Marketing is an industry cobbled together of people with entirely different backgrounds. You can be a marketer and have a degree in IT or an artist turned graphic designer turned social media marketer. The point is, people from countless and varying backgrounds are pouring into the industry.
Sound familiar? Maybe you’re the new guy and your eyes glaze over when your coworkers start to talk about work because the terms mean nothing to you. Or maybe you’re one of the people talking about work and you’ve watched as your new coworker’s eyes get glassy and it dawns on you that you are speaking a different language.
You might even be a person who was thrust into marketing for your business, or someone else’s, and you’re in over your head with all of this industry lingo.
That’s what this post is for. A set of virtual flashcards for 16 absolute beginner and intermediate marketing terms. They will answer some of your simplest marketing questions and give you an idea of what else to learn about from there.
Beginner:
These terms hit on some of the core topics within the marketing industry, giving you an overview of what marketing is about.
1. B2B vs. B2C
Examples:
Influence &Co. is a B2B company that sells other companies content (defined here).
L’Oréal is a B2C company that sells beauty products to consumers.
2. Brand
Examples:
Apple is a brand that is known for its signature logo, the apple with a bite out of it,
and its simple, clean designs.
TOMS shoes is known for its charitable acts and signature slip-on design.
3. Call-to-Action (CTA)
Examples:
“Click here to learn more!”
A “Buy Now” button
4. CAN-SPAM
Some provisions of this critical law for email marketers include:
- Don’t use false or misleading header information
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines
- Identify the message as an ad.
- Give the audience an opt-out option
These are just a few of the provisions included in the law. See the rest here. For Canada, these laws, called CASL (said like castle), apply.
5. Content
Examples:
This blog post about bad subject lines that I wrote is a piece of content.
This really cool video with classical music and synchronized drones is a bit of content marketing from Intel.
6. Content Marketing
So, if content is everything you see on the internet, content marketing is what makes sure you see it. It also is responsible for catching your interest, and through a series of steps, hopes to turn a potential buyer into an actual buyer while also maintaining the appearance of the brand.
Example:
Apple’s entire Think Different campaign and the series of content that came with it is a brilliant example of content marketing.
7. Engagement
Examples:
The action of people liking a company’s Facebook page is engagement.
Downloads on an email are examples of engagement.
8. Funnel
Here is a more in-depth breakdown of the funnel.
9. Lead vs. Prospect
The previous two definitions come from this in-depth post from my colleague.
Intermediate:
These are the less common, more nitty-gritty marketing terms. While still not very advanced, these terms are a step in the right direction to understanding some of the intricacies of many marketing processes.
11. A/B Testing
Examples:
You can compare two different versions of a website during A/B testing.
You can see if personalization in an email subject line helps or hinders the open rate as part of A/B testing.
12. Analytics/Metrics
Examples:
Trying to reach a goal for number of page views is a metric.
Businesses use analytics as data to better inform business decisions.
13. Application Programming Interface (API)
Examples:
Google Maps has an API that allows it to be embedded on websites.
Twitter has two different APIs, one to access core twitter data and the other search API which provides developers with ways to interact with Twitter search.
14. Marketing Automation
Example:
Amazon uses automation software to track the behavior of its users and provide them with personalized recommendations.
Get more information on this area here.
15. Click-through Rate
Example:
You would determine the click-through rate in an email marketing campaign by seeing who opened the asset vs. who opened the email.
16. Conversion
This is a main goal for many marketing efforts.
Example:
“They read the blog post, converted and bought the ebook.”
These terms are just the beginning of delving into the diverse world that is marketing. These are obviously many more concepts you’ll run across. Remember, you can’t learn everything about marketing in a day or from a single blog post. But hopefully these terms will make you feel a little less lost as you hang around the water cooler.
What do you think of our list? Are we missing something important? Tell us in the comments section.
