Marketing Terms Dictionary

Bust the jargon, break down buzzwords and start singing from the same hymn sheet as your marketers with Codi’s marketing terms dictionary.

Every industry comes with their own bible of industry-specific terms. Well, the marketing world is no different. At Codi, our clients have varying degrees of familiarity with the processes, strategies and marketing terms we employ. So, here’s a handy glossary of key marketing terms ready for you to bookmark and refer back to as and when you need.

 

Marketing terms in alphabetical order:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

A/B test

An A/B test is the process of testing two different iterations of a digital asset to monitor engagement and performance. 

For example, you may split your email list and send two versions of the same email by changing subject lines, layout or the call-to-action to identify audience preferences. 

The aim of A/B testing is to increase engagement and conversion rates, improve your ROI and ultimately, help you to understand your audience better. 

Make sure your test audience size is large enough to get a significantly relevant answer to your A/B test. Many email marketing tools such as HubSpot have in-built functionality allowing you to determine the appropriate sample size for more reliable results. 

 

Activation

In marketing, execution is everything and turning interest into action is key. Which is why activation is so important. Put simply, activation is the execution of all campaigns, events, and experiences. It’s turning the campaign to life. This may be in the form of product launches, promotions, PR and events, experiential marketing (more on that in E), advertising and more.

How successful your marketing activation is depends on the degree to which the marketing campaign has met predefined objectives like increased brand awareness, web traffic, social media engagement and so on. Marketing activation requires careful planning to ensure a business not only meets their specific goals, but its success is properly measured.

 

Translate marketing terms into actionable strategies: Get started with Codi.

 

Affiliate marketing

Commonly used in Ecommerce, affiliate marketing is the process of generating leads through a third-party. This third-party, such as a blogger or publisher, will endorse your product or service and in turn receives compensation for each sale made through them.

A large-scale example of this would be Microsoft’s ‘365 Affiliate Program’ which pays publishers to drive sales of its subscriptions and products. Publishers in the business, technology, and productivity niches can receive commission on products sold through affiliate links, earning anything between $6 and $20 per sale.

 

Audience segmentation

Marketers can often fall into the trap of trying to please everyone with uniform, mediocre messaging that ultimately ends up appealing to no-one. The process of audience segmentation avoids this potential pitfall. It instead allows you to divide your target audience into subgroups and tailor messaging to each group. 

Marketers may choose to segment their audience by demographic such as age, gender, job title and industry. Or based on behaviour like purchasing history or engagement levels. 

Audience segmentation ensures the content you’re sending out is more relevant, fostering better relationships with your prospective customers and turning lukewarm leads into red hot opportunities. 

Audience segmentation can be applied to multiple channels, such as email marketing. According to HubSpot, segmented emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more clicks-throughs than unsegmented ones. Categorising your email list into persona groups determined by key criteria is a crucial element to your SaaS email marketing strategy. This will drive engagement and conversion figures up, and unsubscriber numbers down. 

Keen to find out more about email marketing strategy? Read our beginner’s guide.

 

B

 

Backlinks

A backlink is a link from another website to your own acting as an endorsement or recommendation to your site. Building backlinks is important in improving search engine optimisation (SEO – jump to S) and your search engine ranking position. This means your website is more visible in search results, ultimately driving more website traffic. 

Building backlinks is one aspect of a good SEO strategy. For more on SEO best practices, check out our blog written by Codi’s resident content specialist, Miranda Ellis.  

 

Below the fold

Below the fold refers to the part of a webpage the user has to scroll down to see. The term ‘fold’ was coined by the print journalism industry. Newspapers would be folded in half to be displayed on stands and publishers would put the most eye-catching stories ‘above the fold’ to capture the readers’ attention (and they still do).

 

Bounce rate 

A bounce rate is the proportion of website visitors that land on one of your webpages, then leave. Unlike with an exit rate (exit rate – jump to E) where users may have visited multiple pages on your website, a bounce rate tracks the percentage of users who have not taken any action at all, like filling out a form or clicking through to another page. Bounce rates help marketers to assess how effective a website is at retaining and converting users as well as how user-friendly the site is. 

According to Hubspot, the average bounce rate is somewhere between 26% and 70%, with the optimal range being between 26% and 40%.

 

B2B marketing

B2B (business-to-business) marketing is the process of marketing and selling your product or services to other businesses, rather than an individual consumer (see B2C marketing below). Under this model, while the organisation is the ‘customer’, there can be between 6 to 10 individuals within the company that contribute to the decision-making process. 

Want to get started with your B2B marketing strategy? Register for our newsletter, ‘Unicorn Status’, for all the latest B2B marketing insights and advice. 

 

B2C marketing

B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing is the model of selling products or services directly to an individual consumer targeting their unique needs and desires. The individual is the customer and they are making the decision to purchase the product themselves. 

 

C

 

Call to action (CTA)

A call to action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages the customer to take action. For example, at the end of a blog highlighting your product’s key features you may choose to include a short instruction or command like, ‘sign up for a free trial’, guiding the audience to your demo request page. 

CTAs should be clear, use concise language and be highly visible to the user. They can take various forms such as a button, form, banner or pop-up and be used in a number of marketing assets from blog posts and landing pages to pay-per-click ads (PPC) and social media posts. A good CTA should create a sense of urgency and encourage the customer to take the appropriate next step. 

Some examples of CTAs for B2B SaaS marketing include: 

  • Book your free demo
  • Subscribe to our newsletter today
  • Download the expert guide 
  • Secure your webinar space
  • Try for free
  • Take me to the blog

 

Campaign emails

As the name suggests, these emails are usually part of a broader campaign and are sent to your subscribers with a specific purpose, for example, to tell them about a product launch or upcoming event. These are usually one-off emails. 

 

Click-through rate (CTR)

A click-through rate (CTR) is a metric used to measure the number of clicks a particular piece of online content or advertising has received. It tracks the extent to which this content has been successful in capturing the user’s attention. With CTRs, the higher the percentage, the better the outcome. 

Below is a list of some CTR benchmarks:

  • Email: A good CTR for email is between 2–5%, depending on the industry.
  • Search ads: The average CTR for a search ad across all industries is 1.91%.
  • Display ads: The average CTR for a display ad across all industries is 0.35%.
  • YouTube videos: A good CTR for YouTube videos is typically around 2–10%

 

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO)

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of users who perform a desired action on your website. For example, filling out a demo request form, signing up for your newsletter or registering for a webinar.

Conversion rates are calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the total number of interactions, such as clicks or visitors to a page. For example, if you had 10 demo requests from 100 visitors to your demo page, your conversion rate would be 10% or 0.1.

The process of CRO involves improving this percentage by getting to know your customers more and understanding how users interact with the pages on your website. All this helps you to finetune your content, lower your customer acquisition costs (see below) and increase current customer lifetime value (see below).

 

Content management system (CMS)

A content management system, or CMS for short, is a software that enables users to create, manage and edit their website without the need for coding expertise. Some popular examples of CMS platforms include WordPress, Hubspot Content Hub, Joomla, Sitecore and Drupal

 

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Cost per acquisition refers to the cost required to get one customer to complete a specific action, such as sign up for a free trial, fill out a form, or purchase your product.

 

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

This is the metric used to determine how much an organisation spends acquiring new customers. This is the combined cost of all sales and marketing efforts – software, applications, agency expenses, training, content etc. Everything needed to attract new customers and convince them to buy your product. 

 

Customer persona 

A customer persona is an archetype of a particular segment of your target customers. Also known as a buyer persona, these representations are based on thorough research and analysis of your audience and include information such as demographics, behaviour, pain points, interests and more. 

Marketers use customer personas to:

  • Inform the development of their products and services
  • Optimise content and campaigns
  • Tailor messaging
  • Meet the needs and expectations of their customers more effectively

 

Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Customer lifetime value, or CLV, measures the total revenue a business can expect to generate from one customer. CLV helps businesses to target high-value customers, increase revenue, reduce customer acquisition costs (see above), inform strategy and improve customer loyalty and retention.

 

 

D

 

Drip marketing

This is one of the marketing terms we talk a lot about within  email marketing. An email drip campaign is a sequence of automated emails sent out at predetermined intervals that are triggered after a user takes a specific action. The goal of a drip marketing campaign is to ultimately move the user further into the sales funnel toward conversion by educating them on your product’s key features and benefits. 

Let’s say someone signs up for your newsletter. The first email in the automated drip campaign may be a welcome email thanking them for their interest in your product, introducing them to your brand and highlighting popular blogs on your website. Two to three days later the next email will hit their inbox, highlighting your product’s key features and encouraging them to download your free industry guide. The last email in the sequence will prompt the user to book a demo slot.

 

E

 

Earned media 

Also know as free media, earned media is content created by a third party, such as a journalist or blogger, highlighting something your brand did that was noteworthy. This could come in the form of a customer tweet about your product or being listed in a technology magazine’s article on key industry tools.

Some other examples of earned media include:

  • Product roundup article in an industry publication 
  • A customer review 
  • TV news segment 
  • Newspaper article (that you haven’t paid for)
  • Influencer recommendation (for free)
  • Social media post shared by a customer

Other related marketing terms include paid media and free media.

Email marketing 

Email marketing is a type of digital marketing whereby a business sends emails to promote their products and services.

Email marketing presents some seriously good opportunities for businesses of all shapes and sizes. With roughly 4 billion daily email users, it’s no wonder that 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers and a whopping 87% of brands declare it to be critical to business success. 

Not only is this marketing channel extremely cost-effective, it also helps to foster relationships, build consumer trust, drive new pipeline opportunities and increase conversion and retention. 

Jump to Codi’s email marketing guide for SaaS businesses.

 

F

First-party data

This is data collected directly from customers through interactions with your own marketing channels. First-party data is owned by the company and thought to be the most valuable and reliable data source for businesses.

Some sources of first-party data include:

  • Website activity
  • Mobile app data
  • Purchase history
  • Email engagement
  • Event registration
  • Newsletter sign up
  • Social media engagement  

First-party data collection should adhere to data privacy regulations.

 

Fractional marketing team 

Fractional marketing is a relatively new marketing term in the outsourcing space. While an entire fractional marketing team is an even newer concept. With fractional marketing teams, instead of hiring individual marketers, you’re outsourcing your marketing to a pre-assembled group of experts. This gives you access to a range of different specialisms, without needing to hire multiple marketers or manage numerous individuals. 

Depending on the size of your business, your fractional marketing team may take responsibility for developing your full marketing strategy and all of the execution channels you need. Or they may slot in alongside your existing marketers to offer fresh perspectives, input and experience across a broader range of marketing tactics. 

For Series A and B SaaS businesses, a fractional marketing team is often the best option compared to a freelancer or marketing agency. You’ll get the most comprehensive level of support and the ability to tap into different specialisms at different stages to support your growth. And you won’t have to shell out for multiple freelancers or project-based agency costs. 

 

G

 

Gated content

Gating your content means asking users to complete a form prior to access. A useful lead generation tool, gated content can also increase sales, allow marketers to create segmented email lists and gather valuable customer insights. 

 

Google Ads

Google Ads is Google’s online advertising programme allowing companies to create online ads to promote their business, products and services. Google Ads has firmly cemented its place in the marketing mix for B2B SaaS businesses offering businesses the opportunity to put their product in front of buyers at the exact moment they’re looking for a solution to a problem. 

Get started: How to make Google Ads work for you

 

H

 

Heatmap 

A heatmap is a colour-coded visual representation of how your users engage with a particular webpage. Red and amber colours depict more populars areas of your website while cooler colours like blue represent areas users have engaged with the least. 

Heatmaps can be used to:

  • Learn more about what is and isn’t working with your website
  • Understand what is resonating with the user
  • Improve conversion rates
  • Reduce bounce rates

There are different types of heatmaps including scroll maps, hover maps, click maps and attention heat maps that use eye-tracking technology.

 

I

 

Inbound marketing 

Inbound marketing is a lead generation strategy involving the creation of quality assets (think Ebooks, blogs, webinars etc) and marketing campaigns to attract or ‘pull’ potential customers to your business. The strategy is typically driven by a marketing team which is different from outbound sales (see O ) which is usually spearheaded by sales representatives.

Inbound marketing leverages three main marketing channels: SEO, content marketing and social media. 

 

Influencer marketing 

Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that involves collaborating with influencers to promote your company, product or service. Influencer marketing is a form of social proofing for your brand. These individuals have a high social following and are considered experts in their given niche or industry. 

Brands use influencer marketing to:

  • Increase brand awareness 
  • Tap into new markets 
  • Boost their own social media following 
  • Strengthen brand credibility and authority 
  • Gain consumer trust 
  • Educate buyers about their brand or product

 

KPI (key performance indicators)

KPI is short for key performance indicator, and is a quantifiable metric used to measure the performance of a critical business goal. KPIs provide a framework for progress, help marketers to make informed decisions and allow businesses to benchmark performance against their competition.

Below is a list of some of the major KPIs marketers should be tracking, categorised by channel:

Email marketing KPIs:

  • Number of new subscribers
  • Open rate 
  • Click-through rate (CTR)
  • Number of unsubscribes

SEO KPIs: 

  • Keyword ranking
  • Organic sessions 
  • Number of backlinks

Social media:

  • Follower count
  • Average engagement rate
  • Post reach

Paid media:

  • Cost per click
  • Click-through rate (CTR)
  • Conversion rat

Content marketing

  • Bounce rate
  • Inbound links
  • Time on page
  • Unique views

 

Feeling overwhelmed? Choosing and tracking KPIs can be complex. The good news is – that’s why Codi exists. When we first sit down with our clients, we conduct a full marketing audit to evaluate the success of your current marketing efforts. We establish goals, benchmarks and of course, help you determine core KPIs to measure your growth. 

Get started today: Speak to an expert.

 

Keyword 

In simple terms, a keyword is a word or phrase that is added to a webpage to boost its search engine ranking (SERP – see S) for that term. 

The right keywords should drive the right traffic to your website. For example, if you’re an audit technology company providing an AI tool for auditors, you don’t want to attract a travel agent looking for an AI chatbot solution instead. That’s why keyword research is so important. 

A good place to start with keyword research is by understanding your ideal customer profile (see ICP). What are they searching for answers to and challenges are they trying to solve? 

Once you have an idea as to what keywords, topics, categories you can then jump into a keyword research tool. SEMRush and Ahrefs are the two big ones, but if you don’t want to shell out for a subscription, Neil Patel offers a couple of good free ones as well. 

We’ve an awful lot more to say about this marketing term – check our guide to SEO best practices including useful tips on keyword research.

 

L

 

Lead magnet 

A lead magnet is high quality content (and we mean high quality) in the shape of Ebooks, industry reports, whitepapers, podcast recordings or webinars that provide real value to your potential customers. This is usually offered for free and should be gated using a landing page requiring users to fill out their name, email and company info to access the content.

The purpose of lead magnet is to capture those details, and in turn create the opportunity to nurture leads by sending out content that builds brand awareness, addresses common customer pain points, highlights your product’s key features and ultimately, pushes the lead further down the sales funnel. 

 

Lead nurturing emails 

These are a series of automated emails sent over a period of time that help prospective customers move further towards a purchase decision. For example, when a prospect downloads an eBook, they may be enrolled in an automated welcome series that introduces the lead to your SaaS brand, highlighting industry-specific case studies or emphasising the core features of your software.

 

Lead scanner

This is a lead scanning device or app that can capture attendees’ contact details directly from their badge or business card eliminating the need for manual entry. Lead scanners are particularly useful if your brand is attending or hosting an industry event. 

Popular apps include EventX, Webex and iCapture.

 

M

 

Marketing audit

At Codi, we talk a lot about marketing audits, mainly because they’re a super essential step in creating your SaaS marketing strategy. A marketing audit is a thorough investigation of your current marketing efforts to see what’s working, and what isn’t, as well as benchmark your performance against industry standards or competitors.

Here’s just a few of the things we look at when conducting a thorough marketing audit for our clients: 

  • Website health check – Is your domain authority low? Are keywords ranking well? Are backlinks high-quality? Is your bounce rate high? Is your website converting users into customers?
  • Content analysis – Does your content lack focus? Is it getting traction? Is your content generating leads?
  • Email marketing efforts – Are you growing a healthy subscriber list? Are your open and click-through rates hitting industry benchmarks? Are you leveraging segmented lists to personalise messaging?
  • Social media review – Is your website gaining traffic from your social media? Is your messaging clear and concise? Is your content differentiated by social media platform?
  • Outreach efforts – Are your buying personas well defined? Are conversion rates low? Is your messaging aligned to specific customer pains? Do you have a content bank of case studies and testimonials to support outreach?

 

Get started with your marketing audit today: Speak to an expert.

 

N

 

Nurture flows

Another one of the marketing terms associated with email marketing. A ‘flow’ refers to an automated sequence of emails triggered by a specific customer action Automated nurture flows allow you to nurture leads at scale and more efficiently guide them through the entire SaaS customer lifecycle from awareness, consideration, conversion through to retention.

Nurture flow emails allow you to build tailored workflows based on the action that a prospect has taken so far with your business. 

For example – if a lead has downloaded a guide to effectively managing event accountancy, you may wish to enrol them in a nurture flow that looks something like this: 

Email 1: Thanks for requesting the guide! Download link inside 

Email 2: [First Name], event accountancy resources just for you (this email would contain additional resources you have produced on the same topic) 

Email 3: How are [Lead Industry] organisations saving money with [Your company name]? (This might include a case study or client testimonial with a CTA to find out more) 

Email 4: Ready to take your event accounting to the next level? (This is your demo pitch – you’re trying to engage your lead to book a demo with you) 

The key things you need to remember with nurture flows are: 

  1. Build specific nurture flows depending on the action taken. For example, if they have downloaded content on one topic, don’t email them about a different subject entirely! 
  2. Make sure your content is aligned with the customer journey. Someone who has first heard about your brand and downloaded an eBook on Tuesday, likely isn’t going to be ready for a demo by Thursday. You need to make sure the next action you’re asking them to take isn’t a huge jump. 
  3. You’re trying to build trust and a relationship with this prospect – personalization is key. People buy from people and the more you can make it feel like you’re talking directly to them, the more successful your nurture flow will be

 

O

 

Open rate 

This is a metric, typically a percentage, used to measure the number of recipients who have opened your company email. For SaaS series A businesses, we’d suggest a good open rate for one-off email campaigns to be anything upwards of 25%. For lead nurture flows (see N – nurture flows), good looks like 35% and above.

 

Out-of-home marketing (OOH) 

One of those marketing terms that is really as simple as it sounds. Out-out-home marketing, or OOH for short, is marketing that takes place – you guessed it – outside of the house. This may look like billboards, signage, shopping centre displays, interactive digital screens, bus stop displays – all placed in high traffic public spaces leveraging attention-grabbing images and media.

Some benefits of OOH marketing include high visibility, broad audience reach, the opportunity to build brand awareness as well as to boost other marketing channels.

Outbound sales

Outbound sales is the proactive approach, usually taken by a company’s sales representative, of reaching out to prospective customers via email, cold calling or social media with the aim of increasing sales. The key word here is proactive. It’s about initiating contact and conversations with prospects, rather than waiting for them to come to you.

 

Pay per click (PPC)

Pay per click, or PPC, is a form of advertising where you pay a fee every time one of your ads is clicked on. 

 

Paid media 

Paid media is an effective form of advertising that involves promoting content through paid placements. Examples include social media ads, paid search results, display ads, popups and so on. Paid media allows companies to get in front of their target audience joining them wherever they are – be it Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Instagram.

Paid search and social campaigns can support pipeline growth, and at the same time help you build your organic presence.

Want to get going with Google Ads? Swat up here.

 

R

 

Reach 

When marketers talk about ‘reach’, they are referring to the number of people exposed to a specific post, campaign or piece of content, through a particular marketing channel.

 

Return on investment (ROI)

Return on Investment (ROI) is a metric used to determine how profitable an investment has been. To work out ROI you must compare the net profit or loss to its initial cost. Usually a percentage, ROI acts a crucial indicator for both investors and businesses to evaluate the efficiency of their investments.

 

S

 

SEO 

An essential marketing term for any business owner or marketer, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and refers to the process of increasing the traffic to a specific website page or piece of content by improving its search engine result ranking (SERP). 

Broadly speaking, there are three main types of SEO: 

On-page SEO – so the content on your website, think blog content, metadata, title tags, internal links – they’re all part of On page SEO.  

Off-page SEO – everything that is not on your website, but contributes to your online presence. The most obvious part of this is link-building, so other businesses linking to your website content, but it also includes your social media presence, reviews and any content you’re putting out across other platforms as well.

Technical SEO – I usually think of this as development SEO. It’s essentially the optimisation of your website’s backend combined with a bit of UX. To have a well optimised site from a technical SEO perspective, your website needs to be easy to understand and navigate for both users and Google bots. Without expertise in this area – it’s generally the hardest to manage and optimise, but that doesn’t mean we have to discard it completely. 

Marketers talk a lot about SEO, and if you’re wondering what on earth all the fuss is about, take a peek at our SEO guide, written by Codi’s resident content specialist, Miranda Ellis. 

 

T

 

Traffic sources 

Traffic sources are simply the origin that gets each visitor to your website. They help you understand which specific source locations are attracting more or less users, giving you a good overview of the flow of traffic to your B2B website. 

There are several types of traffic sources you can leverage to attract visitors to your website: 

  • Direct traffic refers to users who visit a website by typing the URL directly into their browser or using bookmarks.
  • Search/organic traffic comes from search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo when users find a website through a query.
  • Email traffic represents visitors who click on links within emails to reach a website.
  • Referral traffic comes from other websites when users click on links that lead to the website in question.
  • Display ad traffic is generated when users click on ads displayed on websites, apps, or social media platforms.
  • Organic social traffic is traffic generated from unpaid posts, shares, or interactions on social media platforms.
  • Paid social traffic is traffic generated from sponsored posts, ads, or promotions on social media platforms.
  • Paid search traffic refers to visitors who click on paid advertisements within search engine results pages (SERPs).

 

U

Unicorn marketer 

While not commonly used yet, this is one of those marketing terms gaining traction. A phrase we use regularly at Codi, a unicorn marketer is the idea that one marketer can be a SEO specialist, social media and email marketing expert, high-level strategist and graphic designer, all in one.

The issue with this idea is that marketers do not have the depth of experience across all these areas. Nobody is truly good at all of these roles and that puts businesses in a vulnerable position. For example, if an employee isn’t skilled in design, you risk your brand credibility, or if they’re bad with ads, you could be wasting a large chunk of money. 

Marketers should not be expected to repeatedly wear multiple different hats and take on the role of a unicorn marketer. Would you expect a surgeon to also be a GP, a nurse and a physician at the same time? Of course not, so why do we ask marketers to do the same? 

 

V

 

Value Proposition

A value proposition is a compelling message highlighting your product’s benefits and how it solves specific problems for your target market. This message should be communicated clearly and consistently across all of your marketing and digital assets and should differentiate your business from competitors.

 

Before you go…

Bookmark our list of marketing terms to refer back to when you need it!



Translate marketing terms into actionable strategies with Codi.