You’re probably in a hurry, so we’ll keep this short - we’re here to talk to you about acronyms.  Who has time to say the full names of everything nowadays? LOL, WFH, IKEA… (yeah, we had no idea the last one was an acronym either). 

Our point is: acronyms are everywhere, and the world of digital marketing is no different. It can be hard to keep up with every single one, so we’ve made a handy glossary with some of the most common digital marketing acronyms that you need to know!

KPI 

Key Performance Indicator

You’re likely to have come across the term KPI before, as it’s used in all areas of a business. Every team, department or company will have different KPIs which relate to their main operations, and the KPIs serve as a way to accurately track performance. KPIs are usually numerical in nature which allows you to analyse and visualise the data, as well as recognise trends. Examples of KPIs include the number of orders placed, the percentage of members retained and the increase in social media followers. 

ROI

Return on Investment

They say you’ve got to spend money to make money, and that’s what a company’s ROI is all about. You can think up the most spectacular marketing campaigns or branding redesigns or events but the aim of the game is to get out more than you put in - i.e. a return on your investment. The higher the ROI, the more successful you’ve been!

OOH

Out of Home (advertising)

OOH describes advertising which is experienced by consumers outside of the home or on-the-go, such as billboards and posters, as well as displays on public transport and street furniture. OOH is becoming increasingly digitised, allowing advertisers to provide more dynamic, relevant and vibrant adverts.

CPC

Cost-per-click

The CPC of a paid advertisement refers to how many people clicked on it compared to how much you paid for the advert. A general rule of thumb for businesses is that a 5:1 revenue to cost ratio is ideal - meaning that for each £10 you spend you’d be getting £50 back. This means that the ideal CPC varies between businesses, depending on how many sales you’re able to convert from clicks and how much your products or services cost. For example, if your product sells for £100 and you convert 2% of all clicks into a sale, you should aim for a CPC of 40p. If your product sells for £10,000 and you convert 2% of all clicks into a sale, you can afford to pay a CPC of £40. 

PPC

Pay-per-click

PPC refers to a type of paid digital advertising which aims to drive consumers to your website. Advertisers bid on the perceived value of a click and pay the publisher whenever the advert is clicked. The key to a successful PPC campaign is understanding which keywords are most relevant to a brand and its prospective customers. 

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of the organic traffic visiting your website. Rather than focusing on sponsored search results or other paid advertisements, SEO aims to get your website as high as possible in the search engine results for relevant keywords. This can be done in many ways, for example by increasing how much certain keywords are mentioned on your website or how many times your website is linked to across the internet (backlinks). Great SEO means your website will rank high on the SERP when people search the relevant keywords.

SERP

Search Engine Results Page

A SERP is the page you see whenever you conduct a search on any search engine. Generally, SERPs will feature the paid adverts (usually PPC) followed by organic results. 95% of Google results clicked are organic, which is why SEO is becoming more and more important. 

AIDA

Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action

A common acronym in the worlds of both digital and traditional marketing, AIDA refers to the customer journey from the second they first become aware of your brand to the time they make their first purchase with you. Every prospective customer will travel along the AIDA journey, and it’s up to you to make their journey as short and seamless as possible.

CTA

Call-to-action

“Call now to book your place!”, “Buy now!”, “Click to view what’s on sale!”... sound familiar? These are all common CTAs designed to get customers from the ‘desire’ stage of AIDA to the ‘action’ stage, where they book an appointment or make a purchase. The clearer and more persuasive your CTAs, the better - for example, CTAs which invoke a sense of urgency (sale ends Sunday!) are generally more likely to be successful than those without.

CTR

Click-through ratio

The CTR refers to the proportion of people who clicked your CTA out of how many viewed it in total. This can easily be tracked on social media posts and marketing emails, but can also be useful in tracking the success of various online adverts such as banners. The higher your CTR, the more successful your post or advert.

B2B

Business-to-business

B2B refers to a business model which sells its products or services to other businesses, as opposed to consumers. This impacts the way a business markets its products, including which platforms they advertise on, the language and imagery they use and how they communicate with their customers. Companies with a B2B business model may provide services such as marketing, IT or training, or they may sell their products to wholesalers to sell to consumers. 

B2C

Business-to-consumer

B2C businesses provide their products and services directly to consumers who are purchasing them for personal use. B2C businesses are much more likely to advertise on platforms like Tiktok as opposed to Linkedin, which attracts more B2B businesses. Common B2Cs include salons, clothing retailers and restaurants, whilst common products include clothes, toys and home decor.

At UNBXD, we specialise in working as strategic partners to create clear digital marketing strategies and engaging content. Our experienced team have worked with companies such as LG and Nike to deliver successful campaigns which utilise a range of services, from social media strategies to SEO and PPC. 
Use our live chat service, email us on hello@unbxd.co.uk, pop us a call on 01202 800273 or fill in this form to get started!