A Dictionary of Modern Sales and Marketing Terms You Should Know
We have educated our audience on the importance of content marketing and helped them understand ways it can be used to promote their brand. However, we have noticed most of our audience is not familiar with common marketing terms and hence, have a difficult time absorbing information.
Today, we compiled some key practices of inbound marketing, with their explanations and how they can be used in daily practices.
Here is a list of some of the most essential marketing terms.
Top Of The Funnel
Also known as “TOFU”, the top of the funnel is the first stage of the buying process. At this stage leads to identify problems and look for information.
Top-of-the-funnel activities allow inbound marketers to create helpful content for their potential customers and help them move down the funnel with that information.
Middle Of The Funnel
Middle of the funnel or MOFU is the stage when leads have already identified their problem, and are now engaged in further research to find its solution.
At this stage, marketers are focused on providing as much information as possible – while portraying their business as a solution to their problem.
Bottom of the Funnel
This also called BOFU and is the last step of the marketing funnel; when potential leads are close to converting into new customers.
At this stage, marketers use direct methods like calls or a demo to engage with prospects.
A/B Testing
This is a practice that is implemented to compare two variations of a single variable, to determine which version performs better.
A/B testing is usually done in CTAs, email marketing, and landing pages, to check out what version attracts more visitors and provides better results – and helps marketers improve their marketing efforts.
Call-to-Action (CTA)
CTA’s or call-to-action are buttons, images, or web links that encourage visitors to take some kind of action.
Examples of CTA’s we commonly see on websites or landing pages are “Download Now and “Subscribe Now”
Closed-Loop Marketing
Closed-loop marketing is the ability to assess, evaluate and present how marketing efforts are impacting a business’ growth.
An example would be tracking an individual’s journey from being a website visitor to a potential lead to eventually converting into a customer.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing refers to efforts made by marketers to attract visitors rather than going out to get a prospect’s attention, themselves.
Inbound marketing practices include publishing attention-grabbing and helpful content to gain the target audience’s interest and compelling them to convert.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is optimizing mobile devices to allow the promotion of goods, services, and ideas, using time and location-sensitive information.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is a strategy used by businesses to raise their search engine ranking, by optimizing their website.
Multiple on-page and off-page factors including keywords, layout design, and title tags are improved to optimize a website so that it can rank high on the SERPs.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-page optimization is done by external platforms which help raise a website’s search engine ranking.
Factors like linking domains and social media are examples of factors that influence off-page optimization.
Long-Tail Keywords
A long-tail keyword is referred to a targeted search phrase that contains a string of three or more words.
These keywords are a combination of the head term (a generic search term) and additional words (that refine the search term)
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors who landed on a website but left without taking any action.
This helps a business determine their conversions – as a high bounce rate means a low conversion rate.
There is also an email bounce rate, which tells the rate at which an email did not get delivered to a recipient.
Churn Rate
The churn rate lets you know how many customers you’ve managed to retain and at what cost. The churn rate is a valuable measure for those businesses which are earning continuous revenue.
Dynamic Content
User-specific content is referred to as dynamic content.
For example, companies use Smart CTAs to personalize user experience. With this technique, a first-time visitor has a different CTA displayed, than a regular customer.
Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is a timeless piece of content that is valuable to the customers whenever they come across it.
Inbound Linking
Inbound linking is when another website hyperlinks your website in its content. This is websites rank higher on SERPs.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Conversion rate optimization is enhancing a website's conversion rate by improving the user experience for its visitors – using designing techniques, testing, and key-optimization principles.
Click-through Rate (CTR)
It is a ratio that calculates the number of clicks a marketer or advertiser has received on their ads. This helps businesses determine how well their advertisement is performing.
Return on Investment (ROI)
This is a measure used to assess performance based on the financial input you’ve put into the business and the return (e.g. revenue) you have received on that investment.
Cost-per-Lead (CPL) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Cost-per-lead is the amount you spend on gaining a lead. While the customer acquisition cost is the cost you needed to land an official customer.
Content Management System (CMS)
CMS is an application that makes it easy to create and manage a website, for individuals who are not familiar with advanced technology.
The system includes services like content editing, keeping track of users, and generating navigation.
Business to Business (B2B)
B2B is the adjective used when the target of your marketing efforts is a business. For example, the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Inc. in The Office was a B2B seller of paper and other office supplies to small or medium-sized businesses.
Google is also an example of a B2B company.
Business to Consumer (B2C)
B2C is the adjective used when the target of your marketing efforts is individual consumers. Renowned examples of B2C companies include Amazon, Apple, and Nike.
Conversion Rate
The conversation rate depends on the number of intended actions you’ve placed on your site.
This is the rate of people who took the desired action on your website – high conversion rates show your website is performing well.
Friction
Friction is any element on your website that negatively affects user experience and in turn a business’ inbound marketing effort.
Friction can come in the form of colors, imagery, text, and design, which is confusing and distracting to your website visitors.
Infographics
An infographic is a form of visual content that consists of information and graphics.
They are a way to give the audience a quick rundown on something that can be hard to explain in words alone.
Keywords
Keywords are those phrases which consumers use to search specific content.
Appropriate use of keywords optimize a website so that it appears on the first page of the search engine results –increasing traffic to that website.
Microsite
Microsites are a cross of a landing page and a regular website. These web pages are created by brands to provide a different online experience for their visitors, separate from the main website.
Mobile Optimization
Mobilize optimization is optimizing your website design so that it is mobile-friendly.
Native Advertising
Native advertisement is a type of advertisement that allows ads to appear as sponsored content and not interruptive
User Experience (UX)
The user experience is the experience a customer has from the initial stages of discovery to the point of purchase.
To enhance the user experience of a customer, marketers are advised to think like a customer.
User Interface (UI)
The guidance offered to users that allow them to control software or hardware is called UI.
A good user interface ensures easy navigation and provides users with a user-friendly experience.
Responsive Design
Responsive design is designing a website that adapts to the device it is being viewed on. This eliminates the need for creating a different website for each device it has to be used on.
Viral Content
Viral content is content that becomes immediately popular and widespread, through sharing across the web.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is conveying information from person to person. It is beneficial for a company because it doesn’t require any sort of investment.
Usually satisfied customers promote a product and engage in word-of-mouth marketing.