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Marketing Glossary

When undertaking any marketing or website project with made of möre, we want you to feel comfortable and confident with the terms and phrases we may use. No secrets, no mystery… just really good marketing.

All
Design
Social
Strategy
Website

a

A/B Testing

a.k.a Split/Bucket Testing. A method of comparing two versions of a web page, app, social post or even advert to measure conversion rate and track which performs best.

Acquisition

The process of attracting and retaining new customers through sales and marketing strategies.

Algorithm

A set of rules that help search engines and social channels to rank, filter, and organise results and advertisements.

Analytics

The process of analysing data related to marketing activity. One common example is the use of Google Analytics to track website traffic, activity and conversions.

b

B2B Marketing

a.k.a Business-to-Business Marketing. B2B companies are those that create products or services specifically for other businesses. B2B marketing is the act of supporting corporate marketing activity and sales channels.

B2C Marketing

a.k.a Business-to-Consumer Marketing. B2C companies create products or services directly for an end consumer (i.e. the public). Many retail and commerce businesses fall into this category.

Backend

Non-user facing aspect of a website, i.e. the server, database, media and coding elements.

BAU Activity

a.k.a Business As Usual Activity. This is the activity that should happen consistently as part of a wider marketing strategy, i.e. is not dependent on a certain campaign or sales promotion.

Billboards

Large scale print or media hoardings used for advertising a product or service. Typically used on major commuting routes, or in city centres.

Bounce Rate

Engagement metric that shows the percentage of website visitors who left the site after viewing only one page and taking no actions.

Brand

Identifiable elements of a business e.g. name, logo, visual identity and tone of voice. A brand can also include slogans and taglines.

Brand Awareness

The extent to which people are able to recall and recognise a brand and its positioning.

Brand Guidelines

A set of standards for the design of anything related to a brand.

Brand Positioning

The way a brand differentiates itself from their competitors and how consumers identify and connect with a brand.

c

Caching

Caching in it's simplest form is when the browser stores a temporary copy of a website's assets to speed up access at a future time. Different types of caching can be implemented to improve performance further.

Call to Action (CTA)

A prompt that encourages users to take a certain action. For example, a button prompting a website visitor to take action such as subscribing to an email newsletter or submitting a contact form.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)

CSS styles a website. It sets font colours, sizes, spacing, layout etc.

Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

A metric that measures how many people click an ad after seeing it and are directed to the chosen landing page or website entry point.

CMYK

A colour model that is used for print purposes, standing for the four ink plates used in some colour printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black).

Collateral

A collection of marketing material used in a brand's communication strategy e.g. templates, sales decks, flyers, newsletters, stationary and branded content.

Content

Any piece of information that’s created to be viewed by an audience.

Content Management System (CMS)

A type of web publishing tool designed to manage the digital content marketers create for the web. One of the most popular CMS platforms is WordPress.

Content Marketing

This marketing method focuses on creating relevant, consistent and targeted content to attract new leads and turn them into customers.

Conversion

The successful completion of a desired action, for example a submission into a lead generation form or a completed sales transaction.

Conversion Rate

The number of successful conversions expressed as a percentage of the total number of visitors in that same timeframe.

Cookies

A small file of letters and numbers that is downloaded on to your computer when you visit a website.

Copywriting

The process of writing text for the purpose of advertising, promotion and marketing.

Customer Journey

The set of interactions from when a potential customer shows interest in a product or service to the point where the engagement is complete. For example, a user seeing a targeted social post, visiting a landing page, completing a contact form, submitting their data, and exiting the site.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

More than just a contact database, a CRM is a sales acceleration tool that tracks and identifies business insights and analytics.

d

Databases

In most CMS websites, the content sits separate to the main site structure in a database.

Digital Marketing

Any form of communication aiming to persuade people to purchase a product or service that occurs through some form of digital device.

DNS

Converts IP addresses into domain names.

Domain

The name by which a website is identified, a.k.a the URL used to access the site.

Domain Name Service (DNS)

Converts IP addresses into domain names.

e

E-Commerce

E-commerce functionaility allows the user to make transactions, purchase products, buy subscriptions and more using a website.

Email Marketing

Content sent via email to customers who are subscribed to a marketing list or part of a database. Email marketing can be split into 'core communications' which may include monthly newsletters or service updates, and 'campaign marketing' which is solus or a series of emails pushing one particular sales focus.

Engagement

Interactions from customers/followers on a brand's online platforms. I.e. a like, comment or click on a social post, or the opening of a targeted email.

Evergreen Content

Content that ages well and maintains its value over time. These can be blogs, webinars or downloads that can exist on a website for a long period of time.

f

Facebook

A social media platform used in social media marketing. Creating a free Facebook company page allows you to connect with a large digital audience and create credibility for your business. The Business Suite is a useful tool to include in your marketing strategy. Alongside Instagram, Facebook is owned by meta.

Favicon

Customisable icons displayed in the web address bar in browsers, usually a company's logo or brand icon.

Followers

The total amount of individuals that have chosen to follow your profile on a social media platform. Organic followers can be built through use of content. sharing, competitions and hashtags. Paid followers can increase through the use of ads both on and off the desired platform.

Frontend

Code that runs on your computer, in the browser, that defines what a webpage looks like to the user.

g

Google Analytics

An online tool provided by Google which allows website owners to see and track data about the website and its visitors.

h

Hashtag

A word or phrase preceded by a ‘#’ sign used to connect posts on social media to other posts on the same subject or a trending topic.

Hex

A six-digit number used in HTML, CSS, and design software applications to represent colours.

Host/Hosting

This is where the website is stored and made accessible to internet users.

Hotjar

An online analytics tool that allows website owners to view heatmaps and screen recordings of real user sessions, run polls and surveys.

HTML

Code that holds the content of a digital output, such as webpage or email, and tells the browser about styling, visuals and images, that should be displayed visually.

Hubspot

A software company specialising in inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. Hubspot is a good example of CRM software.

i

Influencer

An individual with a following on social media who 'influence' their followers, whether that is to buy recommended products or read a certain book. Brands collaborate with these individuals as a way of promoting their products/services.

Instagram

A social media platform used in social media marketing to raise brand awareness and create a following for your business. The platform is mainly used for sharing visual content and allows you to grow organically or through paid ads. Alongside Facebook, Instagram is now owned by meta.

IP Address

A unique numerical address of a device, whether that is a server or a personal computer.

j

JavaScript

JavaScript is used to create dynamic and interactive web content and has endless applications throughout the web.

k

Keep Warm

The process of nurturing a sales lead to encourage them to engage with your business by purchasing a product/service. This could be in the form of a waitlist before your product launches, or consistent engagement to encourage repeat transactions.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

A metric that shows whether a company is meeting its marketing goals. These should be assigned within a core strategy and could be focused on monthly, quarterly or annual statistics.

Keywords/Search terms

Terms/phrases that users type into a search engine. Website owners can optimise for these based on their content and desired users, such as 'marketing', 'web design' or 'web design Chester.'

l

Landing Page

A landing page is a static, stand-alone website page that is usually not accessible via the core navigation. Landing pages are commonly used as part of dedicated and targeted sales activity, i.e. a campaign that focuses on one specific sector or benefit of your service.

LinkedIn

A professional platform used in social media marketing. LinkedIn acts as a base for connecting with businesses and professionals to expand a network.

Loading Speed

How fast a webpage takes to appear/finish loading in the browser. This speed is tracked by search engines and can impact a website's 'score' within the search algorithm.

m

Marketing Agency

An organisation that works on outsourced marketing activity for a pool of clients. The team can consist of brand strategists, graphic designers, web developers, animators, copywriters, account managers and more.

Media

A means of communication, such as radio and television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet, that reach or influence people widely.

Metrics

Type of measurements and data that Analytics track.

Minification

The process of reducing the size of assets on the website to improve load times and reduce bandwidth usage. The most common usage is to minify CSS, JS and HTML files

n

Newsletter

Content shared with customers/followers with relevant information about your business/brand, usually in the form of an email.

o

Open Rate

The percentage of people that open an email.

Organic Reach

The total amount of people that have viewed your social content without paid ads. These are typically your followers or people within your extended network, or followers of a selected hashtag. Certain channels, such as Instagram and TikTok, also used advanced algorithms to serve 'similar' content to users based on what they engage with.

p

Pagespeed Index

Pagespeed Index is a tool provided by Google giving suggestions on how best to improve vary aspects of a site including performance, SEO and accessibility.

Paid Search

The practice of displaying ads on search engines based on the terms, or keywords, individuals search for. A popular provider is GoogleAds to promote display or text ads on Google and Partner channels. See also, 'PPC'.

Palette

A colour palette comprises of a suite of colours that can be utilised for design work. Usually a brand has a set 'colour palette' that might be split into primary and secondary use colours.

Pantone

A standardised colour reproduction system.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

A form of online advertising via search engines, you pay the search engine a given fee per user that clicks on your advert. See also, 'paid search'.

r

Return on Investment (ROI)

A metric that measures whether a campaign earned enough money to be worth the initial cost. For example, the cost of design and media spend vs revenue generated.

s

Sales Funnel

a.k.a Purchase Funnel. The journey that new leads take before they make a purchase. For example, clicking a social post, signing up to a newsletter, receiving a number of 'warm-up' emails, clicking on a product, check-out and purchase.

Salesforce

A CRM platform offering an application focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development. Salesforce can be used to track leads, manage a sales funnel and monitor user behaviour.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

The process of using keywords and other technical strategies to increase where your website ranks on a search engine. Ideal placement is on page one of Google.

Search Rank

Your site's position in the search results.

Sessions

Begins when a user lands on your site and ends when they leave.

Sitemap

A sitemap is a file, list or blueprint of all the pages on your website. Initially this is used to plan user journey and web design, but once built a sitemap can be submitted to inform search engines of the changes to your site and optimise SEO.

Social Listening

A tool to track conversations around key topics, terms and brands.

Social Media Marketing

Utilising social media channels as part of a brand's wider marketing goals. A core strategy should be compiled to plan organic and paid activity and desired outcomes.

SVG

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are XML-based vector images created for web usage, that can endlessly scale and be animated and interacted with, giving them huge potential and flexibility.

t

The ‘Fold’

Originally based on newspapers and print medium, the fold refers to the area of a website that the user can first see on their device. With changes to how users interact with websites and the range of screen sizes available, the fold is less and less important on modern websites.

TikTok

A social media platform that is becoming increasingly more popular due to its algorithm allowing users to showcase their videos to a large audience. The platform has shifted from viral dancing videos to becoming a key element in brand's marketing strategy.

Time on Site

A metric given to how long a user spends on a website.

Traffic

Users that visit your site.

Transitions

Implemented with CSS and Javascript these design features used to bring further interactivity and interest to a site.

Twitter

A fast paced social media platform used in social media marketing. With a character limit, Twitter forces you to keep your messaging short, sweet and effective whilst reaching a large digital audience. Twitter is mainly used for news and journalism for sharing organic updates or crafted press releases.

u

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The exact elements that make your product or service stand out in comparison to the competition around it. These could be led by price, quality, value, expertise, etc.

User Experience (UX)

The design process of making a website (or app) easy for visitors to understand and navigate.

User Interface (UI)

This is the thing that the user sees and interacts with. In web this usually means all aspects of a website that the user can see.

v

Vanity Metric

A statistic that may look like a positive indicator of performance but doesn’t actually provide you with valuable insights. These can still be utilised to show channel growth, but should always be combined with actionable metrics to evaluate success.

Viral

A term that refers to the content shared across social media such that it spreads exponentially.

w

Web Server

A software and hardware with networking capabilities that allow it to host web sites and pages and make them available to internet users located elsewhere.

Wireframe

Blueprints for a website. They provide the framework upon which the functionality and design of a website will be built.

WordPress

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS). It is one of the most popular and most powerful website tools used today.

z

Zapier

A tool that allows automation to be created between web applications and other tools/applications, streamlining workflows and allowing integrations between previously incompatible applications.