13 Marketing and Advertising Terms You Really Should Know

If you’re starting work with a marketing or advertising agency, these are some of the definitions that will be helpful for you to understand:

 

Above the Fold
It?s the content at the top of your website that visitors can see without scrolling down, so you want to be strategic about what you put there. Don?t forget that the ?above the fold? zone can change depending on a user?s screen resolution and browser, and that this section can be completely reconfigured in mobile environments.

Analytics
Generally, we use this term to refer to the reporting of all performance data about inbound marketing (marketing that pulls prospects towards your brand, like your website content) and out outbound marketing (marketing where you start the conversation with your customer, like an e-blast or a TV spot). A comprehensive analytics report will make it clear how many people saw your marketing and responded via a click, call, or other action. It should also detail how much the efforts cost you and how your performance compares to the previous month or over designated time periods.

Best Customer Profiling
Best customer profiling involves the construction of a model of the type of customers that are most likely to do business with you, based on analysis of your historical marketing data. The profile should include insights into where your customers live, their ages and family status, education level, preferred media habits, and ?buy buttons? (motivations). No marketing plan is complete without a best customer profile.

Branding
Visually speaking, branding refers to the process of creating and applying names, symbols, text, and designs in the effort to differentiate an organization, product, or service from others on the market. Branding assets include your logo, colors, typefaces, and so forth.

On a deeper level, branding refers to the experience you are providing to your customers ? some call this the brand promise. It?s important to remember that lifelong customers are made as a result of brand experiences, not logos.

Call to Action
In content marketing and advertising, it?s the point in the process where you make it clear what you want your prospects to do ? pick up the phone, download a form, register today, etc.

Brand Voice
This is the voice your marketing content (website, social media, newsletters, direct mail, etc.) should be written in. Correctly applied, a brand voice conveys the personality and key messages of your brand – consistently across all of your marketing platforms.

Clicks/Consumption
A key performance metric for analytics. It refers to the number of times that a potential customer clicked on your Google ad, Facebook post, newsletter link, etc.

Content Marketing
We think Wikipedia?s definition?s pretty spot on: ?Content marketing is creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers. This information can be presented in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, infographics, case studies, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc.?

Conversions
A conversion is a beautiful moment in marketing and advertising when someone (who hopefully looks like your best customer) takes some action as a result of your marketing. A conversion can be a click on an email link, completion of a web contact form, downloading of a white paper, completing an e-commerce transaction, registration for an event, opting in to email communication, etc.

Cost Per Acquisition/Click
These terms (often shorthanded to CPA or CPC) are used in pay-per-click advertising campaigns to refer to the amount of money a business is spending to acquire customers, conversions, or clicks on display or text ads.

Creative Brief
Simply put, it?s a road map for any marketing tactic or campaign that includes messaging and images. A creative brief is generally authored by a designer, creative director, content manager, or agency account manager, and should be agreed upon by all parties before actual work on the project begins.

Lead Generation/Nurturing
Lead generation happens when marketing results in an inquiry about an organization?s products or services ? such as an email requesting more information or completion of an opt-in form .

Lead nurturing refers to the process of interacting with prospects during a campaign for the purposes of finding out more about their interests and increasing the chances that they?ll convert.

Listicles
This is a crazy popular content marketing trend that involves the publication of ?5 Secrets Of? and ?10 Reasons To? articles designed to promote brand engagement or traffic.

When overhyped or used without strategy, a listicle can make your brand look really lame. But when used the right way, listicles can be highly effective ways to generate website or blog traffic – even conversions.

Happy Hour
An event that occurs sometime after 5 p.m. at a favorite watering hole, where marketing and ad types swear they won?t talk about work and then do it anyway. Key performance metrics include bonding, idea generation, stress relief, great stories, and extension into dinner or repeat performances.

Related Articles:
“The 3 Types of Advertising Agencies”
“Go Home Earlier, Get More Done”

Ready to put these terms to work for the benefit your bottom line? Our Austin advertising agency is ready to talk.
Need a strong marketing partner? Contact our Austin advertising agency.