The Marketing Glossary of Buzzwords Marketers Should Know

It seems like every year, the rules of the marketing game change. What are we after — visibility or engagement? What type of marketing do you need to employ to get your brand in front of an audience who will both buy your product and be loyal over time? You need to be on top of your game, and you need to be able to speak confidently about different tactics (and why you’re using them). We’ve compiled a marketing glossary of buzzwords for you to add to your arsenal below.

Clickability
Clickability refers to both the functionality and the “want” to click a link, ad, etc. Ultimately, high clickability is good, and poor clickability is bad.

Engagement
Engagement is the two-way conversation between a brand and its customers. This goes beyond simple social media engagement to include both online and offline conversations and discussions. The goal of engagement is to drive awareness and brand affinity — with sales as the end goal.

ROI
Return on Investment (ROI) is a metric that gauges whether or not a particular tactic or campaign is beneficial to the company. The formula for ROI is gain from investment (i.e. sales) minus the cost of the investment divided by the cost of investment. A positive ROI means that a campaign is working. Negative ROI means that marketers should review the results and tweak/optimize campaigns.

Contextual Marketing
This type of ad model involves targeting people based on their interests, which are determined by recent website visits or search terms. The goal is to target people already interested in particular services or products to improve clickability or conversions.

Native Marketing
Many marketers get Native Marketing confused with Contextual Marketing. They are actually very different. Native Marketing ads look and behave like the content in which they are embedded. Users shouldn’t be able to distinguish this content from other content on the platform or website.

Synergy
Synergy is at the heart of integrated marketing. It involves two or more marketing initiatives working together to produce better results and improve ROI. Campaigns support one another to elicit better responses. For example, a campaign uses social media, email and paid search to serve as many impressions as possible to users who may be interested in an upcoming event.

Gamification
People love games and spend hours playing them. Gamification uses the elements of traditional game mechanics and design and overlays them on non-game related activities, i.e. marketing campaigns and apps.

Thought Leader
Thought leaders are the people to whom consumers and others within the same industry turn to for answers and opinions. They are extremely influential. Marketers should strive to create thought leaders within their clients’ or internal organizations via content and content marketing efforts.

Innovation
Marketing innovation is necessary if marketers want to keep a competitive advantage and capitalize on ROI. It involves embracing new technologies and creating multi-touch, multi-channel and integrated marketing campaigns.

Infographic
Infographics aren’t a new concept, but they are an important tool in any marketer’s content marketing toolkit. Infographics are graphical representations of data that make it easier for consumers to read and understand the data and its meaning.

Content is King
This term may date back to the 1930s, but it has gained popularity with the advent of the Internet. Quality content is important for nearly every aspect of the online marketing game. Users are more apt to share good content. Quality content is now taken into account in Google’s PageRank algorithm, and it also builds thought leadership and authority. Marketers should never skimp on content just to push something out.

Digital marketing and advertising terms have power, not only in their meaning but also in their implementation. While keeping up with every term and definition is impossible, marketing glossary of buzzwords will give you the baseline you need for success.