Glossary of Marketing Terms

Even if you have worked in marketing and public relations for years, you may not know the definition of every marketing term. Here's a brief listing of the most recent terms.

24/7 – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

AOL – America Online.

Benefit – How a particular feature will help a particular buyer.

Bleed – Printing term meaning to be printed to go off the edge or edges of a page after trimming.

Body copy – The main words in a brochure or ad.

Brand - A logo, corporate image, or distinct product or service identity that can become firmly rooted in the public's mind. Its purpose is to establish a meaningful, differentiated presence that will attract and retain loyal customers.

Brand police - A person or group of people inside a corporation whose primary task is to ensure the integrity of a company's brand. This means reviewing any and all materials that contain the company's logo, making sure it has the right color, size, and so on, and does not get muddied by improper use.

Buzz – Getting people to talk about you and your company or product.

Call to action – The response a marketer would like from his prospect or client, such as picking up the phone and ordering his product.

Click-through - The process of clicking through an online advertisement to the advertiser's destination.

Concept – The main creative idea or approach.

Content – The creative contribution of the writers, artists, animators, and musicians whose work makes up the text, artwork, animation, and music on the Net. Usually thought of as simply the textual and graphical information contained in a website, content also refers to the structure and design in which the information is presented.

Conversion rate - The percentage of visitors who take a desired action.

Copy – Words to be printed or spoken in an advertisement, brochure or other medium.

Corporate or company image – Brand.

Database management – To store, modify, and extract information from a database.

Die-cut – Printing term that refers to being cut into a special form or shape, such as a folder that has been “die cut” to allow the insertion of a business card or a brochure that is cut into the shape of a shoe.

Download – To transfer a file or files from one computer to another, for example, from a server to your desktop computer.

dpi – Dots per inch; a metric used to measure print and screen resolution.
Electronic newsletter – A newsletter delivered via a website or e-mail, an e-zine.

E-book (also ebook) – A written book that is created for electronic distribution, usually in PDF format.

E-mail (also email) - The transmission of computer-based messages over telecommunication technology.

E-mail marketing - Marketing via e-mail.

E-zine - An electronic magazine, whether delivered via a Web site or an e-mail newsletter.

Feature – Quality or characteristic of the product or service.

Filter - A program that examines incoming data to ensure that only information within certain parameters is allowed to pass through.

Four-color – A process in which three primary colors and black are transferred by four different plates or filters to a surface, reproducing the colors of the subject matter.

Gatefold – A type of fold on a brochure in which the right and left sides of the brochure fold inward and meet at the center. The brochure is generally then folded again so that where these two sides meet is now on the inside spine of the brochure.

Gloss paper – Paper with a shininess or luster.

HTML e-mail – E-mail that is formatted using Hypertext Markup Language, as opposed to plain text e-mail.

Icon - A graphical representation of a specific item (or situation).

Image – A picture.

JPEG - One of the two most common types of image formats used on the World Wide Web (the other being GIF). It downloads very fast. The shorter extension, JPG (without the E), is usually used in association with PC platform files.

GIF – Stands for “Graphics Interchange Format." On Web pages the images (or pictures) you see are usually in GIF because the files are small and can be downloaded quickly. Another type of graphics format commonly used online is JPG (or JPEG) these files download even faster and contain a better resolution.

Letterfold – Folded in three, the way a business letter is folded.

Logo – A name, symbol or trademark designed for easy and definite recognition.

Look and feel – The overall composition of the marketing materials, the design.

Matte finish – A dull or non-shiny finish to paper, similar to when a woman has powder on her face.

Mock-up – A preliminary brochure that is printed in the colors to be used, cut, folded and put together to show what the brochure will look like when it is printed.

Offer – The proposal.

One-color – Printed using only one color, usually black.

Opt-in e-mail – E-mail that is explicity requested by the recipient.

Opt-out e-mail – E-mail that is sent to a recipient unless he requests NOT to receive it.

Payoff panel – The panel of a brochure that the reader sees first when he opens a brochure. It generally follows up on what the cover has discussed or answers whatever question was posed there.

PDF – Portable document format; the file format for documents viewed and created by Adobe Acrobat Reader, Acrobat Capture, Adobe Distiller, Adobe Exchange, and the Adobe Acrobat Amber plug-in. This technology has succeeded in standardizing the format of documents used and transferred on the Internet. One of the benefits of using Acrobat and PDFs is that it doesn't matter whether you're a corporate guy using Microsoft Office products, an engineer using a computer aided design(CAD) program, or an art director using desktop publishing software—you can quickly deliver business documents to a colleague or to the entire company without having to recreate them in other applications.

Perishable data – Information that will go out of date quickly.

Permission-based lists - Marketing lists centered around obtaining customer consent to receive information from a company.

Plain-text e-mail – E-mail that contains no graphics or special formatting.

Plug-in (a.k.a. add-on software) – A software program that extends the capabilities of your browser in a specific way, giving you, for example, the ability to play audio samples or view movies on your computer screen.

Privacy policy - A statement used on many Web sites to explain how a company protects the privacy of the information it aggregates about its users. It discloses how the site collects, uses, and shares your personal information.

Rush charges/Premium charges – Additional service charges that are required because not enough time was given to the vendor to complete the project without working overtime or rushing.

Score – To make a very slight incision along the fold of a brochure so that it folds easily and can be folded without cracking the ink.

Self-mailer – A brochure that is designed with a mailing panel included so that it can be mailed without an envelope.

Sound bite – A brief statement or bit of information that describes a person’s business; also known as his 30-second introduction or elevator speech.

SPAM - An e-mail message sent to a large number of people without consent, also known as junk e-mail. Spam is usually sent to promote a product or service.

Stylebook – A book giving rules and examples of usage, punctuation and typography.

Subject line – The line on an e-mail message that says “subject.”

Tagline – An often-repeated phrase associated with an individual, organization, or commercial product; a slogan.

Target – To concentrate on the ideal prospective client or group.
Target audience/Target market – The ideal prospective client or group.

Three-color – Printed using three colors, such as yellow, red and black or red, green and blue.

Trifold brochure – A brochure, generally 8.5” x 11”, printed on two sides, that is folded into three, thereby creating a six-panel brochure.

Two-color – Printed using two colors, such as red and black or blue and green.

Varnish – A special finish that is applied to printed brochures that works like varnish on a table, preventing chips, scratches and smudges.

Viral marketing - Marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message.

White space – The area on a brochure or ad that doesn’t have printing or graphics on it.

You’ll find an even bigger list of terms in our ebook, Marketing Plan Essentials: Online & Off. For more details visit http://www.marketingideashop.com and while you're there, sign up for Brainy Tidbits, my free weekly ezine with tons of marketing and PR information.