Marketing Glossary

Blogging is the act of self-publishing content online, typically on a personal site or through a blogging platform. Though bloggers were initially known for publishing “diary-style” written entries in the late 90s and early 2000s, blogs have since evolved to include informational blogs for businesses, video blogs on YouTube, and more.

Business to business marketing, or B2B marketing, includes marketing strategies used to promote a product or service specifically to other businesses rather than to consumers. B2B marketing might include the promotion of an internal software tool, such as Wrike.

Business to consumer marketing, or B2C marketing, includes marketing strategies used to promote a product or service directly to consumers. B2C marketing might include the promotion of a consumer product, a consumer-facing app, or a personal service.

A company’s buyer persona is a conceptual profile of its ideal customer. Used to develop a more targeted marketing strategy, a buyer persona might include a hypothetical customer’s demographics, income, interests, and purchasing behaviors.

A call to action (CTA) is a specific phrase used on marketing collateral that calls customers to a specific action. Calls to action might include “Buy Now,” “Book a Call,” “Download Free PDF,” or “Add to Cart.”

Churn rate refers to the rate at which existing customers completely stop purchasing from a business. Churn is commonly measured by organizations that sell subscription-based services and is typically compared to the cost of acquisition and customer lifetime value to gauge overall profitability.

Click through rate is the number of click-throughs per 100 ad impressions. In other words, it's the percentage of people who actually click on a marketing ad, typically leading to a homepage or site. Click through rate is an important marketing metric to monitor, especially for digital teams.

Content refers to any type of marketing collateral that can help generate leads and customers through providing information, entertainment, or another type of value to the consumer. Marketing content might include blog articles, video content, podcasts, or even print media such as books.

Conversion rate is the percentage of people who take action or interact with a marketing asset in a particular way. Conversion rate might include the number of people who click on an ad, download an asset, sign up for an email list, or purchase an item or subscription.

Cost per impression is the cost that marketers pay for a thousand ad impressions. Along with cost per lead and cost per click, this metric helps marketers evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing strategy.

Cost per lead is the cost that marketers pay for a single lead generated from a PPC (pay-per-click) ad campaign, which relies on paid search engine advertising rather than organic search results to generate leads.

Customer relationship management (CRM) encompasses all aspects of technology that a business uses to manage relationships with customers. CRM involves data from multiple touchpoints in the customer lifecycle, including data generated from sales, social media interaction, customer support, and more.

An eBook is a digitized book, typically read on a tablet or other portable device. Ebooks are often used as lead generation pieces, providing high-value information in a more concise format than a print book.

Email (or electronic mail) is the exchange of messages across computer networks — typically the internet. Email is commonly used as a form of professional communication, as well as a marketing tool for online businesses.

Engagement rate is the rate at which audience members or followers are actively interacting with social media content, such as commenting on a post or sharing a Tweet. There are multiple ways to measure engagement rate, including engagement rate per post, engagement rate by reach, and engagement rate by impression.

A hashtag is a metadata tag signified by the use of the hash symbol (#) before a word or phrase. Hashtags allow users to cross-reference their content across social media platforms, such as an Instagram post or Tweet.

An inbound link is a link on an external site that points to your own website. Inbound links are helpful for improving search engine optimization (SEO) and increasing site traffic.

Infographics are graphic representations of information or data. They are intended to present valuable information quickly and concisely, in a way that engages readers or viewers of a social media post, blog article, print media, or another type of marketing asset.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics that a business might use to measure engagement, profit, sales, satisfaction, or another area of performance. KPI’s specific to marketing include Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), and conversion rate.

A keyword is a word or term that’s used on a website to help that site rank well on a search engine. For example, if a website strategically includes the keyword “customer engagement,” that site will theoretically appear in search results for that keyword.

A landing page is a standalone web page that acts as the “landing place” for a marketing or advertising campaign. Landing pages typically include information about a product or service and are designed to drive visitors to purchase, signup, download, or take another specific action.

Leads are people that have actively engaged with content, and by doing so, have entered a marketing funnel. To continue driving them toward a sale or another desired action, marketers nurture leads through email marketing and other forms of value-driven communication.

LTV:CAC is the ratio between customer lifetime value and cost of acquisition. By comparing these two metrics, marketers can evaluate the profitability of their marketing approach.

Market entry typically refers to the strategy used to introduce a product or service to a target market. An effective market entry strategy requires research of the target market, as well as careful consideration of how the good or service will best be delivered to that market.

A market leader is a company in a particular industry or space with the largest market share of that space. Heinz Ketchup, for example, is the market leader in ketchup.

Market orientation is an approach to product innovation that puts the specific needs, desires, and requests of consumers at the center of new product development.

Market research involves interacting directly with potential consumers of a specific product or service in order to assess its viability.

Market segmentation divides potential consumers into different groups or segments according to common needs, demographics, usages, or other factors. Segmentation is valuable for generating different strategies for marketing and delivering a product or service.

Market A/B testing is the act of developing and comparing two different versions of the same marketing asset (such as a landing page or email) to determine the more effective version.

Marketing analytics allow marketers to assess the return on investment (ROI) of specific campaigns or efforts, such as a series of blog articles or a promotional campaign. Analytics might include specific marketing metrics, such as conversion rate, click-through rate, or marketing spend per customer.

A marketing audit is a comprehensive review of an organization’s marketing strategy and results, with the aim of identifying both strengths and weaknesses. Marketing audits can educate companies on how to pivot direction to become more profitable, how to improve areas of weakness, and how to leverage strengths.

Marketing automation refers to the automation of marketing processes — such as scheduling social media posts or sending email campaigns — through a specific tool or technology.

A marketing calendar is a detailed calendar that maps out marketing activities for a specific time period (typically a year).

Marketing communication mix refers to the assortment of communication and marketing methods that a company uses to communicate with customers and potential customers. A typical marketing communication mix might include paid advertising, social media content, direct sales calls, and discounts.

A marketing dashboard displays marketing metrics, KPIs, and analytics in a single place — providing a comprehensive overview of marketing performance.

A marketing decision support system (MDSS) is a system that takes into account different types of data to predict outcomes of specific marketing decisions.

A marketing funnel is the journey a customer takes from initial awareness all the way to point of purchase. Marketing funnels are designed to nurture customers with a combination of content, incentives, and engaging touchpoints until they make a purchasing decision.

Marketing metrics are values used to measure marketing performance over time. A marketing metric might involve reach, engagement, lifetime value, or some other indicator of success.

“Marketing mix” is another term for 4P marketing, as described above. A company’s marketing mix will refer to its product, price, place, and promotional strategies.

A marketing officer oversees a company’s marketing efforts and operations, including campaign development, budgeting, and customer research. Marketing officers may also be known as chief marketing officers or CMO’s.

Marketing reach refers to the number of people who see marketing assets. In digital marketing, reach can be calculated by dividing the number of impressions by the rate of frequency.

4P marketing refers to a marketing theory that encompasses the four basic pillars of effective marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. The basic idea of 4P marketing is that by strategizing well on all four pillars, marketers can create a comprehensive approach to sell their product or service. For example, they’ll want to create a product that meets the needs of the consumer, determine pricing that positions their product well (and makes a profit), choose strategic placement to create awareness, and promote their product through a blend of marketing strategies.

A page view is simply the request to load or reload a web page. While page views can help indicate how much traffic is going to a particular page, a single visitor may be responsible for multiple page views during a single session.

A remarketing ad is an ad that is targeted to someone who has already interacted with a company in some way, such as by visiting a website, placing an item in a shopping cart, or purchasing an item.

Return on investment (ROI) refers to the financial return of a marketing effort compared to the initial investment. ROI is calculated by subtracting the initial cost of investment from the proceeds of that investment and then dividing that sum by the initial cost of investment.

Social media is a digital technology that allows users to interact with self-published content on a public forum. While users may typically engage with social media for communication and community building, social media has also become a platform for companies to market their products or services.

Top of the funnel marketing is aimed at potential customers who are on the very first stage of the marketing funnel — meaning people who have gained awareness of a brand, but have not yet taken action. Top of the funnel marketing typically focuses on educating consumers through valuable content, rather than driving them directly to a sale.

Unique visitors refer to the actual number of visitors to a site rather than the number of visits. If, for example, the same person visits a website three times in a day, they will register as a single unique visitor.

A URL (which stands for Uniform Resource Locator) is an address that’s used to identify a resource on the Internet, such as an HTML site or image. A URL is typically composed of a domain name followed by a “path,” which might include query strings or other variables and impact SEO.

User experience (UX) is how a user interacts with a product or service. More than specific features or aspects, UX refers to how a user feels during engagement, how they perceive the product or service, and how easy it is to use the product or service.

User interface (UI) refers to the actual point of contact between a user and a device, website, or application. UI emphasizes the physical aspects of a user’s interaction with a product or service, including how a product or service is designed and branded.

Viral content is content that gains an unusual level of reach and engagement through being shared organically across multiple audiences.

A website is a collection of multiple web pages created under a single domain name. Websites are typically created to offer valuable information about a person, brand, product, service, or organization.

Word of mouth marketing builds awareness of a product or service through customer referrals. Though word of mouth marketing can’t be controlled as much as other types of marketing, brands can encourage referrals through specific marketing campaigns or incentives.