So like many industries, the business of marketing is full of jargon, terms and phrases that can be confusing, and often frustrating. Here’s our A to Z guide of common marketing jargon with clear and simple explanations.
A to Z Guide
A – Audience: The group of people that a business is targeting with its products or services. You should have a really strong description of them which will include things like their demographics including their age, gender, location, interests, and behaviours. Creating a customer or audience avatar should be part of your marketing foundations and the starting point to your marketing campaigns.
B – Branding: The process of creating a unique identity for a product, service, or company. This includes elements like logos, colours, fonts, and messaging that help distinguish it from competitors. We recommend that you create both a single-page reference document for your branding and also a more comprehensive internal guide to your branding which could be part of your marketing plan.
C – Conversion: The action that a marketer wants a user to take, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form on a website. You can often track your conversion goals through tools like Google Analytics which makes reporting simpler.
D – Digital Marketing: Promoting products or services online using digital channels such as websites, social media, email, search engines, and online advertising.
E – Engagement: The level of interaction and involvement that people have with a brand’s content or marketing efforts. This can include likes, comments, shares, clicks social media or time spent on a website. Engagement is important especially on social media as it is part of their algorithm and helps platforms decide whether to promote your content further. In the case of websites Google’s algorithm looks at how popular your website and its content is. This is all a good measure that the content you are sharing is interesting, useful and popular.
F – Funnel: A visual representation of the stages that a customer goes through when making a purchasing decision, from awareness to consideration to purchase. Marketers often use sales funnels to track and optimize the customer journey. You can also create an automated funnel often called a pipeline and associated with freebie giveaways called lead magnets.
G – Google Analytics or GA4: A free tool provided by Google that allows website owners to track and analyze visitor behaviour, including traffic sources, user demographics, and conversion rates.
H – Hashtag: A word or phrase preceded by the “#” symbol, used on social media platforms to categorize content and make it more discoverable. Hashtags help users find and participate in conversations around specific topics or themes.
I – Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with individuals who have a large following and influence within a particular niche to promote products or services to their audience.
J – Keywords: Words or phrases that people type into search engines when looking for information, products, or services. Including relevant keywords in website content helps improve its visibility in search engine results. OK, this one may not be strictly a J but the way we look at it keywords are the JUICE behind SEO and search ranking results!
K – KPIs (Key Performance Indicators): Metrics that businesses use to evaluate the success of their marketing efforts. Examples include website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and return on investment (ROI).
L – Lead Generation: The process of attracting and capturing potential customers’ interest in a product or service. This can involve tactics like content marketing, email marketing, and advertising.
M – Market Research: Gathering and analyzing data about target markets, including customer preferences, behaviours, and trends. Market research helps businesses make informed decisions about product development, pricing, and marketing strategies.
N – Niche: A specialized segment of the market that caters to a specific group of people with unique needs or preferences. Niche marketing involves targeting and serving this specific audience rather than trying to appeal to a broader market. For example a business coach may only work with service providers like plumbers or electricians or a florist may specialise in wedding flowers.
O – Organic Traffic: Website visitors who arrive through unpaid, natural search engine results. Organic traffic is driven by factors like search engine optimization (SEO), content quality, and relevance.
P – PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Advertising: An online advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. PPC ads appear on search engines and many social media platforms, and advertisers bid on keywords to have their ads displayed to relevant audiences.
Q – Quality Score: A metric used in PPC advertising platforms like Google Ads to evaluate the relevance and quality of ads and landing pages. A higher quality score can lead to lower advertising costs and better ad placement.
R – Retargeting or Remarketing: A digital advertising strategy that involves showing targeted ads to people who have previously visited a website or interacted with a brand online. Retargeting aims to reengage potential customers and encourage them to complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.
S – SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The process of optimizing a website and its content to improve its visibility and ranking in search engine results. This involves various tactics such as keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, and a range of technical improvements.
T – Target Audience: The specific group of people that a business aims to reach with its marketing efforts. Target audiences are defined based on factors like demographics, interests, behaviours, and needs. Also see A for Audience
U – User Experience (UX): The overall experience that a person has when interacting with a website, app, or product. Good UX design focuses on making the experience intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable for users. A bad user experience can put customers off and even lead to poor customer reviews in some cases.
V – Viral Marketing: A marketing technique that aims to spread information about a product or service quickly and exponentially through word-of-mouth and social sharing. Viral marketing often relies on creating highly shareable content or leveraging existing networks of influencers. Platforms like TikTok are well-known for viral content and trending topics.
W – Webinar: A live or recorded online seminar or presentation that allows businesses to educate and engage with their audience on specific topics related to their products or industry.
X – XML Sitemap: A file that lists all the pages of a website and helps search engines understand its structure and content. XML sitemaps make it easier for search engines to crawl and index web pages, improving their visibility in search results.
Y – Yield Management: A pricing strategy commonly used in industries like hospitality and travel, where prices are adjusted based on demand and other factors to maximize revenue and profitability.
Z – Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT): A concept introduced by Google that refers to the moment when a consumer researches a product or service online before making a purchase decision. Marketers aim to influence this moment by providing helpful information and persuasive content during the research phase.
Escape Marketing Jargon Today
We hope this A to Z jargon list helps clarify some common marketing terms and phrases for you! Let us know if you have any questions or need further explanation on any of these jargon terms. We are always happy to explain or simplify marketing jargon and remove the mystery of industry terms and phrases.
Over the last thirty years Elizabeth has start up and run a number of successful businesses in a variety of industries including events management, restaurant, webdesign, business training and gardening! This has led to extensive knowledge of business startup, management and marketing.
She is also a qualified and experienced business and life coach with a passion for supporting small business owners. In addition to all of this she is an experienced and qualified further education lecturer, having taught face to face courses and workshops across England, as well as a range of online courses in a range of business and marketing topics .