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What language is that? Marketing acronyms explained

  • 03 January 2017
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Marketing in a digital age can mean a whole new language sometimes. I frequently find myself accidentally using acronyms that my clients have no understanding of. While I am rambling on about SEO, CTR and CRM systems, my clients are looking at me like I have a Venus Fly Trap growing out of my head.

I have worked to compile a small list of some of the most common acronyms and put them below. I will expand on this list later on, but I wanted to start simple, which I believe is a good philosophy for life in general.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization.

I would say that this is the single most important acronym for marketers in the digital age. Search Engine Optimization is working with the complex and ever changing and mysterious algorithms that are used by, you guessed it! Search Engines! As people use google for everything these days, the importance of this cannot be emphasized enough. Without SEO we are lost in the great vast interweb never to be found by potential clients or customers.

CTR – Click Through Rate

This is a common one for anyone who has ever done digital advertising. From a Facebook ad to a Google AdWords campaign, Click Through Rate is important because it shows how well your ads are working. A good way to ensure  your ads most effective is to do A/B testing with your different ads to see which has a higher clickthrough rate. While that is not the only thing to look at with testing, it is an easy way for beginners to start practicing.

CPC – Cost Per Click

Another import metric to look at with your digital ad spend is of course, how much you are actually spending. Cost Per Click can be one of the trickiest parts of digital marketing to perfect in my opinion. Earlier today I was estimating an ad campaign for my own website, and saw that if I wanted to target local searchers who were looking up “email marketing,” I would pay an estimated $60 per click to bring in those potential visitor to my website! You can see how easily this can get out of hand, and how it must be managed well in order to maximize a budget.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management

This acronym is the one that shocks me that more people do now know what it is, as I think it is the single most powerful tool that a company can use with their clients. CRM software is abundant and can do just about everything that you can think of. Many sales people do not utilize their CRM system and think of it more as a hassle than a tool. They could not be more wrong! If you have a lot of clients, a CRM is the best tool to keep them engaged. If you haven’t heard from a client in a while, you can set a reminder in your system to reach back out on a monthly basis. One of the best parts for me is jotting down the little notes that help to build a relationship. e.g. Client A adores his dog, who is a Great Pyrenees named Wolf. Client B is allergic to nuts. Client C has a 50th wedding anniversary coming up. Remembering these things helps to build long lasting and successful business relationships over time.