Cutting Through Jargon: 15 Marketing Terms You Need to Know

When you’re managing content for your company, sometimes it can feel like there is an ever-growing list of topics you are expected to be an expert on. You need to stay on top of industry trends and current events while interpreting what those mean for your business and knowing how to best communicate with customers through it all. 

There’s value in staying fluent in the constantly evolving language of marketing and tech. Knowing marketing terms can help you establish credibility with your audience and communicate effectively. To help you stay up to speed on the most common lingo, we’re sharing a glossy of 15 top acronyms and terms.  

Timeless to Timely Marketing Terms 

Check out this list as a starting point or quick self-assessment – an at-a-glance list to build or check your foundation in marketing lingo and content planning. They range from old-school to cutting-edge, and all of them are terms every marketer needs to know.

1. A/B Testing

You want analytics to back your business decisions whenever possible, and A/B testing allows for more of exactly that. It’s the process of producing, then comparing two versions of something to see which best achieves the results you’re looking for. The term and method have been around much longer than the online space it’s now frequently used in, but these days you’ll regularly hear references to A/B testing in relation to websites, apps, ad campaigns, and more.

2. Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is a composite profile of your target audience. Organizations may have multiple personas. This representation of your audience is semi-fictional, based on market research, your own customer data, and demographic information. Buyer personas are used to help marketers understand and empathize with their audience as well as a source for marketing collateral and content. 

3. CMS (Content Management System)

A Content Management System, or CMS, is used to manage the creation and syndication of content. This software solution helps marketers create, update, and modify content on their websites. Marketers do not need to know how to code or perform backend operations to do so. 

4. CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

A CRM solution, or Customer Relationship Management, is a type of technology that allows marketers to track communications and interactions with leads and clients. This tool is useful for operational management and data analysis. 

5. CTA (Call-to-Action)

A call-to-action is an invitation to a reader to interact. Clicking a link, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a freebie, sharing a post – any of these CTAs (plus dozens more) can turn a passive interaction into a lead and offer real value in your business or sales process.

6. CTR (Click Through Rate)

Your click-through rate is a marketing measurement that shows how many users clicked through a provided link as compared to all who visited the page and had the opportunity to click. Typically these links are in your CTAs, and link interactions are visible and monitored on your end. You can measure the click-through rate to efficiently analyze engagement in a marketing campaign and determine effective practices. It’s valuable to research industry averages when examining your own click-through rate and consistently evaluate methods on how to help your rate increase.

7. DAM (Digital Asset Management)

With more and more people working from home and company content reaching the cloud, Digital Asset Management resources are growing quickly out of necessity. You will want to stay on top of how your content is managed, owned, and used in this ever-changing digital age. New resources and user experiences are being developed in real-time to offer you tools for that process, and it’s important to stay on top of which solutions make the most sense for your business.

8. Engagement Rate

Marketers use engagement rates to track how actively involved their target audience is with their content. It may include social media likes, clicks, shares, reshares, and other forms of interactions. For example, you may compare the number of people who clicked on your LinkedIn post link versus how many people saw it in their feeds. This metric helps marketers understand how well their content is resonating with their audience. 

9. Evergreen

Evergreen is a term used to describe content that stays fresh and relevant, year over year. The opposite of evergreen content is topical. It is not time sensitive and can be updated quickly to reflect any relevant societal or market changes. This type of content is often part of a marketer’s content marketing strategy. 

10. KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

Key Performance Indicators are your measurements and tracking systems that help you know if your business is successfully accomplishing specific goals. Knowing what those results are is part of the big-picture puzzle, but knowing how to measure (and grow!) those results will most effectively increase your business performance.

11. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

Return on Ad Spend looks directly at your bottom line success in relation to your ad spend. This is a simple measurement of Revenue/Spend to give you a clear idea of the monetary return of your ad campaigns – clicks, impressions, conversion rates, and other metrics are valuable to watch, but it’s important to also look specifically at dollars spent compared to dollars earned. The U.S. ad market was forecasted to grow by 300 billion in 2022, with a 25% increase expected next year. Increasing your ad spend without observing specific metrics could leave you lost on what’s working and what’s not.

12. ROI (Return on Investment)

Return on investment is a measurement of the profitability of your efforts. This metric is similar to ROAS but looks at a broader picture of all the different types of efforts you’re investing to get results. Every marketing campaign ought to aim for specific, measurable results, and comparing your total investment to those results gives you perspective on how you’re spending your resources. Knowing your bottom line is just one piece – make sure you know the value of the work and investment it takes to get that result and make decisions based on that ratio.

13. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Search engine optimization is the process of getting your content seen in search results. This is achieved by knowing your key content words, using them frequently and correctly, and linking to other reliable sources in your space. You will sometimes hear SERP (search engine results page) used in the same context as SEO, which refers to how high your web page ranks in results when your keywords are searched for. Optimizing your content is an efficient way to connect with customers and organically grow your business.

14. SMEs/SMBs (Small Medium-Sized Enterprises/ Small and Medium-Sized Businesses)

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (sometimes referred to as SMBs – small- and medium-sized businesses) can be defined differently based on industry and area. These small businesses are below a certain revenue or number of employees as typically defined by the government.

15. USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

Your unique selling proposition is what sets you apart from competitors. What do you offer to your audience that no one else can? How do you provide something in the best possible way? Center your content and marketing around the way you are uniquely solving a problem for your customer. Messaging focused on your unique selling proposition is communication that will turn into connections.

At Comma, we stay up-to-date on the latest terminology in our clients’ fields while avoiding confusing jargon. If you’d like help creating content that resonates with your audience, reach out to us for a free, 20-minute consultative call.