Terminology
We’ll help you to sort through the sea of acronyms and technical terminology the marketing worlds insists upon. Use our handy resource chart and discover that a "GIF" is not a type of peanut butter and that a JPEG is not something a one-legged pirate uses to walk.
A.I.D.A.
A model depicting the successive stages a buyer passes through during the personal selling process. The letters stand for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
Acrobat
A series of applications developed by Adobe to create and view PDF files. Acrobat is used to create the PDF files, and Acrobat Reader is used to view the PDF files.
Animated GIF
A photographic animation consisting of a series of two or more overlapping images to create motion.
Annual Report
A document, published yearly, that acts to instill confidence by communicating marketplace news, operations, management, fiscal information and other relevant details. These are generally presented to share and stockholders or the general public.
Artwork
Digital files of a marketing element ready for print or media production. The artwork files assure that all specifications are met as they relate to resolution, color, typography, size, trim, bleed, etc.
Attributes
A characteristic of an organization, product or service that can be positive, negative, emotional or functional. These can be measured and benchmarked.
Awareness
Consumers’ ability to recall a company, product, brand, etc, either from a list or from memory that is built through branding. It is the first and most important part of the buying process.
Backgrounder
A tool for media to use, which includes the history and bare facts of a product or service.
Banner Ad
A Web site ad found on any Web page selling space. They are most often designed as hot links along the top or sides of the page to attract visitors, create awareness and increase web traffic. Banner ads also increase revenue through various advertising programs in which the host of the site displaying an ad is paid by the number of clicks.
Barrier to Entry
A defensible factor that a company can use to prevent a competitor from entering a particular market (e.g., high initial investment).
Belief
A state of mind resulting in a descriptive thought people have about a brand, company, product, service, idea, innovation or issue.
Bitmap Image (bmp)
A graphic, which is defined by specifying the colors of dots or pixels, which make up the picture. It is also defined as an image stored as a specific arrangement pixels. Also known as raster graphics. Examples of common types of bitmap images are GIF, JPEG, Photoshop PSD and TIFF.
Bleed
In print design, when a page or a cover design extends to and off the edge of the paper, it is called a "bleed". To achieve this, the artwork or block of color is printed on larger-size paper and is then trimmed to the desired size.
Blog
Or web log is a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order.
Boilerplate
Consistent, written information about a company that can be repurposed to save time on news releases, formal letters, contracts, emails and other forms of communication.
Brainstorming
A creative process in which multiple minds converge on a central theme and work objectively, subjectively and collectively to formulate many ideas that may lead to a viable solution.
Brand
The representative elements, symbols, trademarks, attributes and messages of a company, product or person as experienced by the consumer; perceptions that distinguish a company or product from its competitors. Brands signify decision-making and can represent an assurance of quality.
Brand Awareness
The portion of a target audience that recalls a specific brand and serves as a common measure of marketing communications effectiveness.
Brand Essence
The promise that any brand may express in its simplest form (e.g., Mercedes stands for engineering excellence, Volvo stands for safety, etc).
Brand Message
How the brand is defined in the mind of the customer through a torrent of thoughts, ideas, emotions, images and beliefs.
Brand Promise
A stated guarantee on how the brand will fulfill specific customer needs in an ever-changing market.
Branding
The strategic and creative use of a company's or product’s representative elements (e.g., logos, symbolism, ideas, promises, etc) that provides unique positioning against competitors. Branding is managed as a valuable asset.
Breadcrumb Navigation
Locates the current Web page in a navigation. It allows the user to know where the page they are currently viewing falls in the site map. Also referred to as a "breadcrumb trail."
Browser
The software used to view, manage, and access web pages by interpreting hypertext and hyperlinks. Examples of common browsers are Netscape, Internet Explorer, Safari, Camino, Mozilla, Firefox and Opera. Web pages will appear differently depending on the kind and version of the browser used to view them.
Business Development
A number of techniques and responsibilities designed to create new customers and penetrate new or existing markets. Business development involves marketplace evaluation leading to deliberate action using such tools as marketing, sales promotion, information management and customer service.
Buzz
A state of public attention in which consumer excitement over a product, company, event or service has increased due to the media giving special attention. This results in people passing along information to family and friends by word-of-mouth and social media.
Campaign
A series of print, web, broadcast and radio initiatives energetically pursued to achieve a large-scale objective.
Clutter
A vast number of competing advertisements and messages that instill a din in the media landscape, resulting in little attention from an audience. More creative forms are required to garner attention when clutter is pervasive.
CMYK
Stands for the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (K). In print design, all colors are defined as a percentage of each of these four colors, which provides for a couple thousand possible color tints, shades and schemes. In contrast, display devices (i.e., computer monitors) typically define colors using RGB, which allows for several million colors.
Co-Branding
An arrangement between two or more companies to cooperatively create a better offer in order to strengthen sales and add value for the participants (e.g., Gatorade offers a promotion to collect UPC codes to redeem for a Nike t-shirt, while Nike offers coupons for Gatorade).
Co-op Advertising
An agreement between a manufacturer and retailer to share the costs of advertising and marketing at the local level with the understanding that the manufacturer’s name will appear or be heard.
Collateral
Print media used to support awareness-building sales or post purchase validation of a product or service through relevant information.
Color
A major component of visual imagery that causes emotional and subjective responses and impacts attitudes about products, services, ideas and decision-making. Color is used by marketers to communicate specific associations, create an identity and differentiate one brand from another.
Commodity
A standard, compatible product or service competing solely on its functional attributes that differs little between competing alternatives without marketing initiatives applied.
Communication
Transmitting and receiving information through all the senses in all forms of media in order to establish facts, ideas and opinions.
Comp
A full color mock-up, taken to the client, that shows the most accurate representation of what the final work will be.
Conditioning
Consistent marketing actions that a company uses to foster favorable impressions of its brand’s associated benefits.
Consistency
The harmony in a system and its components. The implementation of a brand’s identity, position and tone across all customer touchpoints.
Consumer
The ultimate user of goods or services in a particular market for direct use or ownership.
Consumer Behavior
Quantitative and qualitative research that focuses on psychographics, e.g. the criteria for segmenting consumers by life-style, attitudes, beliefs, values, personality, preferences, buying habits and buying motives.
Convergence Marketing
The coming together of two or more disparate disciplines or technologies.
Conversional Marketing
Activities designed to change consumers’ minds, beliefs or attitudes about a product or service.
Cookie
A cookie is a tiny message given to a browser by a web server. The purpose of cookies is to identify web site users/visitors and to prepare personalized web pages for them.
Copy
The spoken or written words in a commercial, advertisement, Web site or any marketing vehicle which must be impactful, fast and targeted to a specific audience. It must adopt a distinct tone of voice to draw associations with the brand.
Copyright
Legal protection given to an author, designer, etc, for the exclusive right to his or her own intellectual property.
Core Value
The unique patterns of an organizational culture as expressed by the attitudes, beliefs and behavior of its members.
Corporate Identity
A company brand communicated through name, trademarks, logo, color, typography, symbols, messages and all other supporting marketing elements. Also includes key messages, tone, style, music and branding standards.
Cost per Inquiry (C.P.I.)
The cost of getting one individual to inquire about your product or service. The formula is derived by dividing the total cost of the marketing communications tool by the number of inquires received.
Cost per Order (C.P.O.)
A measure that determines the number of orders generated, relative to the cost of running a campaign. The formula is derived by dividing total cost of a direct marketing campaign by number of orders received. Based on actual orders rather than inquiries.
Cost per Thousand (C.P.M.)
The cost of reaching 1,000 members of the target audience. This is the common rate used for list rentals, when fee is based on actual orders rather than inquiries.
Creative Platform
An essential element of the planning process that identifies specific marketing obstacles, key customer benefits, a proposed selling strategy including objectives and the creative rationale and how it will support all of the communications strategies. It may also include other viable information such as an audience profile and competitive assessment.
Crisis Management
A written and rehearsed contingency plan used by organizations to respond to emergencies in order to reduce negative impact to the brand.
Crop Marks
90º horizontal and vertical lines that indicate the edge of the printed piece where the trim will take place.
Cross-Selling
Encouraging customers who buy one product or service to buy additional products or services from the same company.
Culture
A group of people joined together by shared beliefs, attitudes and practices. The collective sum of an organization’s total values, history, policies, beliefs, activities and practices including operating style and behavior.
Customer Satisfaction
Meeting the needs, desires and expectations of a customer.
Cutlines
Explanatory text that provides information about illustrations and photographs. Sometimes called captions or legends.