Glossary of Digital B2B Terminology

A

• Account-Based Marketing (ABM): A targeted marketing strategy where a business tailors its efforts to individual accounts, often using highly personalized content and campaigns.
• Analytics: The systematic computational analysis of data, often used to discover, interpret, and communicate meaningful patterns in data, particularly in digital marketing campaigns.
• Attribution Model: A framework for analyzing which marketing channels or touchpoints are responsible for conversions, helping marketers understand the customer journey.
  
  B​
  
• Buyer Persona: A semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. It includes demographic information, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals.
• Business-to-Business (B2B): Refers to transactions or business conducted between two companies rather than between a company and individual consumers.
  
  C
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): A metric that measures the percentage of people who click on an ad after seeing it. CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions (the number of times the ad is shown). A higher CTR indicates that the ad is compelling and relevant to the audience.
• Content Marketing: A strategy focused on creating, publishing, and distributing valuable content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience with the goal of driving profitable customer action.
• Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): The process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
• Cost-Per-Click (CPC): A digital advertising model where the advertiser pays a fee each time their ad is clicked. CPC is a key metric in Paid Search and Display Advertising, helping marketers determine the cost-effectiveness of their campaigns. The lower the CPC, the less it costs to drive traffic to the website.
• Cost-Per-View (CPV): A bidding model used in video advertising where the advertiser pays for each view of their video ad. CPV is calculated by dividing the total cost of the ad campaign by the number of views. This metric helps advertisers understand how much they are paying for each view and is commonly used in YouTube advertising.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): A technology for managing all your company's relationships and interactions with current and potential customers. CRM systems help businesses stay connected to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability.
  
  D
• Data-Driven Marketing: The use of data acquired through customer interactions and third parties to gain insights on customer motivations, preferences, and behaviors. This information is then used to optimize marketing strategies and campaigns.
• Demand Generation: A marketing strategy focused on building awareness and interest in a company's products or services, often leading to the creation of leads.
• Digital Transformation: The integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how businesses operate and deliver value to customers.
  
  E
• Email Marketing: The use of email to promote products or services while developing relationships with potential customers or clients.
• Engagement Rate: A metric used to measure the level of engagement that a piece of content receives from its audience, often expressed as a percentage of likes, shares, comments, and other interactions.
  
  F
• Funnel: The marketing funnel represents the stages a customer goes through from awareness to purchase, often visualized as a funnel to show the narrowing down of potential customers at each stage.
  
  G
• Gated Content: Content that is hidden behind a form or other barrier, requiring users to provide information, such as their email address, before accessing it. This is often used for lead generation.
• Growth Hacking: A strategy focused on rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective ways to grow a business.
  
  H
• HubSpot: A software platform designed to help companies manage their marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. It’s often used for inbound marketing.
• Hyper-Personalization: An advanced method of personalization that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data to deliver more relevant content, product, and service information to each user.
  
  I
• Impressions: The number of times an ad is shown to users, regardless of whether it was clicked or not. Impressions are a basic metric in digital advertising, reflecting the reach of an ad. High impressions with low CTR can indicate that while an ad is being seen, it may not be engaging enough to prompt clicks.
• Inbound Marketing: A strategy that focuses on attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them. It involves drawing customers in rather than pushing products outward.
• Intent Data: Information that indicates a potential customer's intent to purchase, based on their behavior and interactions with digital content.
  
  K
• Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives.
  
  L
• Lead Generation: The process of attracting and converting strangers or prospects into someone who has indicated interest in your company's product or service. This is often achieved through various marketing tactics such as content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing. Difference from Demand Generation: While Lead Generation focuses on capturing interest and converting it into actionable leads, Demand Generation is broader, aiming to create awareness and interest in a product or service across the entire market, often targeting a larger audience. Demand Generation nurtures potential customers through the sales funnel, whereas Lead Generation typically occurs later in the funnel, focusing on converting that interest into leads for the sales team.
• Lead Nurturing: The process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel and through every step of the buyer's journey.
• Lead Scoring: A methodology used to rank prospects against a scale that represents the perceived value each lead represents to the organization.
  
  M
• Marketing Automation: Technology that manages marketing processes and multifunctional campaigns, across multiple channels, automatically.
• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): A lead that has been deemed more likely to become a customer compared to other leads, based on lead intelligence.
• Multi-Channel Marketing: The practice of interacting with customers using a combination of indirect and direct communication channels—websites, retail stores, mail order catalogs, direct mail, email, mobile, etc.—and enabling customers to take action in response using the channel of their choice.
  
  N
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): A metric used to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction, often calculated by asking customers how likely they are to recommend a product or service to others.
• Nurture Campaign: A series of communications, typically email, designed to guide prospects through the buyer's journey by providing useful information and resources.
• O
• Omnichannel Marketing: A strategy that provides a seamless customer experience across all channels, whether online or offline. Unlike multi-channel marketing, omnichannel is centered around the customer, aiming to create a unified brand experience across all touchpoints.
  
  P
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC): An advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked, often used to drive traffic to websites.
• Personalization: Tailoring content and marketing messages to individual customers based on data and insights about their preferences and behaviors.
• Programmatic Advertising: The use of automated software to purchase digital advertising. Unlike traditional methods of digital advertising, which involves requests for proposals, tenders, quotes, and human negotiation, programmatic buying uses machines and algorithms to purchase display space
  
  R
• Real-Time Bidding (RTB): A digital advertising process that allows advertisers to bid in real-time for ad impressions on websites and apps. RTB occurs within milliseconds as a page loads, and the highest bidder's ad is shown to the user. This automated auction system is a core component of programmatic advertising and allows for highly targeted and efficient ad placements.
• Remarketing: Often used interchangeably with retargeting, but there can be subtle differences. Remarketing typically refers to re-engaging customers through email or other direct communication methods after they have shown interest in your products or services but did not convert. Remarketing campaigns might involve sending follow-up emails, offering special discounts, or providing additional information. Difference from Retargeting: While Retargeting focuses on displaying ads to users as they browse other sites, Remarketing generally refers to reaching out to users via email or other direct channels after they have interacted with your brand.
• Retargeting: A form of online advertising that specifically targets users who have previously visited a website or interacted with a brand but did not complete a desired action, such as making a purchase. Retargeting typically uses cookies to track users across the web and serves them ads related to the content they viewed or interacted with.
• Return on Investment (ROI): A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment, often calculated as net profit divided by the cost of the investment
  
  S
• Sales Funnel: A model that illustrates the journey prospects go through, from initial awareness to the final decision to purchase.
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Originally, SEM referred to all marketing activities within search engines, encompassing both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Ads. It was an umbrella term for increasing visibility on search engines through organic and paid methods. However, over time, SEM has become more commonly associated specifically with Paid Ads on search engines, such as Google Ads. While SEO focuses on optimizing content and website structure to improve organic search rankings, SEM (in its current, more narrow usage) is primarily about bidding on keywords to display ads at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The practice of improving the ranking of a website on search engines through various techniques, such as keyword optimization and link building.
  
  T
• Total Addressable Market (TAM): The total revenue opportunity available if a product or service achieves 100% market share.
• Thought Leadership: The practice of positioning yourself or your organization as a leader in your industry by sharing expert knowledge and insights.
  
  V
• Value Proposition: A statement that explains how a product or service solves a problem, provides a benefit, or improves a situation for a customer, and what differentiates it from competitors.
• View-Through Rate (VTR): The percentage of people who watched a video ad to its completion. VTR is calculated by dividing the number of completed views by the total number of impressions. A higher VTR indicates that the video content is engaging enough for viewers to watch it until the end.
• Views: In the context of video ads, a "view" typically refers to the number of times a video ad has been watched. On platforms like YouTube, a view is often counted when a user watches 30 seconds of a video ad (or the entire ad if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with the ad, whichever comes first.
  
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• Watch Time: The total amount of time that viewers spend watching a video ad. Watch Time is a key metric in video marketing because it reflects viewer engagement and the effectiveness of the video content.
• Webinar: An online seminar or workshop, often used for marketing purposes to educate or inform a target audience.
• White Paper: An authoritative report or guide that addresses a specific issue or problem, often used in B2B marketing to generate leads by providing in-depth information.