In the instantaneous world we live today, it is not often that we talk or write in full sentences anymore, and it is quite possible that the rise of the emoji could eliminate the written word all together!
Marketing has always been a sector mad on buzzwords and acronyms, to the point of fault, when they are thrown into conversations with business owners that simply don’t have a clue what they mean.
So, if you don’t know your CRM from your CMS, your GA from your CTA, then this article will give you some insight and a reference point.
(1) B2B – Business to Business
B2B, is the trading between businesses relating to their products and services. For example, the relationship between a restaurant owner and the manufacturer where they source their supplies would be considered B2B.
(2) B2C – Business to Consumer/Customer
B2C, represents a business selling a product or service to a customer, considered the end-user.
The marketing approach of B2C is completely different approach to B2B so it is always important to define if you are designing a B2B or B2C marketing strategy.
(3) CMS – Content Management System
A content management system is a very important tool in content marketing. It enables authorised users to effectively and efficiently manage all your website content, from pages, blog posts, images, videos as well as some SEO related content elements, such as meta descriptions. WordPress is an example of a CMS, although there are many more.
(4) CPA – Cost per Acquisition
Cost per acquisition, reffered to as CPA and also known as cost per action, relates to the cost element required to acquire an enquiry, click-through to the website, email sign-up, registration, download, or anything else that holds value. It is an online advertising pricing model regulalry used in digital marketing.
(5) CPC – Cost per Click
Cost per click (CPC) is the value attributed to one click on a website advert. It relates to PPC (pay-per-click advertising), where web-owners can use an online bidding system within search engines such as Google, to assist their digital marketing. The CPC is defined partly by the search engine system, as well as the advertiser’s quality score.
(6) CRM – Customer Relationship Management
CRM refers to customer relationship management, although it can also relate to a system that helps with achievieving this; CRM software.
The idea behind CRM is to improve the experience a customer have when dealing with your business. This is achieved through knowledge, systemisation and enhancing the customer journey, on the website, email, telephone or on social media.
(7) CTR – Click-Through-Rate
CTR is often referred to in relation to Email Marketing, as it measures the success of links placed within a campaign, usually presented as a percentage of either email opens, or of the audience total.
CTR is also commonly used to measure performance of adverts and website pages.
(8) CTA – Call to Action
Calls to Action are used in marketing to prompt a response from the audience, for example to click a link, download a document or make contact with the business via email, phone or completing a form.
CTA’s are really useful and necessary to initiate action and keep the audience engaged and moving through a process, such as moving through specific website to reach an end goal.
It is important to get the CTA pitched correctly though, else your audience could get the idea you are just going for a hard sale.
(9) CX – Customer Experience
CX is important too, as it is the process of keeping your customers happy and engaged. It ensures you provide the highest level of service that will set you aside from your competition.
(10) GA – Google Analytics
Google provide a highly useful tool to track your website performance. It enables you to view statistics such as:
- total traffic / sessions
- unique visitors
- where your traffic comes from (i.e. social media channels, email campaigns, other referring websites)
- how long your visitors stay on the site, and certain pages
- how many pages your visitors view, and what pages
- + many other useful metrics to gauge the success of your website.
(11) KPI – Key Performance Indicator
KPIs are used in marketing and in business in general. They represent the most important metrics needed to accurately assess performance. In marketing, KPIs may include:
- website traffic
- newsletter sign-ups
- enquiries
- conversions to new customers / client / sales
They are usually presented as a number, or percentage, so that they can easily be tracked and compared on a regular basis to spot trends.
(12) PPC – Pay-Per-Click
PPC refers to paid advertising on search engines like Google. It uses a bidding system to implement a cost-per-click that applies if there is a visit to their website.
(13) ROI – Return on Investment
Return on investment is an important metric in marketing and business in general.
It uses the cost for an investment, or campaign, and compares the profit or success generated to assess whether the investment was worthwhile. By calculating the ROI, which is usually presented as a percentage, it allows you to make decisions about future marketing campaigns and their viability.
(14) RT – Retweet
Retweeting is an action in Social Media Marketing whereby you forward someone else’s tweet. It is possible to add a different message to make it personal for your own audience or simply repost without a message onto your own Twitter feed.
(15) SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
SEO has been one of the most used buzzwords in marketing in the past decade as it is the process of improving visibility in search engines such as Google.
It is about building “organic traffic” rather than paying for clicks (PPC). Clearly every website owner wants to be on page one in the search results as this will give them a clear marketing advantage over their competiton.
The process takes time and expertise to refine and many factors apply, including the current algorithms used by search engines, as well as the online competition.
It is also very important to remember that SEO is only valuable if there are a reaonable level of searches for the keyterm you desire to be visible for.
In Content Marketing, the focus is on providing high quality content for the reader, whilst ensuring the best-practice standards are followed.
(16) UX – User Experience
UX is linked to the experience a user has when using a product, service, application, or when visiting a website.
It ensures that when a website or product is being designed, that the user is the focus ensuring they will experience ease of use and overall satisfaction.
(17) WoW, MoM and YoY – Week-on-Week, Month-on-Month and Year-on-Year
Week-on-Week, Month-on-Month and Year-on-Year are used to compare various periods when reporting marketing performance.
Examples of each are:
- WoW is often used for sales monitoring
- MoM is often used to track the performance of a monthly newsletter
- YoY is typically used to spot seasonal trends
