Understanding Those Digital Marketing Acronyms
by Colleen Mustard on July 6th, 2020
I’m sure, while browsing the internet, you’ve come across digital marketing websites and noticed the use of acronyms on their web pages. They all look like a load of jargon to the lay person and we understand the struggle of trying to understand them all.
It’s a bit mind-boggling, to say the least, and extremely frustrating when you don’t know what on earth they mean. There a hundreds of them out there but i will cover a collection of the most commonly used ones along with a short explanation (in plain english) of each.
I hope this comes in handy for anyone wanting to pursue a career in marketing, or even the avarage Joe that just wants to understand it all. Let’s get started in alphabetical order.
API – Application Programming Interface
These are a set of functions that basically allow your website server to chat directly to Google’s server. Let’s say for example you type in https://twitter.com/ into your browser. A request will be sent to Twitter’s server and when your browser gets a response, it will translate the code and display the relevant page.
AOV – Average Order Value
This is simply the average amount of money that a customer spends in a single transaction on your eCommerce store.
B2B – Business To Business
If your marketing is geared towards an organisation or business, or you sell to them rather than private consumers, then you are using B2B strategies
B2C – Business To Consumer
This is the opposite of B2B. This entails marketing your services or products directly to consumers.
CMS – Content Management System
If you don’t have any coding skills, then this is a software application that will allow you to build and manage a website.
CPC – Cost Per Click
This refers to the price that an advertiser, or website owner will pay the company who published the add, for each click on a link.
CR – Conversion Rate
Let’s say you own a website and you reveive 100 visitors per month, and have 50 sales. Your conversion rate would be 50 divided by 100. So you would be enjoying a 50% conversion rate.
CSS - Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets are basically instruments that allow web designers to add colours, layouts, and fonts to web documents. It serves as a styling lingo that controls the visual components of a web page
CTA – Call To Action
A common one in digital marketing. This is simply those little tabs you find on a website or email that prompt you to take action. Eg: “Shop Now” “Learn More” or “Sign Up” etc
CTR – Click-Through Rate
Let’s say you clicked on that CTA (call to action) like “Sign Up” Click Through Rate is is the ratio of the number of clicks on that link, to the number of times people were exposed to the link. It’s a method of measuring the number of clicks an ad receives per impression. It basically shows how often your ad got clicked on.
HTML – HyperText Markup Language
HTML defines the structure of content on the world wide web. It is what the web was built on and it displays and formats documents on it.
HTTPS – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure
This protects communication on the web. Basically, the communication between browser and server are protected from attackers. In a nut-shell, your communication on the web is protected from being attacked and intercepted.
IMAP – Internet Message Access Protocol
IMAP describes the accepted, or established code of procedure for retrieving messages from an email server. It allows the user to access the same email account on different computers when sychronized.
ISP – Internet service provider
The company that provides users with access to the internet. Your connection to the internet is routed through an ISP
OS – Operating System
An OS is software that acts as a frontier, or crossing point between the user and computer hardware. It aids in communicating with your computer without having to speak it’s language
POS – Point Of Sale
This refers to the place where a customer executes payment for services or goods.
ROI – Return On Investment
ROI is a tool used in business to evaluate your investment with regard to how efficiant it is. It measures rates of return on money that you have invested in a business. So the bottom line here is that you will always want an increased ROI. Getting back more money than you invested is the goal after all.
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
A common strategy used in digital marketing. It is the process of strategically optimising your website by using words and phrases to increase traffic and sales
SSL – Secure Sockets Layer
SSL makes sure that data being transferred between a client and a server remains private
TOS – Terms Of Service
These are regulations that users must agree, and adhere to in order to use your services. Pretty basic.
UI – User Interface
This is, in simple terms, the point of interaction and communication between humans and computers. UI aids in controlling the device you interact with, eg an app, display screen or website page.
URL – Uniform Resource Locator
Also referred to as a web address, a URL identifies files on the internet. It is normally https:// followed by your domain name.
UX – User Experience
This should be the foundation of any marketing or corporate strategy. It is the interaction that consumers have with services or products. Creating pleasurable, relevant, and gratifying experiences is the objective of UX design.
Till next time…..Here’s your Quote
"The key test for an acronym is to ask whether it helps or hurts communication
Elon Musk
Share Some Love
