Digital marketing comes with a whole new vocabulary. And to make it even more challenging, the industry comes with heavy use of acronyms! Should it ever get overwhelming, you’ll want to be able to refer to definitions of certain acronyms. We have hand-picked a few frequently used ones here for you. Specifically 20 digital marketing acronyms for your digital marketing 2020!
What are digital marketing acronyms?
Acronyms are words or names that are formed from the parts of a longer name or phrase. They help with saving your breath, not needing to write so much, and just being easier to remember than the full names of things. Well here are the 20 digital marketing acronyms we promised you:
API – this one stands for Application Programming Interface, which is basically a set of tools and protocols you need to integrate software applications. Confused? Think of it this way. Different programs and applications speak different languages. For the programs to be able to communicate effectively, you’re going to need a ‘translator’. That is what the API is there for.
AR – Augmented Reality is very similar to virtual reality. It’s when the worlds of the real and the virtual collide. A good way to understand this is to open up your Snapchat or Facebook Messenger camera. Now, when you’re taking a selfie you can add different filters to make yourself appear differently in real-time on your phone. This is augmented reality.
B2B – sounds like a boyband, but it actually stands for business to business. This is generally when there are commercial transactions between businesses where one business provides something that another business needs. The typical example is the automobile industry and all the car parts like tires and batteries. But in the digital age, you should know that Google Suite and Dropbox for example, also qualify as B2B.
B2C – not an alternative version of the ABCs, this stands for business to consumer. Typically involving commercial transactions between a business and a consumer. Quite straightforward.
CPA – does not stand for certified public accountant! (as more commonly known). It’s one of the most important digital marketing acronyms. This stands for Cost Per Acquisition/Action. This is a pricing model for digital businesses that relates to how much the advertiser pays for each acquisition/action.
CPC – Cost Per Click. Yes, this is when you click on those advertisement banners at the tops or sides of webpages. Each time you click on them, the advertiser pays a pre-set amount.
CR – it’s important that you know how many users are taking actions like registering, filling out forms, or buying a product on your website. We do this by measuring the Conversion Rate. Let’s say that 100 people visit your website, and 50 of them make a purchase through the store. That’s a 50% conversion rate.
CRM – relationships are important in any situation, in business even more so! Customer Relationship Management helps you in the same way an address book does, by organizing your contact information and helping you to easily keep track of how you interact with current and prospective customers. And, to top it off, it’s data-driven! My question was this, “Is this a program, an app, or just a strategy? Well, the answer is that it’s all of them.
CRO – if you want people to take action when they visit your website, then Conversion Rate Optimisation is vital. You do this in order to enable people to have the easiest time as possible doing the required actions, be it filling a form or purchasing your product. You’re basically giving yourself the best chance at converting leads to actions.
CTA – put your hands up in the air! That’s a Call to Action. Want the person viewing your website to make a purchase? This gets them to click on the buy button.
CTR – Click Through Rate. Quite straightforward if you want to think about it. It’s just the ratio of customers who click on the link to the total viewers. Nuff said.
PLA – fish! Just kidding! A Thai joke for the bilingual. It stands for Product Listing Ads. These are the images, which can be clicked on, that show up when you’re using a search engine to find a product. Companies pay for these image advertisements on a CPC (see above) basis.
PPC – Pay Per Click. Simple enough actually, advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Sounds similar to CPC I know but it’s different I’m telling you. PPC is the type of advertising program you’re running, while CPC is a performance metric.
PR – This can stand for quite a few different things, but we want to focus on it standing for a Press Release. It’s a tool that we use to make announcements that are newsworthy. It’s done to ensure that we reach a target audience through various news media channels.
ROAS – It’s important that you know what your return on investment is for the amount you spent on marketing. This is done using the simple formula for Return on Ad Spending, which is the total revenue generated by a marketing channel divided by the total amount spent on that channel.
RTB – Real-Time Bidding is the buying and selling of online ad impressions. It happens in real-time auctions. Real-time meaning the amount of time that it takes for a web page to load. Mind blowing if you’re new to the field of digital marketing!
SEM – remember SEO? Search engine optimization is just one of the parts of Search Engine Marketing, which is simply internet marketing focused on promoting the visibility of your website in search engine results.
SERP – Search Engine Results Page. This is simply the pages that are shown by search engines after you type in a keyword. Basically, the results page.
SMO – the biggest thing in the last decade or so. Social Media Optimisation is making use of social media platforms in order to promote a brand, an event, or a product. This is the only time it’s good to go viral.
O2O – one of the few acronyms that use a number in place of a word, Online to Offline is used to describe systems that attract consumers in a digital environment to purchase goods or services from a physical business.
Why should you know this?
Not so bad right? But why is it necessary to know this? Marketing is constantly and consistently evolving. It’s no longer just posting ads in newspapers and magazines, or putting up a huge billboard and hoping that people call in. In this digital age, you need to start taking advantage of MarTech (marketing technology). MarTech makes it easier to reach and engage with your target customers. It also allows you to measure what works, doesn’t work, and how well you’re performing. So make yourself familiar with these 20 digital marketing acronyms for 2020 to help you navigate the digital marketing world.
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