objects, navigation, and directions.
- Broadcasting: enhancing live events and event streaming by overlaying content.
- Industrial design: to visualize, calculate or model.
Additional AR Resources:
-Ultimate Guide to Understanding Augmented Reality
-Real World Augmented Reality Examples Today
-What is it and how does augmented reality work?
-Augmented Reality (AR) VS Virtual Reality (VR) VS Mixed Reality (MR)
Avatar (customer)
A customer profile, specifically detailed around the target market of an ideal customer including demographics, age, gender, location, interests, activities, and more.
B
BBB
Better Business Bureau
C
Call-To-Action (CTA)
A call to action is the response you want a recipient to make, whether it is to click a button, download a freebie, make a phone call, sign up for a webinar or make a purchase.
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
The act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003, establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions.
Read: "What is Cold Emailing - How To Use & Templates"
The CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email. It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service,” including email that promotes content on commercial websites. Below is a brief, minimized bullet list of the act's requirements, but you can also take a look at our dedicated full page and detail of all requirements.
CAN-SPAM Act Requirements:
- Don’t use false or misleading header information
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines
- Identify the message as an ad
- Tell recipients where you’re located
- Tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future email from you
- Honor opt-out requests promptly
- Monitor what others are doing on your behalf
It is important to note that each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be costly.
Churn - Risk, Rate & Prediction
What is churn? A churn rate or customer churn is when an existing customer (aka subscriber) stops doing business or ends the relationship with a company. (Netagate.net)
The churn rate is calculated by dividing the number of customer cancellations within a time period by the number of active customers at the start of that period (Datascience, churn info)
You can use the churn rate to calculate:
- The total number of lost customers within a specific time frame
- The percentage of lost customer within a specific time frame
- The recurring business value that is lost
- The percentage of the recurring business value that is lost
Example Churn Rate Calculation:
Additional churn related resources:
-What is churn and why should you use it?
-Product Usage Intervals & Determining Retention Analysis
-Defining Churn Rate
Cold Emailing
Cold emailing is a marketing and outreach strategy where you send unsolicited emails to individuals or businesses who have not previously expressed interest in your products or services.
The primary goal of cold emailing is to initiate a conversation, build relationships, and ultimately generate leads or sales.
Find out more at What Is Cold Emailing?
Content Survival Rate (CSR)
Providing content that matches the actual meaning and intent behind the request. Oftentimes, a piece of content will have a much longer survival rate if it is marked as "Evergreen" or content that is relevant at anytime (see Evergreen definition for further details.)
Cornerstone Content
Cornerstone content is content that is the core of your website. It consists of the best, most important articles on your site and can oftentimes coincide with "evergreen". Cornerstone content will be the pages or posts you want to rank highest in the search.
Find out What Is Cornerstone Content and How To Use It To Rank Higher
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-Through Rate or often shown as CTR, is the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. It is commonly used to measure the success of an online advertising campaign for a particular website as well as the effectiveness of email campaigns.
Learn more at What Is a Good Click-Through-Rate (CTR) For Email Marketing?
E
Evergreen
Evergreen is content that is continually relevant and stays “fresh”. Most often it defines something, is information that is never changing over a long span of time, unlike a news feed article piece or a fad, example "What's trending today" would not be considered evergreen.
F
Featured Snippet
A featured snippet is selected search results that are featured on top of Google's organic results below the ads in a box. Featured snippets aim at answering the user's question right away without needing to click on a link.
Funnel Hacking
Funnel hacking is the process of inspecting and duplicating a competitors' marketing funnels, and using versions of those funnels to sell your own services and/or products. It's one of the quickest, simplest ways to get your business started without having to build an entire marketing funnel from scratch if you can dissect and duplicate it properly.
H
Hyperlocal Marketing
Hyperlocal marketing is targeting prospective customers in a highly specific, geographically restricted area. This could be specific areas, blocks, streets or even zip code or area code. Often the intention and result is targeting people conducting “near me” searches on their mobile device.
Best results for "near me" and mobile searches.
Hyperlocal related articles:
https://www.jeffbullas.com/hyperlocal-marketing-strategies/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hyperlocal-marketing
https://www.highervisibility.com/blog/hyperlocal-marketing-advertising-strategies/
I
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Integrated marketing is a type of communication that plays an essential role in delivering a unified message to users through various channels and thus has better chances of attracting customers. A single message goes to customers across all marketing channels be it TV, Radio, Banners, hoardings and so on.
Integrated marketing communication is the process and strategy of making the messaging consistent across all channels and are centered on the customer.
Integrated marketing communication helps to build customer relationships, trust, awareness, and cohesiveness for a company's brand.
M
Missive
A letter, especially a long or official one.
Vocabulary.com: A missive usually refers to the old-school style of hand-written communication on paper (remember that?), but these days you also might hear an email called a missive, too. No matter how you deliver it, a missive is a message. The noun missive comes from the Latin word missus, meaning "to send."
N
Newsjacking
Newsjacking is using a current breaking news or trend item into marketing communications. It is "piggy-backing" on or taking advantage of a breaking news event or hot item/trend in a news cycle (overall or in your given industry, niche, field, local market) to insert your brand/organization into the news stream.
O
Organic Search Results
Organic search results are the search results that come up from a website below the top ads and without paid advertising, highly depending on a website's on-site SEO and keywords. With organic search, companies use SEO to optimize their site's visibility or rankings in search results. In comparison, paid search allows users to pay for a prominent spot in search results.
P
Pop-up Store
A pop-up shop is the term given to a shop or store that is deliberately temporary. It's a store that “pops-up” for a limited period of time to serve a specific purpose.
Reach potential customers - A pop-up store in a new location with high foot traffic enables a brand to get in front of a new audience.
Experience – “pop-up retail” can be used to deliver a delightful short-term experiences or reinforce a brand message with positive customer engagement.
Q
Qualitative & Quantitative
Qualitative and quantitative are two distinct research methods used in business and various fields to gather and analyze data. They serve different purposes and provide different types of information:
- Qualitative Data:
- Meaning: Qualitative data involves non-numeric information that can be descriptive and subjective in nature. It often focuses on understanding the underlying reasons, motivations, and opinions of individuals or groups.
- Usage in Business: Qualitative research methods, such as interviews, focus groups, and open-ended surveys, are commonly used in business for:
- Market Research: Qualitative research helps businesses understand customer preferences, needs, and pain points.
- Product Development: It can provide insights into how potential customers might react to new products or features.
- Brand Perception: Qualitative data helps assess how a brand is perceived and identify areas for improvement.
- Employee Feedback: Qualitative research methods can gather employee feedback, opinions, and suggestions for improving workplace culture and practices.
- Output: Qualitative data typically results in textual information, quotes, narratives, or themes rather than numerical values.
- Quantitative Data:
- Meaning: Quantitative data consists of numeric information that can be measured and analyzed using statistical methods. It focuses on numerical values, quantities, and trends.
- Usage in Business: Quantitative research methods, such as surveys with closed-ended questions, experiments, and data analysis, are widely used in business for:
- Market Analysis: Quantitative data helps businesses gather data on market size, demographics, and customer behavior.
- Performance Metrics: It measures and tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales, revenue, and customer satisfaction.
- A/B Testing: Businesses use quantitative methods to test the impact of changes in product features or marketing campaigns.
- Data-Driven Decision-Making: Quantitative data provides a basis for making informed decisions, often involving numerical comparisons.
- Output: Quantitative data results in numerical values, percentages, graphs, and statistical analyses that allow for objective comparisons and trends.
In many cases, businesses use a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of their market, customers, and operations. Qualitative research helps uncover insights and explore underlying motivations, while quantitative research provides data-driven evidence and allows for statistical analysis and generalization.
For example, a business conducting market research might start with qualitative interviews to understand customer pain points and preferences. Later, it might use quantitative surveys to gather numerical data about the size of the target market and customer demographics. The integration of both approaches can lead to more informed business decisions and strategies.
R
Response Rate
A response rate is the completion rate or return rate, is the number of people who responded, clicked through or answered a survey divided by the number of people in the sample. It is usually expressed in the form of a percentage.
V
Virtual CMO
Virtual CMO is a strategic marketing consulting service for emerging B2B technology companies. Services include branding, content development, demand generation and sales enablement.
Previous updates:
10/1/2019
TODAY'S HOURS
WE'RE OPEN
tart Small Media is located in southeastern WI, providing live, in-person classes each week in Greenfield, WI. Getting basic to advanced marketing training has never been easier. We have classes that will fit any level and provide tons of handouts, cheat sheets and checklists to get your and your business rockin' it online and bring customers to your door, whether physical or virtual. If you don't know where to start, try our starter page to find the perfect set of training that fits exactly where you need to start.