In this post, you will discover some digital marketing terms and definitions that may be useful to guide you to your marketing journey.
In Digital Marketing journey, you will encounter words and terminology that are unfamiliar, by utilizing this post will help you throughout navigating in this vast eco-system. This may serve as a reference to help you stay in track as you go along.
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Terms and Definitions in Digital Marketing
404 page
A URL that tells the visitor that the webpage does not exist.
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Ad auction
How search engine determines which ads show, in what order for each search that contains text ads.
Ad spend
How much your company spends directly on advertisements.
A/B Testing (split test or bucket test)
When you compare two versions of a webpage to determine which has the highest conversion rate.
Algorithm
An algorithm is a set of instructions for solving a problem or accomplishing a task.
In search engine, algorithm is an automated software that helps locate information to answer a user’s query. The search algorithm needs to establish what user is searching for or the intent behind the query. The purpose of an algorithm is to deliver the best results for a search.
Algorithm search ranking factors
- Meaning of the query
- Relevance of the webpages
- Quality of the content
- Usability of webpages
- Context and settings
Alternative text
alt text for short, is a brief, written description of an image with the primary purpose of assisting individuals who are visually impaired. Many platforms allow you to submit alt text for social media posts. Some platforms automatically generate alt text for images using artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. While this technology is still emerging, it might save some time if you edit the auto-generated text instead of creating the text yourself.
Applause rate
The number of approval actions such as likes, mentions, retweets or favorites that a post receives relative to your total number of followers.
Attribution
Determines which content and channels are responsible for generating the leads, conversions or sign-ups. It allows businesses to use reporting data to find out which of their marketing and sales efforts are the most successful.
There are four attribution models, these are;
- Data-driven – measures engagement with marketing content across channels to what motivate audience to take action.
- First click – assigns all the credit to the first touchpoint that will leads to a conversion.
- Last click – assigns all the credit to the last touchpoint before conversion.
- Linear – assigns equal credit to each touchpoint along the customer journey.
Awareness Stage
This is the first stage of digital marketing funnel. Awareness stage is a consumer’s first interaction with the brand. The best example is when the customer see the brand posted in social media for the very first time. For further information, see Basic Understanding in Digital Marketing Funnel.
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Bid
Bid strategy is designed to help achieve campaign goals based on budget.
Bidding strategy
Tells how much you will pay for each user action related to an ad.
Blog
refers to self-published writing that are lengthy and in-depth content that lives online.
Bounce Rate
| Bounce rate Formula |
| Bounce rate = bounce sessions / total sessions |
The percent of visitors that view one page and then leave the site. A high bounce rate means that even when users come to your website from search, they tend to leave without converting into customers.
Brand
How a business or organization is perceived by the public. It is like a personality or a reputation. A brand has to have a values, personality and perspective.
Brand awareness metrics
Measure the attention your brand received across all social media platforms during a reporting period.
Branded content
Any post that features a third-party products, brand or sponsor.
Brand Equity
The value consumers attribute to one brand’s offerings when compared with similar products from another brand. When a brand has positive equity, it means consumers feel good about the brand.
Brand Safety
It refers to the practice of keeping a brand’s reputation safe when they advertise online. Ensuring brand’s ads aren’t placed next to on inappropriate or inaccurate content and making sure no copyright materials are used without permission.
Brand voice
The distinct personality a brand takes on in its communications
Brand voice guidelines
It describes the way your brand should be presented in writing
Breadcrumbs
A row of internal links at the top or bottom of the page that allows visitors to quickly navigate back to a previous section or the homepage
Broken link
A hyperlink that no longer leads to the correct website.
Business goal
Desired aim, achievement or outcome for a business.
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Call-to-Action CTA
An instruction that tells the customer what to do next.
Cart abandonment
When a customer adds an items to their cart, but doesn’t make a purchase.
Chronological feed
A stream that displays the latest published content first.
Click-through rate (CTR)
| Additional budget Formula |
| Additional budget = incremental sales / ROAS |
is the number of clicks that an ad receives divided by the number of times an ad is shown (impressions).
Consideration Stage
Second stage of digital marketing funnel. Consideration stage is when consumer started to be curious about the product offered and wanting more information about it. At this point, depending how compelling your content will impact whether they want to convert or abandon your site. For further information, see Basic Understanding in Digital Marketing Funnel.
Content buckets
Categories to group your marketing content
Content Marketing
A marketing technique that focuses on creating and distributing valuable content. Example of this are;
- Downloadable E-book
- Educational webpage like article and blog posts.
Conversion
The completion of an activity that contributes to the success of a business.
Conversion Stage
The third and most important stage of digital marketing funnel. This is the moment when consumer is decided to purchase your products or services offered. This is the moment of truth about your success, so make sure an accurate product descriptions and clear images are available. For further information, see Basic Understanding in Digital Marketing Funnel.
Conversion rate (CVR)
| Additional budget Formula |
| Additional budget = incremental sales / ROAS |
Is the percentage of users or website visitors that makes a purchase. is the number of conversions that an ad receives divided by the total number of ad interactions (clicks).
Conversion volume
The total number of conversions or total monetary value of conversions over a period of time. A conversion happens when a potential customer takes a desired action. To measure conversion volume by the total number of conversions, you could set a performance goal for an individual channel. To measure conversion volume as a monetary value, you assign monetary values to different types of conversions.
Cookie
A small file stored on devices that allows you to track user behavior and analyze traffic.
Copy
Any written materials that encourages a customer to buy a product or service.
Cost-Per-Action (CPA)
The amount you pay when someone completes a desired action. CPA is a cost-related performance goal. Marketers can use comparative data from historical campaigns or industry-average values to help set CPA performance goals. With this information, they can optimize a campaign to achieve a lower CPA. This will improve the campaign’s value.
CPA advantage
- Costs nothing up front
- Increase conversions and revenue
- Allows comparison across platforms
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
The amount you pay when someone clicks on your ad.
CPC advantage
- Cost-effective
- Drive website traffic
Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions (CPM)
The amount you pay for every 1,000 impressions an ad receives.
CPM advantage
- Raises brand awareness
- Delivers specific messages
- Increases engagement
Crawling
In search engine, the process of finding new or updated pages. Google explores the internet using an automated program called crawlers.
Creatives
Any content that can be promoted in a campaign, such as images, videos, GIF or text.
Custom audiences
Allow you to create relevant remarketing campaigns to reach highly-specific groups of people by uploading your own email lists of existing customers and followers.
Customer acquisition
is the process of gaining new customers. Customer acquisition is a marketing term for the process of gaining new customers. In e-commerce, customer acquisition depends on traffic to a brand’s site. The more traffic coming to the site, the greater the chance of acquiring new customers.
Customer Data
These refer to relevant customer information that can help create customer persona. These are few ways to acquire customer data;
- Conduct customer interviews – about the product or service experiences and other interests.
- Analyze web data – review customer who follow in social media or data from Google Analytics.
- Through surveys – customer comments, review and email surveys.
- Previous data – existing customer data like demographic, history and customer service notes.
Customer Persona
A fictional representation of a large group with similar people sharing interest, goals or concern as a desirable audience. Understanding customer persona is about knowing its main components as follows;
- Customer characteristics – identifying customer characteristics through customer data.
- Goal – identifying what customers are trying to achieve
- Barrier or pain point – identifying the factors that preventing customers to purchase.
Purpose of creating Customer Persona
- To have a better understanding of customer’s perspective and they want to achieve.
- To be able to create a customized content.
- To produces an effective ad targeting.
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Data
A collection of facts or information.
Data Storytelling
Conveying data insights to a specific audience using a clear and compelling narrative. These are the three main components of data story;
- Data – this refers to every bit of information from the most relevant to the least.
- Compelling narrative – this refers to the insight, its importance and purpose.
- Clear visualization – a graphical representation of data that convey information, like graphs and charts
Demographics
Specific information about the customer such as;
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Family Size
- Location
Display Ads
Graphic-based advertising format placed on websites or apps such as photos, videos or text.
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Email body
The text in the main content of your email.
Email copy
The text in your email and subject line.
Email Marketing
The process of sending messages to a list of existing subscribers to share information, drive sales or create community.
Email marketing automation
Is the practice of using software, programs and technology to manage email marketing processes automatically.
Email marketing report
is a collection of KPI. An email marketing report should include metrics used to assess the campaign’s success and displayed in a concise, visual, and engaging manner.
Email marketing strategy
A set of procedures that a marketer identifies and follows to achieve their desired marketing goals with email advertising.
Engagement
How audience interacts with your brand on social media.
Evergreen content
Content that will be relevant over a long period of time.
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Featured Snippet
is a special box that displays information about a search in a results page. It is a non-paid search engine feature that displays when algorithm determine the format.
Google system will determine whether a page would make a good feature snippet for a user search request.
Follower
Someone who opts in to receive updates from a business or brand on a social media platform
Frequency
How many times each individual encounters an ad in a given timeframe.
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Graphical Interface Format (GIF)
An animated image.
Google Display Network
A group of more than 2 million websites, videos and apps where display ads can appear
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Hashing
A security method which turns the personal information in your email lists into randomized code.
Hashtag
A word or phrase preceded by the pound symbol (#) that indicates that a piece of content relates to a specific topic or category.
HTTPS
An internet communication protocol that protects the integrity and confidentiality of data between the user’s computer and the site.
Hyperlink
Is the link will take you to the target of the link.
Types of links
- Internal link – link that points to another page within the website.
- External link or Outbound link– link that points to another website
- Backlink or Inbound link – link from another website pointing to your website
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Image file
just like a picture or photo, image file is a type of visual content that are static, it could be a photograph or an illustration. Digital marketers uses this as a tool to deliver messages to the targeted audience.
Impression
When a piece of content is displayed to your target audience.
Impressions
The total number of times an add appears on people’s screens. It includes user encountered ads more than once. Example, If 50 people shown ads 3 times, the impression count is 150.
Indexing
In the context of a search engine, indexing is the process of storing information about the new or updated webpages found by Google crawlers.
Influencer-generated content
Any post created by an influencer that promotes a brand’s products and services.
Influencer Marketing
It is when you partner with a person or brand that has a large followers to promote your products or services for a fee. An example of this is a product review in a form of video, photo or text format.
Influencer marketing platform
Software that provides influencer discovery tools such as large searchable database of potential influencers.
Insights
Pieces of information that are discovered through research or data analysis and that can be directly actioned upon to benefit your email strategy.
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Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
Is a measurement used to gauge how successful a business is in its effort to reach a business or marketing goal.
Keyword
A word or phrases that people use to find information, products or services online. The keyword either matches or similar to the search query.
Google search algorithm review keywords for relevance of webpages. The algorithm also matches phrases and topics the searcher may be.
Keyword research
The initial process when identifying commonly used search terms and phrases when finding products or services online. Keyword research is essential in search engine optimization. There is no single correct way to do keyword search.
Keyword matching types
Keyword match types dictate how closely the keyword needs to match the user’s query in order for the ad to show. Use keyword match types so that you do not have to enter every type of keyword exactly.
- Broad match – most flexible matching type. It shows based on user’s recent activity, and also show ads on phrases that relate to keyword
- Phrase match – keywords that include the meaning of the keyword
- Exact match – searches that have the same meaning or same intent as the keyword
Negative keywords
Are search terms excluded from an ad campaign
Keyword stuffing
The practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in the search results.
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Lead
A potential customer who has interacted with a brand and shared personal information, like an email address.
Lead generation
The practice of collecting a potential customer’s email address.
Lookalike audience
People with similar demographics and behaviors who haven’t yet been introduced to your brand.
Loyalty Stage
The fourth stage of digital marketing funnel. By creating a positive experience and maintaining customer relationship through follow-up emails and reward programs can keep customer coming back. see Basic Understanding in Digital Marketing Funnel.
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Marketing
In digital marketing
- Performance marketing – is the process of using concrete information about customer behaviors to plan and refine marketing and sales strategies.
Marketing Funnel
A graphical representation of the process through which people go from learning about a brand to becoming loyal customers.
Marketing goal
Objective in a marketing plan or strategy that supports a business goal.
Media plan
Contains details about where, when and how often an ad will appear across all media channels.
Meme
An amusing or interesting item such as a captioned picture or video that is spread widely online. It also carries symbolic meaning. Adding caption will deliver the intended point of view.
Metrics
A quantifiable measurement used to track and assess progress towards an objective.
Microblogging
is blogging but on a smaller scale. It allows you to introduce brief concepts to users, and invites those users to interact with that content.
Microblogging platforms allow users to distribute short-form content, quickly and frequently. Twitter and Reddit are good examples of these platforms.
Mobile marketing
is a digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching your target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Mobile marketing can reach users through many channels, including websites, email, and social media.
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Net Promoter Score
A metric that helps predict future customer engagement by asking customers: “How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend?”
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Organic Social Media
Any social media activity that does not require a paid promotion.
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Paid social media
Displaying paid advertisements or sponsored marketing messages on social media platforms to target a specific audience. Below are the examples of paid social media.
Pay-per-click or PPC
is a type of advertising model that allows business to pay only when prospective customer clicks on an ad.
Benefit of PPC
It ensures that Google Ads is aligned with the advertiser. Google Ads is motivated to show the right ads to users, the ones that will get clicked on in order to get paid.
Performance goal
Target that has a measurable numeric value.
Performance metrics
- Customer Lifetime Value – average revenue generated per customer over period of time.
- Return on ad Spend (ROAS) – refers to how much revenue is generated versus the amount spent.
Personally identifiable information (PII)
Any data that could potentially identify a specific individual.
PESTLE analysis
An audit that identifies political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors that may affect a marketing strategy
Photo Sharing Platform
platforms like Instagram and Pinterest offer visually appealing “feeds” where you can engage with content posted by other users, or host your own. They offer users the ability to engage with their own community, but they also include features that allow users to engage with new users and content.
Potential reach
Measure how many people have potentially seen a post since you published it.
Products and services
Things a business sells, like clothing, software or entertainment.
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Qualitative data
Information that describes qualities or characteristics.
Quality content
You need a quality, relevant and compelling content that are useful and usable for your customers. Contents should also be easy to find to make it easier for the customer.
Quality control (QC)
A process through which a business seeks to ensure that product quality is maintained or improved. Creating a QC checklist that ensures you’re using the right format, content, personalization tags and anything else you may want to be extra careful about.
Quantitative data
Information that can be counted or compared on a numeric scale.
Query
The words typed into a search bar.
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Reach
The total number of unique individuals who encounter an ad across their different devices. No matter how many times a person see the ads, the count is only one.
Real-time marketing (RTM)
is marketing that is happening in real time. RTM is often implemented on social media because of how quickly commentary and engagement takes place there. If millions of users are talking about a big story on social media, brands will want to be a part of the conversation in an attempt to boost engagement.
Referral
How someone was guided to your website.
Remarketing
Is a strategy in which an advertisement is used to delivered to previous purchasers, subscribers or visitors to a brand’s website, app or social media profile.
There are two types of remarketing;
- Pixel-based remarketing – sends ads automatically to users after placing a cookie into their web browser that tracks the pages and products they view.
- List-based remarketing – Uses lists of your existing customers or visitors who have provided you with their email address and shows specified ad to them.
Repurposing content
The process of recreating and republishing content in different formats.
Rich result
Provides specific information about the website. It helps website display additional features in search result like a product-based web page showing review rating, price and availability. It is an enhanced results in Google search with extra visual or interactive features.
ROAS – Return on ad spend
Number calculated as the ratio of revenue generated to the amount spent on advertising.
| ROAS formula |
| ROAS = (# of unit sold x Cost per unit) / Ad spend |
ROI – Return on Investment
In Digital marketing, this term is used to measure if your ad campaign produces an income to your business or the profit your ad brought. It is the ratio of investment and return.
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Segmentation
The practice of categorizing contacts by a predefined set of identifiers so that each email feels relevant to every subscriber. Grouping contacts into a smaller quantity based on criteria like interests, location or purchase history.
Segmenting
The practice of dividing an email subscriber list into smaller groups base on criteria like interests, location or purchase history. When organizing your email list, you should segment it. Segmenting is a great strategy because it allows you to send tailored emails to specific people who may enjoy the message.
Schema
The type of code used for structured data markups.
SEM
Search Engine Marketing. A process of increasing website’s products or services visibility on a search engine results page through paid advertisement.
- Shopping ads – specifically for e-commerce businesses, showing products related to the search.
- Local service ads – specifically for businesses with local, service-based customers.
- Text ads – classic ads with a title that is a link. Below the title is a short description of the webpage. The description should appeal to the searcher and help them understand what they will find if they click on the webpage link.
SEO
Stance for Search Engine Optimization. A process of improving a website to increase its visibility in a search engine through organic search result.
SERP
It appear whenever someone performs a search query. Different SERPs appear based on what someone searches for.
Sitemap
A file that provides information about the pages, videos and other files on the site and the relationship between them. It helps Google find the most important pages on your website that you would like to appear in search result, also helps Google understand the relationship between the pages on your site.
SMART
is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound
Social Listening
Tracking and analyzing conversations in social media platforms for mentions, conversations and trends related to your brand.
Social listening tool
Software that helps you track mentions of your brand, relevant keywords and direct feedback from multiple social media platforms in one place.
Social Media Advertising
This refers to a paid advertising in social media platforms. Capable to target new or existing customers based on their interests.
Social Media Algorithm
A way of sorting posts in a users feed based on relevancy rather that the order in which they are published.
Social Media Analytics
The process of collecting, tracking data from your social media platforms and analyzing that data to improve strategic business decisions.
Social media engagement
Measures how people are interacting with your social media accounts and contents. Studying engagement can help a company determine whether their content resonates with an audience.
Social Media calendar
is a calendar of all your social media posts
Social Media Marketing
Posts on any social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Social Media Platform
- LinkedIn – is the best platform for a company that wants to increase their brand authority among professionals. It is a platform where professionals can post their resume, search for jobs, share their expertise, and network with one another.
Social Media Report
Document that presents and tracks relevant data about your social media activities.
Social media sentiment
The attitude and feelings people have about your brand on social media. Learning how people feel about a brand helps to demonstrate what is working with the social media marketing strategy and what needs to change.
Spam
Unsolicited and unwanted junk email sent out in bulk to a broad recipient list.
Stakeholders
are the people within your organization that are affected by the campaign in some way.
Strategies
Support the plan to achieve the marketing goal and tend to be more general ideas.
Structured data
Code used to describe a webpage’s content better to search engines.
Structured data markup
Way of providing additional machine-readable information within a web page.
SWOT analysis
an acronym for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Conducting a SWOT audit will help you identify the internal context for your company. You can use a SWOT for more than just email marketing, such as social media marketing and search engine optimization.
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Tactics
Actions taken to make the plan happen.
Target Audience
The group of people most likely to purchase company’s product.
Testimonials
Customer provided a personal experience about the product or service. Any customer review, assessment, comment, endorsement or interview relating to your brand.
Tone
It is how your brand’s voice is applied
Tweet
Any message posted to Twitter and may contain elements like text, photos, videos, links and audio.
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Unsubscribe rate
The percentage of email recipients who unsubscribe from your send list after opening an email.
URL
An acronym that stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Is an address to a webpage. Site visitors should be able to tell where a link will take them when they click on the URL.
Example of URL : https://www.puffdigital.media
User-Generated Content (UGC)
Any content created by people rather than brands, these includes text, videos, images and reviews.
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Video captioning
Video captioning assists those without hearing or with some hearing loss. Captioning also assists those whose native language isn’t the one being used, and those who aren’t in a place to play sound as they normally would, such as in a quiet space or crowded environment.
- Closed captions are overlaid on video and can be turned on and off by users.
- Open captions are embedded directly in video and can’t be hidden or turned off by users.
Visual hierarchy
A structured organization of visual components that groups elements together, places elements in a natural or predictable pattern (such as reading from left to right), or leads to the most important elements to click on.
Video Marketing
A powerful marketing campaign is through video. This refers to the ad that plays before the video. It can target customers based on previous video watched.
Video Sharing Platform
allow users to upload and share videos, and live stream their own videos to the internet. Video sharing platforms are becoming increasingly popular within most industries because of the informational aspects and community-building capabilities of video content. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, Instagram Live, and Facebook Live are great examples of video sharing platforms.
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Webinars
Is an video session or web-seminar to educate and promote products or services new customers or potential customers. Down-side of webinars is to get people to attend, so giving out some freebies and deals to entice potential customers may help.
Website prompt
A digital banner that calls on a website visitor to act in some way.
Website Structure
A well organized and a clear website structure makes interaction and navigation easier for the customers. Making the website user friendly will add a winning value.
Deep information to Plan out a website structure.
