Organic Growth? SMS? ROMI? The Digital Marketing world has no shortage of acronyms and jargon. Here's a few of the more common terms to help you make sense of all the 'marketing techie talk'.
Ad Server – Database driven software that assists in the placement and management of advertisements on websites.
Auto-responder – A message (normally Email) that is pre-written and automatically distributes when triggered by some sort of activity. One common application of an auto responder is an order-confirmation sent to a consumer upon purchase from an e-commerce platform such as Amazon.
Blog – Short for “weblog”. A blog is simply a website that displays entry in chronological order, with the most recent entry appearing at the top. Blogs can be a powerful tool for engaging customers, establishing though leadership, and improving organic search rankings.
Bounce Rate – Web traffic analysis term. Represents the percentage of visitors who “bounce” away from a page within 5 seconds of visiting. A ‘bounce” is usually indicative that a websites content did not match the expectations of that viewer.
Click-Through – A common measurement of success for online advertising and messaging. A click-through refers to a reader “clicking” on an ad, hyperlink, or similar object, thus indicating interest.
CMS (Content Management System) – Software implemented in a web application. Used to manage and facilitate the creation, editing, publishing, and maintenance of online content. Advantageous because they allow content creators with little or no programming skills to create and manage online content. Joomla and WordPress are two examples of common CMS platforms.
Content- The “stuff” (text, images, video, etc.) that makes up a printed piece, website, blog, or other collateral.
Cross-Media – The synergistic relationship between two or more forms of media, for example; responding to a print ad by visiting a website.
CRM (Contact Relationship Manager) – Software used to help with the management of an enterprise’s relationships. One common CRM tasks is the tracking of activity between a sales staff and customers/prospects.
CURL (Campaign URL) – Often used synonymously with GURL, however a CURL is specific to a marketing campaign (www.MyACBInc.com), whereas a GURL can be a businesses’ everyday URL.
Database Marketing – The use of customer/prospect information for the purpose of personalizing and tailoring a marketing message for the purpose of improved campaign effectiveness.
Impressions – Another common measurement in online advertising. Refers to the exposure of an online ad to an individual viewer.
Integrated Marketing – Marketing strategy that integrates a message across various online and offline communications channels.
Landing Page – A custom web page designed for a specific task, such as conducting a survey, collecting contact information, or triggering some kind of event.
GURL (General URL) – Non-personalized URL (www.ABCInc.com).
Metadata- Data that serves to provide descriptive information about other data. Commonly employed to describe website content (labeling a picture as “House with green paint” instead of “IMG 135214245”) for SEO purposes.
Multi-Channel Marketing – Execution of an integrated marketing strategy (the two terms are often you synonymously). Involves the use of multiple marketing channels (Email, Social, Print, Mobile, Mass Media, etc.) in a cohesive and strategic manner.
Open Rate – Email marketing term. Represents the number of recipients (as a percentage) in a distribution list who opened an Email Message.
“Organic Growth” – Leveraging customer referrals or other forms of message “sharing” to expand a marketing messages audience beyond its original distribution list.
Page Visits – Web traffic analysis term. Refers the number of times a webpage was viewed by a browser. Can give an inflated view of the number of web visitors because a page view tracker will count repeating visitors.
PURL (Personalized URL) – Conceptually similar to VDP. A PURL is a URL personalized to an individual (JohnSmith.MyABCInc.com). PURLS are commonly employed for integrated marketing campaigns for the purpose of tracking individual responses.
QR Code (QR Response Code) – A common 2D barcode standard that when scanned directs a mobile device to specified online destination.
RBI (Runs Batted In) – In baseball, a run that can be directly attributed to a batter’s performance. Not a marketing term, but the San Francisco Giants lack of RBIs has been a source of constant consternation for the Casey tea
Rich Media – Online advertisements that contain motion, sound, or video designed to enhance a viewing experience.
ROMI – Return on Marketing Investment. ROI analysis limited specifically to marketing related investment.
SMS (Short Messaging Service) – a system that allows mobile devices to send and receive text messages.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) – Strategically marketing a website through search engines. Can include SEO as well as paid initiatives such as Google AdWords.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Strategic approach to “organically” (non-paid) modifying website content and meta-data for the purpose of improving a site’s ability to get found via search engines.
Social Media – Any media that allows for and encourages interactivity, collaboration, user/reader generated content, and other forms of high-level dialogue. Common social media applications include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and blog platforms.
Touch – Singular outbound marketing communication event, such as a single Email message, direct mail piece, phone call, or similar activity.
Unique Visits – Web traffic analysis term. Refers to the number of unique IP addresses that visited a website. Useful statistic because it can be a more accurate representation of the number of unique people who visited a website.
VDP (Variable Data Print) – A print production method in which each individual print piece to contain unique or variable information. VDP is commonly used in direct mail campaigns because it allows the marketer to tailor each piece to the individual recipient.