I remember feeling like a million bucks walking through the doors of my very first marketing meeting. It was the very first day of my very first Marketing job—coffee and confidence ran through my young, eager veins.
It wasn’t even 5 minutes into the meeting when my I’m-a-girl-boss-marketer bubble popped. I had no idea what was going on. An extreme sense of panic came over me faster than the coffee I downed a few hours prior.
What am I doing here? They surely hired the wrong candidate. I don’t know anything. I am so underqualified.
Words like ROIs and MQLs were among the many that surely put a look of confusion on my face. Instead of nodding and pretending to know what was going on, I started jotting down notes. Not just any notes, though—I started a running list of unknown terms and looked them up immediately following. A marketing dictionary, if you will.
Since then, the list has grown significantly. And with that, so has my knowledge of marketing.
If you have ever been a Marketing deer in headlights like me, here is my gift to you. Print it out, save it on your computer, add to it, or recite it before bed — you might find you enjoy the peace of mind of knowing the difference between CTA and CRM.
- 1-Pager: Also known as a Sales Sheet or Flyer, a 1-Pager is a 1-page document that highlights information on a given topic. It is often a product or solution sheet for a specific brand.
- Analytics: Data points that identify and track trends in activity to bring purpose and understanding to marketing efforts.
- Blog: A low-cost form of short or long-form content that boosts brand awareness, increases website traffic and engagement, and builds trust and credibility.
- Bounce Rate: A metric used to measure engagement across the web and email. Bounce rate refers to the number, or percentage, of users who immediately leave or “bounce” from a webpage without taking any action while there.
- Call to Action (CTA): A CTA is a suggested action for audiences to take, often on websites, emails, and other forms of content.
- Case Study: A form of content that showcases a real-world example highlighting the benefit of using a brand’s product or service. Case studies are used by marketers to show how a brand provided a solution or made a positive impact.
- Content Marketing: A marketing strategy focused on creating and sharing quality content to target audiences to produce leads and build brand awareness.
- Content Management System (CMS): A software or platform used to manage the content lifecycle, including creation, editing, and management. A CMS streamlines the process of content creation and allows for a simplified approach to managing content.
- Conversion Rate: The metric used to track the percentage of users who complete the desired action, like responding to a CTA. Marketers desire high conversion rates because it represents how effective marketing efforts are.
- Customer Journey: The interactions and experiences customers have between the first touchpoint and the purchase time. This process helps understand the customer better to improve the overall customer experience.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): A CRM is a tool used by marketers to measure the relationship lifecycle with clients and prospects, including interactions and meetings. A CRM allows companies to grow their business through relationship building/tracking.
- Brand Awareness: The familiarity an individual has with a specific brand or product. Brand Awareness is an important measure in marketing, as it is how clients and prospects recognize your brand, which influences buying habits.
- Demand Generation: A marketing strategy used to generate demand and awareness for a brand. Demand Gen builds revenue by driving high-quality leads.
- eBook: An eBook, or an electronic book, is a digital, downloadable content piece often available in PDF form that provides relevant information on a given topic. An eBook provides in-depth resources to readers and allows marketers to position their brand as trusted thought leaders within an industry.
- Editorial Calendar: A tool used by content marketers to plan, schedule, and organize content over a period of time.
- Gated Content: Content that requires specific or personal information to view. For example, it may be required to enter your name and email in a lead capture form to access an eBook on 2023 Content Marketing Trends. Gated Content is a strategy used in lead generation to identify prospects and increase leads.
- HTML: HyperText Markup Language, or HTML, is the language of the web. With HTML, marketers can provide a customizable experience to viewers on different mediums—emails, web, etc.
- Inbound Marketing: The strategy marketers use to attract prospects through the use of valuable digital content and experiences.
- Infographic: A form of visual content used to make content more digestible to target audiences.
- Key Performance Indicators (KPI): Specific goals set by individuals and teams to track numerical metrics throughout a specific time. KPIs show trends in marketing to highlight how marketing efforts impact engagement.
- Landing Page: A webpage users “land” on after being directed from another source to convert visitors to leads and eventually sales.
- Marketing Automation: Software that manages and automates marketing tasks for a company, including campaigns and activities. Marketing automation improves efficiency across teams, essentially bringing in more revenue.
- Marketing Plan: The outline or roadmap of a brand’s marketing strategy and the action steps needed to obtain certain goals over a period of time.
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): A lead generated by marketing efforts that are likely to convert to a sale. MQLs are often generated through completing forms on websites, downloading gated content, signing up for webinars, etc.
- Organic Marketing: A cost-effective marketing initiative used to drive traffic without paid media. (i.e. blogs)
- Paid Marketing: A marketing initiative that used purchased advertising to target specific audiences with marketing campaigns and materials. Paid Marketing is a quick and effective way to promote your business and build brand awareness.
- Personas: A marketing persona is a fictional depiction of a brand’s ideal customer. Personas humanize customers to tailor content to the specific target audience(s).
- Return on Investment (ROI): Marketing ROI is the calculation of how much revenue marketing efforts contribute. It is calculated by subtracting marketing costs from sales growth and dividing it by marketing costs. Essentially, ROI justifies marketing efforts.
- Software as a Service (SaaS): SaaS is a method of offering a platform or tool through a digital format via the web. MailChimp, HubSpot, and Salesforce are examples of companies who offer SaaS.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The science of using content, keywords, links, and more to improve a website’s search optimization in major search engines. The purpose of SEO is to drive traffic to a company’s website.
- Subject Matter Expert (SME): A Subject Matter Expert, or SME, is a person who specializes in a specific subject or industry. SMEs are important to marketing teams by contributing knowledge and expertise to content development and marketing strategy.
- Webinar: An online event hosted by a company to inform, educate, and/or entertain audiences. Webinars are a low-cost marketing initiative used to build brand awareness and credibility, often converting to sales.
- Whitepaper: An in-depth, informational document on a specific topic that addresses a problem and offers a solution. Similar to an eBook, a whitepaper is a long-form content piece used by marketers to highlight the benefit of a solution and encourage sales.
Just like my knowledge of marketing, this list will continue to grow and evolve to include more information for marketers like you and me.
With each new term, strategy, and method I learn, a little bit more confidence runs through my veins. As for the coffee, it’s always been there.
I’d love to know what terms you think should be added to this list. Comment below and share your thoughts!
Abby Phillips 