Business & Marketing - Terminology & Acronyms
Exhaustive Business Terms "A-Z"
Comprehensive Marketing Terms "A-Z"
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "A"
Accounts Payable (AP):
Short-term debts where a company owes money to its suppliers or creditors for goods or services that have been delivered but not yet paid for.
Accounts Receivable (AR):
Funds due to a company from customers who have received goods or services on credit but have not yet paid.
Accrual Accounting:
Accounting method where revenues and expenses are recorded when they are earned or incurred, regardless of when the cash transactions occur.
Accrued Expenses:
Expenses that have been incurred but not yet paid.
Acquisition:
The act of gaining control over another company either by purchasing all or a significant portion of its stock or by buying its assets.
Active Listening:
The practice of paying close attention to a speaker's words, showing active engagement, and not interrupting while being fully present.
Activity-Based Costing (ABC):
A method of costing that identifies activities in an organization and assigns the cost of each activity to all products and services according to the actual consumption.
Ad Hoc:
Something created or done for a particular purpose as necessary.
Adjustable Rate:
An interest rate on a loan or security that can change over time, typically in relation to an index or rate.
Administered Prices:
Prices determined by an administering entity under various conditions, rather than by free market forces.
Adverse Selection:
A situation where sellers have information that buyers do not, or vice versa, about some aspect of product quality.
Affiliate Marketing:
A marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.
Agency Costs:
The costs associated with ensuring agents (managers) act in the best interest of principals (shareholders) in a business.
Agile Management:
An iterative approach to managing projects and processes that focuses on continuous improvement, flexibility, team input, and delivering essential quality products.
Agility:
The ability of an organization to rapidly adapt to market changes internally and externally, respond flexibly, speedily execute decisions, and adapt operations effectively.
Amortization:
The process of spreading out a loan into a series of fixed payments over time.
Angel Investor:
An individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR):
The annual rate charged for borrowing or earned through an investment, which represents the actual yearly cost over the term of a loan.
Annual Report:
A comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year.
Annuity:
A financial product that pays out a fixed stream of payments to an individual, typically used as an income stream for retirees.
Arbitrage:
The practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets by buying and selling an asset to profit from the differential.
Articles of Incorporation:
Legal documents filed with the state to legally document the creation of a corporation.
Asset (AST):
Any resource owned by a business that is expected to provide future economic benefits.
Asset Allocation:
Strategic distribution of assets across various types of investments to balance risk and reward based on an individual’s goals, risk tolerance, and investment horizon.
Asset Management:
The systematic process of developing, operating, maintaining, and selling assets in a cost-effective manner.
Asset Turnover Ratio:
A measure of a company's ability to generate sales from its assets by comparing net sales with average total assets.
Asymmetric Information:
A situation in which one party in a transaction has more or superior information compared to another.
Audit:
An official inspection of an organization’s accounts by an independent body, often a certified public accounting firm.
Augmented Product:
A product enhanced with additional features, benefits, or related services to distinguish it from competing products.
Authorized Capital:
The maximum amount of share capital that a company is allowed to authorize for issuance to shareholders.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "B"
Balance Sheet (BS):
A financial statement that reports a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity at a specific point in time, providing a basis for computing rates of return and evaluating its capital structure.
Bankruptcy:
A legal proceeding involving a person or business that is unable to repay outstanding debts. This process generally involves a court action that seeks to equitably distribute the debtor's assets to their creditors.
Barriers to Entry:
Economic, procedural, regulatory, or technological factors that obstruct or restrict competition in a market.
Bear Market:
A market condition in which the prices of securities are falling, and widespread pessimism causes the negative sentiment to be self-sustaining.
Behavioral Economics:
An area of economic research that observes the psychological and cognitive factors affecting people's economic decisions.
Benchmarking:
The process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other companies.
Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR):
A ratio used in cost-benefit analysis to summarize the overall relationship between the relative costs and benefits of a proposed project.
Beta (β):
A measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole.
Bid-Ask Spread:
The amount by which the ask price exceeds the bid price for an asset in the market.
Big Data:
Extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.
Bilateral Contract:
A reciprocal arrangement between two parties where each promises to perform an act in exchange for the other party's act.
Bill of Lading (B/L):
A legal document between a shipper and a carrier that details the type, quantity, and destination of the goods being carried.
Blue Chip Stocks:
Shares of large, well-established, and financially sound companies that have operated for many years.
Board of Directors (BOD):
A group of individuals elected to represent shareholders and govern the activities of a corporation by establishing policies and making decisions.
Bootstrapping:
Starting a business without external help or capital.
Bottom Line:
The final total of an account, balance sheet, or financial result concerning profit or loss.
Brand Equity:
The value a brand adds to a product or service beyond the functional benefits provided, based on consumer knowledge, perceptions, and experiences with the brand.
Break-Even Point:
The production level at which total revenues equal total expenses.
Bridge Loan:
A short-term loan used until a person or company secures permanent financing or removes an existing obligation.
Broker:
A person or company licensed to buy and sell stocks, bonds, or other investments in financial markets for investor clients.
Budget:
A financial plan for a defined period, often one year, that is known to manage revenue, expenses, and savings.
Business Analytics (BA):
The skills, technologies, practices for continuous iterative exploration, and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning.
Business Cycle:
The fluctuating levels of economic activity that an economy experiences over a period, characterized by expansion, peak, recession, trough, and recovery.
Business Ethics:
The study of appropriate business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial subjects including corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility, and fiduciary responsibilities.
Business Intelligence (BI):
Technologies, applications, and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of business information to support better business decision-making.
Business Model:
A design for the successful operation of a business, identifying revenue sources, customer base, products, and details of financing.
Business Plan:
A written document describing the nature of the business, the sales and marketing strategy, and the financial background, containing a projected profit and loss statement.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO):
The contracting of a specific business task, such as payroll, human resources (HR), or accounting, to a third-party service provider.
Buyout:
The purchase of a company's shares or division that gives the purchaser control over that company or division.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "C"
Capital (CAP):
The financial resources that businesses use to fund their operations and growth, often coming from debt and equity.
Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM):
A model that describes the relationship between systematic risk and expected return for assets, particularly stocks.
Capital Expenditure (CapEx):
Funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, and maintain physical assets such as property, industrial buildings, or equipment.
Capital Gains:
The increase in value of a capital asset that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price.
Capital Market:
A financial market in which long-term debt or equity-backed securities are bought and sold.
Capital Structure:
The mix of debt and equity that a company uses to finance its operations and growth.
Capitalization:
The total value of all of a company's outstanding shares of stock, calculated as share price times number of shares.
Cash Flow (CF):
The total amount of money being transferred in and out of a business, especially as affecting liquidity.
Cash Flow Statement:
A financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing, and financing activities.
Cash Management:
The corporate process of collecting, managing, and (short-term) investing cash.
C Corporation (C Corp):
A legal structure for a corporation in which the owners, or shareholders, are taxed separately from the entity.
Ceiling Price:
The maximum price that can be charged for a good or service in the market.
Central Bank:
A national bank that provides financial and banking services for its country's government and commercial banking system, as well as implementing the government's monetary policy and issuing currency.
Certificate of Deposit (CD):
A savings certificate with a fixed maturity date and specified fixed interest rate that can be issued in any denomination aside from minimum investment requirements.
Channel of Distribution:
Any pathway through which goods and services flow from producers to consumers.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO):
The highest-ranking executive in a company, whose primary responsibilities include making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of a company, and acting as the main point of communication between the board of directors and corporate operations.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO):
The senior executive responsible for managing the financial actions of a company.
Chief Information Officer (CIO):
An executive job title commonly given to the person in an enterprise responsible for information technology strategy and the computer systems required to support the enterprise's objectives and goals.
Chief Operating Officer (COO):
An executive who is responsible for the daily operation of the company, and routinely reports to the highest-ranking executive, usually the CEO.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO):
An executive who is in charge of an organization's technological needs as well as its research and development (R&D).
Collateral:
Assets pledged by a borrower to secure a loan or other credit, and subject to seizure in the event of default.
Collective Bargaining:
Negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees.
Commercial Paper:
An unsecured, short-term debt instrument issued by a corporation, typically for the financing of accounts receivable, inventories and meeting short-term liabilities.
Commodity:
A basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other goods of the same type.
Common Stock:
A type of security that signifies ownership in a corporation and represents a claim on part of the corporation's profits.
Communication Strategy:
An approach that a company undertakes to communicate with its target audience effectively.
Company Culture:
The beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact.
Competitive Advantage:
Conditions that allow a company or country to produce a good or service of equal value at a lower price or in a more desirable fashion.
Compound Interest:
Interest calculated on the initial principal, which also includes all of the accumulated interest from previous periods on a deposit or loan.
Conciliation:
A method of outside resolution of labor disputes in which a third party suggests or imposes a solution.
Consolidation:
The process of combining multiple businesses or properties under one management or corporate structure.
Consumer Confidence Index (CCI):
A survey that measures how optimistic or pessimistic consumers are regarding their expected financial situation.
Consumer Price Index (CPI):
A measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.
Contingency:
A future event or circumstance that is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.
Contract:
A legally-binding agreement which recognizes and governs the rights and duties of the parties to the agreement.
Contribution Margin:
A cost accounting concept that allows a company to determine the profitability of individual items.
Corporate Governance:
The system of rules, practices, and processes by which a firm is directed and controlled.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):
A business model that helps a company be socially accountable—to itself, its stakeholders, and the public.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS):
The direct costs attributable to the production of the goods sold in a company.
Credit Rating:
An evaluation of the credit risk of a prospective debtor, predicting their ability to pay back the debt and an implicit forecast of the likelihood of the debtor defaulting.
Crowdfunding:
The use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture.
Currency:
A system of money in general use in a particular country.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "D"
Data Analysis:
The process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making.
Data Mining:
The practice of examining large databases in order to generate new information and identify patterns.
Debenture:
A type of debt instrument that is not secured by physical assets or collateral but backed only by the general creditworthiness and reputation of the issuer.
Debt Financing:
Raising capital through the sale of bonds, bills, or notes to individual and/or institutional investors.
Debt-to-Equity Ratio (D/E):
A measure of a company's financial leverage calculated by dividing its total liabilities by stockholders' equity. It indicates what proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets.
Decentralization:
The dispersal of functions, powers, people or things away from a central location or authority.
Decision Support System (DSS):
An information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities, delivering comprehensive information and analysis tools.
Declining Balance Depreciation:
A method of accelerated depreciation in which the depreciation expense decreases over time.
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Failure to fulfill an obligation, especially the failure to meet a financial obligation, like not making a payment on a loan.
Default:
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Deficit:
The amount by which something, especially a sum of money, is too small.
Delinquency:
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Demographics:
Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it, used in business to identify markets.
Derivative:
A financial security with a value that is reliant upon or derived from, an underlying asset or group of assets—a benchmark.
Dilution:
A reduction in the ownership percentage of a share of stock caused by the issuance of new stock.
Direct Cost:
A cost that can be directly tied to the production of specific goods or services, such as labor and materials.
Discretionary Expense:
Non-essential expenses that can be adjusted or eliminated depending on financial conditions.
Diversification:
A risk management strategy that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio.
Divestiture:
The partial or full disposal of a business unit through sale, exchange, closure, or bankruptcy.
Dividend:
A sum of money paid regularly (typically quarterly) by a company to its shareholders out of its profits (or reserves).
Due Diligence:
An investigation or audit of a potential investment or product to confirm all facts, such as reviewing all financial records, plus anything else deemed material.
Duopoly:
A situation in which two companies own all or nearly all of the market for a given product or service.
Dynamic Pricing:
A pricing strategy whereby prices are adjusted in response to real-time supply and demand.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "E"
Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT):
An indicator of a company's profitability, calculated as revenue minus expenses, excluding tax and interest.
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA):
A measure of a company's overall financial performance and is used as an alternative to simple earnings or net income in some circumstances.
Earnings Per Share (EPS):
The portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock, serving as an indicator of a company's profitability.
E-commerce:
The activity of electronically buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet.
Economic Depreciation:
A measure of the decrease in value of an asset over time due to use and exposure to market conditions.
Economic Indicator:
A statistic about economic activity that allows analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance.
Economic Order Quantity (EOQ):
The ideal order quantity a company should purchase for its inventory with the goal of minimizing costs including holding costs, shortage costs, and order costs.
Economies of Scale:
The cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, with cost per unit of output generally decreasing with increasing scale as fixed costs are spread out over more units of output.
Elasticity:
A measure of a variable's sensitivity to a change in another variable, typically used to assess changes in demand in response to changes in price.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT):
The electronic transfer of money from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, via computer-based systems.
Employee Benefits:
Various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries.
Employee Engagement:
The extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work.
Employee Turnover:
The measurement of the number of employees who leave an organization during a specified period, often expressed as a turnover rate.
Empowerment:
The practice of giving employees more responsibility and authority to make decisions and control their work.
Encumbrance:
Any claim or lien on a property, such as a mortgage or a lease, that may impede its transfer or reduce its value.
Endowment:
Funds or property donated to an institution, individual, or group as a source of income.
Enterprise:
Another name for a business or a company.
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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP):
Business process management software that allows an organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate many back-office functions related to technology, services, and human resources.
Entrepreneur:
An individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or procedures.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA):
A process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, considering inter-related socio-economic, cultural, and human-health impacts.
Equity:
The value of an ownership interest in property, including shareholders' equity in a corporation.
Equity Financing:
The method of raising capital by selling company stock to investors; in return for the investment, the shareholders receive ownership interests in the company.
Escrow:
Financial instruments, such as funds or assets, held by a third party on behalf of the other two parties in a transaction.
Ethics:
Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity; in business, it involves determining appropriate conduct in the workplace.
E-Verify:
An Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States.
Ex-Dividend:
A classification of trading shares when a declared dividend belongs to the seller rather than the buyer.
Exchange Rate:
The value of one currency for the purpose of conversion to another.
Executive Compensation:
Financial payment and other benefits provided to executives by their firms, which might include salary, bonuses, stocks, and other types of compensation.
Expenditure:
The action of spending funds; in accounting, it's recorded when the goods are received or the service is used, rather than when the payment is made.
Expense Ratio:
A measure of what it costs an investment company to operate a mutual fund.
External Audit:
An examination of the financial records of a company or government by an independent auditor who is not affiliated with the company being audited.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "F"
Factoring:
A financial transaction and a type of debtor finance in which a business sells its accounts receivable to a third party (called a factor) at a discount.
Fair Market Value:
The price that property would sell for on the open market, considered to be the estimated market value of a property under prevailing market conditions.
Fiduciary:
A person who has the power and obligation to act for another under circumstances which require total trust, good faith, and honesty.
Fiscal Policy:
Government policy that attempts to influence the direction of the economy through changes in government spending or taxes.
Fixed Assets:
Long-term tangible assets that are used in the operations of the business and are not expected to be converted quickly into cash, such as buildings, machinery, and equipment.
Fixed Cost:
A cost that does not change with an increase or decrease in the amount of goods or services produced or sold.
Fixed Interest Rate:
An interest rate on a liability, such as a loan or mortgage, that remains the same either for the entire term of the loan or for part of the term.
Flexible Spending Account (FSA):
A type of savings account available in the United States that provides the account holder with specific tax advantages and is set up through a cafeteria plan of an employer.
Float:
The number of shares actually available for trading.
Floor Plan Financing:
A type of financing used to fund purchases of vehicles intended for sale. It's often used by car dealerships.
Foreign Exchange (Forex or FX):
The conversion of one currency into another currency. A type of license that a party (franchisee) acquires to allow them to have access to a business's (the franchisor) proprietary knowledge, processes, and trademarks in order to allow the party to sell a product or provide a service under the business's name.
Franchise:
A type of license that a party (franchisee) acquires to allow them to have access to a business's (the franchisor) proprietary knowledge, processes, and trademarks in order to allow the party to sell a product or provide a service under the business's name.
Free Cash Flow (FCF):
The cash a company generates after accounting for cash outflows to support operations and maintain its capital assets.
Freight:
Goods transported in bulk by truck, train, ship, or aircraft.
Front Office:
The part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing or sales department, and provides services or support that are visible to the customer.
Fulfilment:
The process of taking an order and executing it by making it ready for delivery to its intended customer.
Fundamental Analysis:
A method of measuring a security's intrinsic value by examining related economic and financial factors.
Futures Contract:
A legal agreement to buy or sell a particular commodity or financial instrument at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "G"
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles):
A set of accounting principles, standards, and procedures that companies must follow when they compile their financial statements.
Gantt Chart:
A type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule and shows the dependency relationships between activities and current schedule status.
Gearing Ratio:
A measure of a company's financial leverage, calculated by dividing its total borrowings by its equity.
General Ledger (GL):
The master set of accounts that summarize all transactions occurring within an entity.
General Partnership:
A partnership in which all participants are equally responsible for the management of the business, and each has unlimited liability for the debts and obligations it may incur.
Goodwill:
An intangible asset that arises when one company purchases another for a premium value, representing items such as the brand name, solid customer base, good customer relations, good employee relations, and any patents or proprietary technology.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
The total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a specific time period.
Gross Margin:
The difference between revenue and cost of goods sold divided by revenue, expressed as a percentage.
Gross Profit:
The profit a company makes after deducting the costs associated with making and selling its products, or the costs associated with providing its services.
Growth Hacking:
A process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective, efficient ways to grow a business.
Guarantor:
A person or entity that agrees to be responsible for another's debt or performance under a contract if the other fails to pay or perform.
Guaranteed Loan:
A loan that is guaranteed by a third party in the event the borrower defaults.
Guided Selling:
A process or tool that helps potential buyers choose a product or service by asking them a series of questions to guide them towards a purchase decision.
Going Concern:
A presumption that a company will continue to operate in the foreseeable future, which is essential in financial reporting as it validates the current valuation of assets and liabilities.
Golden Parachute:
Significant benefits given to top executives if the company is taken over by another firm, and the executives are terminated as a result of the merger or takeover.
Government Bond:
A debt security issued by a government to support government spending and obligations.
Grace Period:
A set length of time after the due date during which payment may be made without penalty.
Greenfield Investment:
An investment in which a parent company starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operational facilities from the ground up.
Gross National Product (GNP):
An economic statistic that includes GDP, plus any income earned by residents from overseas investments, minus income earned within the domestic economy by foreign residents.
Groupthink:
A psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.
Guarantee:
A formal promise or assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "H"
Hard Skills:
Specific, teachable abilities or skill sets that are easy to quantify, typically acquired through formal education or training programs.
Hedge:
An investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset, usually by taking an offsetting position in a related security.
Hedge Fund:
An investment fund that pools capital from accredited individuals or institutional investors and invests in a variety of assets, often with complex portfolio-construction and risk management techniques.
Holding Company:
A company created to buy and possess the shares of other companies, which it then controls.
Horizontal Integration:
The acquisition of additional business activities that are at the same level of the value chain in similar or different industries.
Hostile Takeover:
An acquisition attempt by a company or raider that is strongly resisted by the target company's management and its board of directors.
Human Capital:
The economic value of a worker's experience and skills, including factors like education, training, intelligence, skills, health, and loyalty.
Human Resources (HR):
The division of a company that is focused on activities relating to employees. These activities normally include recruiting and hiring of new employees, orientation and training of current employees, employee benefits, and retention.
Hybrid Work:
A type of work model that allows employees to split their time between working in-office and working remotely.
Hyperinflation:
An extremely high and typically accelerating inflation rate. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase.
Hypothecation:
The practice where a debtor pledges collateral to secure a debt or as a condition precedent to the debt, or a third party pledges collateral for the debtor.
Hurdle Rate:
The minimum rate that a company expects to earn when investing in a project, or the minimum rate of return on a project required for management to consider it.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "I"
Income Statement:
A financial statement that reports a company's financial performance over a specific accounting period. It includes revenue, expenses, gains, and losses to show the net income of the company.
Incorporation:
The process of legally declaring a corporate entity as separate from its owners.
Incremental Cost:
The additional cost associated with producing one additional unit of product.
Indemnify:
To secure against hurt, loss, or damage; to make compensation to for incurred hurt, loss, or damage.
Index Fund:
A type of mutual fund with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a financial market index, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500).
Indirect Cost:
Costs that are not directly accountable to a cost object (such as a particular project, facility, function, or product). They may include administration, personnel, and security costs.
Individual Retirement Account (IRA):
An investing tool used by individuals to earn and earmark funds for retirement savings. There are several types of IRAs including traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and SEP IRAs.
Industrial Relations:
The management of relationships between employers and employees.
Inflation:
The rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is falling.
Information Technology (IT):
The use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data or information. IT is considered a subset of information and communications technology (ICT).
Initial Public Offering (IPO):
The first time that the stock of a private company is offered to the public, often referred to as "going public."
Innovation:
The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.
Insolvency:
The state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company, on time; those in a state of insolvency are said to be insolvent.
Intangible Assets:
Non-physical assets such as patents, copyrights, brands, and goodwill that are acquired to increase a firm's long-term value.
Interest Rate:
The proportion of a loan that is charged as interest to the borrower, typically expressed as an annual percentage of the loan outstanding.
Intermediaries:
Entities that act as middlemen between different parties in a financial transaction, such as brokers, agents, and bankers.
Internal Audit:
An organizational initiative to monitor and analyze its own business operations in order to determine how well risks are managed, how well the business is governed, and how well internal processes are working.
Internal Rate of Return (IRR):
A metric used in financial analysis to estimate the profitability of potential investments. It is a discount rate that makes the net present value (NPV) of all cash flows from a particular project equal to zero.
International Business:
Commercial transactions that occur across country borders.
Inventory:
A complete list of items such as property, goods in stock, or the contents of a building. In business terms, inventory involves goods in different stages of production, including finished goods, work-in-progress, and raw materials.
Investment:
The action or process of investing money for profit or material result.
Invoice:
A document issued by a seller to a buyer indicating items sold, prices, date of shipment, delivery and payment terms, and other trade-related information.
Irrevocable Trust:
A type of trust where its terms cannot be modified, amended, or terminated without the permission of the grantor's named beneficiary or beneficiaries.
Issued Shares:
The shares of a company that have been allocated to and are held by shareholders. These shares represent ownership in the company and can be bought and sold by investors.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "J"
Job Costing:
A cost accounting system that accumulates manufacturing costs separately for each job. It is used when products are manufactured based on specific customer orders.
Joint Liability:
A legal term for when two or more persons are responsible for an obligation or debt. Each party is individually responsible for the entire amount of the obligation.
Joint Venture (JV):
A business arrangement in which two or more parties agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task. This task can be a new project or any other business activity. Each participant is responsible for profits, losses, and costs associated with the venture.
Judgment Proof:
A term used to describe a person who does not have enough assets for a creditor to seize when a judgment is issued against them.
Just-In-Time (JIT):
An inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thereby reducing inventory costs.
Justification:
In business, particularly in the context of planning and decision-making, the rationale behind a particular investment or action, which is often required in formal documents and discussions to validate the decision.
Job Description:
A written statement that explains the duties, working conditions, and other aspects of a specified job. It typically includes information about the tasks to be done, the methods to be used, and the relationship of the job to other functions.
Job Enrichment:
A job redesign technique that is used to increase employee satisfaction by giving them more responsibilities and variety in their roles.
Job Evaluation:
The process of analyzing and assessing various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization. This is often used as the basis for fair compensation.
Job Sharing:
An employment arrangement where typically two people are retained on a part-time or reduced basis to perform a job normally fulfilled by one person working full-time.
Joint Stock Company:
A business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership).
Journal Entry:
The method used to enter an accounting transaction, including debits and credits, into the accounting records (journal).
Junior Debt:
Debt that has a lower priority than other debts in terms of claims on assets or earnings. In the event of a liquidation, senior debt is paid out first.
Junk Bond:
A high-yield or non-investment grade bond that carries a higher risk of default compared to other bonds, typically rated below 'BBB' by Standard & Poor's or below 'Baa' by Moody's.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "K"
Kaizen:
A Japanese term meaning "change for better" or continuous improvement. It is a business philosophy regarding the processes that continuously improve operations and involve all employees.
Keiretsu:
A set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. It is a type of business group common in Japan where businesses own stakes in one another as a means of mutual security, usually around a bank.
Key Account Management (KAM):
A strategic approach to managing and growing the most important customers of an organization, which can contribute a significant portion of the company’s revenues.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI):
A type of performance measurement that organizations use to evaluate an employee's or an activity's success at reaching targets.
Kickback:
An illegal payment intended as compensation for preferential treatment or any other type of improper services received.
Kiosk:
A small, stand-alone booth typically placed in high-traffic areas for business purposes, often used to sell goods or provide information or advertising.
Knock-off:
A copy or imitation of someone else's work, sold on the market at lower prices, and usually without the original author's permission or legal right.
Knowledge Base:
A technology used to store complex structured and unstructured information used by a computer system. In business, it refers to a centralized repository for information: a public library, a database of related information about a particular subject.
Knowledge Economy:
An economy in which growth is dependent on the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the information available, rather than the means of production.
Knowledge Management (KM):
The process of creating, sharing, using, and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to strategies and practices used to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable the adoption of insights and experiences.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "L"
Lagging Indicator:
A measurable economic factor that changes only after the economy has begun to follow a particular pattern or trend. It’s used to analyze the performance of an economy in hindsight.
Laissez-Faire:
A policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering. In economics, it refers to an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government intervention such as regulation, privileges, tariffs, and subsidies.
Landlord:
An owner of real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant.
Lease:
A contractual arrangement calling for the lessee (user) to pay the lessor (owner) for use of an asset for a specified period of time.
Leverage:
The use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital—such as margin—to increase the potential return of an investment.
Liability:
A company or individual's legal financial debts or obligations that arise during the course of business operations.
Lien:
A legal right or interest that a creditor has in another's property, usually lasting until a debt or duty that it secures is satisfied.
Life Cycle:
A series of stages through which something (such as an individual, project, or product) passes during its lifetime.
Limited Liability Company (LLC):
A corporate structure whereby the members of the company cannot be held personally liable for the company’s debts or liabilities.
Line of Credit (LOC):
An arrangement between a financial institution—usually a bank—and a customer that establishes a maximum loan balance that the lender permits the borrower to access or maintain.
Liquidity:
The availability of liquid assets to a company or an individual, or the ability to convert an asset to cash quickly.
Liquidity Ratio:
A ratio that is used to determine a company's ability to pay off its short-terms debts obligations. This measures a company's ability to convert its assets to cash to pay off liabilities.
Listing:
Refers to the company's shares being on the list of stock that are officially traded on a stock exchange.
Loan:
A sum of money that is borrowed, which is expected to be paid back with interest.
Lockout:
An action taken by an employer during labor disputes to prevent employees from entering the workplace. This usually occurs in an attempt to exert pressure on a union to accept a contract.
Logistics:
The detailed coordination of a complex operation involving many people, facilities, or supplies. In business, logistics refers to the movement, distribution, and storage of goods, services, and information within a company and between its suppliers and customers.
Long-term Assets:
Assets that are expected to be used in business operations for longer than one year, such as real estate, machinery, or equipment.
Loss Leader:
A pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other profitable sales.
Loyalty Program:
A marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. These programs offer a customer a reward, perk, or incentive for their continued patronage.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "M"
Macro Environment:
The external elements that exist outside of a company’s control that can significantly impact its performance and strategies. These include economic, political, environmental, legal, and social changes.
Mail Merge:
A process used to insert personal and other specific data into pre-formatted messages or documents, typically used for mass mailing of letters or emails.
Maintenance Margin:
The minimum amount of equity that must be maintained in a margin account after securities are purchased on credit.
Management by Objectives (MBO):
A strategic management model that aims to improve the performance of an organization by clearly defining objectives that are agreed to by both management and employees.
Managerial Accounting:
The process of identifying, measuring, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating information for the pursuit of an organization's goals.
Market Capitalization:
The total value of a company's outstanding shares of stock, computed as price per share times the total number of shares.
Market Development:
A strategic step taken by a company to develop the existing market rather than looking for a new market. The strategy is used to increase the sale of the existing products to the current market segments.
Market Penetration:
A measure of the amount of sales or adoption of a product or service compared to the total theoretical market for that product or service.
Market Research:
The process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present, and potential customers for the product or service.
Market Share:
The portion of a market controlled by a particular company or product.
Marketing Mix:
The set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix - Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.
Marketing Strategy:
A business' overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.
Master Budget:
A comprehensive financial planning document that consolidates all of the subsidiary budgets of a company, including sales, production, and finance budgets.
Maturity:
The time at which payment to a bondholder is due or the termination of an investment period.
Merger:
The combination of two companies into one larger company, often to expand a company’s reach or gain market share in an attempt to create shareholder value.
Microeconomics:
The branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of limited resources.
Minimum Wage:
The lowest hourly, daily, or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers.
Mission Statement:
A statement of the organization's purpose, describing why it exists and what it hopes to achieve.
Mixed Economy:
An economic system combining private and public enterprise.
Monopoly:
A market structure characterized by a single seller, selling a unique product in the market. In a monopoly market, the seller faces no competition, as he is the sole seller of goods with no close substitute.
Mortgage:
A loan secured by the collateral of specified real estate property that the borrower is obliged to pay back with a predetermined set of payments.
Motivation:
The reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way, or the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
Multinational Corporation (MNC):
A corporate organization that owns or controls the production of goods or services in at least one country other than its home country.
Mutual Fund:
An investment program funded by shareholders that trades in diversified holdings and is professionally managed.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "N"
Nascent Market:
A new, emerging market that is in the early stages of its development where demand is beginning to form and opportunities for profit are increasing.
Nationalization:
The process by which governments take private assets into public ownership, typically key industries or assets considered important to the national interest.
Negligence:
A failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances.
Net Assets:
The difference between total assets and total liabilities on a company's balance sheet, representing the equity value in the company.
Net Income:
The total earnings of a company after deducting all expenses, taxes, and costs from total revenue. It represents the final profit of the company.
Net Margin:
The percentage of revenue remaining after all operating expenses, interest, taxes, and preferred stock dividends have been deducted from total revenue.
Net Present Value (NPV):
A method used in capital budgeting to evaluate the profitability of an investment or project by calculating the difference between the present value of cash inflows and outflows over a period of time.
Net Sales:
The amount of sales generated by a company after the deduction of returns, allowances for damaged or missing goods, and any discounts allowed.
Networking:
Building and maintaining relationships with people from professional and social circles, which can often provide new opportunities and information relevant to one's career or personal goals.
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA):
A legally binding contract establishing a confidential relationship between parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets from being disclosed to unauthorized parties.
Non-Executive Director:
A member of a company's board of directors who is not part of the executive team. They typically do not engage in the day-to-day management of the organization but are involved in policymaking and planning exercises.
Non-Performing Asset (NPA):
A classification used by financial institutions for loans or advances that are in jeopardy of default.
Not-for-Profit Organization:
An organization that does not earn profits for its owners. All of the money earned by or donated to a not-for-profit organization is used in pursuing the organization's objectives and keeping it running.
Notice Period:
The time period between the receipt of the letter of dismissal and the end of the last working day. This period is given to an employee by their employer before their employment ends.
Novation:
The act of replacing an obligation to perform with a new obligation or replacing a party to an agreement with a new one.
Niche Market:
A small, specialized market for a particular product or service, characterized by a specific demographic, interest, or identity that distinguishes it from the market at large.
Negotiable Instrument:
A document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand or at a set time, with the payer named on the document.
Net Operating Income (NOI):
A calculation used to analyze real estate investments that generate income. NOI equals all revenue from the property minus all reasonably necessary operating expenses.
Net Worth:
The difference between the assets and liabilities of a person or business. Essentially, it is a measure of what an entity is worth.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "O"
Objectives:
Specific, measurable goals that an organization or individual aims to achieve in a set time frame.
Obligation:
A legal or moral commitment to fulfill an agreement or repay a debt.
Offer:
A proposal by one party to another intended to create a legally binding agreement.
Offshore:
Refers to any item located or based outside of one’s national boundaries, often used in the context of offshore accounts, investments, and corporations for financial, legal, and taxation benefits.
Oligopoly:
A market structure characterized by a small number of firms controlling the majority of market share and often producing similar or identical products.
Onboarding:
The process of integrating a new employee into an organization and its culture, including training and orientation.
Operating Costs:
The expenses associated with the maintenance and administration of a business on a day-to-day basis.
Operating Income:
The amount of profit realized from a business's operations after deducting operating expenses such as wages and cost of goods sold.
Operating Leverage:
A measure of how revenue growth translates into growth in operating income. It is calculated by dividing the contribution margin by net operating income.
Operating Margin:
A profitability or performance ratio that reflects the percentage of profit a company produces from its operations, prior to subtracting taxes and interest charges.
Operations Management:
The administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization, focusing on converting materials and labor into goods and services as efficiently as possible.
Opportunity Cost:
The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.
Optimization:
The action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource.
Order Fulfillment:
The complete process from point of sales inquiry to delivery of a product to the customer.
Organic Growth:
Expansion from a company's own business activity, without acquiring other businesses, often through increased output, sales, or market share.
Organization Chart:
A diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and positions/jobs.
Organizational Behavior:
The study of the way people interact within groups, usually in a corporate setting. It is particularly interested in understanding how people behave under various organizational structures and processes.
Organizational Culture:
The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of a business.
Outsourcing:
The business practice of hiring a party outside a company to perform services and create goods that traditionally were performed in-house by the company's own employees and staff.
Outstanding Shares:
The total number of shares of stock that have been issued by a corporation and are held by investors, including restricted blocks held by insiders and company officers.
Overcapitalization:
A situation in which a company has issued more debt and equity than its assets are worth.
Overhead:
All ongoing business expenses not directly attributed to creating a product or service. This typically includes costs related to administration, facilities, and equipment.
Oversubscription:
Occurs when the demand for a stock or other security exceeds the supply offered for sale at the time of an initial public offering (IPO).
Owner’s Equity:
The total assets of an entity minus its total liabilities. Often referred to as the net assets or shareholders' equity for a company.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "P"
Pareto Principle:
Also known as the 80/20 rule, it is the theory that 80% of outcomes (outputs) come from 20% of causes (inputs) in many situations.
Partnership:
A legal form of business operation between two or more individuals who share management and profits. The federal government recognizes several types of partnerships: general partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLP), and others.
Patent:
A form of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of years in exchange for publishing an enabling public disclosure of the invention.
Payback Period:
The length of time required to recover the cost of an investment.
Payroll:
The total amount of wages paid by a company to its employees and other workers, including salary payments, bonuses, and deductions.
P/E Ratio (Price-to-Earnings):
A valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared to its per-share earnings, used for measuring the relative value of a company’s shares in an apples-to-apples comparison.
Performance Management:
The process by which managers and employees work together to plan, monitor, and review an employee’s work objectives and overall contribution to the organization.
Perpetual Inventory:
An approach to inventory management where inventory quantities and availability are updated on a continuous basis as transactions occur.
Personal Guarantee:
A promise made by a business owner or executive to repay a business debt personally if the business cannot pay.
Petty Cash:
A small amount of cash on hand used for paying expenses too small to merit writing a check.
Pivot:
A significant business change to test a new approach regarding a business model, product, or service direction, often based on learnings from the original business model.
Plaintiff:
The person or party who brings a lawsuit against another party in a court of law.
Portfolio:
A range of investments held by a person or organization.
Positioning:
The process of marketing strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a distinct position, relative to competing brands, in the mind of the customer.
Preferred Stock:
A class of ownership in a corporation that has a higher claim on its assets and earnings than common stock. Preferred shares generally have a dividend that must be paid out before dividends to common shareholders and the shares usually do not carry voting rights.
Premium:
An amount paid periodically to the insurer by the insured for covering their risk.
Prepayment:
The settlement of a debt or installment payment before its official due date.
Price Ceiling:
A legal maximum price at which a commodity can be sold.
Price Discrimination:
The strategy of selling the same product to different customers at different prices based on the willingness to pay.
Price Elasticity of Demand:
A measure used to show the responsiveness, or elasticity, of the quantity demanded of a good or service to a change in its price.
Pricing Strategy:
The method companies use to price their products or services. It involves considering several factors, including the target audience, the product’s market demand, the costs for production, and the competitor’s prices.
Primary Market:
The market where securities are created. It’s in this market that firms sell new stocks and bonds to the public for the first time.
Principal:
The original sum of money borrowed in a loan, or the amount of the loan still owed, excluding interest.
Private Equity:
Capital that is not noted on a public exchange. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies, or that engage in buyouts of public companies, resulting in the delisting of public equity.
Pro Forma:
A method by which financial results are calculated based on certain projections or presumptions.
Product Differentiation:
The process of distinguishing a product or offering from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market.
Productivity:
The measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, system, etc., in converting inputs into useful outputs.
Profit Margin:
A profitability ratio calculated as net income divided by revenue, or net profits divided by sales. It measures how much out of every dollar of sales a company actually keeps in earnings.
Promissory Note:
A financial instrument that contains a written promise by one party to pay another party a definite sum of money either on demand or at a specified future date.
Property Rights:
The legal rights to use, manage, and own a resource, property, or asset.
Prospectus:
A detailed document provided by a company offering securities for sale to the public that describes the investment offering, which must be provided to all potential investors.
Public Company:
A company whose shares are traded freely on a stock exchange.
Purchase Order:
An official document issued by a buyer committing to pay the seller for the sale of specific products or services to be delivered in the future.
Put Option:
An option contract giving the owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell a specified amount of an underlying security at a specified price within a specified time.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "Q"
Quality Assurance (QA):
A way of preventing mistakes or defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering solutions or services to customers; which ISO 9000 defines as "part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled."
Quality Control (QC):
The set of procedures intended to ensure that a manufactured product or performed service adheres to a defined set of quality criteria or meets the requirements of the client or customer.
Quantitative Analysis:
The use of mathematical and statistical modeling, measurement, and research to understand behavior. Quantitative analysts aim to represent a given reality in terms of a numerical value.
Quantitative Easing (QE):
An unconventional monetary policy used by central banks to stimulate the national economy when conventional monetary policy has become ineffective. A central bank implements quantitative easing by buying financial assets to inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the economy.
Quartile:
A statistical term describing a division of observations into four defined intervals based upon the values of the data and how they compare to the entire set.
Quasi Contract:
An implied contract, created by courts for equitable, not contractual purposes; prevents one party from benefiting at another's expense.
Quid Pro Quo:
From Latin, meaning "something for something," which describes a reciprocal exchange or interaction.
Quiet Period:
The time period between when a company files registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the SEC staff's declaration that the registration is effective. During this time, the federal securities laws limit what information a company and related parties can release to the public.
Quorum:
The minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group. For a corporation, a quorum is typically a number of directors or shareholders to make decisions.
Quote:
A current price of an asset quoted on the market during a transaction; also can refer to a statement giving the estimated cost for a particular job or service.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "R"
Rack Rate:
The standard price set by a hotel before any discounts are applied.
Rate of Return:
The gain or loss on an investment over a specified period, expressed as a percentage of the investment's cost.
Ratio Analysis:
A quantitative analysis of information contained in a company’s financial statements. It is used to evaluate various aspects of a company's operating and financial performance such as its efficiency, liquidity, profitability, and solvency.
Real Estate:
Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature.
Rebranding:
The process of changing the corporate image of an organization. It is a market strategy of giving a new name, symbol, or change in design for an already-established brand.
Receivables:
Money owed to a company by its debtors for goods or services that have been delivered or used but not yet paid for.
Recession:
A period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.
Recruitment:
The process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job at an organization or firm.
Red Herring Prospectus:
A preliminary registration document filed by a company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (usually in connection with an initial public offering).
Redundancy:
The state of being no longer in employment because there is no more work available.
Refinancing:
The action of replacing or restructuring the financing of an asset or a debt with new debt, equity, or a combination of these.
Regulation:
A rule or directive made and maintained by an authority.
Reinsurance:
The practice whereby insurers transfer portions of their risk portfolios to other parties by some form of agreement to reduce the likelihood of paying a large obligation resulting from an insurance claim.
Return on Assets (ROA):
An indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets, calculated as Net Income divided by Total Assets.
Return on Equity (ROE):
A measure of the profitability of a business in relation to the equity, calculated as Net Income divided by Shareholder's Equity.
Return on Investment (ROI):
A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or compare the efficiency of a number of different investments.
Revenue:
The total amount of income generated by the sale of goods or services related to the company's primary operations.
Risk Management:
The process of identifying, assessing, and controlling threats to an organization's capital and earnings.
Rollout:
The introduction of a new product or service to the market.
Royalty:
A payment made by one party (the licensee) to another that owns a particular asset (the licensor) for the right to ongoing use of that asset.
Run Rate:
An extrapolation of financial results into future periods. For example, a company might report earnings in terms of a "run rate" based on their earnings for one quarter.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "S"
SaaS (Software as a Service):
A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a third-party provider and made available to customers over the internet.
Safe Harbor:
A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability in certain situations as long as certain conditions are met.
Sales Forecast:
The process of estimating future sales. Accurate sales forecasts enable companies to make informed business decisions and predict short-term and long-term performance.
Salvage Value:
The estimated value that an asset will realize upon its sale at the end of its useful life.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX):
A U.S. law enacted in 2002 to protect investors from the possibility of fraudulent accounting activities by corporations. It mandated strict reforms to improve financial disclosures from corporations and prevent accounting fraud.
Scalability:
The capability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth.
Scenario Planning:
A strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and generalization of classic methods used by military intelligence.
Seasonal Adjustment:
The statistical process of removing the seasonal component of a time series that exhibits a seasonal pattern, to better understand non-seasonal trends.
Secondary Market:
The financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold.
Secured Loan:
A loan in which the borrower pledges some asset (e.g., a car or property) as collateral for the loan.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):
An independent federal government agency responsible for protecting investors, maintaining fair and orderly functioning of securities markets, and facilitating capital formation.
Security:
A financial instrument that represents an ownership position in a publicly-traded corporation (stock), a creditor relationship with a governmental body or a corporation (bond), or rights to ownership as represented by an option.
Segmentation:
The process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as segments) based on some type of shared characteristics.
Self-Employed:
Individuals who earn their living by working for themselves and not being employed by someone else, usually considered as freelancers or business owners.
Senior Debt:
Debt which, in the event of bankruptcy, must be repaid before subordinated debt receives any payment.
Shareholder:
An individual or institution (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders may be referred to as members of a corporation.
Shareholder Equity:
Also known as shareholders' equity or stockholders' equity, it represents the net value of a company, calculated as total assets minus total liabilities.
Short Selling:
The sale of a security that is not owned by the seller, but that is promised to be delivered. It's a strategy used to take advantage of an anticipated decline in the security's price.
Six Sigma:
A set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was introduced by engineer Bill Smith while working at Motorola in 1986. Jack Welch made it central to his business strategy at General Electric in 1995.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit):
A unique identifier for each distinct product and service that can be purchased.
Social Entrepreneurship:
The use of startup companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund, and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues.
Solvency:
The ability of a company to meet its long-term debts and financial obligations.
Stakeholder:
Any person, organization, social group, or society at large that has a stake in the business. Thus, stakeholders can be internal or external to the business.
Statement of Cash Flows:
A financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing, and financing activities.
Strategic Alliance:
An agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations.
Subsidiary:
A company that is completely or partly owned and partly or wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock.
Supply Chain:
The entire network of entities, directly or indirectly interlinked and interdependent in serving the same consumer or customer. It involves the movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption.
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats):
A framework used to evaluate a company's competitive position by identifying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "T"
Tangible Assets:
Physical assets that can be seen and touched, such as buildings, machinery, vehicles, and inventory.
Tariff:
A tax imposed on imported goods and services, intended to raise the price and make imports less desirable, or to generate revenue.
Tax Deduction:
An amount that can be subtracted from an individual's or entity's income before it is subject to taxation, effectively reducing the taxable income.
Tax Evasion:
The illegal practice of not paying taxes by not reporting income, reporting expenses not legally allowed, or by not paying taxes owed.
Tax Haven:
A country or designated zone that offers foreign individuals and businesses little or no tax liability in a politically and economically stable environment.
Telemarketing:
The direct marketing of goods or services to potential customers over the telephone, by fax, or internet.
Term Loan:
A loan from a bank for a specific amount that has a specified repayment schedule and a fixed or floating interest rate.
Terms of Trade (TOT):
The ratio of an index of a country's export prices to an index of its import prices.
Test Marketing:
The process of testing the viability of a new product or service in a limited geographical area or demographic, before a wide-scale rollout.
Third Party Logistics (3PL):
A business's use of third-party businesses to outsource elements of its distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment services.
Ticker Symbol:
An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise publicly traded.
Time Value of Money (TVM):
The concept that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future due to its potential earning capacity.
Trademark:
A symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.
Trade Secret:
A type of confidential business information which provides an enterprise a competitive edge and is not public knowledge.
Trade Union:
An organization formed by workers in many industries to represent their rights and interests in negotiations with employers.
Transaction Cost:
The cost associated with making an economic exchange, including costs beyond the price of the goods or services involved.
Transfer Pricing:
Setting the price for goods and services sold between controlled (or related) legal entities within an enterprise.
Treasury Bonds:
Long-term government securities issued with a term greater than ten years. Interest is paid semiannually, and the income that holders receive is only taxed at the federal level.
Trend Analysis:
The practice of collecting information and attempting to spot a pattern, often used in technical analysis of financial markets or in analyzing business data to understand the direction of market or business activities.
Triple Bottom Line (TBL or 3BL):
An accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental (or ecological), and financial. These three divisions are also referred to as the three Ps: people, planet, and profit.
Turnaround:
The financial recovery of a company that has been performing poorly for an extended time.
Turnkey Project:
A type of project that is constructed so that it can be sold to any buyer as a completed product. This is contrasted with build-to-order, where the constructor builds an item to the buyer's exact specifications.
Turnover:
The annual sales volume net of all discounts and sales taxes.
Two-part Tariff:
A pricing model that charges a fixed fee plus a variable usage fee. Commonly used in utility pricing.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "U"
Ubiquitous:
Referring to something that appears everywhere or is very common. This term can be applied in business contexts to describe products or services that are found everywhere.
Unbundling:
The process of breaking apart a bundle of goods or services into individual components for sale as separate items, often to enhance choice or to better tailor products to consumer needs.
Undercapitalization:
A situation in which a company does not have sufficient capital to conduct normal business operations and meet its obligations.
Underemployment:
A situation in which workers are employed below their qualification level, or working fewer hours than they would prefer or are accustomed to.
Underwriting:
The process by which an individual or institution takes on financial risk for a fee, such as with insurance or issuing new securities as part of an investment offering.
Unearned Income:
Income derived from sources other than employment, such as dividends, interest, royalties, and rent.
Unilateral Contract:
A contract in which only one party makes a promise or agrees to perform a service in return for a performance, not a promise, by the other party.
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC):
A standardized set of business laws that regulate financial contracts and transactions employed across states in the United States.
Unilateral Transfer:
A one-way transfer of money, goods, or services from one party to another without any return.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP):
A factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the lowest cost, the highest quality, or the first-ever product of its kind.
Unit Cost:
The total expenditure incurred by a company to produce, store, and sell one unit of a particular product or service.
Unlimited Liability:
A type of investment in which the business owner or investors are liable for an unlimited amount of debts that the business may incur.
Unsecured Loan:
A loan that is issued and supported only by the borrower's creditworthiness, rather than by any type of collateral.
Up-Selling:
A sales technique where the seller will provide opportunities to purchase related products or services, often for the purpose of making a larger sale.
Usability:
The ease of use and learnability of a human-made object such as a tool or device. In software engineering, it refers to the ease with which a user can learn to operate, prepare inputs for, and interpret outputs of a system or component.
Use Case:
A list of actions or event steps, typically defining the interactions between a role and a system, to achieve a goal. In business analysis, use cases are used to capture functional requirements.
User Experience (UX):
Encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products, focusing on enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Utility:
A term in economics that refers to the total satisfaction received from consuming a good or service.
Utilization Rate:
In business, especially professional services, the rate at which a business's resources are used to generate revenue, often defined as the ratio of billable hours to the total number of working hours available.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "V"
Value Added:
The enhancement a company gives its product or service before offering the product to customers. It represents the difference between the cost of inputs and the value of outputs.
Value Chain:
A model that describes the full range of activities needed to create a product or service. For companies that produce goods, a value chain comprises the steps that involve bringing a product from conception to distribution, and everything in between—such as procuring raw materials, manufacturing functions, and marketing activities.
Value Proposition:
A promise of value to be delivered to and acknowledged by a customer, a statement that clearly identifies what makes the product or service attractive, why a customer would buy it, and how the product or service differs favorably from competing offerings.
Variable Cost:
Costs that change in proportion to the good or service that a business produces. Variable costs increase or decrease depending on a company's production volume; they rise as production increases and fall as production decreases.
Variable Interest Rate:
An interest rate that can change, based on changes in a corresponding financial index that's associated with the loan. Typically used in mortgage loans.
Variation Margin:
Funds additional margin needed to bring an account up to the minimum margin requirement when the balance has fallen below it due to adverse price movements.
Venture Capital (VC):
A type of private equity and a form of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.
Vertical Integration:
The combination in one company of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate companies. This form of management control can encompass the entire supply chain, from raw materials to production to distribution and retail.
Vertical Market:
A market in which vendors offer goods and services specific to an industry, trade, profession, or other group of customers with specialized needs. An example is software that caters to the banking industry.
Viability:
The ability of a business, product, or project to survive. For a business, this involves analyzing economic trends and financial performance figures to support the likelihood of continued profitability.
Viral Marketing:
Marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses.
Virtual Team:
A group of individuals who work across time, space, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology. They have complementary skills and are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
Vision Statement:
A declaration of an organization's objectives, ideally based on economic foresight, intended to guide its internal decision-making.
Volatility:
A statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. In most cases, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security.
Volume:
The number of shares or contracts traded in a security or an entire market during a given period. It is often used as a measure of the level of interest in a particular market or stock and can also signify market strength.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "W"
Wage:
Compensation or payment to an employee for labor or services, usually based on time spent or output produced, and given as money or the equivalent.
Waiver:
The voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege.
Warehouse:
A large building where raw materials or manufactured goods may be stored before their export or distribution for sale.
Warranty:
A written guarantee, issued to the purchaser of an article by its manufacturer, promising to repair or replace it if necessary within a specified period of time.
Wealth Management:
A high-level professional service that combines financial and investment advice, accounting and tax services, retirement planning, and legal or estate planning for one fee.
Wear and Tear:
Damage or deterioration resulting from ordinary use and exposure over time.
Webinar:
A seminar conducted over the internet which allows for participation and interaction from locations across the globe.
Whistleblower:
An employee or former employee who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.
White Paper:
An authoritative report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.
Wholesale:
The sale of goods in large quantities, as for resale by a retailer.
Windfall Profit:
Any sudden, unexpected profit, or an unusually high profit in a particular quarter or year.
Withdrawal:
The act of taking out funds from an account, trust, or other fund.
Working Capital:
The amount of a company's current assets minus its current liabilities. Working capital measures a company's efficiency and its short-term financial health.
Workplace Ethics:
Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity in the workplace. It often involves scenarios that require a decision on whether the actions are ethical or unethical.
Write-Down:
Reducing the book value of an asset because it is overvalued compared to the market value.
Write-Off:
A reduction in the recognized value of something, e.g., an expense charged off as a loss. In accounting, it is used to reduce the value of an asset to zero, removing it from the balance sheet.
WTO (World Trade Organization):
An international body that helps trade flow smoothly, predictably, and as freely as possible. The WTO creates and embodies the legal ground rules for global trade among member nations and thus serves as a forum for negotiating trade agreements.
Business Terms Starting with "X"
X as a Service (XaaS):
A collective term that stands for a number of things including Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). It represents a broad category of services related to cloud computing and remote access.
X-efficiency:
A concept that captures the degree of efficiency maintained by firms under conditions of imperfect competition. It refers to the effectiveness with which a given set of inputs are used to produce outputs. If a firm is producing at maximum output for a given set of inputs, it is said to be X-efficient.
Xenocurrency:
A currency that circulates or is traded in markets outside of its domestic borders. The term is derived from the Greek word "xenos," which means foreign. For example, U.S. dollars held in banks outside the United States are considered xenocurrency.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language):
A flexible, structured document format that plays a large role in modern data interchange. XML is used both to encode documents and to serialize data. In the business context, XML is often used for the representation of complex data structures in enterprise data processing.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "Y"
Yard:
In financial terms, a yard is slang for a billion. It is commonly used in international finance markets and particularly in currency trading to denote billion-dollar amounts; for example, "1 yard of USD" means one billion U.S. dollars.
Yield:
The income return on an investment, such as the interest or dividends received from holding a particular security. Yield is usually expressed annually as a percentage based on the investment’s cost, its current market value, or its face value.
Yield Curve:
A graph that shows the relationship between yields and maturity dates for a similar class of bonds. The curve shows the interest rates for short-term to long-term debt. A normal yield curve indicates that longer-term bonds have a higher yield compared to short-term bonds due to the risks associated with time.
Yield Gap:
The difference between the yield on a fixed interest security and the dividend yield on a share. It is often used by investors to assess the relative value of bonds and stocks.
Yield to Maturity (YTM):
The total return anticipated on a bond if the bond is held until its maturity date. It is considered a long-term bond yield expressed as an annual rate.
YOY (Year Over Year):
A frequently used financial comparison for viewing the performance of various measures on an annualized basis. It helps to see growth trends over time, such as revenue growth YOY, which compares the revenue of one year to the previous year.
Young Professional:
A term often used to describe a young person in the workforce who holds a position that requires a degree of professional education or knowledge.
Your Honor:
A respectful term used to address judges in court.
Exhaustive Business Terms Starting with "Z"
Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB):
A budgeting method where every expense in an organization must be justified for each new period, starting from a "zero base." This approach contrasts with traditional budgeting in which past sales and expenditure trends are assumed to continue into the future.
Zero-Coupon Bond:
A debt security that doesn't pay interest (a coupon) but is traded at a deep discount, rendering profit at maturity when the bond is redeemed for its full face value.
Zero-Sum Game:
A situation in game theory in which one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss, so the net change in wealth or benefit is zero. A zero-sum game contrasts with a non-zero-sum game, where it is possible for all players to gain (or lose).
Zombie Company:
A company that earns just enough money to continue operating and service debt but is unable to pay off its debt. Such companies are generally considered close to insolvency.
Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA):
In negotiations, the range in which deals can be made which both parties in the negotiation find acceptable. Whether a deal actually gets done depends on whether the negotiating parties can agree on a specific point within this range..
Zoning:
The legislative process of dividing land into zones in which certain land uses are permitted or prohibited. Zoning laws typically specify the areas in which residential, industrial, recreational, or commercial activities may occur.
Zoomer:
A colloquial term referring to members of Generation Z, born roughly between 1997 and 2012. They are characterized by their use of digital technology, which they have been exposed to from a young age, and their comfort with the Internet and social media.
Z-Score:
A statistical measurement of a score's relationship to the mean in a group of scores. In finance, the Altman Z-score is used to predict the probability that a firm will go into bankruptcy.
Z-Test:
A statistical test used to determine whether two population means are different when the variances are known and the sample size is large.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "A"
A2P (Application-to-Person):
A type of messaging in which messages are sent from a software application run by an enterprise to a consumer's device. A2P is commonly used for alerts, notifications, and marketing messages, such as bank alerts, flight status updates, and promotional offers.
A/B Testing:
A method used to compare two versions of a webpage or app against each other to determine which one performs better. It is an experiment where two or more variants are shown to users at random, and statistical analysis is used to determine which variation performs better for a given conversion goal.
Abandoned Cart:
Occurs when a shopper adds products to their online shopping cart but leaves the website without completing the purchase.
Abandoned Cart Emails:
Automated emails sent to customers who have added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase.
Abandoned Cart Sequence:
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Above the Fold:
Above the Fold: Refers to the portion of a webpage that is visible without scrolling. It is a critical area for capturing user attention.
ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales):
In Amazon Advertising, the ratio of advertising spend to advertising revenue, expressed as (Cost / Revenue) x 100.
Above the Line (ATL):
Refers to marketing activities that are broadly targeted and use mass media methods. ATL promotions are aimed towards a wider audience, typically through media such as television, radio, print, and online platforms.
Absorption Pricing:
A pricing strategy where all costs associated with the production of a product are covered, including fixed and variable costs, to determine the selling price.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP):
An open-source HTML framework developed by Google to help web pages load faster on mobile devices.
Accessibility:
In marketing, it refers to the practice of making your web content and marketing efforts usable to as many people as possible, including those with disabilities.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM):
A strategic approach to business marketing in which an organization considers and communicates with individual prospect or customer accounts as markets of one.
Acquisition:
The process of acquiring new customers or clients for the business. It involves persuading a consumer to purchase a company’s goods or services.
Acquisition Cost:
The total cost associated with acquiring a new customer, including all aspects of marketing and sales.
Actionable Metrics:
Metrics that tie specific actions to observed results, providing clear direction for future marketing efforts.
Activation:
In digital marketing, the act of converting a newly registered user into an active and engaged user.
Ad Blocking:
The act of preventing web ads from being displayed, typically those in graphic formats.
Ad Copy:
The text of an advertising message that aims to catch an audience's interest and persuade them to take action.
Ad Extensions:
Additional pieces of information about a business, such as a phone number or links to specific parts of a website, which can be included in paid search ads.
Ad Group:
A component of search advertising accounts where one or more ads share the same target settings.
Ad Impressions:
A measure of how often an ad is seen, which can indicate the reach of a particular campaign. An impression is counted each time an ad is displayed, whether it is clicked or not.
Ad Retargeting:
Also known as remarketing, this is a form of online advertising that helps companies keep their brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave a website.
Ad Space:
The area on a webpage designated for advertisements.
Ad Strength:
In Google Ads, a metric that evaluates an advertisement’s potential effectiveness based on its relevance, content quantity, and diversity.
Adaptive Content:
Content that is designed to adapt to the needs of the customer, often based on their previous interactions with the brand or data collected about their behavior.
AdSense:
Google's service that matches contextual advertisements to website content.
Advertising Network:
A consortium that represents numerous websites in selling advertising, facilitating broad audience reach through categorized and network-wide buys.
Affiliate:
A partner or publisher in an affiliate marketing arrangement who promotes products or services.
Affiliate Manager:
The person responsible for overseeing an affiliate program for advertisers.
Affiliate Marketing:
A marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.
Affiliate Merchant:
The advertiser in an affiliate marketing setup.
Affiliate Network:
An intermediary that provides services to both affiliates and merchants, such as tracking technology and payment processing.
Affiliate Software:
Tools that track and report actions leading to commissions, such as sales or clicks generated through affiliate links.
Affinity Marketing:
A partnership between a company (supplier) and an organization that gathers persons sharing the same interests (club, non-profit organization, chamber of commerce) to bring a more personalized product offering to club members.
Agile Marketing:
Marketing techniques that use methodologies typically used in agile software development to improve the speed, predictability, and adaptability to change of the marketing function.
Algorithm:
In the context of marketing, particularly digital marketing, it refers to the complex computer processes and formulas that take inputs from user interactions and deliver outputs such as targeted ads or content.
Algorithm Update:
Changes made to the way a search engine crawls, indexes, and ranks websites. Important for SEO strategies.
ALT Text:
Descriptive text added to an image’s HTML tag on a webpage which helps with website accessibility and SEO.
Ambient Media:
Out-of-home products and services used for marketing that surround and engage the consumer in non-traditional ways.
Analytics:
The discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data. In marketing, analytics often refers to the measurement, management, and analysis of performance to maximize its effectiveness and optimize return on investment (ROI).
Anchor Text:
The clickable text in a hyperlink. SEO best practices dictate that anchor text be relevant to the page you're linking to, rather than generic text.
Animated GIF:
A graphic image that moves by cycling through a sequence of frames, saved in the GIF89a format.
Annual Contract Value (ACV):
A metric that shows the average annualized revenue per customer contract, excluding one-time charges.
AOV (Average Order Value):
A key ecommerce metric that calculates the average transaction value.
API (Application Programming Interface):
A set of rules and protocols for building and interacting with software applications. APIs let your product or service communicate with other products and services without having to know how they're implemented.
App Campaign:
In Google Ads, a campaign type focused on increasing app installations or engagement with an existing app.
ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User):
The average revenue generated from each paying user within a specific time frame.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User):
The average revenue obtained from each user, typically calculated over a specific period.
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
In marketing, AI is used to automate decision-making in campaigns, personalize communications, and improve customer experiences.
Attribution:
The process of identifying a set of user actions ("events" or "touchpoints") that contribute in some manner to a desired outcome, and then assigning a value to each of these events.
Audience Signals:
In Google Ads, inputs from advertisers about known valuable audiences to aid automated systems in identifying new, high-converting users more quickly.
Audience Segmentation:
The process of dividing a broad consumer or business market, normally consisting of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as segments) based on some type of shared characteristics.
Auto Dialer:
A software tool that automatically dials telephone numbers from a contact list. Once the call is answered, the auto dialer can either play a recorded message or connect the call to a live person. Auto dialers are widely used in telemarketing, polling and surveys, appointment confirmation, payment collection, and customer service follow-ups to increase efficiency and reduce the workload on call center staff.
Autoresponder:
Software that automatically sends a pre-set response to incoming emails.
Average Contract Length (ACL)
A metric that represents the typical duration of contractual agreements between a company and its clients. This figure is calculated by averaging the term lengths of all active contracts and is used to assess the expected time frame customers are committed to a service or product. ACL is crucial for forecasting revenue, managing customer relationships, and planning business strategies.
Average Order Value (AOV)
A key ecommerce metric that measures the average amount of money each customer spends per transaction. AOV is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders. This metric helps businesses understand customer purchasing behavior and gauge the effectiveness of marketing and pricing strategies.
Average Position:
A former Google Ads metric that indicated the typical ad position relative to other ads; in Google Search Console, it shows the average ranking of your site in search results.
Average Revenue per Account (ARPA)
A financial metric used to measure the average revenue generated per account over a specific period, typically monthly or annually. ARPA is calculated by dividing the total revenue by the number of accounts during the same period. This metric is particularly useful for companies with subscription-based models, helping them assess revenue effectiveness and make informed decisions about pricing, customer acquisition, and retention strategies.
Average Revenue per Customer (ARPC)
A financial metric that calculates the average revenue generated from each customer over a specific period. It is determined by dividing the total revenue by the number of customers. ARPC is useful for evaluating the revenue-generating effectiveness of a company’s customer base and is particularly valuable for businesses focused on maximizing the value of customer relationships, such as subscription services or recurring revenue models.
Average Revenue per Paying User (ARPPU)
A financial metric used to assess the average revenue generated from each paying user over a specific period, typically calculated monthly or annually. ARPPU is crucial for companies that offer freemium models or have a mix of free and paid user bases, as it helps them understand the value generated from users who contribute directly to revenue, aiding in financial forecasting and strategic planning.
Average Revenue per Sale (ARPS)
A financial metric that measures the average amount of revenue generated from each sale transaction within a specific period. ARPS is calculated by dividing the total revenue by the number of sales transactions. This metric is useful for businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of their pricing strategies and sales performance, providing insights into how changes in pricing or product offerings could impact overall revenue.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU)
A critical financial metric used to measure the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber over a specific period, typically calculated monthly or annually. ARPU helps companies, particularly those in telecommunications, digital media, and subscription-based services, assess the revenue-generating effectiveness of their user base. It is instrumental in guiding decisions related to marketing, pricing strategies, and product development to enhance profitability.
Average Selling Price (ASP)
: A financial metric that represents the average price at which a particular product or range of products is sold over a specific period. ASP is calculated by dividing the total revenue generated by the number of units sold. This metric is useful for businesses to analyze pricing trends, make pricing adjustments, and evaluate the effectiveness of sales and marketing strategies. It provides insights into how pricing affects sales volumes and overall revenue.
Average Session Duration (ASD)
A web analytics metric that measures the average length of a session on a website. It is calculated by dividing the total duration of all sessions by the number of sessions during a specific period. This metric is useful for understanding user engagement and the effectiveness of website content in retaining visitors' interest. Higher average session durations typically indicate more engaging content or effective user experience designs.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "B"
B2B (Business to Business):
Refers to companies that sell products or services to other businesses.
B2C (Business to Consumer):
Refers to companies that sell products or services directly to individual consumers.
Backlink:
An incoming hyperlink from one web page to another website, which is significant in SEO as it influences the ranking of a site in search engine results.
Bandwidth:
The capacity for transmitting data over a communication channel, typically measured in kilobits per second (kbps).
Banner Ad:
A form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server, which involves embedding an advertisement into a web page to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser.
Banner Blindness:
The phenomenon where website visitors subconsciously ignore banner ads, even when they contain relevant information.
Banner Exchange:
A network where sites display each other’s banner ads; sites earn credits for ads they show, which are then used to display their ads on other sites.
BANT Framework
A sales qualification framework used to determine the viability of a prospect based on four criteria: Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing.
Budget: Determines if the prospect has the financial resources to purchase the product or service.
Authority: Assesses whether the contact person has the decision-making power or if they can influence the decision-makers.
Need: Identifies if the prospect has a need that the product or service can satisfy.
Timing: Evaluates when the prospect is planning to make a purchase.
This method helps sales teams prioritize leads and allocate resources more effectively by focusing on prospects who are most likely ready and able to buy.
Barter:
The direct exchange of goods or services without using money.
Behavioral Targeting:
A technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns by capturing data generated by website and landing page visitors.
Below the Line (BTL):
Marketing strategies involving the use of less conventional methods that focus on direct means of communication, usually targeted toward specific groups, such as direct mail campaigns, trade shows, catalogs, and targeted search engine marketing.
Benchmarking:
The process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other companies.
Bid Management:
In digital marketing, particularly in paid search campaigns, the process of managing a user’s bid on keywords that trigger ads in the search engine results.
Big Data:
Extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions, which can be vital for marketing strategies.
Black Hat SEO:
Techniques used to improve search rankings that violate search engine guidelines.
Blog:
An online journal or informational website displaying information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first.
BOFU (Bottom of Funnel):
The final phase of the buyer’s journey, where potential customers are close to making a purchase decision.
Bounce Rate:
In web analytics, it’s the percentage of visitors who leave a site after viewing only one page.
In email marketing, it’s the rate at which emails fail to be delivered.
Brand Advocacy:
Brand Advocacy: When customers themselves are fans of the brand and proactively use word-of-mouth to promote the brand.
Brand Archetype:
A genre you assign to your brand, based upon symbolism that conveys a complex set of traits. This helps customers to better identify with your brand.
Brand Awareness:
The extent to which consumers are familiar with the distinctive qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services.
Brand Equity:
The value derived from consumer perception of the brand name of a particular product or service, rather than from the product or service itself.
Brand Experience:
The sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand’s design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments.
Brand Extension:
The use of an established brand name in new product categories. This can be considered as an instance of brand dilution where the brand image and association are modified.
Brand Identity:
The visible elements of a brand, such as color, design, and logo, that identify and distinguish the brand in consumers' minds.
Brand Integrity
The promise you make to your customers
Brand Loyalty:
The tendency of consumers to continuously purchase one brand's products over another. Consumer behavior patterns demonstrate trust and dependence on that brand.
Brand Management:
The analysis and planning on how that brand is perceived in the market, including the positioning of the brand and delivering the brand value continuously.
Brand Positioning:
The strategy of positioning a brand in the mind of consumers to maximize the potential benefit to the firm. This includes the brand’s positioning relative to competing brands.
Branding:
The process of giving a meaning to specific company, products or services by creating and shaping a brand in consumers’ minds.
Broad Match Keywords:
In search advertising, a keyword setting that allows ads to show on searches that include misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations.
Broad Match Modifier:
A previously available feature in Google Ads that allowed advertisers to specify certain words that must appear in the user’s search query to trigger the ad (now deprecated).
Bounce Rate:
The percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
Bumper Ad:
A type of YouTube ad that is 6 seconds or shorter, non-skippable, and intended to increase brand awareness.
Business SMS:
A communication method used by companies to send text messages for marketing, customer service, or operational purposes directly to their clients' mobile phones.
Business SMS can include appointment reminders, promotional offers, updates on order status, and customer support interactions.
This tool is valued for its high open and response rates, providing an efficient and effective way to reach and engage customers instantly and personally.
Button Ad:
A small graphical ad unit, smaller than a typical banner ad.
Buyer Persona:
Semi-fictional characters that represent the ideal customer, based on real data and some select educated speculation about customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals.
Buzz Marketing:
A viral marketing technique that is focused on maximizing the word-of-mouth potential of a campaign or product, whether that is through conversations among consumers' family and friends or larger scale discussions on social media platforms.
Buzzword:
A popular or trendy word or phrase often used more for impact than clarity or precision in communication.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "C"
Caching:
The practice of storing web files for later reuse to speed up access for the end user.
Call to Action (CTA):
An instruction to the audience to provoke an immediate response, usually using an imperative verb such as "call now," "find out more," or "visit a store today."
Call Tracking:
A technology that tracks how callers discovered a business and the subsequent actions they took.
Campaign:
A series of advertising messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC).
Cannibalization:
The reduction in sales volume, sales revenue, or market share of one product as a result of the introduction of a new product by the same producer.
Capability Maturity Model (CMM):
A development model created after study of data collected from organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense, who funded the research. It is used to assess the maturity of an organization's processes.
Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC):
A financial metric that measures the time it takes for a company to convert its investments in inventory and other resources into cash flows from sales. The cycle encompasses three main components:
Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO): The average number of days that a company holds inventory before selling it.
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO): The average number of days it takes to collect payment after a sale has been made.
Days Payable Outstanding (DPO): The average number of days a company takes to pay its own invoices.
The CCC is calculated as DIO + DSO - DPO. A shorter CCC indicates that a company is more efficient at converting its investments into cash quickly, which is crucial for maintaining liquidity and operational efficiency.
Cart Abandonment:
Occurs when customers add items to their online shopping cart, but exit without completing the purchase.
Category Killer:
A large retail chain store with such a strong market presence that it puts competitors, often specialized retailers, out of business.
Cause Marketing:
Marketing done by a for-profit business that seeks to both increase profits and to better society in accordance with corporate social responsibility, such as by tying product sales to a charitable organization.
CDN (Content Delivery Network):
A network of servers distributed across various locations designed to deliver web content and pages to users more efficiently by directing requests to the nearest server.
Channel Marketing:
The practice of working with third-party partners to market your products, such as affiliates, resellers, and distributors.
Chatbot:
A software application that simulates conversation with human users to perform specific tasks, often used for customer service or information acquisition.
Chatbot Builder:
A tool that facilitates the creation and configuration of chatbots.
Churn
A term used in business to describe the rate at which customers stop doing business with an entity. It is a critical metric primarily used by subscription-based companies to understand the extent of customer attrition over a specific period. Churn can be expressed in terms of the number of subscribers who leave during the period compared to the overall customer base at the beginning of the period, or as revenue lost due to these departures. Managing and minimizing churn is vital for businesses as it impacts customer retention, profitability, and long-term growth.
Churn Probability:
The likelihood that a customer will stop using a company’s services or products.
Churn Rate:
The percentage of customers or subscribers who cut ties with your service or company during a given time period.
Click-through Rate (CTR):
A metric that measures the number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions.
Client Acquisition Cost (CAC):
The cost associated in convincing a customer to buy a product/service, typically calculated by the total marketing and sales cost divided by the number of new customers.
Closed-loop Marketing:
Marketing that relies on data and insights from closed-loop reporting—tracking customers from the first visit to your website through the final purchase—to understand which tactics are most effective at driving sales.
Closed-Won
A sales metric that measures the percentage of prospects or leads that are converted into actual customers, completing a purchase or signing a contract. It is calculated by dividing the number of sales closed by the total number of leads, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. The close rate is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a sales team's efforts and strategies, providing insights into how well the team is performing in turning potential sales into actual revenue.
Closed-Lost
A term used in sales and customer relationship management (CRM) to describe a sales opportunity that has not resulted in a purchase. This status is assigned to leads or prospects that have been engaged in the sales process but ultimately chose not to buy the product or service, whether due to choosing a competitor, deciding against the purchase, or other reasons. Tracking "Closed-Lost" opportunities is crucial for sales teams to analyze and understand why sales efforts did not convert, helping to refine strategies and improve future performance.
CLV (Customer Lifetime Value):
A prediction of the total value a business can expect from their entire future relationship with a customer.
Co-branding:
An agreement between two companies to work together, placing both of their brands on a product that they create.
Cognitive Dissonance:
A situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
A financial metric that represents the direct costs attributable to the production of the goods sold by a company. This includes the cost of the materials used in creating the goods along with the direct labor costs involved in their production. COGS is a critical accounting measure used to calculate gross profit by subtracting these costs from revenue. It does not include indirect expenses, such as sales force costs or distribution costs. Monitoring COGS helps businesses price their products effectively, manage expenses, and measure financial efficiency.
Cohort Analysis:
The process of analyzing the behaviors of component groups over time, separated into related groups, or cohorts.
Cold Calling:
The solicitation of potential customers who had no prior interaction with the salesperson conducting the call, a common practice in telemarketing and sales.
Collateral:
Marketing materials used to generate sales and support the sales of a product, which can include brochures, catalogs, and spec sheets.
Comment Spam:
Unwanted comments posted on blogs primarily to insert a link back to the spammer's website.
Commission
A form of payment to an employee or agent that is based on the value of sales achieved. It is a common incentive used in sales environments to motivate salespeople, aligning their interests with the revenue goals of the business. Commissions can be calculated as a fixed percentage of the sales amount or as a tiered rate that varies based on performance levels or sales targets. This payment structure is prevalent in industries such as real estate, car sales, and other sectors where sales performance directly influences earnings.
Content Management System (CMS):
A software system that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users to create and manage website content with relative ease.
Contextual Advertising:
Advertising that is relevant to the content of the webpage on which it is served.
Content Marketing:
A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Contextual Marketing:
Advertising that is relevant to the content of the website. It is targeted advertising that typically occurs in real-time based on the content of the web page.
Conversion
In marketing, a conversion occurs when a visitor completes a desired action on a website or within a marketing campaign. This action could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, registering for a webinar, downloading a white paper, or any other activity beyond passive browsing that meets the objectives set by the marketer. Conversion is a key metric in digital marketing as it indicates the effectiveness of the marketing strategy and execution in turning potential customers into actual customers.
Conversion Rate:
The percentage of users who take a desired action. The typical example of conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who buy something on the site.
Cookie:
Data stored on a user's computer by a website to remember the user's preferences during future visits.
Core Web Vitals:
Essential metrics for a healthy website, focusing on load time, interactivity, and the stability of content as it loads.
Cost Per Action (CPA):
An online advertising pricing model where the advertiser pays for each specified action - for example, an impression, click, form submit (e.g., contact request, newsletter sign up, registration, etc.), or sale.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
The amount paid by an advertiser to search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on their advertisement, which directs one visitor to the advertiser's website.
CPL (Cost Per Lead):
An online advertising pricing model where payment is based on the number of leads generated.
CPM (Cost Per Mille):
The cost or cost-equivalent paid per thousand impressions.
CPV (Cost Per View):
A pricing model in video advertising where the advertiser pays for each view or interaction with a video ad.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization):
The process of optimizing elements on a website to increase the likelihood that visitors will complete a desired action.
Cross-Selling:
The practice of selling an additional product or service to an existing customer.
Customer Acquisition Cost:
The expense related to acquiring a new customer, encompassing all aspects of marketing and sales.
Customer Engagement:
The ongoing interactions between company and customer, offered by the company, chosen by the customer.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
A technology for managing all your company's relationships and interactions with current and potential customers. A CRM system helps businesses stay connected to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability. These systems compile customer data across different channels, or points of contact between the customer and the company, which could include the company's website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials, and social media. CRM systems also offer tools for customer support, sales management, productivity, and more, enabling a comprehensive understanding and management of customer interactions.
CRMaaS - Customer Relationship Management as a Service
A cloud-based service that provides businesses with access to CRM software over the internet. CRMaaS allows companies to manage their customer relationships, track sales, and conduct marketing campaigns without the need to invest in the underlying IT infrastructure and software maintenance. This service model offers scalability, flexibility, and accessibility, making CRM tools more affordable and adaptable for businesses of all sizes. It often operates on a subscription basis, where businesses pay a recurring fee based on usage levels, features, or number of users.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
A key performance indicator that measures how products or services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. CSAT scores are commonly obtained through customer surveys that ask customers to rate their satisfaction with an organization's products or services on a scale, typically ranging from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. These scores help businesses gauge customer happiness, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies to enhance customer loyalty and retention.
Cross-Selling
A sales strategy used to encourage customers to purchase additional, related, or complementary products or services to an item they are already buying. This approach helps increase the value of a customer's purchase and enhances the customer experience by offering them products that fulfill supplementary needs. Cross-selling is prevalent in various industries, such as banking, where a customer applying for a mortgage might also be offered home insurance, or in retail, where customers buying a camera may be suggested to buy a camera bag or additional lenses.
Customer Acquisition by Channel
This metric analyzes and identifies which marketing channels are most effective at attracting new customers to a business. It involves tracking the origin of customer leads and conversions across different channels such as social media, email marketing, search engines, referrals, and offline campaigns. By evaluating customer acquisition effectiveness by channel, businesses can optimize their marketing spend, tailor strategies to maximize ROI, and better allocate resources across the most productive channels. This approach is crucial for understanding customer behavior, preferences, and the overall impact of specific marketing activities.
Customer Acquisition Rate (CAR)
A metric used to evaluate the rate at which a business gains new customers over a specific period. It is calculated by dividing the number of new customers acquired by the total time period during which they were acquired. This rate helps companies understand the effectiveness of their marketing and sales strategies in attracting new customers. Monitoring the customer acquisition rate is vital for assessing growth trends, planning future marketing efforts, and setting targets for business expansion.
Customer Effort Score (CES)
A metric that measures the ease of customer interaction and the effort required to get an issue resolved, a request fulfilled, or a product or service purchased. CES is typically gauged through customer surveys that ask respondents to rate the effort they had to expend on a scale, often from "very low effort" to "very high effort." This score is crucial for businesses aiming to improve customer service, enhance user experience, and boost customer loyalty by identifying and minimizing obstacles in customer interactions.
Customer Engagement Score
A composite metric used to quantify the degree of engagement an individual customer has with a brand's products or services over a certain period. This score is calculated using various indicators of customer activity, such as frequency of purchases, interaction with the brand's digital platforms (like website visits and social media interactions), participation in promotions, and response rates to marketing communications. The customer engagement score helps businesses identify highly engaged customers, tailor marketing strategies to enhance customer retention, and optimize overall customer lifetime value.
Customer Growth Rate
A metric that measures the rate at which a business's customer base expands over a specific period. It is calculated by subtracting the number of customers at the beginning of the period from the number at the end, dividing the result by the number at the beginning of the period, and then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. This rate is essential for assessing the effectiveness of customer acquisition strategies and overall business growth. Tracking customer growth rate helps companies gauge their market performance and plan for future expansion or adjustments in their business strategies.
Customer Health Score
A metric used by businesses to gauge the overall satisfaction, engagement, and potential for long-term retention of a customer. This score combines various indicators such as product usage frequency, support ticket incidents, payment histories, and interaction levels with marketing communications. By assessing these factors, companies can identify which customers are at risk of churning and which are likely to remain loyal. The customer health score helps businesses proactively manage relationships, tailor customer experiences, and allocate resources effectively to maintain a healthy customer base.
Customer Lifetime Revenue (CLR)
A metric that quantifies the total revenue generated from a single customer over the entire duration of their relationship with a company. CLR is a crucial metric for understanding the long-term value of a customer to the business, helping in forecasting revenue streams and assessing the return on investment in customer acquisition and retention efforts. By analyzing CLR, businesses can tailor their marketing and service strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately driving increased revenue per customer.
Customer Retention
A key business metric that measures the ability of a company to retain its customers over a specified period. It involves strategies and activities aimed at keeping customers engaged and satisfied so they continue to use a product or service. Effective customer retention is critical as it helps maintain a stable revenue base and reduces the higher costs associated with acquiring new customers. Techniques used to improve retention include providing excellent customer service, offering loyalty programs, regular communication, and continuously improving product offerings based on customer feedback.
Customer Retention Rate
A key business metric that measures the ability of a company to retain its customers over a specified period. It involves strategies and activities aimed at keeping customers engaged and satisfied so they continue to use a product or service. Effective customer retention is critical as it helps maintain a stable revenue base and reduces the higher costs associated with acquiring new customers. Techniques used to improve retention include providing excellent customer service, offering loyalty programs, regular communication, and continuously improving product offerings based on customer feedback.
Customer Retention Cost (CRC)
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Customer Success Index
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Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "D"
Daily Active Users (DAU)
A metric used to measure the number of unique users who engage with a website, application, or online platform within a single day. DAU is a key indicator of the daily engagement level and overall health of an online service, providing insights into user behavior and the platform’s stickiness. It is particularly useful for companies operating in digital media, gaming, social networking, and other online services to track user activity and gauge the effectiveness of new features, updates, or marketing campaigns.
Data Enrichment:
The process of enhancing, refining, and improving raw data by merging third-party data from external authoritative sources with an existing database of first-party customer data. This process provides more detailed insights and enables better decision-making.
Database Reactivation:
A marketing strategy that involves reaching out to inactive or dormant customers in a database with targeted messaging in an attempt to re-engage them and encourage transactions.
Data-driven Attribution:
A marketing attribution model that employs machine learning to assess the impact of various advertising interactions throughout the customer journey.
Data Studio:
A free tool provided by Google that allows users to create custom reports using data from Google’s marketing services and external data sources.
Data Transfer:
The total volume of data sent from a website to users, typically quantified in gigabytes (Gb).
Dedicated Hosting:
A hosting solution where the service provider allocates an entire server to a single client's websites, managing and maintaining the server's hardware.
Deep Linking:
The practice of creating hyperlinks that direct to a specific, often nested page on a website, bypassing the homepage.
Deep Web:
Parts of the internet that are not indexed by standard search engines and are therefore not easily accessible through normal search queries.
Demand Generation
A comprehensive marketing strategy focused on building long-term interest and awareness for a company's products or services. This approach encompasses a variety of marketing and communication tactics aimed at developing relationships with potential customers throughout the entire sales funnel. Demand generation programs are designed not only to attract initial customer interest but also to nurture prospects through the buying journey with the goal of converting interest into actionable demand and ultimately, sales. Key activities include content marketing, targeted advertising, events, and lead management processes to cultivate and engage potential buyers effectively.
Description Tag:
An HTML element that provides a brief description of a web page's content, which can help improve the page's search engine ranking and user click-through rates.
Digital Agency:
A firm that delivers services across a range of digital platforms, including web design, development, and digital marketing.
Direct Traffic:
Visits to a website that arrive without a referral from another website, typically entered directly into the browser’s address bar or through bookmarks.
Discovery Call
An initial conversation between a sales representative and a potential customer, designed to gather key information about the customer's needs, challenges, and buying intent. The primary goal of the discovery call is to qualify the prospect to determine if there is a fit between the customer's requirements and the company's offerings. During the call, the salesperson aims to establish rapport, understand the potential customer's business context, and identify opportunities where their solutions can add value, setting the stage for further sales activities.
Discovery Campaign:
A type of advertising campaign in Google Ads designed to display visually appealing ads within Google's content feeds.
Disintermediation:
The process of removing intermediaries from a supply chain, effectively cutting out the middlemen.
Display Network:
A collection of websites and digital spaces within Google Ads where advertisers can place their ads, which can include millions of websites, videos, and apps.
Dofollow Links:
Links that pass along search engine ranking power from the originating site to the linked site, as they do not contain the “nofollow” attribute.
Domain Authority:
A score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs).
Domain Name:
The web address or URL where a website can be accessed, which acts as the digital address of an online entity.
Do Not Call Registry
A government-managed list that allows consumers to register their phone numbers to restrict unwanted telemarketing calls. Once a number is added to this registry, telemarketers are prohibited from making unsolicited calls to that number, with certain exceptions such as calls from charitable organizations, political calls, debt collectors, and informational calls. The registry is designed to protect consumer privacy and reduce the inconvenience caused by unsolicited calls. In the United States, this service is managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and is free for consumers to join.
Doorway Page:
A web page specifically designed and optimized to rank well in search engines for specific keywords, intended to draw visitors into a website.
Drip Campaign:
A method of sending pre-scheduled, automated messages, usually via email, based on specific timelines or user actions.
Duplicate Content:
Content that appears in more than one place on the internet, which can result in SEO penalties if search engines see the identical or substantially similar content in multiple locations.
Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI):
A feature in search advertising that dynamically inserts keywords into ad text based on the user's search query, enhancing the relevance of the ad.
Dynamic Remarketing:
A form of online advertising that shows ads for products or services visitors have previously viewed on a website or app, aiming to re-engage past visitors.
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA):
A Google Ads feature that automatically generates ad headlines and matches them to the most relevant landing pages based on the content of the website.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "E"
Earned Media:
Refers to publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid media advertising, which includes word of mouth, buzz, shares, mentions, and various content picked up by third-party sites.
E-commerce:
The buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer, or consumer-to-business.
eCPM:
Effective Cost Per Mille, which represents the cost per thousand impressions, measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
Edge Server:
A server that is located close to the user and is part of a content delivery network (CDN). Edge servers speed up the delivery of media through closer proximity to the user.
Editorial Calendar:
A schedule that dictates when and where future content will be published. Publishers use editorial calendars to control the publication of content across different media, such as newspapers, magazines, blogs, email newsletters, and social media outlets.
Ego Bait:
A content strategy that involves mentioning or featuring influencers or brands with the expectation that they will share your content or link back to your site.
Email Automation:
The process of sending out emails to customers and prospects automatically, based on a schedule, or triggers that you define. Email automation is used in marketing to nurture leads, offer targeted promotions, and drive engagement.
Email Marketing:
The act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. Every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing.
Email Service Provider (ESP):
A company that offers services to manage email marketing campaigns and send emails to a subscriber list.
Email Spam:
Unsolicited and unwanted emails, typically sent in bulk.
Engagement Rate:
A metric that is used to assess the level of engagement an audience has with content. Often used in analyzing the effectiveness of content campaigns, especially on social media platforms, calculated based on interactions like likes, shares, comments, etc.
Engaged Sessions:
In Google Analytics 4, refers to sessions that last at least 10 seconds, have one or more conversion events, or two or more views of pages or screens.
Enhanced Conversions:
A Google Ads feature that utilizes hashed first-party data from your website to better attribute conversions to specific ads.
Enhanced CPC (Cost Per Click):
A bid strategy in search advertising that adjusts your bids to optimize conversions.
Employee Satisfaction Index
A metric used to gauge the overall satisfaction level of employees within an organization. This index is typically derived from survey data, where employees rate various aspects of their job experience, such as working conditions, compensation, recognition, and opportunities for professional development. The Employee Satisfaction Index helps companies understand the factors that contribute to employee happiness and engagement, allowing them to make informed decisions to improve the workplace environment, retain talent, and enhance overall productivity.
Employee Satisfaction Score (ESAT)
A metric that measures how content and satisfied employees are with various aspects of their workplace. This score is typically obtained through regular employee surveys that ask questions about job satisfaction, work environment, relationships with management and peers, work-life balance, and overall engagement. The ESAT helps organizations gauge the well-being and morale of their workforce, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies to enhance employee satisfaction, which can lead to increased productivity, lower turnover rates, and a more positive company culture.
Employee Turnover Rate
A crucial human resources metric that measures the rate at which employees leave an organization over a specific period, usually calculated annually. It is determined by dividing the number of employees who have left the company by the average number of employees during the period, and then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. High turnover rates can indicate issues with job satisfaction, workplace environment, or management practices, and may lead to increased recruitment and training costs. Conversely, a low turnover rate is often indicative of a positive work environment and effective employee retention strategies.
Ethnographic Market Research:
A form of qualitative research which uses field studies (observations, interviews, shadowing) to gain insights into the customer's natural environment and behaviors.
Event Marketing:
The process of developing a themed exhibit, display, or presentation to promote a product, service, cause, or organization leveraging in-person engagement. Events can occur online or offline, and can be participated in, hosted, or sponsored.
Evergreen Content:
Content that remains relevant and useful over a long period without needing updates.
Exact Match Keywords:
A keyword setting in search advertising that triggers your ad only when someone searches for the exact keyword or very close variants of it.
Exclusivity:
A marketing strategy where a particular product is distributed through a single wholesaler, distributor, or retailer in a specific geographic territory.
Expected CTR (Click-Through Rate):
In Google Ads, an estimate of how often your ad is expected to be clicked in comparison to how often it is shown.
Exit Rate:
In web analytics, the percentage of visitors who leave a site from a particular page. This metric is often used to analyze the effectiveness or performance of a specific page.
Expansion MRR
A metric that measures the increase in monthly recurring revenue from existing customers, typically through upsells, cross-sells, or service upgrades. Expansion MRR is an important indicator for businesses with a subscription-based model, as it reflects the company's ability to grow its revenue internally without acquiring new customers. This growth can come from customers upgrading to more expensive plans, purchasing additional features, or increasing their usage of the service, contributing to overall business growth and customer satisfaction.
Experiential Marketing:
A strategy that directly engages consumers and encourages them to participate in the evolution of a brand or a brand experience.
Expert System:
Expert System: In marketing, a computer system that emulates the decision-making ability of a human expert. This system uses facts and rules to perform complex decision-making tasks.
Explainer Video:
Short online marketing videos used to explain your company’s product or service. Explainer videos are typically used on landing pages, the home page of a website, or a prominent product page.
External Analysis:
The examination of factors outside of the company that may pose opportunities or threats to the business. These factors include economic conditions, competition, emerging markets, and legal regulations.
Eye Tracking:
The process of measuring either the point where one's gaze is focused on a computer screen, or the motion of an eye relative to the head. This technology is used in website design and testing to understand where users are focusing their attention.
Ezine:
A digital magazine that is published and distributed either through a website or via an email newsletter.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "F"
Facebook:
A social networking platform accessible at facebook.com, where users can post updates, share content, and engage with friends and brands.
Facebook Ads:
A platform for businesses to create and distribute ads on Facebook. It offers sophisticated targeting capabilities based on user demographics, behaviors, and preferences.
Favicon:
A small icon displayed by web browsers to represent a bookmarked website, typically seen in address bars or tabs.
Feature-Benefit Selling:
A sales technique where the salesperson lists a product's features and directly links each one to a benefit the customer will derive from that feature.
Feedback Loop:
A system where outputs of a process are used as inputs for future actions. In marketing, feedback loops help understand customer satisfaction and improve products or campaigns based on responses.
Fidelity:
In the context of marketing, fidelity refers to the accuracy and detail with which a product or service is marketed to resemble its real-world counterpart.
Field Marketing:
The practice of deploying brand ambassadors into the field to engage directly with the target audience through in-person contact. This can include product demonstrations, sampling activities, or direct selling.
Fill Rate:
In advertising, the percentage of ad inventory that is filled with ads compared to what was available to be sold. In product marketing, it refers to the percentage of customer or distribution orders satisfied from stock at hand.
First-Click Attribution:
An attribution model that credits the initial touchpoint in the customer's journey with all the conversion credit.
First-Mover Advantage: .
The competitive advantage gained by the initial ("first-moving") significant occupant of a market segment. It may include the acquisition of market share, establishing strong brand recognition, or early industry leadership
First-Party Data:
Information collected directly from a company's customers and prospects without intermediaries, used for marketing and analytics.
Flash:
A multimedia platform once popular for adding animation and interactivity to web pages, developed by Macromedia (later acquired by Adobe).
Follower Strategy:
A market strategy where a firm follows the innovations and market changes initiated by its competitors instead of being the innovator itself.
Footfall:
The number of people entering a shop or shopping area in a given time. It is commonly used in the context of retail marketing analysis.
Forecasting:
The process of making predictions based on past and present data and most commonly by analysis of trends. Marketing forecasting is crucial for the production process, budget preparation, and marketing planning.
Form Builder:
A tool or software that facilitates the creation and management of online forms, simplifying data collection and customer interaction.
Forum:
An online platform where users can engage in discussions and post content on topics of mutual interest.
Frames:
HTML elements used to divide a webpage into sections that can load content independently.
Franchise Marketing:
Marketing strategies franchisors and franchisees use to attract new customers and increase brand loyalty. It includes national advertising, promotional efforts, and online marketing tactics.
Freemium:
A business model that offers users basic services for free while charging for advanced or additional features.
Frequency:
In advertising, it refers to how often a viewer sees the same advertisement. A higher frequency can increase awareness but can also lead to diminishing returns.
Frequency Cap:
A limitation on how often a specific advertisement is shown to a particular user, used to prevent ad fatigue.
Front-End Development:
In digital marketing, the development of those elements of a website that customers see and interact with directly. It is crucial for creating an effective user experience that can lead to improved sales and conversions.
Fulfillment:
The process of taking an order and executing it by making it ready for delivery to its intended customer. It is a critical element of the supply chain and involves various steps including packaging, warehousing, and shipping.
Funnel Conversion Rate
A key performance metric that measures the effectiveness of a sales or marketing funnel by calculating the percentage of users who complete a specific goal or set of actions within the funnel. This rate tracks the progression of potential customers from initial awareness through various stages of engagement (such as interest, decision, and action) to the final conversion, which might be a purchase, subscription, or another desired outcome. Analyzing the funnel conversion rate helps businesses identify bottlenecks, optimize each stage of the funnel, and ultimately improve overall conversion efficiency.
Funnel Stages:
The stages in a sales or marketing funnel that a prospect moves through, from awareness to consideration, decision, and finally purchase. Understanding funnel stages helps marketers to strategically target campaigns and content.
Fusion Marketing:
The integration or combination of traditional marketing, digital marketing, and social media marketing to create a fully integrated campaign strategy. This approach leverages various media strengths, maximizing the reach and frequency of marketing messages.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "G"
Gamification:
The technique of enhancing a service, product, or organizational involvement with game-like features to encourage engagement through rewards, competition, and fun. Common in apps and educational tools to enhance user engagement.
Geo-Fencing:
A location-based digital marketing tool that lets marketers send messages to smartphone users in a defined geographic area. For example, retailers can trigger mobile alerts for customers who are within a one-mile radius of their store.
Geo-Targeting:
The method of delivering different content or advertisements to a website visitor based on his or her geographic location. This can be done by country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP, or other criteria.
GIF:
A short for Graphics Interchange Format, which is a file format for images. In marketing, GIFs are often used in email marketing and social media posts to catch attention due to their dynamic nature.
Google Ads:
An online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It can place ads both in the results of search engines like Google Search and on non-search websites, mobile apps, and videos.
Google Analytics:
A web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It’s the most widely used web analytics service on the web and helps marketers understand how visitors interact with websites.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4):
The most recent iteration of Google Analytics, originally referred to as "App + Web," designed to provide cross-platform analytics.
Google Business Profile:
A free Google service that enables businesses to manage their appearance across Google products, such as Maps and Search, ensuring accurate and comprehensive business information.
Google Data Studio:
A free tool by Google that allows users to create customized reports using data from Google’s marketing services and other external sources.
Google Display Network:
A network for online advertising operated by Google, where visually engaging ads are displayed across a vast array of partner websites and apps.
Google Keyword Planner:
A tool provided by Google for search advertising that helps users generate keyword ideas and estimate traffic for those keywords.
Google Merchant Center:
A tool by Google designed to help store owners manage how their products appear on Google and make product data available to Google Shopping and other Google services.
Google My Business:
A free tool from Google that allows business owners to manage their online presence across the search engine and its growing portfolio of utilities, offering the greatest impact for brands seeking local exposure.
Google Partners:
A Google program offering resources, support, and recognition to agencies and third-party entities that manage Google Ads for clients.
Google Search Console:
A free tool from Google, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, that allows website owners to monitor and report on their site's presence in Google SERP.
Google Signals:
An advanced feature from Google that utilizes data from signed-in users to enhance cross-device reporting and remarketing efforts.
Google Tag Manager:
A free service provided by Google that simplifies the management of tags (small snippets of code or tracking pixels) on websites and mobile apps.
Grassroots Marketing:
Marketing activity that starts spontaneously or from the ground up, typically on a low budget and relying on creativity rather than widespread distribution. It often involves engaging the community or creating viral content.
Green Marketing:
Promotional activities aimed at taking advantage of the changing consumer attitudes toward a brand. These marketing strategies are typically based on promoting environmental core values, demonstrating the environmental friendliness of a product.
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)
A metric that represents the total sales value of merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a specific period of time, before any deductions for fees or commissions. GMV is used to indicate the volume of goods being exchanged and is a useful measure of the overall health and scale of an e-commerce business or online marketplace. It helps stakeholders understand the transactional throughput of the platform, though it does not account for net sales since it does not subtract returns, discounts, or any costs associated with selling the goods.
Gross Profit Margin
A financial metric that measures the percentage of total sales revenue that exceeds the cost of goods sold (COGS). It is calculated by subtracting the COGS from the total revenue and then dividing that number by the total revenue. The result is expressed as a percentage and indicates how efficiently a company uses labor and supplies in the production process. A higher gross profit margin suggests a more profitable company that retains more per dollar of sales, which can be used to pay other costs or satisfy debt obligations. This metric is crucial for assessing a company's financial health and operational efficiency.
Growth Hacking:
A process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development paths to identify the most efficient ways to grow a business. Growth hackers leverage low-cost strategies and innovative alternatives to traditional marketing.
Guerrilla Marketing:
An advertising strategy that focuses on low-cost unconventional marketing tactics that yield maximum results. This involves high energy and imagination focusing on grasping the attention of the public in more personal and memorable levels.
Guest Blogging:
Writing a blog post to be published on another blog as a temporary featured author. Guest blogging is a tool that can enhance exposure, create backlinks, and establish credibility.
Guided Selling:
A technique in online and offline marketing that assists potential buyers in choosing a product by asking them questions and offering product recommendations. This is common in complex products or products with multiple options.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "H"
Hard Bounce:
An email delivery failure due to the recipient's email address being invalid or non-existent.
Hashtag:
A word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media platforms to identify messages on a specific topic. Hashtags help in categorizing content and making it discoverable.
Header Bidding:
An advanced programmatic advertising technique wherein publishers offer inventory to multiple ad exchanges simultaneously before making calls to their ad servers. This maximizes revenue by letting multiple demand sources bid on the same inventory.
Heat Map:
A data visualization tool that shows the areas of a webpage most frequently scanned or clicked by visitors. Heat maps can help marketers optimize the layout for better engagement.
High-Impact Advertising:
Advertising that utilizes eye-catching imagery and innovative design to grab attention quickly and create a significant impression on the viewer.
Hit:
A request made to a web server for a file, such as an image or document.
Holistic Marketing:
A marketing strategy that considers the business as a whole and how marketing strategies affect other departments. It emphasizes unified, customer-centric messaging across all marketing channels.
House Ad:
An advertisement that a company runs on its own website or network to fill unsold ad space, often used for self-promotion.
House List (or Internal List):
A database of existing customers and prospects that a company owns. It can be used for email marketing, direct mail, and other marketing campaigns to build customer loyalty and repeat business.
HTML Banner:
A type of banner ad that incorporates HTML elements, potentially including interactive features, to engage users more dynamically than traditional image-based ads.
HTML Email:
An email that is formatted using HTML (much like a webpage) including graphics, colors, and table columns, used for more visually appealing or complex designs than plain text.
Hybrid Model:
In digital advertising, a pricing model that combines different pricing models, such as a mix of CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPC (cost per click).
Hyperlink:
A link from a hypertext document to another location or file, typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image on the screen.
Hyperlocal Advertising:
Advertising targeted to a geographic area that is more precise than a city or neighborhood. It often targets individual streets or blocks to customize marketing messages to local residents or visitors based on specific local factors.
Hypertext:
Text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access, typically by a mouse click or key press.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "I"
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
A detailed description of a hypothetical company or individual who would reap the most benefit from using a product or service, representing the perfect customer for a business. The ICP typically includes demographic information, business size, industry type, geographic location, pain points, and purchasing behavior. This profile helps businesses focus their marketing and sales efforts on the most promising leads, tailor their products and services to meet the specific needs of their target market, and ultimately, drive higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
Impression Share:
The ratio of the number of times your ads were shown to the total number of times your ads could have been shown, based on your current campaign settings.
Inbound Marketing:
A marketing methodology that is designed to draw visitors and potential customers in, rather than outwardly pushing a brand, product, or service onto prospects in the hope of generating leads or customers.
Incentive Marketing:
A marketing strategy designed to motivate customers to take action or make a purchase by offering incentives such as discounts, bonuses, and other perks.
Incentivized Traffic:
Visitors to a website who have been offered compensation or rewards for their visit or actions on the site.
Impression:
A term used to describe an instance of an advertisement being displayed, regardless of whether it was clicked or not. Impressions help marketers to measure the number of views or engagements that a particular ad or campaign has received.
Inbound Calling
A term used to describe calls initiated by customers to businesses, typically for customer support, inquiries, or to purchase services and products. Unlike outbound calling, where calls are made by the company to the customer (often for sales or marketing purposes), inbound calling requires businesses to handle incoming communications effectively. Managing inbound calls efficiently is crucial for maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction, providing quick resolutions to issues, and improving overall customer service experiences.
Inbound Marketing:
A marketing methodology that is designed to draw visitors and potential customers in, rather than outwardly pushing a brand, product, or service onto prospects in the hope of generating leads or customers.
Incentive Marketing:
A marketing strategy designed to motivate customers to take action or make a purchase by offering incentives such as discounts, bonuses, and other perks.
Inclusive Marketing:
A marketing approach that seeks to include people from different backgrounds and demographics by creating content that truly reflects the diverse communities that the business serves.
Influencer Marketing:
A form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who possess an expert level of knowledge or social influence in their respective fields.
Information Silos:
Occurs when information is not adequately shared within an organization across different departments or groups, often leading to fragmented and inefficient marketing efforts.
Instagram:
Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to share photos and videos. Launched in 2010, it offers features like Stories, Reels, and IGTV, supporting both personal and business use through organic content and paid advertising. Instagram is particularly popular for its visual-centric approach and extensive audience engagement tools.
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC):
A strategic marketing process specifically designed to ensure that all messaging and communication strategies are unified across all channels and are centered on the customer.
Intent Marketing:
Marketing with a focus on understanding and meeting the underlying intent of customers based on their recent activities, rather than demographics or past behavior alone.
Interactive Marketing:
A form of marketing that seeks to engage consumers directly and create an interactive relationship between the consumer and the brand. Common forms include interactive websites, interactive advertising, and interactive social media campaigns.
Internal Link:
A hyperlink that directs to another page or resource within the same website.
Internal Marketing:
The promotion of a company’s objectives, products, and services to its own employees and internal stakeholders with the goal of improving morale, brand advocacy, and job satisfaction.
International Marketing:
The process of implementing marketing principles in more than one country, taking into consideration the differences in cultural, economic, political, and technological environments.
Internet Marketing:
Also known as online marketing, it involves marketing products or services over the internet and can include various forms of digital advertising, content marketing, and social media engagement.
Interstitial Ads:
Ads that appear between web pages that a user navigates through. They are typically used to capture a user’s full attention by pausing the digital experience to show an ad before moving on.
Inventory Management:
In marketing, this refers to the supervision of non-capitalized assets (inventory) and stock items. A component of supply chain management, inventory management supervises the flow of goods from manufacturers to warehouses and from these facilities to point of sale.
Investment Marketing:
A specialized area of marketing focusing on the promotion and selling of investment products, including mutual funds, shares, and bonds, to both retail and institutional investors.
Invisible Web (Deep Web):
The part of the internet that is not indexed by standard search engines, often containing databases and other resources that are not accessible through regular search queries.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "J"
JavaScript
A scripting language developed by Netscape and used to create interactive Web sites.
Jingle:
A short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding, often containing hooks and messages that explicitly promote the product being advertised, aimed at making the jingle (and thus the product) stick in the minds of consumers.
Joint Venture Marketing:
A strategic marketing alliance where two companies pool resources to promote and distribute their products or services. This often involves co-branding initiatives where both brands are promoted together.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group):
A commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG is the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices.
Just-In-Time Marketing (JIT Marketing):
A strategy that promotes producing marketing content that meets consumer needs at just the right time. It relies on data and insights to anticipate customer needs and engage them with the right products and solutions as those needs arise.
Justification:
In marketing, it often refers to the reasoning or rationale as to why a specific marketing strategy or campaign is proposed or has been implemented. This includes explaining budget allocations, expected ROI, and strategic goals.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "K"
Key Performance Indicator (KPI):
A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs to evaluate their success at reaching targets.
Keyword:
A particular word or phrase that describes the contents of a Web page. Keywords are intended to act as shortcuts that sum up an entire page. They form part of a Web page’s metadata and help search engines match a page with an appropriate search query.
Keyword Density:
The percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. In the context of search engine optimization, keyword density can be used to determine whether a web page is relevant to a specified keyword or keyword phrase.
Keyword Marketing:
The strategy of placing your message before individuals who are using specific keywords and phrases to search online.
Keyword Research:
The process of identifying relevant keywords for your website and analyzing which ones could deliver the highest return on investment.
Keyword Stuffing:
The practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site's ranking in Google search results. Often these keywords appear in a list or group, or out of context (not as natural prose).
Keywords Tag:
A META tag utilized to specify the primary keywords of a web page, aiding in defining the content's topics for search engines.
Kickback:
In marketing, a kickback is an official sum of money given in exchange for facilitating a transaction or appointment, often as a commission from advertising or referring new clients.
Kiosk Marketing:
Involves placing kiosks in high-traffic areas and providing interactive information systems for consumers that offer information about products, services, or promotions.
Knowledge Base:
A technology used to store complex structured and unstructured information used by a computer system. In marketing, a knowledge base is often used as a customer service tool, containing information about products, services, or policies.
Knowledge Commerce:
The practice of creating and selling informational products, which are based on expertise or knowledge in a specific area. This includes courses, ebooks, coaching, and consulting services.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "L"
Landing Page:
A web page created specifically for the purposes of a marketing or advertising campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after they click on a link in an email, or ads from Google, Bing, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or similar places on the web.
Last Click Attribution:
An attribution model that credits the final touchpoint in the customer journey with all the conversion credit.
Last Non-Direct Click:
An attribution model that credits the last marketing touchpoint before conversion, excluding any direct traffic, with all the conversion credit.
Lead Generation:
The initiation of consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or for sales leads.
Lead Magnet:
A specific offering provided to potential customers in exchange for their contact information, usually to encourage email list sign-ups.
Lead Nurturing:
The process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel, and through every step of the buyer's journey. It focuses marketing and communication efforts on listening to the needs of prospects, and providing the information and answers they need.
Lead Scoring:
A methodology used to rank prospects against a scale that represents the perceived value each lead represents to the organization. Lead scoring helps businesses know whether prospects need to be fast-tracked to sales or developed with lead nurturing.
Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate
A critical performance metric that measures the effectiveness of a company's sales process by calculating the percentage of leads that become paying customers. This rate is determined by dividing the number of new customers acquired by the total number of leads generated over a specific period, then multiplying the result by 100 to get a percentage. This metric helps businesses understand how well they are converting potential customers into actual customers and is essential for evaluating the success of marketing campaigns and sales efforts. It also provides insights into the overall efficiency of the sales funnel and areas that may need improvement.
Lifetime Value (LTV):
A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.
Like-Gate:
A feature on Facebook that requires users to "Like" a brand's page before they can access certain exclusive content.
Linear Attribution:
An attribution model that distributes the credit for a conversion equally across all touchpoints in the customer journey.
Link Building:
The process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. A hyperlink (usually just called a link) is a way for users to navigate between pages on the internet. Search engines use links to crawl the web.
Link Checker:
A tool used to verify that hyperlinks on a webpage are functioning and not leading to broken pages.
Link Popularity:
The measurement of the quantity and quality of external sites that link to your website, influencing SEO.
Linkbait:
Content specifically crafted to attract inbound links due to its high appeal or value.
LinkedIn Ads:
A platform for advertising on LinkedIn, allowing businesses to reach professional audiences.
List Cleaning:
The process of removing inactive or invalid subscribers from an email marketing list.
List Fatigue:
The diminishing response rate to email campaigns over time, often due to over-messaging or lack of novel content.
List Hygiene:
The practice of maintaining the quality of an email marketing list by regularly updating and purifying the data.
Local Presence Dialing
A feature used in telemarketing and sales strategies where outbound calls are made using local area codes to increase the likelihood of recipients answering the call. This technique leverages the familiarity and trust associated with local numbers, as people are more likely to respond to calls from local numbers than to those from unknown or long-distance numbers. Local presence dialing can significantly improve contact rates, enhancing the effectiveness of campaign efforts and increasing the efficiency of sales teams.
Local SEO:
SEO activities aimed at enhancing visibility in geographically-related search results, enhancing local online presence.
Log File:
A file that records events that occur on a web server, including traffic data and server activity.
Long Domain Name:
Domain names that exceed the traditional 26-character limit, extending up to 67 characters including the domain suffix like ".com".
Long Tail Keywords:
Specific, often longer phrases that generate less search traffic but typically have a higher conversion rate due to their specificity.
Lookalike Audience:
A way to reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they're similar to your best existing customers. Lookalike audiences are used in digital advertising platforms like Facebook and Google Ads.
Loyalty Program:
A marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. These programs offer a customer a reward, perk, or incentive for their continued patronage.
Low Hanging Fruit:
Tasks, actions, or goals that require the least effort to achieve but yield relatively good results. In marketing, this often refers to targeting customers who are deemed easiest to sell to or upsell.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "M"
Managed WordPress Hosting:
A type of web hosting tailored specifically for WordPress sites, with the hosting provider handling routine maintenance tasks.
Manual Bidding:
An advertising strategy where advertisers set the maximum cost per click (CPC) manually, giving them direct control over their ad spend.
Manual Submission:
The process of individually submitting a URL to search engines by hand.
Marketing Automation:
The application of software tools to perform repetitive marketing tasks automatically, thereby linking various parts of the marketing funnel more efficiently.
Marketing Plan:
A section of a business plan that outlines the marketing strategies for promoting a product or service.
Market Analysis:
The process of assessing the dynamics of a specific market within a particular industry. This includes reviewing the size, trends, growth rate, and overall attractiveness of the market, as well as understanding customer behaviors and competitive dynamics.
Market Development:
A strategic step to grow an existing product in a new or emerging market. This strategy aims at increasing the market share for existing products or promoting new uses for a product.
Market Penetration:
A measure of the amount of sales or adoption of a product compared to the total theoretical market for that product. It is a strategy that tries to increase market share within existing industries.
Market Research:
The process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, and about the past, present, and potential customers for the product or service; research into the characteristics, spending habits, location, and needs of your business's target market.
Market Segmentation:
The process of dividing a target market into smaller, more defined categories. It segments customers and audiences into groups that share similar characteristics such as demographics, interests, needs, or location.
Marketing Automation:
The technology that manages marketing processes and multifunctional campaigns, across multiple channels, automatically. It helps to streamline sales and marketing organizations by replacing high-touch, repetitive manual processes with automated solutions.
Marketing Channel:
A platform through which marketing communications are disseminated. This includes traditional channels like newspapers, magazines, television, and radio, as well as digital channels like social media, email, and websites.
Marketing Funnel:
A model describing the theoretical customer journey from the awareness of a product to the actual purchase. The funnel has several steps, which can include awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation, and purchase.
Marketing Mix:
A foundational model in marketing, historically centered around the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. It is the set of actions that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market.
Marketing Plan:
A comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a company’s advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
A designation used for a lead who has engaged with a company's marketing efforts and is considered more likely to become a customer compared to other leads. This qualification is based on specific lead scoring metrics, which can include actions like downloading a white paper, signing up for a webinar, or completing an online form. MQLs have shown interest in what the company offers but have not yet reached the point where the sales team can engage them directly. Identifying MQLs helps align marketing and sales efforts, ensuring that sales teams work on leads with a higher probability of closing.
Marketing Strategy:
A business's overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of the products or services the business provides. It contains the company’s value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements.
Master Service Agreement
A comprehensive contract between two parties that outlines the agreed-upon terms governing all current and future activities and transactions. This agreement typically covers aspects such as payment terms, product warranties, intellectual property rights, dispute resolution procedures, and confidentiality obligations. MSAs are used to simplify and streamline negotiations, providing a reliable framework that can be referenced for all subsequent dealings without renegotiating terms for each new project or transaction. This ensures consistency and efficiency in long-term business relationships.
Media Kit:
A package provided by publishers to prospective advertisers, offering essential information to assess advertising opportunities.
Meta Search Engine:
A search engine that compiles results from multiple other search engines.
META Keywords Tag:
A META tag used by web page authors to specify keywords relevant to the content of their pages.
META Tag Generator:
A tool that creates META tags based on provided page information.
META Tags:
HTML tags that provide metadata about a web page, such as description and keywords, which don't appear on the page but are parsed by web browsers and search engines.
Mobile First Indexing:
Google's method of predominantly using the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking purposes.
Mobile Marketing:
A multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, via websites, email, SMS and MMS, social media, and apps.
Moderator:
A person appointed to oversee discussions in a forum, ensuring they remain productive and adhere to the forum's guidelines.
MOFU (Middle of Funnel):
A phase in the buyer's journey where potential customers show increased interest and begin considering a purchase.
Monthly Active Users (MAU)
A metric used to measure the number of unique users who engage with a website, application, or online platform within a given month. It tracks user engagement over a 30-day period, providing insights into the overall reach and stickiness of the platform. MAUs are crucial for businesses to gauge the effectiveness of user retention strategies, understand monthly usage trends, and assess the long-term value of their user base. This metric is particularly important for companies operating in the digital space, such as social media platforms, online services, and mobile app developers.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
A critical financial metric used by subscription-based businesses to measure the total predictable revenue generated from all active subscriptions within a month. MRR helps companies understand the steady income they can expect each month, excluding one-time payments or fees. This metric is essential for tracking growth trends, forecasting future revenues, and assessing the financial health of the business. It is particularly valuable for planning and budgeting, as well as evaluating the impact of customer acquisitions and churn on overall business performance.
Monthly Recurring Revenue Growth Rate (MRRG)
A key performance metric that measures the month-over-month percentage increase in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). This rate is crucial for subscription-based businesses to assess the effectiveness of their growth strategies and the pace at which they are adding new subscription revenue. It helps in understanding how quickly a company is expanding its recurring revenue streams, which is vital for long-term sustainability and forecasting future financial performance. The MRR growth rate can be influenced by factors such as new customer acquisition, existing customer upgrades, and churn rates.
Mousetrapping:
Techniques that manipulate browser behavior to keep a visitor on a site, often by disabling the back button or creating persistent pop-up windows.
Multi-Channel Funnels:
A suite of reports in Google Analytics that details the channels and timing of interactions along a visitor's path to conversion.
Multi-Touch Attribution:
An attribution model that assigns credit for a conversion to multiple touchpoints throughout the customer journey.
Multichannel Marketing:
Marketing using many different marketing channels to reach a customer. This could include a combination of traditional and digital marketing channels such as email, retail locations, a website, promotional events, and direct mail.
Multivariate Testing:
A testing method in marketing research that alters multiple variables simultaneously in a controlled environment to determine which variations perform best and refine the marketing strategy.
MQL to SQL Conversion Rate
A key performance metric that measures the efficiency of the sales process by calculating the percentage of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) that are converted into Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). An MQL becomes an SQL once it meets further qualifications and is deemed ready for direct sales engagement. This rate is crucial for understanding how effectively a business is managing the transition of potential customers from initial marketing interactions to active sales pursuits. It helps identify the alignment between marketing and sales efforts and pinpoint areas for improvement in lead nurturing and qualification processes.
Myopia:
In a marketing context, marketing myopia is a situation when a company has a narrow-minded approach to marketing strategy focused only on selling products and services, rather than seeing the broader perspective of fulfilling customer needs.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "N"
Native Advertising:
A type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. Native ads are often found in social media feeds, or as recommended content on a web page, and are meant to appear less obtrusive than traditional ads.
Navigation:
The tools and features that facilitate users' movement from one web page to another within a website.
NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement
A legally binding contract that establishes a confidential relationship between parties. An NDA is used to protect sensitive information, stipulating that the recipient of the information is to keep it secret and not disclose it to any third party without explicit permission. NDAs are commonly used in business settings where confidential information, such as trade secrets, proprietary data, or new product details, needs to be shared between companies for purposes of collaboration or evaluation, but protection against unauthorized dissemination is crucial.
Negative Keywords:
Specific words or phrases used in pay-per-click advertising campaigns to prevent ads from being triggered by certain search queries that are not relevant to the advertiser's offerings.
Negative SEO:
Non Compliant SEO practices and techniques. The practice of using unethical techniques to harm a competitor's search engine rankings.
Netiquette:
Short for "network etiquette," referring to the set of rules and norms that govern respectful and considerate behavior online.
Net Promoter Score (NPS):
A management tool that can be used to gauge the loyalty of a firm's customer relationships. It serves as an alternative to traditional customer satisfaction research and is correlated with revenue growth.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
A crucial financial metric used by subscription-based businesses to measure the percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a given time period, after accounting for upgrades, downgrades, and customer churn. NRR helps companies understand the effectiveness of their customer retention and account expansion strategies. It reflects not only the company's ability to keep customers but also its success in increasing revenue through upselling or cross-selling. A high NRR indicates strong customer satisfaction and loyalty, which are key drivers of sustainable business growth.
Network Effect:
The effect observed when a product or service gains additional value as more people use it, which in turn attracts even more users.
Network Marketing:
A business model that depends on person-to-person sales by independent representatives, often working from home. A network marketing business may require you to build a network of business partners or salespeople to assist with lead generation and closing sales.
Neuromarketing:
The study of how people's brains respond to advertising and other brand-related messages by using brain imaging and measurement technology to measure changes in brain activity in response to marketing stimuli.
Newsletter:
A type of content marketing that businesses use to nurture leads and strengthen customer loyalty. Newsletters are regularly distributed publications that are generally about one main topic of interest to its subscribers.
Niche Marketing:
A targeted marketing strategy focusing on a specific demographic of customers. This approach suits presumptively homogeneous customer groups who have specific needs and will pay a premium to meet them.
Nonprofit Marketing:
Marketing tactics and strategies used by nonprofit organizations to help promote the causes, issues, or charitable events they manage. Nonprofit marketing involves creating campaigns to tap into the public consciousness and gather donations, volunteers, and heightened awareness.
No-Follow Link:
No-Follow Link: In web development and SEO, a no-follow link is a link that does not count as a point in the page's favor, does not boost PageRank, and doesn’t help a page's placement in the SERPs. An HTML attribute used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "O"
Objection Handling
A key sales skill that involves addressing and overcoming potential objections that a prospect may raise during the sales process. Effective objection handling is crucial for moving the sales conversation forward and closing deals. It requires understanding the prospect's concerns, providing clear, compelling responses, and reinforcing the value of the product or service. Skilled salespeople use objection handling to build trust, clarify misunderstandings, and demonstrate how their solutions can meet the specific needs of the prospect.
Offline Conversion Tracking:
The method of recording conversions that occur offline and linking them to online advertising campaigns.
Omnichannel Marketing:
A marketing strategy that provides customers with a fully integrated shopping experience by unifying user experiences from brick-and-mortar to mobile-browsing, to social media and everything in between. Omnichannel marketing aims to create consistent touchpoints across multiple channels.
One-Party Consent States
Refers to U.S. states where only one party involved in a conversation needs to consent to the recording of the conversation. This legal framework contrasts with two-party (or all-party) consent states, where all participants must agree to be recorded. One-party consent is significant in various contexts, including telephone conversations, in-person discussions, and electronic communications. It affects how businesses, journalists, and individuals can legally record and use communications, making it crucial for those in such states to be aware of these regulations to comply with privacy laws and avoid legal issues.
Online Marketing:
Also known as digital marketing, it involves leveraging web-based channels to spread a message about a company’s brand, products, or services to its potential customers. Methods used include social media, search engines, email, websites, and apps.
Open Funnel Report:
A type of analysis that allows users to explore a conversion funnel at any stage, providing flexibility in how they view and analyze the funnel's performance.
Open Rate:
In email marketing, this rate measures how many people on an email list open (or view) a particular email campaign. The rate is typically expressed as a percentage, and is calculated by dividing the number of email messages opened by the total number of email messages sent (excluding those that bounced.)
Operating Profit Margin (OPM)
A financial ratio used to assess a company's efficiency at controlling costs and generating profit from its operations, before interest and taxes. It is calculated by dividing operating profit by net sales, often expressed as a percentage. This metric provides insight into how much of each dollar earned by the company is converted into operating profit, indicating the core profitability of business activities without considering the effects of financing and investment decisions. A higher operating profit margin suggests a company is managing its operational costs well and is profitable from its primary business activities.
Operational Marketing:
Executes marketing functions to attract and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as the profit earned by the firm, by satisfying customer needs and wants.
Opportunity Win Rate
A sales metric that measures the percentage of sales opportunities that are converted into actual sales. It is calculated by dividing the number of won sales by the total number of opportunities and then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. This rate helps businesses gauge the effectiveness of their sales strategies and the efficiency of their sales teams. Monitoring the opportunity win rate can provide insights into how well a company is performing in competitive markets and identify areas for improvement in the sales process.
Opt-in Email:
Email that recipients have previously requested by signing up via a website or another mechanism. This practice is in contrast to spam, where email messages are sent without the recipients' request or consent.
Opt-Out:
(1) An email marketing approach where recipients are automatically included in mailing lists unless they specifically request removal. (2) The action of unsubscribing from an opt-out email marketing program.
Optimization:
In the context of online marketing, optimization involves making web pages, advertisements, and other online marketing elements more effective and efficient. This includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which focuses on improving the ranking of web pages in search engine results.
Organic Growth:
Business growth that occurs naturally and organically, not through mergers, acquisitions, or other influences that could artificially inflate growth figures. In marketing, it often refers to the growth achieved through increasing output and enhancing sales internally.
Organic Search:
Refers to search engine results that are calculated strictly algorithmically and are not affected by advertiser payments. It contrasts with paid search, which involves bidding and paying for placement on search engine results pages.
Outbound Calling
A type of telephone calling where a company initiates calls to potential or existing customers. Typically used for sales, marketing, customer support, or information dissemination, outbound calling aims to achieve specific business objectives such as selling products or services, gathering market research, generating leads, or providing proactive customer service. Effective outbound calling requires strategic planning, skilled communication, and adherence to regulatory guidelines to avoid intrusion and enhance customer engagement.
Outbound Link:
A hyperlink that directs visitors from your website to an external site.
Outbound Marketing:
Traditional form of marketing where a company initiates the conversation and sends its message out to an audience. Examples include more traditional forms of marketing and advertising such as TV advertisements, radio ads, print advertisements, and cold calling.
Outbound Sales
A proactive sales approach where sales representatives initiate contact with potential customers through various channels such as phone calls, emails, or social media messages. The primary goal is to introduce the company's products or services, generate interest, and ultimately convert prospects into customers. Outbound sales strategies often involve cold calling or reaching out to leads from a database. This method allows companies to directly target specific demographics or markets, control the sales process, and quickly scale up efforts to drive revenue growth.
Out-of-Home Advertising (OOH):
Advertising that reaches the consumers while they are outside their homes. Types of OOH advertising include billboards, advertisements on public transportation (buses, subways, trains), and other outdoor ads.
Outreach:
The act of connecting with potential clients, customers, or users, particularly in the digital domain, with the intent of attracting them towards your products or services through various means like social media, influencer collaborations, or direct communication.
Outside Sales
A traditional sales approach where sales representatives, often referred to as field sales agents, meet prospects and clients outside the office, typically at the client's place of business or other external locations. This method relies on face-to-face interaction to build relationships and close deals. Outside sales activities include conducting on-site presentations, attending trade shows, and networking events. This role demands extensive travel and flexibility, but it allows for deeper customer engagement and is often used for complex, high-value transactions in industries like manufacturing, real estate, and enterprise software.
Owned Media:
Any content that you create and publish on platforms that you control, such as your company's website, blogs, or social media accounts.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "P"
Pain Point
In business and marketing, a pain point refers to a specific problem that prospective customers of your business are experiencing. Identifying and understanding customer pain points is crucial for developing products or services that offer effective solutions. This concept is also essential in sales and marketing strategies, as addressing these pain points directly can enhance communication with potential clients and improve the chances of closing a sale. Pain points can vary widely, including issues like excessive costs, cumbersome processes, lack of functionality, or any other problem that customers face which your product or service can solve.
Pagejacking:
The act of copying a web page from its original site and reposting it on another site, often without permission.
Page View:
A request to load a single HTML page on a website.
PageRank:
A Google algorithm that ranks web pages in search engine results based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to them.
Paid Media:
Any marketing that you pay for, traditionally including TV and radio ads, print advertising, and digital ads, including pay-per-click (PPC), display ads, and social media ads.
Pass-Along Rate:
The proportion of recipients who forward a piece of content or message to others.
Payback Period
A financial metric used to determine the duration required to recoup the cost of an investment. The payback period is the time it takes for the net cash inflows from a project or investment to equal the total initial investment cost. This metric is widely used to assess the risk and efficiency of an investment, with a shorter payback period typically seen as more favorable because it indicates quicker recovery of funds. Businesses use the payback period to prioritize projects or investments that return value within an acceptable timeframe, aiding in capital allocation and strategic financial planning.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC):
A model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically.
Pay Per Lead (PPL):
An online advertising model in which advertisers pay a fee based on the number of leads generated.
Pay Per Sale (PPS):
An online advertising model in which payment is made only when sales are completed.
Payment Threshold:
The minimum amount of earned commission required before an affiliate is paid by an affiliate program.
PayPal:
An online payment system that allows users to make transactions through a personal email account.
Penetration Pricing:
A marketing strategy used by businesses to attract customers to a new product or service by offering a lower price initially. The strategy works on the expectation that customers will switch to the new brand because of the lower price.
Performance Marketing:
A form of digital marketing where brands only pay marketing service providers after their business objectives are met or when specific actions are completed, such as a click, sale, or lead.
Performance Max (PMax):
A Google Ads campaign type that optimizes performance across all Google platforms to maximize customer reach.
Permission Marketing:
A marketing strategy that involves obtaining a customer's consent before sending them marketing messages.
Persona:
Semi-fictional characters created to represent the different user types that might use a service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Marketing personas are used to help marketers define their audience and tailor content.
Personalization:
The practice of creating a unique experience for each customer by personalizing products or content to their interests, purchasing behavior, demographics, etc., often using data collected from their interactions.
Phrase Match Keyword:
A keyword setting in search advertising that triggers your ad when someone searches for that specific phrase, or a similar phrase as determined by Google.
Piggyback Marketing:
A cost-effective strategy where two companies work together to market complementary products or services, thereby sharing the marketing costs.
Pipeline
In business, particularly in sales, a pipeline represents the stages that a prospect moves through as they progress from initial contact to becoming a customer. The sales pipeline is a systematic approach to selling a product or service and typically includes several stages such as lead generation, qualification, proposal, negotiation, and closure. Each stage has defined actions and goals that help sales teams manage the entire sales process effectively. The concept of a pipeline is also used to forecast sales and revenue, as well as to identify bottlenecks in the sales process that could be impeding conversions. Managing and optimizing a sales pipeline is crucial for improving sales efficiency and success rates.
Placement:
The distribution of a product in the various outlets where it is sold to consumers. In advertising, it involves the strategic positioning of advertisements across different media to reach the targeted audience.
Platform:
In digital marketing, this refers to the base technology that a website, a service, or a system is built from. Common platforms include social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter where brands conduct marketing activities.
Podcast:
A series of digital audio or video files available for download, often released episodically.
Pop-Under Ad:
An advertisement that appears in a new browser window behind the current one.
Pop-Up Ad:
An advertisement that opens in a new browser window over the existing content.
Portal:
A website that serves as a major starting point for internet browsing, featuring a collection of links and services, frequently categorized by topic (vertical portal) or offering broad access to a variety of services (web portal).
Positioning:
The process of marketing a product or service in a way that distinguishes it from competitors in the minds of target customers. Positioning involves the careful manipulation of every aspect of marketing communication to create a unique identity for a brand.
Position-Based Attribution:
An attribution model that assigns 40% of the conversion credit to both the first and last engagement, with the remaining 20% distributed evenly among other touchpoints in the customer journey.
Power Dialer
A type of automated dialing technology used in call centers and by sales teams that automatically dials phone numbers from a predetermined list. Once a call is answered, the power dialer connects the call to a live agent. This tool is designed to increase efficiency by minimizing the idle time between calls and ensuring agents spend more time talking to potential customers. Unlike predictive dialers, which dial multiple numbers at once based on expected agent availability, power dialers dial one number at a time for each available agent, reducing the risk of dropped calls and improving the customer experience.
Predictive Analytics:
The use of data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning techniques to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data. In marketing, it’s used for understanding consumer behavior, targeting ads, and improving customer relations.
Predictive Dialer
An automated telephone dialing system that uses algorithms to predict the availability of agents and the call answer rates to adjust the calling rate in real-time. Predictive dialers are used primarily in call centers to maximize the amount of time agents spend talking to live customers. This system dials multiple numbers simultaneously, ensuring that as soon as an agent is available, there is a high chance that a call will be ready for them to take, thereby reducing idle time. Predictive dialers are efficient for high-volume call operations but must be managed carefully to comply with regulations and to avoid excessive call abandonment rates.
Predicted Revenue:
In Google Analytics 4, an estimation of the revenue that a user from the past 28 days is expected to generate in the upcoming 28 days.
Premium Pricing:
A strategy where goods are priced higher than average to encourage favorable perceptions among buyers, based solely on the price. The aim is to use high prices to emphasize the quality or exclusivity of a product.
Press Release:
Press Release: A written communication that reports specific but brief information about an event, circumstance, product launch, or other happening. It's typically tied to a business or organization and is provided to media through a variety of means.
Product Adoption Rate
A metric that measures the rate at which a new product is adopted by consumers within a specific market or audience segment over a given time period. It helps businesses gauge the initial success and market penetration of their product. The product adoption rate is crucial for understanding how quickly a product is gaining traction, identifying factors influencing its adoption, and strategizing for future enhancements or marketing efforts. This rate is often influenced by factors such as product visibility, perceived value, market readiness, and the effectiveness of promotional strategies.
Product Life Cycle:
The course of a product’s sales and profits over its lifetime. It involves five stages: product development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
Product Qualified Lead (PQL)
A type of lead qualification used primarily in companies offering a product, particularly those with a freemium model or a free trial of their software. PQLs are users who have used a product and taken actions that indicate a strong likelihood of becoming paying customers. These actions could include using a key feature of the product multiple times, upgrading from a free to a paid plan for additional features, or consistently engaging with the product over a certain period. Identifying PQLs helps sales and marketing teams prioritize leads that have a higher chance of conversion based on actual product usage and engagement.
Programmatic Advertising:
The use of automated technology for buying and selling of digital advertising, as opposed to the traditional process that involves human negotiation and manual insertion orders.
Progressive Dialer
A type of automated telephone dialing system that sequentially calls numbers from a predefined list and only connects a call to an agent once the call is answered. Unlike predictive dialers, which dial multiple numbers in anticipation of agent availability, progressive dialers dial one number at a time for each available agent, ensuring that the agent is always available to speak as soon as the customer answers. This method minimizes the risk of abandoned calls and helps maintain a consistent flow of conversation, enhancing both agent efficiency and customer experience. Progressive dialers are ideal for operations prioritizing customer engagement quality over call volume.
Promotional Mix:
The set of tools that a business uses to effectively communicate benefits of their products or services or persuade customers to purchase. This mix typically includes advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling, and direct marketing.
Prospecting
In sales, prospecting refers to the process of identifying potential customers, clients, or buyers for your products or services. It involves researching, contacting, and engaging individuals or organizations that might have an interest in what a company offers but are not yet qualified leads. Effective prospecting is a crucial activity in the sales process as it helps to build a pipeline of potential customers and lays the groundwork for future sales opportunities. Techniques for prospecting can include cold calling, emailing, social media outreach, networking events, and more, all aimed at initiating relationships that could eventually lead to sales.
Proximity Marketing:
The localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.
Public Relations (PR):
A strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.
Purchase Probability:
In Google Analytics 4, the likelihood that a user who has interacted with the site in the last 28 days will make a purchase in the next 7 days.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "Q"
Qualitative Data:
Data that approximates or characterizes but does not measure the attributes, characteristics, properties, etc., of a thing or phenomenon. Qualitative data describes qualities or characteristics. It is collected through methods like interviews, focus groups, and observation, and is useful for gaining insights into underlying reasons and motivations.
Quantitative Data:
Data that can be quantified and verified, and is amenable to statistical manipulation. Quantitative data defines whereas qualitative data describes. This type of data is collected through methods such as surveys, experiments, and analytics, providing a means to test hypotheses and observe effects.
Quality Score:
Quality Score: In digital advertising, particularly with Google Ads, it's a metric that rates the quality and relevance of both your keywords and PPC ads. High quality scores can lead to lower ad costs and better ad positioning.
Quantitative Research:
Research that allows researchers to measure and analyze data. In marketing, it refers to the systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques.
Query:
In digital marketing, particularly in SEO and PPC, a query is what a user inputs into a search engine. For marketers, understanding the types of queries that drive traffic to their sites can inform content strategy and keyword research.
Queue:
In the context of email marketing, a queue refers to a series of emails or messages that are set up to be sent out automatically on a schedule, typically as part of an automated campaign or drip marketing effort.
Quick Response Code (QR Code):
A type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) first designed in 1994 for the automotive industry in Japan. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that contains information about the item to which it is attached. In practice, QR codes often contain data for a locator, identifier, or tracker that points to a website or application.
Quota:
In sales, a quota is the sales goal set for a product line, company division, or sales representative. It helps managers gauge whether a salesperson is meeting or exceeding expectations, and often influences compensation.
Quintile Analysis:
In marketing research, this analysis involves dividing a set of data into five equal segments, each comprising 20% of the measured value. It is used to analyze the distribution of a particular variable (like customer spend) to better target marketing efforts.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "R"
Rank Tracking:
The process of monitoring a website’s organic search engine rankings for specific keywords over time.
Rate Card:
A document that outlines the pricing for various advertisement placement options.
Reach:
The total number of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium or a campaign during a given period.
Reactivation Campaign:
A marketing initiative designed to re-engage and reactivate customers who have not interacted with the brand or have not made purchases over a period.
Real-Time Marketing:
Marketing that is based on up-to-date events. Instead of creating a marketing plan in advance and executing it according to a fixed schedule, real-time marketing is creating a strategy focused on current, relevant trends and immediate feedback from customers.
Rebranding:
The process of changing the corporate image of an organization. It is a market strategy of giving a new name, symbol, or change in design for an already-established brand. The idea behind rebranding is to create a different identity for a brand, from its competitors, in the market..
Reciprocity:
A social psychology principle often used in marketing that suggests people are compelled to return favors and pay back debts— to treat others as they've treated us.
Reciprocal Links:
Links that are exchanged between two websites, often based on an agreement between the site owners to link to each other.
Rectangle Ad:
A type of large, rectangular banner ad size recommended by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Referral
In a business context, a referral occurs when a satisfied customer recommends a company's products or services to other potential clients. Referrals are highly valued because they come from a credible, trusted source and typically have higher conversion rates than other types of leads. Businesses often encourage referrals through incentive programs, where both the referrer and the referred customer receive a benefit, such as a discount or reward. Effective referral programs can significantly enhance customer acquisition efforts, leveraging existing customer relationships to grow the customer base organically.
Referral Marketing:
A method of promoting products or services to new customers through referrals, typically word of mouth. Such referrals often happen spontaneously but businesses can influence this through appropriate strategies.
Referral Rate
A metric used to measure the effectiveness of a referral program, quantifying the percentage of customers or users who refer others to a company's products or services. It is calculated by dividing the number of customers who make a referral by the total number of customers, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. The referral rate helps businesses understand how well their products or services are being recommended by current customers and is indicative of customer satisfaction and loyalty. High referral rates often correlate with strong brand advocacy and can significantly impact a company's growth and reputation.
Referral Traffic:
In analytics, this refers to visitors who arrive at a site via a link from another website.
Regulation F
A regulation issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the United States that governs the activities of debt collectors as outlined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Regulation F provides specific rules intended to protect consumers from harassment, abuse, and deceptive practices by debt collectors. Key provisions include restrictions on the times and frequency with which collectors can contact debtors, requirements for the information that must be provided to debtors, and guidelines on the use of digital communications for debt collection. This regulation also allows consumers to specify preferred communication methods and opt out of certain types of contacts, aiming to balance effective debt collection with consumer rights.
Rel Canonical:
An HTML element used to inform search engines about the preferred URL for indexing a piece of content.
Remarketing:
A type of technology that shows ads for your business to people after they have visited your website, used your mobile app, or given you their email address. People will see these ads while they are browsing the web, watching YouTube videos, or using mobile apps.
Renewal Rate
A metric used primarily in businesses with subscription-based services to measure the percentage of customers who choose to renew their subscriptions at the end of their contract period. This rate is crucial for assessing customer satisfaction and the long-term value of customer relationships. It is calculated by dividing the number of customers who renew their subscriptions by the total number of customers whose subscriptions are up for renewal, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. A high renewal rate indicates that customers find ongoing value in the service, contributing to stable revenue streams and lower customer acquisition costs.
Rep Firm:
An advertising sales partner that specializes in managing sales for individual sites.
Request for Proposal (RFP)
A formal document that an organization issues to solicit proposals from potential vendors or service providers as part of a competitive bidding process. The RFP outlines the project details, requirements, and criteria for the selection of the vendor, inviting suppliers to submit business proposals that match the specifications. The purpose of an RFP is to ensure that the organization receives fair, competitive offers and can evaluate each potential vendor on a uniform basis. This process is commonly used in industries where projects are complex or highly technical and where the buyer needs to compare several potential vendors before making a decision.
Responsive Design:
An approach to web design that makes web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes. Recent work also considers the viewer proximity as part of the viewing context as an extension for RWD (responsive web design).
Responsive Display Ad (RDA):
A flexible ad format offered by Google Ads that allows marketers to provide text and visual elements, which Google then automatically adjusts to fit different ad spaces and optimize performance.
Responsive Search Ad (RSA):
A text ad format in Google Ads where marketers can input up to 15 headlines and 4 description lines. Google then tests various combinations to determine which ones perform best.
Retargeting:
A targeting method in advertising where ads are served to users based on their previous interactions with your website, such as visits or specific actions taken.
Return Days:
The period during which an affiliate can earn a commission on a conversion (sale or lead) following a referral.
Return on Investment (ROI):
A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. ROI tries to directly measure the amount of return on a particular investment, relative to the investment’s cost.
Revenue Churn Rate
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Revenue Operations
A critical financial metric that measures the percentage of revenue lost from existing customers over a specific period, typically due to cancellations or downgrades. This rate is essential for subscription-based businesses to assess the impact of customer attrition on overall revenue. It is calculated by dividing the lost revenue by the total revenue at the beginning of the period, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. Understanding revenue churn helps companies identify the reasons behind customer departures, gauge the financial health of the business, and develop strategies to improve customer retention and increase recurring revenue.
Revenue Share:
A strategic integration of sales, marketing, and customer service operations within an organization, aimed at driving revenue growth through enhanced efficiency and alignment. RevOps focuses on streamlining processes across these departments to ensure that all functions are coordinated and optimized towards common revenue-related goals. This approach involves using data and technology to break down silos, improve decision-making, and enhance the customer journey from initial awareness to retention and loyalty. By aligning and optimizing all revenue-related activities, RevOps helps organizations achieve a more predictable and sustainable growth trajectory.
Rich Media:
A broad range of digital interactive media which exhibits dynamic motion, taking advantage of enhanced sensory features such as video, audio, and animation.
Ringless Voicemail
A communication technology that allows a message to be placed directly into a recipient's voicemail inbox without the phone ringing first. This method is often used in marketing and debt collection to deliver messages without causing the usual disruption of a phone call. Ringless voicemail is favored for its less intrusive nature, allowing recipients to listen to the message at their convenience. However, its use is subject to regulatory scrutiny and legal limitations in some jurisdictions due to concerns about privacy and consent.
ROI Analysis (Return on Investment Analysis):
A form of financial analysis that businesses use to determine the profitability of an expenditure. It’s based on the division of the benefit of an investment by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.
ROAS (Return On Ad Spend):
A metric that measures the effectiveness of advertising expenditures by comparing the revenue generated to the amount spent on advertising.
Robots.txt:
A file used to communicate with web crawlers using the robots exclusion standard, specifying which parts of a website can be crawled.
RPV (Revenue Per Visitor):
A performance metric that calculates the average revenue generated per visitor to a site by dividing total revenue by the number of visitors.
Run of Network (RON):
An ad buying option that allows advertisements to appear on any pages across sites within a specific network.
Run of Site (ROS):
An ad buying option in which ad placements may appear on any pages within a site, rather than on a particular page or position.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "S"
SaaS - Software as a Service:
A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a third-party provider and made available to customers over the internet. SaaS allows users to access software on a subscription basis without the need for internal infrastructure or hardware, significantly reducing the complexity of software installation, maintenance, and management. This model is beneficial for its scalability, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, as it typically involves regular updates, support, and security management by the provider. SaaS is widely used in business applications such as email, customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise resource planning (ERP).
Sales and Marketing Expense to Revenue Ratio:
A financial metric that measures the efficiency of a company’s sales and marketing efforts by comparing the total expenses in these areas to the generated revenue. This ratio is calculated by dividing the sales and marketing expenses by the revenue over a specific period, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. It helps businesses understand how much they are spending to generate each dollar of sales, providing insights into the cost-effectiveness of their sales and marketing strategies. A lower ratio indicates greater efficiency, suggesting that less money is needed to generate revenue. This metric is crucial for budgeting, planning, and optimizing resource allocation in sales and marketing departments.
Sales Cycle Length:
A metric that measures the average amount of time it takes for a potential customer to go through all stages of the sales process, from initial contact to the final purchase decision. This length can vary significantly depending on the industry, market conditions, complexity of the sale, and effectiveness of the sales strategy. Understanding the sales cycle length is crucial for forecasting sales performance, managing sales resources effectively, and identifying areas where improvements can be made to expedite the process. Shortening the sales cycle can lead to increased sales efficiency, better cash flow, and improved customer satisfaction.
Sales Efficiency:
A measure of how effectively a sales team converts leads into revenue, relative to the cost of those efforts. It is often assessed by comparing the revenue generated by the sales team to the expenses incurred in the sales process, including salaries, commissions, marketing support, and other related costs. High sales efficiency indicates that the team is generating significant revenue for each dollar spent, demonstrating optimal performance and resource utilization. Improving sales efficiency involves refining sales strategies, enhancing training, streamlining operations, and leveraging technology to maximize productivity and reduce costs.
Sales Enablement:
A strategic, ongoing process that equips all client-facing employees with the ability to consistently and systematically have a valuable conversation with the right set of customer stakeholders at each stage of the customer's problem-solving life cycle to optimize the return of investment of the selling system. Sales enablement involves providing sales teams with the tools, content, information, and training they need to sell more effectively. This includes developing and using sales collateral, CRM systems, training programs, and sales analytics to improve sales execution and efficiency. The goal is to align marketing and sales efforts, enhance the ability to close deals, and drive revenue growth.
Sales Engagement:
Refers to the interactions that take place between a salesperson and a prospective customer, which are crucial in driving the sales process forward. Sales engagement can involve various activities such as emails, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, social media interactions, and product demonstrations. Effective sales engagement is characterized by personalized, relevant communications that are tailored to meet the needs and interests of the prospect at each stage of the buying journey. The quality of these engagements is often enhanced by using sales engagement platforms that help organize, automate, and optimize communication efforts. The goal is to build strong relationships, effectively address customer needs, and ultimately, close sales.
Sales Funnel:
A visual representation of the customer journey from initial awareness of a product or service to the final purchase decision. The funnel metaphor illustrates the gradual narrowing of the customer base as potential buyers move through different stages of the buying process, typically categorized into top (awareness), middle (consideration), and bottom (decision) stages. Each stage of the funnel requires different marketing strategies and tactics to move prospects to the next level. Analyzing the sales funnel helps businesses identify bottlenecks where prospects drop out and opportunities to optimize each stage to improve conversion rates and overall sales effectiveness.
Sales Pipeline Coverage:
A metric used to assess the health of a sales pipeline by comparing the total value of all opportunities in the pipeline to the sales target over a given period. It is typically calculated as the ratio of the total potential sales in the pipeline to the actual sales target, often expressed in terms of the number of times the pipeline covers the target. For example, a coverage ratio of 3x suggests that the pipeline contains three times the amount of potential sales needed to meet the sales target.
This metric helps sales managers understand whether there are enough deals in the pipeline to meet or exceed sales quotas, allowing them to make informed decisions about resource allocation, sales forecasting, and strategic planning. Effective management of pipeline coverage can help ensure consistent sales performance and mitigate the risk of revenue shortfalls.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs):
: Refers to prospective customers who have been researched and vetted by both the marketing and sales teams and are deemed ready for the next stage in the sales process. Unlike Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), which are identified based on engagement with marketing content and initial expressions of interest, SQLs have passed additional criteria that make them likely candidates for a successful sale.
SQLs typically demonstrate a clear intent to buy, have the budget and authority to make purchasing decisions, and have a timeline for proceeding with the purchase. These leads are then handed off to the sales team for direct engagement, negotiation, and closure. The transition of a lead from MQL to SQL is a crucial step in the sales funnel, representing a shift from lead generation and nurturing to active selling.
Sales Velocity
A metric used to measure the speed at which opportunities move through the sales pipeline and generate revenue. Sales velocity is calculated by multiplying the number of opportunities in the pipeline by the average deal size and the win rate, then dividing this product by the length of the sales cycle. The formula is:
Sales Velocity = (Number of Opportunities × Average Deal Size × Win Rate) / Length of Sales Cycle
This metric helps businesses understand how quickly they are making money, providing insights into the efficiency of the sales process. Increasing sales velocity can be achieved by increasing the number of opportunities, increasing the average deal size, improving the win rate, or shortening the sales cycle. Understanding and optimizing sales velocity is crucial for enhancing the overall performance of the sales team and accelerating revenue growth.
Scam Likely Calls:
Phone calls that are identified by telecommunications providers as potential scams based on their origin, calling patterns, and other suspicious characteristics. Many modern smartphones and caller ID services can now detect and label these incoming calls with a "Scam Likely" warning, alerting recipients before they answer. This feature is part of a broader effort to protect consumers from fraud and phishing attempts, which often involve unsolicited calls attempting to deceive individuals into revealing personal information or sending money.
Scroll Depth:
The scroll depth metric indicates the percentage of a webpage that a visitor has viewed, typically rounded to preset thresholds such as 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90%. This measure helps determine how far down a page a user scrolls and is useful for understanding user engagement with site content.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
The practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. SEO involves making certain changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to a search engine.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM):
A form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising.
Search quality rater guidelines
A document created by Google that guides its search quality raters on how to assess the relevance and trustworthiness of search results.
Search Engine
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. It searches the internet for specific information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a line of results, often referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a mix of web pages, images, videos, and other types of files. Some of the most popular search engines include Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Search engines help users to locate information on the internet by typing keywords or phrases related to their search. The search engine then uses algorithms to fetch and display the most relevant pages from its index that match or relate to the user's query. This process involves crawling, indexing, and ranking web pages based on various factors like keyword density, site speed, backlinks, and content quality to provide the most relevant results to users.
Search engine spam
Search engine spam refers to aggressive techniques used to manipulate search engine rankings, typically for pages that offer minimal or irrelevant content. These tactics are employed to artificially boost a webpage's visibility, often at the expense of quality and relevance.
Search engine submission
Submitting a URL to a search engine is the process of providing a search engine with a web address in an effort to get the search engine to recognize a site or page.
Search Partners
In search advertising, sites that collaborate with Google to display ads in search results and settings similar to search environments.
Search Query
The specific sequence of words that a user enters into a search engine.
Search Retargeting
Leveraging a site visitor's search history to determine the advertisements they are shown.
Segment overlap
In Google Analytics 4, a report that lets you compare up to 3 user segments at a time, and the areas where those segments overlap.
Self-serve advertising
Self-serving ads are advertisements that individuals can purchase directly without needing help from a sales representative.
SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through non-paid (also known as "organic") search engine results.
SEO involves making specific changes to your website design and content that make the site more attractive to a search engine.
The ultimate goal of SEO is to help a website appear higher up on the list of search results returned by a search engine, making it more likely that people will visit the site.
SEO strategies can involve optimizing content with targeted keywords, improving the site’s mobile-friendliness, increasing the speed at which pages load, building backlinks from other websites, and more.
These practices help search engines better understand and represent the content on a site, potentially leading to better visibility in users' search results.
SERP
A SERP, or Search Engine Results Page, refers to the page displayed by a search engine in response to a user's query. This page lists the results that are found by the search engine to be most relevant to the user’s entered keywords or phrases. Each listing on a SERP includes the title of the web page, a link to the web page, and a short description showing where the keywords have matched content within the page.
SERPs can also contain various other types of content, such as advertisements, featured snippets, knowledge graphs, and video results, depending on the nature of the query and the technology of the search engine. The layout and types of results displayed are optimized by search engines to provide users with the most useful and relevant information.
Server Side Tracking
A digital analytics technique that involves collecting data within a website's server environment and then transferring it to third-party vendors.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A formal document that defines the level of service expected from a service provider, laying out the metrics by which service is measured, as well as the remedies or penalties should agreed-upon service levels not be achieved. SLAs are commonly used in IT services and telecommunications, among other industries, to clearly define what the customer can expect from a service provider in terms of response time, availability, and performance. SLAs help to establish trust and clear expectations between parties, ensuring that service quality is maintained and can be objectively measured.
Session
A series of actions taken by a visitor on a website within a specific timeframe.
Session Replay
A recreation of a visitor's interactions and visual experience on a website or application.
Segmentation:
The process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics, or behaviors, and who might require separate products or marketing programs.
Share of Voice (SOV):
A measure of the market your brand owns compared to your competitors. It gauges brand visibility and how much you dominate the conversation in your industry.
Shopping cart
Software that allows a website’s product catalog to be used for online ordering, enabling visitors to select, review, add or remove, and buy merchandise.
.sig File:
A brief text block at the end of a message that identifies the sender and provides additional details about them.
Single Touch Attribution:
A marketing attribution model that attributes all the credit for a conversion to a single touchpoint in the user journey.
Site Search:
A search functionality that is specific to one website.
Sitemap:
A file that lists the content of a website and is designed to be accessed by search engines and users.
Skyscraper Ad:
An online advertisement significantly taller than the traditional 120x240 vertical banner.
Skyscraper Technique:
An SEO strategy that involves identifying highly-linked content, creating a superior version of that content, and then reaching out to website owners who have linked to similar content.
Small to Medium-sized Business (SMB):
Refers to businesses that maintain revenues, assets, or a number of employees below a certain threshold. The criteria for classifying a company as an SMB vary from country to country and from industry to industry, often based on the number of employees or annual revenue. Typically, small businesses are defined as having fewer than 100 employees, while medium-sized businesses have between 100 and 999 employees.
SMBs are pivotal to the economy, driving innovation, employment, and competitiveness. They are often characterized by their agility, flexibility, and close customer relationships. However, they may also face challenges such as limited access to capital and markets, less bargaining power, and a heavier regulatory burden compared to larger enterprises. Services and products tailored to meet the unique needs of SMBs can help them overcome these challenges and thrive.
Smarketing:
A portmanteau of "sales" and "marketing," referring to the alignment and integration of sales and marketing functions within an organization. The goal of smarketing is to ensure that both departments work together seamlessly, with shared goals, strategies, and metrics to drive business growth. This collaboration helps to streamline communication, reduce internal friction, and improve the efficiency of both teams.
Smarketing involves regular meetings, mutual understanding of processes, and shared performance indicators, such as lead scoring and conversion rates. By fostering a collaborative environment, companies can enhance lead generation, improve customer experience, and ultimately increase revenue through more effective and united efforts from both sales and marketing teams.
Session Interval:
A web analytics metric that measures the amount of time between a user's sessions on a website or application. It helps businesses understand how frequently users return to interact with the digital platform. This metric is crucial for gauging user engagement and retention, providing insights into how compelling and relevant the content or functionality is to the audience.
By analyzing session intervals, companies can identify patterns in user behavior, such as what times of day they are most active or how updates and changes to the site or app influence return visits. Shorter session intervals typically indicate higher user engagement and interest, suggesting that the content or service is effectively meeting user needs.
Session Length:
A metric used in web analytics to measure the duration of a single session or visit on a website or application. It is defined as the time period between a user's arrival on the site and their last activity within a single session. This metric helps businesses understand how long users are engaging with their content or platform during a single visit.
Session length is an important indicator of user engagement and satisfaction. Longer sessions may imply that users find the content compelling and relevant, while shorter sessions might suggest a lack of engagement or difficulties in navigating the site. Analyzing session length can provide valuable insights into user behavior, which can be used to optimize the website or app to improve user experience and retention.
Snapchat Ads:
A digital advertising platform used to display advertisements on Snapchat.
Social Networking:
The act of forming, growing, and maintaining virtual communities and relationships online.
Soft 404:
An error where a web server returns a "200 OK" status code, indicating success, but Google interprets it as a "404 Not Found."
Soft Bounce:
Occurs when an email is temporarily undeliverable, even though it reached the recipient's email server.
Source/Medium:
In analytics, a dimension that combines the source (specific origin) and medium (general category) to describe how users discover a site.
Spam:
Unsolicited commercial messages that are of extremely low value.
Speed to Lead:
A sales metric that measures the amount of time it takes for a company to follow up with a lead after they first make contact or express interest. This could be through any channel such as filling out a form on a website, emailing, or calling. The principle behind this metric is based on the idea that the faster a sales team can respond to a lead, the higher the chances of converting that lead into a customer.
Speed to lead is crucial for maximizing conversion rates. Studies have shown that leads are most responsive and more likely to convert into sales if contacted promptly, typically within the first few minutes or hours of making an inquiry. Fast response times demonstrate to potential customers that the business values their interest and is attentive to their needs, thereby improving the overall customer experience and increasing the likelihood of a successful sale.
Splash Page:
A branding page displayed before the home page of a website.
Sponsorship:
A form of advertising that aims to create a deeper association and integration between an advertiser and a publisher, often involving unique and integrated promotional placements.
Spoofed Number:
A phenomenon where the caller ID displaying on the recipient's phone is deliberately falsified to hide the caller's true identity or to mimic the phone number of a legitimate or familiar entity, such as a government agency, reputable business, or a known individual. This technique is often used in scam operations to gain trust and manipulate individuals into providing personal information, sending money, or engaging in other actions that can lead to fraud or theft.
Spoofing can make it difficult for recipients to identify and report fraudulent calls, as the number appears legitimate. Various countermeasures, such as caller ID authentication protocols like STIR/SHAKEN, have been implemented by service providers to help combat this issue and restore trust in caller ID systems.
Squeeze Page:
A type of landing page specifically designed to capture email addresses from visitors.
Stickiness:
The measurement of how long visitors spend on a site during a specified time period.
Super Affiliate:
An affiliate that generates a significant portion of an affiliate program's traffic or sales.
Surround Session:
A type of advertising campaign where a visitor sees ads from a single advertiser throughout their entire visit to a website.
Social Media Marketing (SMM):
The use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. This form of marketing involves creating content that has the potential to attract attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks.
Soft Sell:
An advertising and sales approach that features subtle language and a non-aggressive technique. It's designed to avoid angering potential customers and pushing them toward competitors.
Sponsorship:
A form of marketing in which a company pays for the right to be associated with a project or program. It is typically used to reach specified business goals and increase competitive advantage.
Storytelling:
The marketing practice of building a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the values you share with your customers.
Strategic Marketing:
The way a firm effectively differentiates itself from it's competitors by capitalizing on its strengths (both current and potential) to provide consistently better value to customers than its competitors.
Survey
A research method used to collect data from respondents to gather information and insights on various topics. Surveys can be conducted using various mediums such as online questionnaires, phone interviews, or paper forms, and are commonly used in market research, social science, health measures, and more. They are designed to capture opinions, responses, or behaviors of a specific group of people to analyze trends, preferences, or effectiveness of initiatives.
SWOT Analysis:
A strategic planning technique used to help a person or organization identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning.
Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Communication:
Synchronous Communication: This type of communication occurs in real-time, requiring all participants to be present and engaged simultaneously. Examples include face-to-face meetings, phone calls, video conferences, and live chats. Synchronous communication is effective for immediate feedback, quick decision-making, and fostering a sense of connection and immediacy among participants. However, it requires scheduling and can sometimes hinder productivity due to its interruptive nature.
Asynchronous Communication: Asynchronous communication does not require all participants to be present at the same time, allowing for flexibility in response times. This includes emails, recorded video messages, forums, and collaborative documents. Asynchronous methods are beneficial for allowing participants to contribute at their own pace, which can lead to more thoughtful responses and can be more convenient across different time zones. However, the drawback is that it might delay decision-making and can sometimes lead to misunderstandings if messages are not clear.
Both types of communication are vital in a business environment, and choosing the right method depends on the context, urgency, and nature of the information being exchanged.
Synergy:
In marketing, synergy refers to the combined efforts of multiple teams or business divisions, where the result is greater than the sum of individual efforts or capabilities.
Systematic Sampling:
A statistical process that involves selecting members from a larger population according to a random starting point and a fixed periodic interval. This method is used in market research to ensure a representative sampling of data for analysis and decision-making.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "T"
Target Account List (TAL):
A strategic sales and marketing tool that identifies and prioritizes a specific set of companies or accounts deemed most valuable for a business's growth objectives. These accounts are usually selected based on criteria such as industry, company size, geographic location, revenue potential, or alignment with the product or service offerings. The Target Account List is used to focus resources and efforts on engaging and converting high-potential prospects into customers.
Developing a TAL involves collaborative efforts between sales and marketing teams to ensure that targeted outreach, personalized marketing campaigns, and relationship-building strategies are aligned and effectively executed. The use of a TAL enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of sales initiatives, helping to maximize return on investment and drive significant business development.
Target Market:
The particular group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed. Defining the target market helps businesses and marketers design and implement effective marketing strategies.
Technical SEO
The process of ensuring search engines can properly crawl and index a website’s content, to achieve optimal rankings in organic search results.
Telemarketing:
The direct marketing of goods or services to potential customers over the telephone, through email, or via a subsequent face-to-face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call.
Test Marketing:
The process of introducing a new product or service to a limited market to gauge the reaction of potential customers. Used to predict the acceptance of the product in the broader market and refine the product before a full-scale launch.
Text Ads
Advertisement using text-based hyperlinks.
Thank You Page
A page where website visitors are sent after submitted a form.
Thin Content
Web page content that search engines deem to have little or no value.
Third-Party Data:
Information that is collected by an entity that does not have a direct relationship with the user whose data is collected. Often used in digital marketing to enhance the understanding of customer behaviors or to extend marketing reach.
Thought Leadership:
The expression of ideas that demonstrate you have expertise in a particular field, area, or topic. In marketing, it involves creating content that positions the business or individuals in the business as experts in their fields.
Through-the-Line (TTL):
Marketing activities that include both above-the-line (mass media) and below-the-line (direct marketing) strategies, utilizing a mix of promotional efforts that are geared toward both broad and targeted audiences.
TikTok Ads
TikTok Ads – An online advertising platform to show ads on TikTok.
Time to Close:
A sales metric that measures the average duration it takes to close a deal from the initial contact or identification of a lead to the finalization of the sale. This metric is crucial for understanding the efficiency of the sales process and the effectiveness of the sales team. It helps businesses assess how quickly they can convert prospects into paying customers, which is essential for managing cash flow, forecasting revenue, and planning resource allocation.
A shorter time to close is often indicative of a streamlined and effective sales process, while a longer time to close might suggest areas for improvement in sales tactics, lead qualification, or customer engagement strategies. Monitoring and optimizing the time to close can significantly impact a company's ability to grow and scale efficiently.
Time to Conversion:
A key performance metric that measures the duration it takes for a potential lead to complete a desired action or convert into a customer after initial engagement. This action can be defined as making a purchase, signing up for a service, registering for an event, or any specific conversion goal set by the company.
Time to Conversion is critical for assessing the effectiveness of marketing and sales strategies, helping businesses understand how quickly and efficiently they can move leads through the sales funnel. Shorter conversion times often indicate a more effective process and a compelling value proposition, while longer times may identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies in the customer journey. Tracking this metric allows companies to fine-tune their approaches, optimize marketing efforts, and improve overall customer experience to enhance conversion rates.
Time Delay Attribution
A marketing attribution model that assigns more of the conversion credit in a user journey to marketing touchpoints closer to the time of conversion.
Time on Page:
A web analytics metric that measures the amount of time a visitor spends viewing a specific page on a website during a single session. This metric helps website owners and marketers understand which content captures and holds visitors' interest and which does not. A longer time on page may indicate that the content is engaging or requires a significant amount of time to consume, such as detailed articles, videos, or interactive content. Conversely, a shorter time on page might suggest that the content is not engaging, difficult to understand, or not what the visitor was looking for.
Analyzing time on page can provide valuable insights into user behavior and content effectiveness, aiding in content optimization, website layout adjustments, and the overall user experience strategy to better meet the needs of the audience.
Time to First Value (TTFV):
A crucial metric in customer success and product management that measures the time it takes for a new user or customer to experience the initial value from a product or service after starting to use it. This concept is particularly significant in SaaS and other technology-driven industries, where a quick realization of value can significantly impact customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty.
Reducing TTFV is vital because it enhances the user's perception of the product's effectiveness and can quickly validate their purchase decision, leading to higher engagement and reducing the likelihood of churn. Companies focus on optimizing onboarding processes, streamlining user interfaces, and providing effective training and support to minimize TTFV and ensure users recognize the benefits of their offerings as swiftly as possible.
Title Tag
HTML tag used to define the text in the top line of a Web browser, also used by many search engines as the title of search listings.
Top-of-Funnel (TOFU):
The initial stage of the buying process. Marketers focus on lead generation and nurturing strategies to move potential customers through the sales funnel to eventually make a purchase.
Trade Show Marketing:
The process of using trade shows as a way to promote a product, service, or brand. This often involves participating in exhibitions and presentations at trade shows to interact directly with existing and potential customers.
Trial-to-Paid Conversion Rate:
A key performance metric that measures the percentage of users who convert from a free trial of a product or service to a paid subscription. This rate is crucial for businesses that offer a trial period as part of their sales model, particularly in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry. It helps companies understand the effectiveness of their trial experience, the perceived value of their product, and the overall success of their conversion strategies.
Calculating the trial-to-paid conversion rate involves dividing the number of users who start paying after their trial by the total number of users who began the trial, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. A higher conversion rate indicates that the trial is effectively convincing users of the product's value, leading to more paid subscriptions. Strategies to improve this metric include optimizing the onboarding process, enhancing the trial experience, providing timely support during the trial, and clearly communicating the benefits and features that are available only in the paid version.
Transactional Emails:
Emails that are triggered based on a customer's action with a company. Triggered transactional messages include dropped basket messages, purchase or order confirmation emails, order status emails, reorder emails, and email receipts.
Transmedia Storytelling:
The technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. It is used in marketing to create a unified and coordinated experience that fully utilizes the strengths of each platform.
Trend Analysis:
The practice of collecting information and attempting to spot a pattern, or trend, in the data. In marketing, this is often used to forecast future events based on past data, helping in strategic planning.
Trended Funnel
In Google Analytics 4, a report which shows the performance of each step in a funnel over a period of time.
Trick Banner
A banner ad that attempts to trick people into clicking, often by imitating an operating system message.
Twitter Marketing:
The use of Twitter to promote products, interact with potential and current customers, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to a business's website.
Two-Party Consent States:
Refers to U.S. states where the law requires that all parties involved in a communication, such as a phone call or recorded conversation, must consent to being recorded. This is also known as "all-party consent." Unlike one-party consent states, where only one person involved in the conversation needs to agree to the recording, two-party consent states require that everyone must be aware of and agree to the recording.
This legal requirement is crucial for protecting privacy rights and is especially important to consider in situations involving sensitive information or when communicating across state lines. Violating two-party consent laws can lead to legal penalties, including criminal charges or civil liabilities. Businesses and individuals must be aware of these regulations to ensure compliance during recording or monitoring of communications.
Two Tier Affiliate Program
Affiliate program structure whereby affiliates earn commissions on their conversions as well as conversions of webmasters they refer to the program.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "U"
Under delivery
Delivery of less impressions, visitors, or conversions than contracted for a specified period of time.
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS):
A delivery model in which a variety of communication and collaboration applications and services are hosted by a third-party provider over the internet. UCaaS integrates multiple communication methods within a business, such as voice and telephony, meeting solutions, messaging, presence technology, and video conferencing. This approach allows businesses to streamline communication processes, reduce IT complexities, and lower costs by consolidating all communications into a single, cloud-based platform.
UCaaS is favored for its scalability, flexibility, and the ease with which it can integrate with other cloud-based applications. It supports businesses in maintaining consistent and comprehensive communication capabilities, especially beneficial for companies with remote teams or those requiring extensive collaboration tools. By using UCaaS, companies can ensure their employees have access to the latest communication technologies without the need for significant capital investment or ongoing maintenance.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP):
The factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition.
Unique Visitors
Individuals who have visited a Web site (or network) at least once in a during a fixed time frame.
Universal Analytics
The version of Google Analytics prior to Google Analytics 4 (“GA4”).
Upsell Rate:
A metric used to measure the effectiveness of sales strategies that encourage customers to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in addition to their original purchase. The upsell rate is calculated by dividing the number of transactions that include an upsell by the total number of transactions, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage.
Monitoring the upsell rate helps businesses understand how well they are capitalizing on the opportunity to increase revenue per customer. It provides insights into sales performance and customer buying behavior, allowing companies to refine their upselling techniques and offer more targeted, appealing options to customers. Effective upselling can enhance customer satisfaction by providing more value, while also significantly increasing the company's overall sales and profitability.
Upselling
Trying to persuade shoppers to buy a more expensive product or package than what were considering.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT):
A phase in the software development lifecycle where the intended users of a system test the software to ensure it can handle required tasks in real-world scenarios, according to specifications. UAT is one of the final and critical phases of software development, conducted to ensure that the software meets the business needs and works as expected for the end-users before it goes live.
During UAT, actual software users test the software to verify if it can perform the required tasks it was designed to conduct in real-life environments. This testing helps identify any issues or bugs that were not previously detected during earlier testing phases such as unit testing or integration testing. UAT is essential because it helps ensure that the software is functional, reliable, and meets the user requirements effectively before it is deployed to the public.
User Engagement Rate:
A key metric used to assess the level of interaction and participation a user has with a product, service, or platform. This rate measures how actively involved the users are with the content or features offered. It can be quantified through various indicators such as time spent on a website or app, number of pages visited, interactions with features, frequency of use, comments, shares, likes, and other forms of feedback or social interactions.
The user engagement rate is crucial for determining the success of digital products, particularly in media, entertainment, and online services, where user interaction plays a significant role in the platform's value. High engagement rates are often correlated with higher customer satisfaction, increased brand loyalty, and greater potential for revenue generation. This metric helps businesses identify what captures users' interest and drives their engagement, enabling them to fine-tune their offerings to better meet user needs and preferences.
User Experience (UX):
The overall experience of a person using a product such as a website or a computer application, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.
User Interface (UI):
The means by which the user and a computer system interact, in particular the use of input devices and software.
User Retention Rate:
A critical metric that measures the percentage of users who continue to use a product or service over a specific period. It is calculated by dividing the number of users who remain active at the end of a period by the number of users at the start of the period, then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. This rate is key to understanding the long-term viability of a product or service, indicating how well it maintains its user base.
High user retention rates are indicative of customer satisfaction and product or service value, suggesting that users find continued utility and satisfaction. Conversely, low retention rates can signal problems with the product, market fit, or customer service, which might require strategic adjustments. Monitoring user retention helps businesses identify areas for improvement, develop strategies to increase loyalty, and ultimately drive growth by maintaining a stable and engaged user base.
User-Generated Content (UGC):
Any form of content, such as images, videos, text, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media and wikis.
Utility Marketing:
Marketing tactics that focus on creating useful or practical content and offerings that serve a need for the target audience, such as how-to guides, calculators, and educational content.
Underwriting:
In marketing, especially in the context of event sponsorship, underwriting refers to financial support provided by a sponsor in exchange for advertising space, publicity, or association with an event.
Upselling:
A sales technique where a seller induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale.
Unstructured Data:
Information that either does not have a pre-defined data model or is not organized in a pre-defined manner. Unstructured data is typically text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, numbers, and facts as well. This includes data gathered from social media sources, which can help businesses to get an unfiltered view of how people are talking about their brand.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator):
The address of a World Wide Web page.
Usability Testing:
Technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system.
UTM Codes:
UTM parameters, also referred to as UTM codes or tags, are text snippets that can be appended to a URL to monitor the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and content.
UTM stands for "Urchin Tracking Module," a format initially devised by Urchin Software and later adopted by Google Analytics.
There are five standard types of UTM parameters:
Source: This identifies the origin of traffic, examples include Google, Twitter, or an email marketing platform.
Medium: This specifies the channel through which the traffic is directed, such as CPC (cost-per-click), newsletter, email, or social media.
Campaign: This parameter notes the specific campaign associated with the URL, like a seasonal promotion, product launch, or specific edition of a newsletter.
Term: This refers to the search terms or keywords that led to the URL.
Content: This parameter is used to differentiate similar content within the same ad or to identify the specific link clicked, such as a call-to-action in the footer or a banner in the header.
These parameters allow marketers to track the success of various campaigns and content in a detailed and structured manner.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "V"
Vanity Metric
A metric meant to impress others or one’s ego, without providing insights for smart business decisions.
Value Proposition:
A business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement convinces a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.
Vertical Banner
A banner ad measuring 120 pixels wide and 240 pixels tall.
View Through Conversation
When a user sees an ad without interacting with it, and later converts within a time period defined as the conversion window.
Viral Coefficient:
A metric used to measure the effectiveness of a product or service's virality, specifically how many new users each existing user is able to convert on average. The viral coefficient quantifies the exponential referral cycle—how many new customers each customer can introduce to your product through referrals. A viral coefficient greater than 1 indicates that each existing user brings more than one new user, suggesting a potential viral growth scenario where user acquisition could theoretically increase rapidly without significant marketing expenditure.
Calculating the viral coefficient involves analyzing the number of invitations sent by each user, the conversion rate of these invitations into new users, and combining these factors to determine how many new users on average are generated by each existing user. This coefficient is crucial for businesses relying on word-of-mouth and social sharing to drive growth, as it helps them understand and optimize their user acquisition strategies.
Viral Marketing:
A marketing strategy that focuses on spreading information and opinions about a product or service from person to person, especially by using unconventional means such as the Internet or email.
Virtual Reality (VR):
The use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. In marketing, VR can be used for experiences such as virtual tours of a business environment or simulations of product use.
Visibility:
The degree to which a company’s marketing message is seen in a market. In digital marketing, this could refer to the visibility of a website or advertisement in search engine results.
Visual Merchandising:
The practice in the retail industry of developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays in order to maximize sales. Both goods and services can be displayed to highlight their features and benefits.
Vlog
A blog that publishes video content.
Voice of the Customer (VOC):
A term used to describe the in-depth process of capturing customers' expectations, preferences, and aversions. This comprehensive feedback is crucial for developing products that meet customer needs and for improving service quality. VOC can be gathered through various means, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, customer feedback, observation, warranty data, and social media analysis.
Implementing VOC processes allows businesses to hear directly from their customers about what is important to them, guiding product development, marketing strategies, and overall business decisions. This approach helps companies align their offerings more closely with customer desires, enhance customer satisfaction, and foster greater customer loyalty. Voice of the Customer is a critical component in quality management and customer experience strategies, helping to ensure that the products and services offered resonate well with target markets.
Voicemail Drop:
A feature used in telemarketing and sales operations that allows a pre-recorded audio message to be left in a recipient's voicemail inbox without the phone ever ringing. This technology enables sales representatives to efficiently leave messages for multiple contacts, ensuring consistent delivery of the message without the need for repeated manual calls.
Voicemail drop is particularly useful for reaching a large audience with minimal disruption to the recipient, as it does not interrupt them like a traditional phone call might. This method can improve productivity and effectiveness in communication campaigns by increasing the likelihood that the message is heard at a convenient time for the recipient. However, it is important for businesses to use voicemail drop responsibly and in compliance with regulations governing telemarketing and communication to avoid potential penalties and maintain consumer trust.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP):
A technology that allows voice calls and other voice data transmission over the internet, instead of through traditional phone lines. VoIP converts analog voice signals into digital data packets and transmits them over the internet, enabling users to make calls from VoIP phones, computers, or other data-driven devices.
This technology offers several advantages over conventional telephony, including lower costs, increased accessibility, and the ability to integrate with a wide range of services like email, web browsers, and instant messaging systems. VoIP is particularly beneficial for businesses as it supports advanced telephony features like call forwarding, caller ID, conference calling, and voicemail to email, all at a reduced cost compared to standard phone services. As internet connectivity becomes more ubiquitous, VoIP has become a crucial communication tool for individuals and businesses worldwide.
Voice Search Optimization:
The process of optimizing your pages to appear in voice searches. As voice search becomes more popular, businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of optimizing their sites for voice search.
Volatility:
In marketing, this refers to the frequency and magnitude of changes in the price of a marketing vehicle within a given time frame. Volatility is significant because it affects the timing and pricing of marketing campaigns.
Volume Discount:
A financial incentive for individuals or businesses that purchase goods in multiple units or in large quantities, thereby decreasing the price per unit.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "W"
Web Analytics:
The measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. This helps marketers to understand the effectiveness of their content and campaigns.
Web Browser:
A software application that allows for the browsing of the World Wide Web.
Web Directory:
Organized, categorized listings of Websites.
Web Hosting:
The business of providing the storage, connectivity, and services necessary to serve files for a website.
Website Traffic:
The amount of visitors and visits a Website receives.
Website Usability:
The ease with which visitors are able to use a Website.
Webinar:
A seminar conducted over the internet which allows for participation and interaction from locations across the globe. Often used for educational presentations and demonstrations, webinars are effective for generating leads and establishing thought leadership.
Website Optimization:
The process of using controlled experimentation to improve a website’s ability to drive business goals. This involves improving site performance, content, and conversions.
Weekly Active Users (WAU):
A metric used to measure the number of unique users who engage with a website, app, or online platform within a given week. This metric provides insights into the weekly engagement and user retention, helping businesses understand how their product or service holds the interest of users over time.
WAU is important for tracking the health and growth of digital services, particularly in the technology and social media industries. It allows companies to monitor short-term fluctuations in user activity, assess the impact of specific marketing campaigns or product changes, and compare weekly performance. Higher WAU indicates more consistent user engagement, which is crucial for sustaining the operational success and growth of the platform.
What's My IP:
A utility to look up your IP address.
What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG):
A type of editor or program that enables users to edit content in a form that closely resembles its appearance when displayed as a finished product. WYSIWYG editors are commonly used in web design, word processors, and other applications where visual layout and design are important. These editors allow users to format text, insert media, and arrange content visually without the need for direct coding or markup language skills.
The term "WYSIWYG" implies that the editing screen directly mimics the appearance of the final output, which helps users make design decisions based on accurate visual feedback. This user-friendly approach lowers the barrier to creating complex, richly formatted content, making it accessible to people without technical knowledge of HTML or other programming languages.
White Hat SEO:
Using tactics to increase organic search traffic that are strictly within the guidelines of the search engines.
White Paper:
A persuasive, authoritative, in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem and provides a solution. Marketers create white papers to educate their audience about a particular issue or explain and promote a particular methodology.
Whois:
A utility that returns ownership information about second-level domains.
Win Rate:
A sales metric that measures the percentage of sales opportunities that result in a closed deal. It is calculated by dividing the number of won sales by the total number of opportunities and then multiplying by 100 to express it as a percentage. The win rate is a key indicator of the effectiveness and efficiency of a sales team, providing insights into their performance and the overall health of the sales pipeline.
A higher win rate indicates that the sales team is successful at converting prospects into customers, which can suggest strong sales tactics, good market positioning, or effective customer engagement strategies. Tracking and analyzing win rate helps businesses identify strengths and weaknesses in their sales process, allowing for targeted improvements to increase sales success and revenue growth.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing:
The process of influencing and encouraging natural discussions about a product, service, or company. It is one of the most valuable forms of marketing, as consumers often trust friends and family’s recommendations above all other forms of advertising.
Workflow Automation:
Technology that provides the tools needed to automate marketing tasks. Workflow automation can help to streamline processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration, and campaign management.
Widget:
A small application with limited functionality that can be installed and executed within a web page by an end-user. Widgets are often used to provide real-time information, such as weather updates, or functional tools like currency converters.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "X"
XML (eXtensible Markup Language):
A markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. In marketing, XML is used for structuring data in a way that both search engines and applications can parse, often used in the transfer of data between systems and for configuring web applications.
X-Selling (Cross-Selling):
A sales technique used to get a customer to spend more by purchasing a product that's related to what's being bought already or by purchasing accessories or complementary products. It's a common tactic in both online and offline marketing strategies to increase the average order value.
XaaS (Anything as a Service):
Originally derived from Software as a Service (SaaS), this broad term encompasses various services and applications delivered over the internet rather than provided locally or on-site. In marketing, XaaS can refer to any kind of online service offered to assist in marketing activities, such as Platforms as a Service (PaaS) or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which support the deployment of marketing platforms or tools.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "Y"
Yield Management:
A variable pricing strategy, based on understanding, anticipating, and influencing consumer behavior in order to maximize revenue or profits from a fixed, time-limited resource (such as airline seats or hotel room reservations). This technique is used in various industries, including advertising, to optimize the return on advertising slots.
Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Pages
A category of web pages identified in the Google Quality Rater Guidelines as potentially impacting the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users.
YouTube Marketing:
The practice of promoting businesses and products on YouTube’s platform, either through ads on videos, partnering with YouTube influencers, or by creating a successful channel presence. This form of marketing can significantly enhance visibility and viral sharing of content.
YouTube Ads
A part of the Google Ads online advertising platform that shows ads on YouTube.
Yield Rate:
In digital advertising, the percentage of clicks or other desired actions taken compared to the number of times an advertisement is shown, known as impressions.
Year-over-Year Growth (YoY Growth):
A common financial performance measure comparing one period's earnings, revenue, or other financial metrics to those of the previous year. In marketing, this metric can help assess the effectiveness of strategies over annual cycles.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "Z"
Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB):
A budgeting method where all expenses must be justified and approved for each new period. In marketing, ZBB means starting from scratch and re-evaluating all marketing expenditures to ensure they are contributing effectively towards the strategic goals.
Zero-Party Data
Information that people voluntarily share with companies.
ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth):
A term coined by Google to describe the moment in the buying process when the consumer researches a product before the actual purchase occurs. With the advent of digital media, consumers often look up reviews, compare prices, and seek recommendations before making a final decision.
Z-Test:
A statistical test used to determine whether two population means are different when the variances are known and the sample size is large. This can be applied in marketing research to test hypotheses about user behavior or preferences.
Zipf's Law:
A principle related to the frequency of words used in natural languages, but in marketing, it can be applied to predict the distribution of product sales and other phenomena. It suggests that a few items will dominate the sales or attention metrics.
Zone Pricing:
A pricing strategy in which the price of a product varies depending on the geographical location of the customer. This strategy can be used to optimize sales and profits in different markets based on local economic conditions, competition, and shipping costs.
Zoomer:
A colloquial term referring to members of Generation Z. In marketing, understanding zoomers is crucial as they represent the new wave of consumers, with distinct preferences and behaviors, heavily influenced by technology and social media.
Comprehensive Marketing Terms Starting with "#"
10DLC (10-Digit Long Code):
A system that allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS messages, including marketing and service notifications, to consumers using a standard 10-digit phone number. This method provides improved deliverability, compliance, and trust over traditional long codes or shared short codes, aligning with carrier regulations.
777 Rule:
A guideline in presentation design and delivery, often used to ensure clarity and retention of information by an audience. The "777 Rule" suggests that each slide in a presentation should contain no more than 7 words per line, 7 lines of text, and use a font size of at least 28 points. This rule is based on the principle of minimizing cognitive overload to keep the audience engaged and make the content easier to comprehend and remember.
While not a strict rule, it serves as a helpful reminder to presenters to keep their slides clear, concise, and visually accessible. By limiting the amount of text on each slide, presenters are encouraged to focus on key points, making it easier for the audience to follow along and absorb the essential information. The "777 Rule" is particularly useful in settings where clear communication of complex information is crucial, such as academic presentations, business meetings, and professional conferences.
301 Redirect:
An HTTP status code that indicates a permanent redirect from one URL to another. This type of redirect is used to ensure that SEO value is maintained and passed to the new URL.
302 Redirect:
An HTTP status code that indicates a temporary redirect from one URL to another. Unlike a 301 redirect, a 302 redirect does not pass SEO value to the new URL as it's meant to be temporary.
303 See Other:
An HTTP status code that is used to redirect web applications to a new URL, particularly after an HTTP POST has been performed, suggesting that the browser should use a GET request to retrieve the new URL.
304 Not Modified:
An HTTP status code used in caching mechanisms, where it tells the client that the response has not been modified, so the client can continue to use the same cached version of the response.
307 Temporary Redirect:
Similar to a 302 redirect but with the specificity of the HTTP method used not being changed as part of the redirection. It's useful for situations where the method should be repeated on the redirected request.
404 Error:
An HTTP status code that indicates that the server cannot find the requested page. This error often occurs when a page has been deleted or moved without a proper redirect being implemented.
410 Gone:
An HTTP status code similar to 404, but explicitly indicates that the resource at the URL was permanently removed. It’s useful for search engine optimization because it signals to search engines that the URL should be removed from their index.
500 Internal Server Error:
An HTTP status code indicating that the server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request. This is a catch-all response for server-side issues.
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