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So many people love to use jargon to look smarter, or more professional. And that’s also the case for marketers. On top of that, technology evolves incredibly fast and new ways of doing marketing pop up all the time. And even though some of these words can be useful to communicate new concepts or trends, they can hurt your credibility. In this blog post, we are sharing some marketing buzzwords you should know, and some to avoid altogether.
A/B testing is a method in which two variants of for example an advertisement, web page or e-mail campaign are tested to see which one performs better. The winning version is then used for the rest of the campaign. It is an essential tool for making data-driven decisions and optimize your marketing campaigns.
Session duration refers to the amount of time a visitor spends on your website. The longer your session duration is, the more it means that your content is valuable for your visitors, or that they get a good user experience.
Evergreen content is content that stays relevant and doesn’t get outdated quickly. It’s the type of content that keeps on pulling in organic traffic long after it was published. It’s definitely something to incorporate in your content marketing.
The customer journey describes the interactions a customer has with a brand from the moment they gain awareness about the problem they are trying to solve until after their purchase. Understanding the customer journey helps you as a marketer gain insights into their needs and behavior. It helps you build your strategy, and map out marketing automation workflows that work for you.
User generated content is a type of content that is created by users or clients of your brand, like pictures, video’s or reviews. This type of content is often used to appear more authentic and reliable, and can positively impact trust in your brand.
Programmatic advertising is the automatic process of buying ads online. In this process, algorithms are used to place the ads, based on the data it has about your target audience.
Paid traffic refers to any kind of traffic that you get through paid advertisements. This can be Google Ads or any social media ads.
Cost per click or CPC is the cost you pay for every click on an advertisement you placed in a PPC campaign. CPC is often used in Google Ads and social media advertising.
Cost per acquistion refers to the cost you pay to generate one new customer or conversion. It is a metric you can use to measure your campaign ROI.
A CTR or Click-through rate is the percentage of people that click on a link in your ads, in emails or on a web page. It’s a metric that people use to measure the effectiveness of digital campaigns.
A tracking pixel is a small piece of code that is placed on your website to be able to track how users interact with your website. It gathers information for example about how visitors enter your website, how they interact and how they convert.
A drip campaign is a series of automated emails you send to leads or customers, based on predefined trickers or filters. The ‘drip’ part refers to ‘dripping’ pieces of information over a longer period of time with the goal of nudging leads and clients a bit closer to a purchase decision with every drip.
Omnichannel marketing refers to an integrated marketing approach in which several different channels are combined to create a consistent user experience to customers across different channels. Common channels include social media, websites, emails and physical stores.
Your organization’s churn rate is the percentage of customers that stops using your product or service over a certain period of time. Lowering your churn rate is essential for customer retention.
A conversion rate is the percentage of visitors that perform a desired action, like buying someing, registering for your newsletter of downloading an ebook. Optimizing this rate is crucial for your digital marketing success.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the practice of getting your website to the top of search engine results. You use SEO (search engine optimization) or online ads to make your website easy to find using search engines.
The Customer Lifetime Value is a an estimate of the total value a customer is expected to generate for your business throughout the relationship. Understanding CLV helps marketers better decide how much to invest in customer acquisition and retention.
Social listening is the process of monitoring social media platforms for mentions of your brand, competitors or relevant topics. It helps companies analyze customer feedback, discover trends and respond quickly to problems or opportunities.
ABM is a targeted B2B strategy where marketing and sales teams work together to target specific, high-value accounts with customized campaigns. This increases the likelihood of conversion with large customers.
Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with potential customers by providing them with targeted content during their journey through the marketing funnel until they are ready to convert. Email marketing plays a big role here.
This was once a powerful word to describe how a brand or a technology completely changed an industry. But it has been overused so much that nowadays it’s just a meaningless buzzword. If your company is really innovative, then show it, don’t tell it.
For anybody ‘doing’ social media, going viral seems to be the goal. And while it’s certainly a positive thing if a post goes viral, using the term can make it seem like it is something predictable. It’s also vague. Instead, you should create quality content that is aligned with your goals and aims at growing your organization over time.
Another vague and overused word. Sure, synergies are positive, but what does it mean exactly? It’s better to be specific about how a collaboration would work exactly, and what benefits it brings to both parties.
While positioning yourself or your brand as an authority is important, overusing “thought leader” without demonstrating real expertise can come across as pretentious. Instead, share valuable insights and let others recognize your expertise naturally.
This term refers to easily achievable goals, but it can sound lazy or dismissive. Instead, be specific about opportunities or easy wins and how your strategy will capitalize on them. It also downplays the value you deliver, which you should never do.
Too many companies use this word without actually knowing what it stands for. It is often used to claim quick response times or flexibility, without explaining how exactly they adapt to customer needs.
Thanks to AI, words like fast-paced, or delve, or leverage, are completely overused and lost all their meaning. The list goes on. If you want to sound human and real, you need to look for alternatives.
“Best-in-class” claims can be vague and subjective, especially without proof or data to back them up. Instead, use measurable results or testimonials to demonstrate why your product or service stands out.
Putting the customer at the heart of your strategy is definitely essential. But the term “customer-centric” is often used vaguely and without any real proof. Just calling yourself customer-centric isn’t enough: show how your business prioritizes customer needs through actions and specific examples. You won’t need to call your company customer-centric anymore, people will just know because of your actions.
Similar to “disruptive,” “game-changer” is thrown around too often, especially when the impact of the product or service is not that significant. Instead, use concrete examples to explain why something is impactful rather than resorting to cliché words.
While certain marketing buzzwords can effectively communicate new trends and ideas, overusing vague or outdated terms can weaken your message. Knowing which buzzwords to embrace and which ones to avoid will help you convey your strategies more clearly. By prioritizing specific, meaningful language over clichés, you’ll build stronger connections with your audience and ensure your marketing efforts stand out in today’s overcrowded landscape.
In this free report, we share insights and data about how disconnection hurts your company, and how you can fix this.
