With developments in the marketing and PR industries happening every day, there seems to be new jargon popping up everywhere we look—Metaverse, share of voice, and more acronyms than we know what to do with. So let’s review some essential B2B marketing and PR terms. (And remember to bookmark this page for your next “What the heck is that?” moment!)
AB testing
Also known as split testing, AB testing refers to the process of creating two versions of something to see which performs better. It could be a landing page, subject line, email newsletter, or another digital asset. One asset is “A” and the other is “B.” Both assets are simultaneously shown to different users, and whichever performs better based on the metrics set will inform how future digital campaigns are constructed.
Accessibility
While the definition of accessibility may seem obvious, it is of growing importance for brands to create and share accessible content. This means that anyone, regardless of ability, should easily be able to navigate, understand, and use your content. For brands, that could mean using captions on all videos, including alt text on images, and creating screen-reader-friendly websites.
Account-Based Marketing
Using tactics to target specific potential clients to convert them into consumers is account-based marketing (ABM). Also known as key account marketing, ABM is a strategic way to show high-value potential clients that your company understands their needs and can alleviate specialized pain points.
Alt Text
When adding an image to your website or social media, you may be prompted to add “alt text.” But where does it go and what does it do? Alt text, or alternative text, is text that shows in the box where an image is placed. Some internet users have settings that don’t load images—for reasons of browsing speed or visual impairment. This allows those users to use screen-reading technology that tells them what the image is of, thus making your digital presence more inclusive to all ability levels.
Backlink
Similar to a citation, a backlink refers to one webpage linking to another website. Also called inbound links or incoming links, backlinks are especially important for building SEO, as the quality and quantity of backlinks can improve a website’s organic ranking in search engine algorithms. The more backlinks to your site, the more popular or helpful it appears to be for users.
Brand
Some marketers may say that a brand is what they curate and develop to reach consumers. But really, a brand is made up of the impression consumers get and create in their own minds of any particular organization. So the experience that a consumer has with a company becomes the company’s brand. Marketers can help shape the brand through consumer engagement.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers recognize a particular brand’s qualities, logo, products, or services.
Related reading: Why Brand Awareness Isn’t Enough—and How to Make Your B2B Brand Famous
Brand Voice
Comparable to a person’s personality, a brand voice is the unique tone, disposition, or communication style of a brand. For example, a brand may be known for being inspirational (Nike), friendly and positive (Coca-Cola), or quirky and fun (MeUndies).
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a fictional representation of an actual buyer that may include demographics, psychographics, geographics, and behavioral segmentation. A buyer persona is often used to help marketers envision their target consumers more accurately.
BoFu
BoFu (bottom-of-funnel) refers to the bottom of the consumer funnel. BoFu is where marketers work to convert interest into sales with demos, case studies, and consumer stories.
CAC
CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the cost of sales plus the cost of marketing, divided by the number of new customers acquired.
Case Studies
A case study analyzes a particular instance (or “case”) of something to demonstrate quantifiable results. In marketing, case studies are used as social proof to give buyers the context to determine whether they’re making a good choice.
Related reading: Here’s How to Build Trust In Your Brand in 2022
Churn Rate
Also known as the rate of attrition or customer churn, churn rate refers to the number of customers who stop using the service or buying the product in a given period of time. The higher the churn rate, the more customers a company has lost.
CLV
CLV (consumer lifetime value) represents the net revenue a business can plan to generate from a particular customer as long as they are projected to remain a customer.
CRM
CRM (customer relationship management) is the process of managing relationships with new and existing customers. Typically this is done through a software tool that helps companies aggregate customer data. CRM tools can help marketers really understand their customers’ wants, needs, and preferences, which can be a golden ticket to improving marketing strategy.
Copywriting
Copywriting is the act of writing material for business use, usually to drive sales or generate leads. This is typically short-form content, like paid ads, email, and social media.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a strategy used to generate interest or engage an audience with relevant content, like blog posts, videos, newsletters, podcasts, and other media.
What’s the difference between copywriting and content marketing? Good question! Copywriting is typically shorter and focuses on driving a customer conversion, and content marketing focuses more on developing a relationship with a consumer to build trust over time.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate measures the percentage of successful customer conversions, which could be newsletter sign-ups, sales, visitors to a website, or any other marketing goal. Conversation rates are calculated by taking the number of conversions and dividing it by total ad interactions during the same time period.
CPL
CPL (cost-per-lead) is a performance-based advertising model where the advertiser pays a set price for each qualifying lead generated from the campaign. CPL can be calculated by dividing the total amount spent by the total attributed leads.
CTM Strategy
CTMs are customer-targeted messages, usually sent to a customer’s mobile device. Traditional CTM marketing displays ads to people based on their location and interests. Other forms of CTM strategy include geo-fencing (using GPS technology to target ads by a consumer’s specific location); retargeting (displaying ads to consumers who visited your site but didn’t convert); and behavioral targeting (displaying ads based on people’s online behavior.)
CTA
CTA (call-to-action) is a word or phrase that incites readers, listeners, viewers, etc., to act on something or respond to the ad in some way.
Demand Generation
Demand generation is the process of creating awareness or interest in a company’s products or services.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the process of using online tactics to fulfill marketing objectives.
Discord
Discord is a free voice, video, and text chat app with tens of millions of users aged 13+. Marketers can build communities in Discord, allowing brands to engage with a section of their audience deeply and authentically.
Related reading: Discord: What Is It and How Can You Use It For Marketing?
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a form of direct and digital marketing that uses email to communicate to consumers or followers of a brand.
Growth Marketing
Growth marketing is a long-term strategy focused on experimentation and optimization across marketing funnels. By building customer relationships and fostering loyalty, growth marketing has the potential to grow customer lifetime value organically.
GTM
GTM (go-to-market) strategy is a marketing plan to launch a new product or service. More specifically, a GTM strategy details how the unique value proposition will be delivered to the audience.
ICP
ICP (ideal customer profile) is the outline of a company’s ideal customer—the kind of customer it wants to secure more of. An ICP can help marketers understand their primary target audience and how they want to be talked to.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a strategy based on creating engaging, rich content that attracts potential customers to your company, therefore increasing conversions or sales.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process of analyzing, comparing, and prioritizing words and phrases most commonly used by your target audience when using search engines. Including keywords in a blog post, for example, can help rank higher on Google’s search results.
KPI
KPI (key performance indicators) is a defined, quantifiable metric for marketers to measure the performance of a campaign over a certain time period.
Landing Page
A landing page is a standalone web page a consumer lands on after clicking the link from an email, ad, social media, or other digital location.
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is the process of purposefully developing and maintaining relationships with your target audience at every stage of their purchase journey. This is done through marketing communications by offering relevant information, engaging the consumer in unique ways, or otherwise finding ways to support them throughout their journey. This can be automated by using software to automatically send messages or emails triggered by consumer behaviors or set schedules.
Metaverse
The Metaverse is a virtual reality where users can engage with one another, brands, or other aspects of the computer-generated environment.
Related reading: Metaverse Marketing: A Brave New (Virtual) World
MoFu
MoFu (middle-of-funnel) refers to the middle of the consumer funnel, and MoFu is where consumers are considering a purchase. Marketers work to create and present content that helps consumers evaluate the product or service with educational resources, discounts, and special events or offers.
NPS
NPS (net promoter score) is a KPI used to measure overall customer satisfaction and loyalty, including how likely a current customer is to recommend a company to a peer. NPS scores are measured with a single-question survey (think “How likely are you to recommend this product or service on a scale of one to 10?”), and they are reported between -100 and +100, with a higher score being more positive.
Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing is a traditional marketing tactic focused on pushing messages to an audience without prioritizing the consumer’s ability to respond to the messaging. (Think radio, television, or print ads.)
Paid Search
Paid search is the opposite of organic search. Paid search is a digital marketing technique that allows advertisers to show ads on their company’s search engine results pages, and paid search works on a PPC model.
Personal Brand
A personal brand is much like a traditional brand except that it represents an individual rather than an organization. A personal brand is built on expertise, credentials, achievements, and other notable public attributes. Building a strong personal brand should be a priority for entrepreneurs, business leaders, freelancers, and even employees in close-knit industries.
PPC
PPC (pay per click) is a type of digital advertising where companies only pay if an ad is clicked on, and then there is a set rate per click.
Product Marketing
Product marketing is the process of bringing a product or service to the market, including branding, messaging, and strategic positioning.
Related reading: 18 Strategies to Boost your Product Launch Marketing Strategy
Product Market Fit
Product market fit is the way in which a product or service does (or does not) fill a need or generate demand in the marketplace.
Public Relations
B2B PR is a strategic communications process that focuses on maintaining a favorable image in the public eye and building mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its public.
Responsive Design
Responsive design describes how a web page is built so that it conforms to the size of the screen it is being displayed on–a cell phone versus a tablet versus a desktop screen, for example.
SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of tailoring your website to help it rank higher on search engines.
Related reading: 50 B2B SEO Strategies for 2022
SERPS
SERPS (search engine results pages) are the results a user receives after searching a keyword in a search engine like Google or Bing.
Share of Voice
Share of voice refers to the share of your market that your brand owns. Pre-digital era, this meant the share of advertising in a market that your brand owned compared to your competitors. In the digital age, share of voice has expanded to include everything from digital PR and advertising to social media mentions and website traffic. Essentially, every form of measurable brand awareness in your particular market counts towards your share of voice.
Social Selling
Social selling refers to the act of leveraging social network connections to identify prospects, build relationships, and, eventually, close sales.
ToFu
No, not that delicious-when-fried soybean block. Like MoFu and BoFu, ToFu means top-of-funnel. ToFu is where marketers cast the widest net, focusing on high-volume leads like blog and social media posts, podcasts, videos, and newsletters.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is a strategy that relies on consumers’ positive experiences with a brand to come through in their everyday dialogue with others. WOM marketing can also include strategic tactics like product giveaways to create buzz around your brand.
Related reading: B2B Tech Buyers Care About One Thing Above All Else in 2022
Don’t see the definition you’re looking for? Give us a shout on social media, and we’ll add it to the list!
