100+ Must Know Business and Marketing Acronyms

General
marketing-acronyms

If by chance you are not familiar or just need a reminder of what an acronym is, I have 100+ of the most popular business and marketing acronyms listed below.

One of my favorite podcasts and best source for overall business guidance is Manager Tools, who often say communication is what the listener does. Regardless of communication medium, the goal is to be understood. So, unless you know for certain your audience is familiar with the acronym, your use of it may be causing confusion, requiring a pause while the listener/reader figures this out, or leading to frustration since they had to pause, think, figure this out, and then continue reading.

At least in writing, my preference is to say the entire phrase and put the acronym in parentheses at first use and then continuing with just the acronym going forward.

How often has an acronym been used and you found it helpful compared to completely stopping you mid sentence to think and figure this out? Exactly.

What surprises me most about the list below, is how quickly I got to this many. Certainly a sign of how often we do this. I hope you find the list below of the most common business and marketing acronyms helpful and please, if I am missing any, please share below.

ABM – account based marketing
AI – artificial intelligence
AIDA – attention, interest, desire, action
API – application programming interface
AOV – average order value
B2B – business to business
B2B2C – business to business to consumer
B2C – business to consumer
BHAG – big hairy audacious goals
BI – business intelligence
BOFU – bottom of funnel
BU – business unit
BYOD – bring your own device
CAC – customer acquisition cost
CBA – cost benefit analysis
CDP – customer data platform
CDN – content delivery network
CJO – customer journey orchestration
CMS – content management system
COE – center(s) of excellence
CPA – cost per acquisition
CPL – cost per lead
CPM – cost per thousand impressions
CPP – cost per click
CRO – conversion rate optimization
CRM – customer relationship management
CSM – customer success manager
CSS – cascading style sheets
CTA – call to action
CTR – click-through rate
DAM – digital asset management
DBA – doing business as
DIKW – data, insight, knowledge, or wisdom
DM – direct message
EBITDA – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization
EEAT – expertise, experience, authoritativeness, trustworthiness
EES – extreme events solutions
ESP – email service provider
ETL – extract, transform, load
FAQ – frequently asked questions
FIFO – first in first out
FILO – first in last out
GDPR – general data protection regulation
GIGO – garbage in, garbage out
GPT – generative pre-trained transformer
GTM – go to market or google tag manager
HIPPO – highest paid persons opinion
HTML – hypertext markup language
HTTP – hypertext transfer protocol
ICP – ideal customer profile
iPaaS – integrated platform as a service
IPO – initial public offering
JIT – just in time
KISS – keep it simple stupid
KPI – key performance indicator
LIFO – last in first out
LILO – last in last out
LSP – language service provider
LTD – lifetime deal
LTV – lifetime value
M&A – mergers and acquisitions
MAP – marketing automation platform
MAU – monthly active users
MMM – marketing mix model
MOFU – middle of funnel
MQL – marketing qualified lead
MVP – minimum viable product (not most valuable player)
MSA – master service agreement
MTA – multi touch allocation
NPS – net promoter score
P&L – profit and loss
PII – personal identifiable information
PDP – personal development plan
POC – proof of concept
POP – point of purchase
POP – points of parity
PPC – pay per click
PR – public relations
R&D – research and development
RASCI =  responsible, accountable, supportive, consulted, informed 
RACI – responsible, accountable, consulted, informed
RFM – recency, frequency, monetary
RFP – request for proposal
RICE = reach, impact, confidence, effort
ROAS – return on ad spend
ROI – return on investment
QA – quality assurance
SaaS – software as a service
SAL – sales accepted lead
SEM – search engine marketing
SEO – search engine optimization
SERP – search engine results page
SKAG – single keyword ad group
SKU – stock keeping unit
SLA – service level agreement
SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, trackable goals
SMB – small and medium-sized business
SMM – social media marketing
SOC – senior operating committee
SOP – standard operating procedure
SOV – share of voice
SOW – statement of work
SQL – sales qualified lead
SSO – single sign on
SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
TEI – total economic impact
TMS – translation management system
TOFU – top of funnel
UI – user interface
UX – user experience
UGC – user generated content
UPC – universal product code
USP – unique selling proposition
VC – venture capital
UX – user experience
VOC – voice of customer
VPN – virtual private network
WIP – work in progress
WTP – willingness to pay
WTS – willingness to sell
WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get
WWW – world wide web
ZMOT – zero moment of truth

What am I missing? Please share in the comments and I will update this list.
Thank you.

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Marketing Operations Analytics

Analytics, Operations

I have listened to more than 13,000 podcasts, mostly focused on digital marketing. I recently came across a podcast called DemandGen Radio. Dave Lewis is the host and was reading a chapter from his Manufacturing Demand book. Interesting that I have had this book in my want to read list in Goodreads since 2013. If this is really the #1 book on lead management as is stated on the cover, a gross error on my part for not getting to it sooner.

So far, I have only listened to two episodes, #260 and #261, that was a two-parter called Marketing Analytics: Keeping Score of Your Success. Rarely do I take notes listening to a podcast, but this was brilliant and so much value was shared. I am sharing my notes and thoughts in hopes it’s beneficial to others.

It seems like marketing is too often trying to prove they deserve a seat at the adults table instead of being at the kid’s table making arts and crafts. Perhaps that leads to oversharing when we finally get the opportunity, or sharing vanity metrics, or just not speaking the language of the boardroom. Instead of sharing marketing activities including impressions, likes, or our recent ribbon win for the prettiest booth, let’s share metrics that lead to financial outcomes. There are three major types of marketing analytics or key performance indicators (KPIs).

The first set of analytics metrics are Executive KPIs and they need to measure the entire demand generation spectrum.

Executive KPIs

  1. Marketing sourced leads and opportunities
  2. Marketing contribution to revenue
  3. Marketing’s influence on opportunities and revenue

The second set of analytics metrics are Demand Funnel KPIs and they measure the velocity and efficiency of our demand funnel.

Demand Funnel KPIs

  1. How many prospects at each stage of the funnel
  2. Conversion rate between each of these stages
  3. Average time in each stage – this tells us the velocity of the demand funnel
  4. Lead scoring distribution – how many A, B, C, D, and E leads and does this look anything like a bell curve
  5. Campaign performance – number of leads, what channel or lead source, opportunities, revenue

The third set of analytics metrics are Campaign and Asset Performance KPIs and they measure the success of our assets driving leads to a closed stage.

Campaign and Asset Performance KPIs

  1. Use of our assets – tracking downloads for PDFs or how much of the video was watched like 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%
  2. Closed/won asset utilization – what assets get read by prospects who eventually buy

The three most important things to track with any form submission are the channel, lead source, and offer. Probably the most common way to implement this tracking is to capture the UTM tracking parameters in the URL query string and make sure they are passed as hidden fields in the form submissions. That form submission is tied to the Salesforce campaign object or whatever makes sense using another CRM. It’s important to make sure you can track every stage and really everything from that first click to the close of the sale. Until you know you are accurately measuring from click to close, you have a leaky funnel and nothing should be shared until you have confidence in your data and know you won’t lost trust.

The closing part of the podcast shared the four Cs.
1. What you can count – This reminds me of two quotes. First by W. Edwards Deming who said “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”. Second by Lord Kelvin who said “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it”. The last thought is one I hear often, just because you can count/measure/track it doesn’t mean you should.
2. What counts – Although the Executive KPIs clearly cover what counts, there are other metrics that we want to track within our marketing group like micro conversions. Not everything tracked needs to be shared.
3. What you can count on – how important it is to trust your data so others trust you. When trust is lost, just about all is lost.
4. How you communicate it – often marketing needs to do a better job at marketing marketing. We could learn something from our sales colleagues in sharing what is working and that we are critical to the company’s success.

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The A to Z of Paid Advertising

A to Z, Paid Advertising

A is for Ad Rank: The position of your ad in Google search results, determined by factors such as bid amount, ad quality, and expected click-through rate.

B is for Bid: The amount of money you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad.

C is for Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of clicks your ad receives per impression.

D is for Display Network: A group of websites and apps where you can show your Google Ads.

E is for Extensions: Additional information that can be added to your ads, such as phone numbers, locations, or sitelinks.

F is for Frequency: The number of times your ad is shown to the same user.

G is for Geotargeting: The process of showing your ads to users in specific geographic locations.

H is for Headline: The main text of your ad that appears in search results.

I is for Impression: The number of times your ad is shown to users.

J is for Jargon: avoid acronyms and other industry/company terms that confuses or distracts your prospect.

K is for Keywords: Words or phrases that are targeted in your ad campaign.

L is for Landing page: The web page where users are directed after clicking on your ad.

M is for Mobile bid adjustment: A bid adjustment that allows you to increase or decrease your bids for mobile devices.

N is for Negative keyword: A word or phrase that prevents your ad from showing for certain search queries.

O is for Optimization score: A score that measures how well your ad campaign is optimized for performance.

P is for Placement: The location where your ad is shown, such as a specific website or app.

Q is for Quality Score: A metric that measures the relevance and quality of your ad, landing page, and keywords.

S is for Search Network: A group of search-related websites where you can show your Google Ads.

T is for Targeting: The process of selecting specific audiences or locations for your ad campaign.

U is for User-generated content (UGC): Content created by users that can be used in advertising.

V is for View-through conversion: A conversion that occurs when a user sees your ad but doesn’t click on it, then later converts on your website.

W is for Web analytics: The analysis of website data to improve the performance of your ad campaign.

X is for Adult content: Ensure that your ads budget dollars are not being wasted on these sites.

Y is for YouTube Ads: An advertising platform by Google that allows businesses to display video ads on YouTube.

Z is for Zero impressions: The number of times your ad has been shown without receiving any clicks or impressions.

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The A to Z of a Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A to Z, Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A is for Activation: The process of taking insights and applying them to customer communications and marketing campaigns.

B is for Batch processing: A method of processing data in which a group of transactions is collected and processed together at once.

C is for Customer data platform (CDP): A software solution that enables marketers to collect, unify, and activate customer data from multiple sources.

D is for Data governance: The management of the availability, usability, integrity, and security of the data used in an organization.

E is for Event tracking: The collection and recording of user interactions with a website or application.

F is for Federated identity: A single sign-on (SSO) mechanism that enables users to access multiple applications or websites with a single set of credentials.

G is for Graph database: A database that uses graph structures to store, map, and query relationships between data.

H is for Householding: The process of grouping individuals into households based on shared addresses or other attributes.

I is for Identity resolution: The process of matching customer data from multiple sources to create a single, unified customer profile.

J is for Journey orchestration: The process of designing and automating customer journeys across multiple touchpoints.

K is for Key performance indicators (KPIs): Metrics used to measure the success of a marketing campaign or customer experience.

L is for Lookalike modeling: The process of identifying and targeting audiences that share similar characteristics to a company’s best customers.

M is for Machine learning: A type of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables software applications to learn from the data and become more accurate in predicting outcomes.

N is for Natural language processing (NLP): A type of AI that enables computers to understand and process human language.

O is for Onboarding: The process of importing and integrating customer data into a CDP.

P is for Predictive analytics: The use of statistical models and machine learning algorithms to analyze historical data and make predictions about future events.

Q is for Query builder: A tool that enables marketers to create custom queries and retrieve specific data from a CDP.

R is for Real-time personalization: The process of using real-time data to personalize content, messaging, and offers for individual customers.

S is for Single customer view: A comprehensive, unified view of a customer’s interactions and transactions with a company.

T is for Third-party data: Data obtained from external sources, such as data brokers, that can be used to enrich a company’s customer data.

U is for Unified data model: A standardized, consistent model for representing customer data across an organization.

V is for Voice of the customer (VoC): The process of capturing and analyzing customer feedback to improve customer experience and inform business decisions.

W is for Web personalization: The process of using website data to personalize content and messaging for individual visitors.

X is for XML: A markup language used to encode documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.

Y is for Yield management: The process of optimizing revenue by adjusting prices and inventory based on demand and market conditions.

Z is for Zero-party data: Data that is willingly and proactively shared by customers with a company, typically through surveys, preference centers, and other interactions.

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Preparing to Migrate to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Analytics


There has been plenty of emotions leading up to Google Analytics 4 or GA4 being released and the increased pressure to make sure we are each ready. I finally decided to try to make sense of Google Universal Analytics and GA4 and here were my key notes in case others find this helpful.

  1. Dates – Universal Analytics (UA) deprecated July 2023 and UA 360 now deprecated October 2023.
  2. Users – same term used in GA4 but it means active users instead of total users.
  3. Model – UA is session-based (a session was a group of user interactions) where GA4 is an event-based model.
  4. Engaged Session is the count of sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds, or had a conversion event, or had two or more screen/page views. This will replace the pages per session metric.
  5. Average Engagement Time Per Session is the amount of time the user is actually engaging with the page and is the page on the primary window being viewed on screen. This will replace the average session duration metric.
  6. Engagement Rate is the ratio of engaged sessions relative to total sessions. This will replace the bounce rate metric although it can still be calculated as the inverse of the engagement rate. 100 total sessions with 15 of them being engaged sessions results in a 15% engagement rate.
  7. Four Categories of Events
    a. Automatically collected events like user engagement, in-app purchases, and firebase app interactions.
    b. Enhanced measurement events (change in user interface; no code changes required) like page views, scrolls, form interactions, and video engagements.
    c. Recommended events that have predefined names and parameters like online sales and user behavior.
    d. Custom events that you define and create when existing events don’t exist.
  8. Segments – both in UA and GA4 you can compare up to four segments. Types of segments in GA4:
    a. User segments – subsets of users who engaged with your site/app like users from a page or channel.
    b. Event segments – subsets of events that were triggered on your site/app like purchase events.
    c. Session segments – subsets of the sessions that occurred on your site/app like a particular advertising campaign.
  9. Segmentation Conditions tell analytics what data to include in or exclude from the segment. There are three segmentation conditions:
    a. Dimension conditions like demographics, geography, and technology.
    b. Event conditions about particular details on one or more events. This is new to GA4.
    c. Metric conditions based on predictive metrics like an in-app purchase probability is above the 90th percentile.
  10. Attribution Modeling is assigning credit for conversions to different ads, clicks, and other factors. There are three types of attribution models available in the Attribution reports:
    a. Cross-channel rules-based model ignores direct traffic and attributes 100% of conversion value to the last channel that the customer clicked through or engaged view through for YouTube before converting. Other cross-channel rules-based models include:
    i. Cross-channel first click – all conversion credit to first channel that a customer clicked.
    ii. Cross-channel position based – attributes 40% credit to first and last interaction and remaining 20% credit distributed evenly to middle interactions.
    iii. Cross-channel linear – distributes credit for conversion equally across all channels a customer clicks.
    iv. Cross-channel time decay – gives more credit to touchpoints that happened closer to time of conversion. Uses a 7-day half life so a click 8 days before conversion gets half the credit of a click 1 day before a conversion.
    b. Ads-preferred rules-based model – attributes 100% conversion value to the last Google Ads channel that the customer clicked before converting. If there is no Google Ads click, attribution model falls back to cross-channel last click.
    c. Data driven attribution – uses machine learning algorithms to evaluate converting and non-converting paths. Distributes credit for the conversion based on your account data for each conversion event.
  11. UTM parameters – there are two new UTM parameters in GA4. See https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952?hl=en#zippyhttps://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952?hl=en#zippy for more details.

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