Marketers are notorious for using industry jargon that while concise, is hardly understandable to anyone who doesn’t work in marketing.
In this article, we’ll be looking at various marketing terms and break down digital marketing jargon, one 3-letter acronym at a time.
Conversion Rates
The frequency with which leads are converted into customers.
Conversion Rate =No. of conversionsNo. of clicks/leads/interactions* 100
Marketing Funnel
A marketing funnel, also known as a sales process, is the journey which a customer takes with your business, from brand awareness to conversion.
Metadata
Data within Data.
Hashtag (#)
This is a symbol that appears alongside keywords in social media posts to ensure that the post is seen by the most relevant audience or to contribute to the topic at hand.
Local SEO
A branch of SEO that focuses on increasing the prominence of a geographical location on the SERP.
Traffic
In this context of digital marketing, traffic refers to the visitors of a website.
Targeting
This is to develop a marketing strategy to reach a specific group that is perceived or proven to be prospects or customers.
Retargeting/Remarketing
Using an ad to follow up with a previous website user. The goal is to persuade them to buy, repurchase, or simply remind them of your existence.
Popular remarketing tactics include the use of emails and display ads.
Content Management System (CMS)
A Content Management System (CMS) is software that enables eCommerce shop owners to easily create websites in an intuitive way without needing to know how to code.
WordPress
A free and open-source Content Management System (CMS) for building websites and apps. WordPress is a free platform with excellent usability and other algorithms.
UTM tag
The Urchin Traffic Module is used to pass additional instructions to a web server using a webpage’s URL.
Marketers use UTM tags for tracking purposes to gain information about traffic, content, and page performance.
Heatmap
A enables marketers to understand where majority of a webpage’s visitors’ activities take place in a visually aided manner.
As a result of this, understanding consumer behavior and providing them with the products they want becomes easier.
Meta Description
A summary of the blog content that appears alongside the headlines in search engine results.
It is critical to always include it when publishing content because it tells the user that your website has the answers that they’re seeking.
Email Marketing
A marketing strategy that incorporates email as part of your overall digital marketing activity.
This takes various forms:
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Remarketing campaigns
- Newsletters
- Automated email-based sales campaigns – complete with funnels
Impression
A singular instance when an ad is displayed to a user.
Return On Investment (ROI)
Just as the primary goal of any business is to make profits, online marketing must demonstrate whether or not profits are being made in the form of increased sales and new customers.
Key Performance Index (KPI)
This is a metric used to measure progress towards your marketing objective.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
A system of digital advertising where advertisers get charged every time a user clicks on an ad.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
This is the figure that you pay for each click under a PPC campaign.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
This metric indicates how frequently ad viewers click on it.
CTR =No. of ad impressionsNo. of ad clicks* 100
Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) – Cost Per Mille
CPM determines the cost of advertising by evaluating how much it costs for an ad to make 1000 impressions.
CPM =Ad campaign costNo. of impressions* 1000
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The cost of acquiring an individual customer.
CAC =Total amount spent on acquiring customersNo. of customers gained from the money spent
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Cost Per Lead measures ROI for lead generation activities.
CPL =Total amount spent on lead generationNo. of leads acquired by the money spent
Cost Per View
A crucial metric for video campaigns, Cost Per View assesses the cost of every instance when a video ad is viewed.
Cost Per View =Total amount spent on video campaignNo. of views garnered by the campaign
Please note: The time taken for a user watching to register as a view varies from platform to platform. E.g 5 seconds for YouTube, and 15 seconds for Facebook Ads (Thruplay).
Analytics
Analytics is an all-encompassing term used to describe data demonstrating how internet users interact with your online platform or website. It considers multiple data points such website visits, page views, link clicks, impressions, and a variety of interactions.
Marketers use it to learn about consumer behavior online and then adjust accordingly.
The most popular analytics tool is Google Analytics.
Google Ads
An online advertisement program that enables advertisers to place their ads on Google Search, YouTube, as well as Google’s Ad Network. Its earlier iteration was formerly known as AdWords.
Algorithm
The logical flow that specifies the procedures or rules to be followed in computations or other problem-solving operations is called an algorithm.
Audience Analysis
Audience analysis is the process of collecting and gathering sufficient information about your target audience and then using that information to improve your marketing so it solves their needs.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The use of computer programs to provide services and behaviors at a level close to or better than human intelligence.
Automation
Automation entails use of computers and computer programs to perform repetitive or predictable tasks such as responding to user queries and blocking spam. Such repetitive tasks are easily handled when automated, thus allowing humans to focus on solving more important non-repetitive issues.
A/B Test
A/B testing is a scientific process that aims to investigate a hypothesis by isolating an individual variable and running tests by changing the variable in question and assessing the results.
A/B testing has wide applications in digital marketing, from web design to advertising campaign strategy as well as mass communications.
Blog/Blogging/Blogger
A blog is content that is created specifically for an online audience. Blogs are made available on websites, social media platforms, and specific blogging websites. Blogs are an essential component of any content marketing strategy.
Bounce Rate
The rate at which website visitors leave a website without interacting with the content.
Backlink
A link on another website that links back to your website.
Having a variety of high-quality links pointing to your website will significantly improve its SEO rankings.
Cookies
Cookies are files that are saved by websites you visit in your web browser. They enable you to have a better online experience by recording identifying information, browsing preferences and locally relevant content.
Chatbot(s)
Computer programs made to aid the customer service function by sending, handling and responding to messages using automated rules.
Cyberspace
A term used interchangeably with “Internet.”
Cybercrime
Crimes committed within cyberspace. It usually presents in the form of rogue users intruding into a computer system with the aim of accessing or exposing private and sensitive data with malicious intent.
The most prevalent types of cybercrime are:
- Phishing
- Brute forcing
- Social engineering
- Email and identity fraud
- Cyberterrorism
- Cyberextorsion and the use of ransomware
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is an all-encompassing term referring to the techniques, technology and practices employed to minimize the odds of one becoming a victim of cybercrime.
Call to action (CTA)
This is an appeal that prompts customers and prospects to make a specific decision.
Common CTA example include:
- Buy now
- Download file
- Subscribe
- Listen to podcast
- Learn more
Clickbait
A strategy that entices internet users to click a link that produces a different result or takes them to a different destination than the one displayed.
Due to its misleading nature, clickbait leads to a massive loss of prospects and customers.
Most modern marketing platforms have built-in mechanisms to flag or disallow clickbait from search results.
Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
Techniques used to ensure that a website ranks higher or better on search engines such as Google, Bingo, and others.
SEO is one of the most commonly used terms in the digital marketing space because it plays a significant role in attracting website visitors who are considered prospects and future customers.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
A page that is displayed with the results of a search engine query. Search engine algorithms ensure that the most relevant results appear at the top of the page.
It is always a positive indication whenever your pages are placed on the first page of the SERP.
SEO Audit
A process of Examining the SEO performance and content of a website.
On-page, off-page, and technical SEOs are commonly used to assess performance.
Crawling
Crawling is a continuous process by search engines that employs a lot of background processing to find links to other pages on the internet.
Computer programs called spiders or crawlers collect relevant URLs from various web sources and update this information in a database of known links in a process known as indexing.
Indexing
Indexing is the process by which Google’s crawlers store and categorize the information they find on websites in a database, ready to be displayed in relevant search results.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the visible content on your website and pages. The data is presented in the form of text, videos, images, or links.
Search engines evaluate the information and determine how valuable it is or what value searchers will derive from the website.
This is where proper use of keywords and relevant content comes into play.
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO practices incorporate all measures that are made on third-party websites to improve SEO performance.
One common off-page SEO practice is the effort to increase the number of websites that link to your website (backlinking).
Technical SEO
This is whatever takes place behind the scenes to ensure a website ranks well in search engine results. Usually requires some web development knowledge to understand and make these improvements.
Conversion
The crucial action taken by a web visitor in order to proceed to the next step of the sales/marketing funnel. Typical conversion events include:
- Making a purchase
- Opting in to a newsletter/offer
- Signing up for a service
Time on-page
This is the average time a visitor spends on a specific web page. It gives insights on how users are behaving with your website and its content.
Viral Marketing
A marketing strategy that aggressively spreads information about a brand, its products, or services through word of mouth. It is based on the idea of how a virus spreads quickly and within a short period of time from one person to another.
Content that goes viral is typically momentous and has a short lifespan.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing entails promoting a service or product for another company in exchange for commissions. In exchange for their promotion, affiliate marketers earn a commission of the sales that they drive for the third party.
Pay per click, pay per sale, and pay per lead are the most common payment methods.
Some popular affiliate programs include, Freedom by Amazon (FBA), Bluehost, and Elementor.
Phygital
This entails combining physical points of sale with digital methods. This is simply to ensure that the business is both online and physically accessible in order to tap into the advantages of both.
Internet of Things(IoT)
An array of interconnected devices, including hardware and software, that can share, receive, store, or run various internet-based activities.
Tags
They are similar to keywords that define and determine how a web browser formats and displays content. Tags also indicate the start and end of an HTML element in a markup language.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
A URL is a complete address that combines the website’s domain name with additional information so it locates an exact page.
Every page’s URL is unique, meaning it is the only address through which one can access that page.
For example, the URL of this page is https://kooni/co.ke/blog/digital-marketing-jargon-glossary/
URL Slug
The slug is the part of a URL that describes the page you’re visiting using the most relevant keywords.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing entails methods for attracting customers to your business through the creation of engaging, relevant, and non-disruptive content.
The goal of inbound marketing is to attract, convert, sell, and maintain a strong relationship between the marketer and the customer.
Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing, also known as traditional marketing, entails sending appeals to customers and interrupting their flow of activities in order to gain their attention.
Landing page
A landing page is a web page that one gets directed to when they click on a link sent to them in a marketing campaign.
Landing pages usually have specific purposes, are often optimized for sales or having an integrated sales funnel. A landing page is very effective in encouraging web visitors to take the intended action, and can heavily influence click-through rates, increase conversion and grow brand awareness for an organization.
Click-through pages, long-form pages, and squeeze pages, are some examples of landing pages.