60+ Marketing Terms You Need to Know in 2023

New to digital marketing or just want to know what your team’s saying in your next meeting? Check out our handy glossary of all the need-to-know terminology. 

Why should you trust this glossary? 

Megaphone Australia is the country’s #1-rated agency. We generate over $100 million for our clients every month. When it comes to marketing, you can trust that we know what we’re talking about! 

In this guide, we’ll cover social media, search engine optimisation, paid ads and pretty much everything in-between. But be sure to check back again in a few months (or weeks) for new additions if you want to stay on the cutting edge.

A

1. A/B Testing

The process of testing two different versions of an ad, email, landing page, etc to see which one performs better. Also known as a split test. 

Here’s an example of a simple A/B test. One product landing page has a yellow background. The other has a blue background. You drive 50% of your traffic to each page to figure out which version works better. 

A/B testing can focus on any variable, from colours to subject lines to segments and cohorts. It’s a staple tactic for most marketing tactics and strategies. 

“Let’s run an A/B test on our next email campaign. I think people will prefer more playful subject lines.” 

2. Analytics

Analytics are synonymous with data and metrics. In the context of digital marketing, analytics give you qualitative information like:

Website traffic – how many people visit your website in a given time period.

CPC (cost per click) – how much it costs to get a single click from your target audience, usually for an advertisement.

Landing page conversion rate – how many people (out of 100) become customers or leads after visiting your landing page.

Looking at analytics helps you make conclusions about the results of your marketing efforts. It tells you things like…

This helps you use your marketing budget profitably and communicate effectively.

“Based on our email marketing analytics, the best time to schedule this campaign is Tuesday afternoon.”

3. Audience Segmentation

Breaking down your audience into smaller subgroups based on common characteristics. Done in order to send more targeted communications. 

Segments can be based on previous behaviour, like purchases made. They can also be based on shared traits, like age, income level or geographic location. 

Segments based on interaction with your online assets, e.g. website signup date, are called cohorts. 

“For the next set of emails, let’s segment out the audience based on education level and gender. We’ll need a separate sequence for each segment.”

B

4. B2B (Business-to-Business)

In marketing, business-to-business (or B2B) means you’re targeting other businesses with your offer. For example, you may have a digital tool you sell to other brands. This would be a B2B offer.

Some businesses are purely B2B. Others also sell to consumers. The characteristics of a B2B organisation are… 

Despite all these differences, it’s important to remember that people still make the main decisions in B2B marketing. So market to people while keeping the above points in mind. 

“We should hire this candidate based on her extensive prior B2B experience in the auto manufacturing industry.”

5. B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

B2C (or business-to-consumer) businesses sell their product to individuals. A company that specialises in personal care products or a calendar app would be good examples. 

Marketing in B2C spaces is usually…

Marketing for B2C companies does not usually require specialised knowledge. It is easier to do at scale, with a lot more variety in offers and how they’re marketed. 

“I like her writing style, and she really seems to understand the brand’s audience. She’d be great for our B2C efforts.”

6. Blog

Blogging is a content marketing strategy. Blogs are a curated collection of short- to medium-length articles on topics relevant to your business or brand. 

By producing useful blogs, you help people find your website on Google. You also get to show them your offer and explain your offer, industry, and value a lot better. 

Blogging is a staple of content marketing and SEO. It’s highly effective; brands with blogs get 67% more leads than those that don’t. 

“I took a look at our blogging strategy and think we need to do more to inform the readers about our new service. Can you please come up with some post ideas?”

7. Bottom of the Funnel

The point in the buying process where a lead becomes a sale. Your potential customer has identified a problem, researched several possible solutions, gotten to know your product or service and is very close to making a purchase. 

This is the final stage in the buying process. It’s where you show leads content that encourages them to buy, e.g. sales pages and discounts. 

“I see that the HR manager from Acme Corp booked a demo. They’re at the bottom of the funnel, so make sure the sales rep knows her stuff.”

8. Bounce Rate

The percentage of emails in a campaign that could not be delivered. A high bounce rate means that information and addresses in your email list may be out-of-date or inaccurate. 

“I see we had a really high bounce rate for our first campaign. Let’s think about how to clean up our newsletter subscriber list.”

Website bounce rate refers to the percentage of people who navigate to a page on your website and leave without visiting other pages or making a purchase. High bounce rates can mean poor website design and lead to low conversion rates.

“We’ve got a high bounce rate right now. Let’s design some A/B tests for the homepage to see if we can fix that with a new CTA.”

9. Brand

The unique image, identity and set of associations that make your company stand out. Brand identity can include colours, type style, and logos. For bigger companies, it might also mean a standard voice or tone for written communications.

“We’re competing with a lot of similar consulting firms, so I think it’s important to use lots of bright colours and straightforward language to show that we’re fun and approachable.”

10. Buyer Persona

A tool to help marketers define their target audience and sales reps categorise leads. 

An ‘avatar’ of an ideal customer based on market research and data about existing customers.

“When you’re writing web copy, always keep our buyer personas in mind!”

C

11. Churn Rate

A metric that measures how many customers you retain during a specific time period and the amount of money you pay to keep them. It’s especially important in recurring revenue campaigns. 

Churn rate formula: (No of customers at beginning of period – no of customers at end of period)/No of customers at beginning of period. 

“We started the year with 300 customers, now we’re down to 250. That means a churn rate of 17%.”

12. Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

A metric to measure engagement. The clickthrough rate tracks the percentage of people who click on a link to your website after receiving or viewing a promotional message. 

Clickthrough rate formula: No of people who received communication/No of people who clicked on the link to visit your site.

“We sent 10,000 emails and 100 people clicked. That means we hit 1% CTR – great work!”

13. Conversion Path

A set of actions on your website designed to collect information about visitors and transform them into leads. A basic path might include a call to action button in an email that takes visitors to a landing page with a lead capture form. People who complete the form are directed to a ‘thank you’ page where they can download your lead magnet.

“Now that we’ve figured out the lead magnet, we need to build the conversion path into the website. Can you work on the landing page?

14. Content

A digital asset in an inbound marketing strategy, like a blog, social media post, video, or podcast. Content should provide your audience with relevant information in an engaging way. Excellent content is evergreen and highly shareable with a clear call to action.

“Our inbound marketing strategy relies heavily on our blog and YouTube channels. The videos, in particular, have a high clickthrough rate and our last post went viral.”

15. Content Marketing

An inbound marketing strategy that uses relevant, useful and consistent content to build an audience and convert members into repeat customers. 

Traditional marketing focuses on ‘prospecting’ for leads using radio, television and direct mail campaigns. Content marketing is digital and relationship-based. 

“We’ve transitioned away from a traditional outbound strategy with expensive television ad buys to content marketing via our blog and social media to save money and grow a global audience.”

16. Conversion Rate

A metric that measures the percentage of users who take action on a web page, like filling out a form or downloading a lead magnet. Pages with high conversion rates are performing well, while pages with low conversion rates may require tweaks. 

Conversion rate formula: No of visitors who took an action/No of total page visitors. 

“600 people visited the mailing list signup page and 36 signed up. That’s a 6% conversion rate. Great job!”

17. Cost-per-Lead (CPL)

The amount you pay to generate a lead. This is one of the most important pieces of information you’ll need to calculate the entire cost of acquiring a new customer.

“Between paid ads on Instagram and Google, we’re seeing a big increase in the CPL this quarter. Let’s hope lots of them decide to buy!”

18. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A system for tracking interactions with existing and potential customers and monitoring engagement. An effective CRM can help businesses convert leads into buyers and transform them into repeat buyers.

Most CRM systems consist of bundled software solutions that allow companies to store contacts; create audience segments; send targeted emails; schedule social media content and generate analytics reports.

“Let’s create a new list in the CRM that includes only people who purchased at the intro rate. I’d like to start sending them targeted emails to upsell them on equipment.”

D

19. Digital Marketing

Marketing that uses electronic communication and devices to share promotional material. Examples include email campaigns, social media posts, website display ads, blogs and search engine optimisation. 

“As part of our growth initiatives, we’re going to invest more in digital marketing, rather than TV ads and radio spots.”

20. Drip Campaign

A targeted series of automated emails sent to people who take a specific action. A ‘thank you’ message for someone who makes a purchase or a set of reminders for anyone who abandons a cart are good examples. 

“Please make sure to finish the drip campaign before the webinar. We need a set of reminders, a thank you note and a feedback request.”

E

21. Editorial Calendar

A tool for organising content production and publication. Editorial calendars help marketing teams coordinate the kind of content under production, the goals for each piece of content and the market segments a campaign should target.

“I have a feeling the Product Marketing Director will want some big changes to the editorial calendar now that we’ve moved up the launch date. Get ready for some late nights.”

22. Email Marketing

Using email to promote a company’s products or services. Emails can help maintain relationships with customers between sales; provide more information about a specific offer; or share important news. Email marketing campaigns are often called “sequences”.

“The new customer nurture sequence from Megaphone looks great. Let’s roll it out for our next launch.”

23. Engagement Rate

A metric that measures how much engagement a piece of content receives. Likes, opens, shares, and clicks are all examples of engagement. High engagement tells you that a piece of content resonates with your audience. 

“The engagement rate for our last IG story was huge! We got more likes than ever.”

24. Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is content users find relevant and useful, no matter when they consume it. Because it’s timeless, evergreen content often serves as a “pillar” in a content marketing strategy.

“Can you take out the pop culture references? We need this post to be evergreen.”

F

25. Facebook

A popular social networking website and a key component of a digital marketing strategy. Businesses have access to targeted analytical tools (see: Facebook for Business) to help grow their audience and manage engagement.

“For starters, we need to set up a Facebook page for the business with contact information and operating hours.” 

26. Facebook for Business

A suite of analytics tools available to business profiles and pages on Facebook. Brands can use these tools to better understand their audience and monitor post performance. 

“Can you check the Facebook for Business dashboard for analytics on our last live?”

27. FCC

Federal Communications Commission. The US agency in charge of overseeing communication devices and systems, including the internet. FCC rules protect consumer privacy and regulate the use and collection of user information on websites. 

“The FCC issued a new data privacy rule. We need to make sure our website isn’t collecting unauthorised information in connection with our marketing.”

28. Form

A tool for collecting information about your website visitors or email subscribers, usually in exchange for a free sample or special bonus. 

“Make sure the ‘subscribe’ button connects to the form that includes questions about how they found us.”

29. Friction

An element of your website that confuses your visitors or creates unnecessary work. Friction on a website leads to potential customers leaving without learning more about your brand and a high bounce rate.

“The overall design really doesn’t work. Too much text on the screen creates friction for the reader. Let’s talk about changing our template.”

G

30. Go-to-Market-Strategy

A planned approach to introducing a new brand, product or service to your target audience. 

“What’s our go-to-market strategy for the new HR management solution? Have we done research?”

31. Google Algorithm

The complex set of mathematical formulas and “if-then” statements used by Google to categorise and rank websites in search results. Google does not share how the algorithm assesses websites, which can make staying at the top of the results page challenging. Google does, however, announce when it makes changes to the algorithm. 

“Our search result rankings for key pages dropped between this month and last. Can you check to see if Google announced any changes to the algorithm.”

H

32. Hashtag

A visual system for categorising and linking related content by adding a ‘#’ in front of important tags. Hashtags are most commonly used on social media to connect posts or raise brand awareness.

“Make sure the next set of carousels includes our brand hashtags and a few like #BuyOrganic and #OrganicHealth.”

33. Hard Bounce

Permanent rejection of an email by a server. Hard bounces usually occur when you’ve used an invalid email address, but some companies use internal security software to block marketing emails.

“We’re getting a lot of hard bounces for emails to this domain. Can you check to see if it even exists?”

I

34. Inbound Marketing

A marketing strategy designed to make customers want to seek out your brand and engage. Most inbound marketing works by blending information about a product or service with something else the consumer wants, like entertainment. Blogs, social posts and SEO are examples of  inbound marketing tools.

“We do well with prospecting via email, but I think we’d get better return on investment with inbound marketing. Can we explore starting a blog to bring leads to us?”

35. Instagram

A social media platform businesses can use to share photos and short videos. Partnerships with popular individual accounts, known as “influencers” can raise brand awareness. Similar to Google, Instagram uses an algorithm to filter content for individual users.

“Did you reach out to the influencers about sponsored posts? And we need some fresh video for a Reel next week.”

K

36. Keyword

Words or phrases search engines use to index web pages. Strategically inserting keywords into your content helps search engines connect your content to searchers. The more closely your keywords match those used in search queries, the higher your content will rank on the results page. 

A complex content marketing strategy might mean that you use specialised software to generate keywords. This software will also assess the difficulty of “ranking” for specific terms. 

“Can you take a look at Yoast and share your thoughts on the keywords for the next blog pipeline? I’m worried we’re including too many competitive terms and won’t rank well.”

37. Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Quantifiable measurements that businesses use to assess progress and performance. Marketing KPIs might include metrics like customer acquisition cost, page views, conversion rates, and clickthrough rates. 

“Based on these numbers, we’re on track to hit our KPIs for this campaign. Let’s focus on improving our ad copy to increase the clickthrough rate, though.”

L

38. Leads

People or businesses who express interest in your product or service. An inbound marketing strategy tries to transform website visitors into leads using information they share in exchange for a piece of high-value content, called a lead magnet.

Businesses marketing to other businesses can also purchase lists of pre-screened leads from brokers. The business’ marketing department will then analyse and segment these lists based on target buyer profiles. 

“We’ve seen an increase in leads since launching our virtual trade shows, but I think we need to start segmenting the data to really get value from these contacts.”

39. Lead Magnet

A free item or service “given” to website visitors in exchange for their contact details. Examples of lead magnets include trial subscriptions, samples, white papers, e-newsletters, and free consultations.

“I think it’s time to update the lead magnet for our personal grocery shopping service. What about a free nutritional consultation or a guide to healthy eating on a budget?” 

40. LinkedIn

A social networking site focused on business and professional development. Individuals and businesses can create profiles and post content to showcase thought leadership and raise brand awareness. Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn allows businesses to monitor traffic and engagement with a specialised suite of tools.

“Our CEO hasn’t updated her LinkedIn profile since 2017. Could someone from marketing please take over management? We should start posting links to our press releases and draft some thought leadership pieces to publish under her name.”

41. Long-Tail Keyword

A targeted key phrase that contains two or three words. An effective long-tail keyword begins with a generic term, followed by two or three more specific words.  Inbound and content marketers use long-tail keywords to bring more highly qualified leads to a website. 

“Our main keyword for this page is “scuba diving”, together with long-tail keywords “scuba diving gear” and “scuba diving classes”. 

M

42. Marketing Automation

Using specialised software solutions take over repetitive marketing tasks or perform specific actions automatically. 

Manually sending a weekly newsletter to your subscriber list takes time and can disrupt your schedule if you need to hit “send” at a specific time. A marketing automation ensures that the email goes out exactly when you want without your involvement. It also collects data on invalid email addresses and tracks open rates. 

“Can you set up an automation that adds everyone who buys to our newsletter list and sends them targeted coupons for new launches, please?”

43. Middle of the Funnel

The point in the buying process after a potential customer identifies a problem and before they decide on a solution. Middle of the funnel content should educate a potential customer of how your brand can improve their progress, output or overall happiness. 

This is the second stage in the buying process.

“We need to do a better job moving our leads through the middle of the funnel. Let’s brainstorm ideas for content that explains how our solution makes hiring easier and improves retention.”

44. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

The amount of revenue generated per month by a subscription-based business. Marketers use this metric to measure a campaign’s success in the form of new subscribers or upgrades by current users. 

“We saw a big jump in MRR after the latest vlog explaining how to use our new editing feature. It looks like a lot of current users were happy to upgrade to a more expensive plan.”

N

45. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

A metric that measures how willing your existing customers are to recommend your product or service to others. Marketers use the net promoter score to identify ways to improve products or services and increase customer retention.

Net promoter score calculation: Percentage of customers who would recommend your company – Percentage of customers who would not recommend your company. 

“Based on the survey results, our hotel booking app has an overall NPS of five. That’s not enough to really compete in such a crowded market. Let’s dig in to see how we can improve.”

46. No-Follow Link

An HTML tag that tells search engines to disregard a page. No follow links can help prevent user-generated content, like spam comments or negative reviews, from impacting your rankings. You can also use a no-follow link to prevent a search engine from following or passing authority to untrustworthy websites through links. 

“We’ve got a lot of spam-y comments on the blog right now full of keyword stuffing, Can you check with the developers to make sure we’ve got no-follow links in place? I don’t want a search penalty from Google.”

O

47. On-Page Optimisation

A component of web page search engine optimisation (SEO). On-page optimisation ensures that key pieces of HTML help search engines correctly categorise a page and connect it with searchers. Examples of on-page optimisation include revising content, title and image tags to include keywords. 

“Make sure the developers have the list of keywords for this page. Otherwise, they can’t tag content correctly.”

48. Off-Page Optimisation

A component of web page search engine optimisation (SEO). Off-page optimisation refers to how external elements like linking domains and social media traffic influence a page’s ranking. 

Creating high quality content that users want to share and link to is the best way to improve your off-page optimisation. Some marketers try to influence off-page SEO by purchasing links from other domains, but this practice can lead to search engines de-prioritising your content. 

“I saw our competitor’s page drop from No 1 in the Google rankings to No 10. Rumour has it they got caught buying backlinks to boost their off-page optimisation.”

P

49. Pay-per-Click (PPC)

A digital advertising campaign where the company pays based on the number of times customers click on the promotion. The social media platforms or search engines that publish the ads charge a flat rate per click or use a competitive bidding system to set prices. 

Pay-per-click calculation: Cost of the advertising campaign / No of clicks. 

“The PPC for our most recent ads is way too high. I think we need to work with an agency like Megaphone for our next campaign.”

Q

50. Quality Score

A metric used by Google AdSense to rate the relevance of your pay-per-click ads and landing pages based on your preferred keywords. Google doesn’t share how it calculates an ad’s Quality Score, but revising keywords and refining your on-page optimisation can improve your results. 

“Let’s have a look at our keyword strategy before committing to a PPC campaign. I think there’s room to improve our Quality Score, which will increase the return on investment if it leads to more visitors.”

R

51. Return on Investment (ROI)

A calculation businesses use to compare the value an investment generates to its cost. For example, the cost of a paid ad buy or PPC campaign versus the revenue created by users who viewed the ads and clicked. 

ROI calculation: (Profit generated by campaign – campaign cost) / Campaign cost.

“We’re seeing great ROI on our content marketing. Agency fees are about $2,500 a month, but we’re generating at least $15,000 in new business from organic search traffic.”

52. Referral Traffic

Website traffic generated by links from other websites and social media platforms – not search engine results. Linking a blog post in an Instagram caption creates referral traffic. Websites that post reviews, news articles and industry-specific content can also provide referral traffic.

“Ever since the New York Times cited our company as an example of an up-and-coming startup, referral traffic has gone through the roof.” 

S

53. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Refining a website to boost its ranking on search engine results pages. Adjusting a page’s content and HTML to include specific keywords helps search engines prioritise it for certain user queries. Some search engines also evaluate the quality of referring links, website design and user behavior when calculating rankings. 

“We cleaned up our on-page SEO and saw an immediate improvement in our Google rankings. Adding keywords to the image tags made a big difference when it came to Google categorising us correctly.”

54. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Refining a website to boost its ranking on search engine results pages. Adjusting a page’s content and HTML to include specific keywords helps search engines prioritise it for certain user queries. Some search engines also evaluate the quality of referring links, website design and user behaviour when calculating rankings. 

“We cleaned up our on-page SEO and saw an immediate improvement in our Google rankings. Adding keywords to the image tags made a big difference when it came to Google categorising us correctly.”

T

55. Top of the Funnel

The stage of the buying process where a potential customer identifies a problem and begins searching for a solution. Content at the top of the funnel should help users better understand their challenge and suggest different ways of addressing it. 

This is the first stage of the buying process.  

“We need to work on the white paper. The language is too sales-y for a piece of top of the funnel content. Focus on helping the reader understand the pros and cons of each solution without pushing our product.”

56. Twitter

A social media platform that allows users to share content in messages of 140 characters or less. Posts, called “tweets”, can include images and audio. Users can also respond to other accounts by “retweeting” posts with added commentary. 

Many brands use Twitter to collect real-time information about how people perceive their brand; raise brand awareness; and share thought leadership. Both individuals and brands can open Twitter accounts and use hashtags to promote content. 

“Did you see that the official White House account just retweeted our family leave policy  press release?! We’ve picked up more followers and are seeing huge engagement across platforms.”

U

57. User Experience (UX)

A customer’s overall experience with your brand at every stage in the buying process. Effective user experience design requires you to think like your ideal customer and anticipate what would improve their perception of your brand. 

“Remember, you need to think about the UX for these emails! Try to write something you wouldn’t mind reading – that’s what drives our conversion rate.”

58. User Interface (UI)

How you present visual and audio elements on your website. A good user interface makes it easy for visitors to find your page, locate the information they need and consume content. 

“Can we redesign the menu bar? I’ve gotten feedback that it’s hard for users to find the blog.”

V

59. Viral Content

A piece of content that gains high visibility across the internet from organic sharing by users. Marketers can use hashtags, trending audio and popular images to increase the number of people who see a social media post or blog article, but there’s no way to guarantee that a piece of content will go viral. 

“That Reel we spent two hours creating went nowhere, but the post we put together in 20 minutes just went viral with 200,000 shares. Just goes to show you never really know what people like.”

W

60. Word-of-Mouth (WOM)

Customer referrals and recommendations. Focusing on your brand’s user experience and the net promoter score is important to developing a word of mouth marketing initiative. 

“Someone just sent me a link to our website when I asked for a recommendation. Glad to see that word of mouth is on our side!”

Y

61. Youtube

A video-sharing website that allows users to upload, view and share video content. Businesses can use video content to build brand awareness and demonstrate important product features. 

“The next model will have a number of new features. Can we put together some YouTube videos to showcase how they work? We could also partner with some influencers to do sponsored review videos.”

The Most Important Thing to Remember

Use this glossary to figure out your next ad campaign, agency contract, or consultation. Just remember that a glossary is no replacement for hands-on help from skilled marketers. 

Speaking of consultations and marketers… Megaphone is the #1-rated marketing agency in Australia – and we’re offering free strategic consultations to brands like yours right now. 

These are usually $1,200 each, and they’re in limited supply. But if you’re still reading this, you can sign up for a free one right now. Just click here or on the image below to set up a call.