But, what does it all mean Basil?

We’ve all been there, you’re in a meeting and some smug git starts using acronyms, buzzwords and industry jargon. Eurgh.

It’s frustrating enough when you know the industry, but, what about when you don’t? Do you just sit there and pretend you understand what they are saying, or, do you speak up and ask them to stop using industry specific language?

Well, this blog is here to save the day(!) and make sure you never have to pretend to know what someone’s talking about again.

Here are our top 10 marketing buzzwords, jargons and acronyms and what they ACTUALLY mean:

1: REACH

This has got to be one of the most used words in marketing, but, what does it actually mean?

Reach is the total number of different people that have the OPPORTUNITY to view a piece of content at least once.

For example, it will be people that fall into specific categories that you (or your marketing team) sets. i.e. ‘35-45 years old’, ‘Female’, ‘Portsmouth’.

Reach can only be an effective measurement IF a time frame has been set. If you’re working with a marketing team or agency, this is a key metric to look out for.

2: IMPRESSIONS

Different from reach, an impression is counted whenever your content is displayed; this means that one person could count for multiple impressions as they see the same content on different devices or platforms.

So, what’s the difference between reach and impressions? Well, that could make a whole different blog, but, put simply; If you have an audience of 500 and you post once with only your audience seeing it just once, your reach is 500.

If you post once and your audience sees the post multiple times, say, twice each, your impressions would be 1000.

3. CTR

CTR stands for “Click Through Rate” and it’s a great metric to use to help understand how much budget and time to add to a marketing campaign. It will help you understand your market over time and hone in on what makes a good campaign for your business.

Click through rates are calculated by the number of times someone has seen your ad to the number of times somebody clicked the ad.

So, if 100 people see your ad and 10 people click through, you have a 10% CTR.

A good CTR depends on your industry, product, location and other metrics, so to really know what is going to work for you, you need to run some of your own campaigns.

4. A/B Testing

If you’ve ever heard a marketer say “let’s A/B test that…” and thought “wtf?”, don’t worry, most people do!

A/B testing is referring to testing out two strategies at the same time. Usually, the strategies would be identical with the exception of one element. This allows marketers to see which variation performs better and refine the strategy over time.

5. CTA

CTA stands for “Call to action” and is a common term used by marketers. You’ve probably heard people say “You must have a strong CTA” or “What do we want the CTA to be?”.

Calls to action happen at every stage of the buying cycle and are there to channel users into becoming customers.

You will see calls to action on websites, social media, ads etc. and will often say things like “Buy now”, “Click here” etc.

6. The Eighty-twenty rule

The eighty-twenty rule can be applied to a variety of situations, both in life and business and, there’s a high chance you’ve heard of it before.

But, what does it mean for marketing?

There are two ways in which the eighty-twenty rule is talked about within a marketing capacity. The first being that 20% of your customers deliver 80% of your revenue. The key is to identify your top 20% of customers and ensure your marketing efforts to those individuals are consistent and plentiful.
The other way in which eighty-twenty is talked about is with content production. To ensure your audience stays engaged with your content, you should split content of value and sales by 80/20 i.e. 80% of your content should be on topics that your audience wants to read about and can engage with. The other 20% should be on your brand and sales focused.

7. COPY

No, we don’t mean we’re going to copy someone else’s work! Copy simply refers to the written elements of a piece of content.

8. CREATIVE

When a marketeer refers to the “creative” they are referring to the visual element of an advert.

9. DYNAMIC CONTENT

Dynamic content is a great way to really drill down into your audience and target the right people at the right time.

Dynamic content means the content will change depending on the behaviours of the individual and what a particular site already knows about them. Ever noticed that Facebook will show you an advert for something, right after you have looked at it on another website? That’s dynamic content in action.

10. RETARGETING

Retargeting is exactly what it says on the tin! It is a marketing method that re-targets visitors that have previously engaged with your content but may not have converted into customers.

It’s a very clever way of keeping your brand in front of people that you already know have shown an interest in your brand.

So there you have it, some common marketing jargon terms explained!

Spotted something here that you didn’t already know? Why not give it a go and see how different types of marketing strategies could work for you! See some in action on our social media!

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