VOCABULARY

After sales service

Service that continues after the sale of a product (maintenance, etc.)

Agent

Person or company that acts for another and provides a specified service.

B2B e-commerce

Business to business e-commerce:

use of commercial networks, online product catalogues and other online resources to obtain better prices and reach new customers.

B2C e-commerce

Business to consumer e-commerce:

online sale of goods and services directly to consumers.

Benchmarking

Comparing one's products to those of competitors in order to improve quality and performance.

Buyer

1) Any person who makes a purchase.

2) A person employed to choose and buy stock for a company.

Cash refund offer

Offer to pay back the purchase price of a product to customers who are not satisfied and send a "proof of purchase" to the manufacturer.

Chain store

Two or more shops or outlets that have the same owner and sell similar lines of merchandise.

Client

A person who buys services or advice from a lawyer, an accountant or other professional.

Close

Finalise or conclude a sale or deal.

Convenience store

Small shop located near a residential area that opens long hours, seven days a week.

Coupon

A voucher offering a discount to customers when they purchase a specific product.

Deal

A business transaction.

Department store

A large shop or store that carries a wide variety of product lines.

Direct investment

Entering a foreign market by setting up assembly or manufacturing facilities in that country.

Discount

A reduction in price.

E-commerce

Buying and selling on the Internet.

E-marketing

Promoting products and services over the Internet.

Extranet

Network that connects a company with its suppliers and distributors.

Follow-up

Maintain contact after the sale to ensure customer satisfaction.

Franchise

Association between a manufacturer or wholesaler (franchiser) and an independent business person (franchisee) who buys the right to own and operate a unit in the franchise system.

Guarantee

A promise that the product will be repaired or replaced if faulty.

Intranet

A network that connects people to each other within a company.

Joint venture

A way of entering a foreign market by joining with a foreign company to manufacture or market a product or service.

Market leader

The company with the largest market share in an industry.

Mark up

Percentage of the price added to the cost to reach a selling price.

Opinion leader

Person with a reference, who, because of competence, knowledge, or other characteristics, exerts influence on others.

Packaging

Designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product.

Product line

A group of products that are closely related.

Prespect

A potential customer.

Representative

A person who represents and sells for a company.

Retail

To sell in small quantities, as in a shop, directly to customers.

Shopping centre

Group  or complex of shops with a common area for cars to park.

Telephone marketing

Using the telephone to sell directly to customers.

Trade fair

An exhibition at which companies in a specific industry can show or demonstrate their products.

Viral marketing

The Internet version of word-of-mouth marketing: email messages that customers pass on to friends.

Wholesale

To sell goods in large quantities at low prices to those buying for resale (e.g. a shop) or for business use.

 MK & S: 83 TERMS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW

1. A/B Testing

Testing two versions of a webpage, email subject line, landing page, CTA, etc. to see which one performs better.

2. Advertising

Putting a spotlight on a product, service or business through paid broadcasting – print or digital.

3. Analytics

Tracking data and creating meaningful patterns from it that inform future marketing endeavors. The data can come from website traffic, conversions, social media, etc.

4. Blogging

Originally, the term was web log or weblog and eventually...blog. Individuals, small business and even large corporations write articles, commentaries, and the like, publishing regularly on their website. A primary component of the inbound marketing method, blogging helps to drive website traffic, builds thought leadership and authority, and drives leads.

5. Bottom of the Funnel

A stage in the buying process, this happens last  – when leads move through the top of the funnel (identifying a problem), the middle (shopping for solutions), and finally, to the bottom, where they’re ready to buy. At this stage, leads are interested in a demo, a call, or a free consultation.

6. Bounce Rate

The number of people who land on a page of your website and leave without clicking on anything before moving on to another page on your site.

7. Buyer Persona

A summary of your ideal buyer, based on market research, data and hypothesis. The representation helps marketers define their ideal audience and it helps salespeople determine lead quality.

8. Brand

Anything that brings about awareness of a specific product, service or business while separating it from other establishments.

9. Business-to-Business (B2B)

Describing a business that markets  – or sells – to other businesses.

10. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Describing a business that markets and sells to consumers (think Apple).

11. ClickThrough Rate (CTR)

This number shows the people that move through your website or marketing campaigns. It’s actually the “clicks” or actions prospects take, divided by the total number of actions people could take. Hence, the name “clickthrough rate.”

12. Cold Calling

Approaching prospective clients by phone or face-to-face without having ever had any interaction with them before.

13. Comparative Advertising

The type of advertising in which a company makes a direct comparison to another brand, firm or organization.

14. Content Management System (CMS)

A program that manages all of the aspects of creating content. These may include editing, indexing, navigational elements, etc.

15. Conversion Path

The path, or course of actions, a prospect will go through to eventually become a lead. These events can include a call to action, lead form, thank you page, downloadable content, etc.

16. Conversion Rate

Percentage of people who take a desired action, such as filling out a form, registering, signing up for a newsletter, or any activity other than just browsing a web page.

17. Corporate Identity

All symbols, colors, logos, etc., that make up the public image of an organization.

18. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Software that helps you organize all of your marketing and sales activities, including storing contact information, tracking emails, storing deals, and more.

19. Cost Per lead (CPL)

The total cost marketing pays to acquire a lead. It is an important metric to keep track of and it influences your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

20. Cost-Based Pricing

A strategic form of pricing intended to cover the expenses of running your business.

21. Customer Acquisition Cost

A measurement that allows you to assess the cost of scaling up your business.

It can be calculated by dividing the time and money spent on customer acquisition for a specific period of time by the number of new customers gained.

(Money + Time Spent)/Number of New Customers

22. Customer Loyalty

When a consumer is a repeat buyer of a product, service or brand.

23. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Software that helps you organize all of your marketing and sales activities, including storing contact information, tracking emails, storing deals, and more.

24. Demographics

A specific profiling aspect that takes into consideration age, gender, income, family life, social class, etc. It’s often used in segmentation or for focal points in marketing and advertising strategies.

25. Digital Marketing (Online Marketing)

Marketing to a target audience solely via the internet. Could be email marketing, content marketing, etc.

26. Direct Competition

Competitors that provide the exact same services as your establishment or firm.

27. Direct Mail

A means of advertising communication that reaches a consumer where they live or their place of business, through the mail, often based on demographics and/or geographical location.

28. Direct Marketing

Dealing Directly with the ‘end user’ rather than a third party or a middle man. Also can be seen as directly communicating with your primary target audience. Can come in the form of advertising, marketing or communications.

29. Ebook

Also referred to as a lead magnet, ebooks are generally a piece of longer content designed to generate leads.

30. E-Commerce

The means of selling products digitally on the internet.

31. Email

A digital message you can send through the internet to contacts, leads and prospects. Marketing through email takes businesses directly into a consumer’s inbox and provides the ability to create a connection and build trust.

32. Engagement Rate

A measurement of likes, shares, comments or other interaction a particular piece of content receives.

33. Evergreen Content

Content that is valuable to a reader today, in 5 years and in 10 years. This “evergreen” content is timeless, offers the highest-quality information and offers huge SEO benefits.

34. Forecasting

A prediction of marketing and sales trends that are likely to occur in the future.

This forecast is based on historical, quantitative, and qualitative data.

35. Friction

Any aspect of your website that is hard to understand, distracting or causes visitors to move on from your page.

36. Geographic Segmentation

Segmenting a group of audiences based on where they live or where they are located.

37. Hashtag

A keyword phrase, written without spaces, with a # in front of it.

It allows you and your audience to interact and converse about specific topics on social media.

38. Inbound Marketing

Advertising your company via content marketing, podcasts, video, eBooks, email broadcast, SEO, Social Marketing, etc., rather than paid advertising.

39. Infographic

A type of content that is visual in nature, making complex information easy to understand and digest.

40. Internal Marketing

Efforts to offer a marketing plan to individuals and executives within your own firm to gain their approval and/or support.

41. Keyword

A specific word or phrase that describes the content of a webpage.

It should always align with your target audience.

42. Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

A means to measure the performance of various factors, from employee functions to marketing tactics. Tracking KPIs will help your organization achieve its goals.

43. Landing Page

A page on your website that houses a form that prospects will fill out and exchange their personal information for a lead magnet or free offer (such as an ebook, demo or consultation).

44. Lead

An individual or a company that has shown interest in one of your products or services. Could be either a MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) or an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead).

45. Lead Nurturing

Engaging and building relationships with potential customers through a variety of marketing techniques. 

46. Lifetime Customer Value

A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

47. Margin

The profit gained from a product or service after all expenses for selling that product or service are covered.

48. Marketing Automation

This is the tool that lets you “automate” your marketing campaigns. Through lead nurturing, behavior-based strategies and more, you can use marketing automation to send the right marketing messages to the right people at the right time.

49. Marketing Qualified Lead

A lead that is ready to be handed over to the sales team. An MQL has had some sort of positive interaction with the company, such as a discussion, downloading marketing products, etc., that deems them worthy to move to the next level of the sales funnel.

50. Market-Based Pricing

Similar to competitive based pricing in the sense that this type of pricing is based off of the streamlined/current pricing for a specific product or service within the same industry.

51. Market Development

The act of taking an existing product or service to a new market.

52. Market Penetration

A strategy used to sell more of an existing product within the current markets it is being sold.

53. Market Research

High-intelligence research and development of a specific industry for the betterment of sound business decisions.

54. Marketing

The process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements in a profitable way.

55. Monthly Recurring Revenue

The amount of income produced each month from subscriptions to your products or services.

56. Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)

The stage of the sales funnel which a buyer enters after they have identified a problem.

This is the point at which you position your business as the solution to their problem.

57. New Product Development

The creation of a new product that involves research, development, product testing and launching.

58. Niche Market/Business

A very specific segment of a market in which you are trying to meet the needs of that market.

59. Offer

This is an asset that you’ll offer prospects on a landing page. The offer is designed to help you generate leads, and they can include everything from a webinar, ebook, checklist, template, demo and more.

60. Pay Per Click (PPC)

A method of advertising on the internet where you only pay when someone “clicks” on your ad.

61. Personal Development Plan

Developed for individuals who are looking to evaluate their S.W.O.T. analysis to plan their future achievement and success.

62. Point Of Contact (POC)

The representative who is the decision-maker/facilitator for their organization in terms of marketing and sales.

63. Portfolio

A series of case studies that provide proof of value to potential customers.

64. Public Relations

A series of media releases, conferences, social images, etc. that make up and maintain the reputation of an organization and its brands.

65. Qualified Lead

A lead that is qualified meets your company’s criteria, or buyer persona attributes, and is more likely to buy. A marketing qualified lead meets marketing objectives, while a sales qualified lead meets sales objectives.

66. Research and Development

The process of discovering and developing new products and services.

67. Responsive Design

A website that changes based on the device the consumer uses. Mobile, laptop, and desktop devices offer different views of a website, and responsive design accommodate for each view, without having to build separate websites for each one.

68. Return On Investment (ROI)

A way to measure the profitability of the investment you make in marketing, sales, etc. If the ROI on an investment is negative, it generally means you’re losing money on that endeavor. 

Measuring the ROI on marketing efforts is a savvy way to ensure you’re putting your money into the strategies that bring results.

69. Referral

A prospect or lead generated from someone who may be interested in what the salesperson is selling.

70. Relationship Marketing

Establishing relationships with the intent of developing a long term association with a prospect or potential customer. This strategy is much less expensive than gaining new customers.

71. Sales Funnel

The entire sales process as a whole – from prospect to paying customer – and all marketing, advertising and sales processes in between.

72. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A method to increase a webpage’s performance in web search results. By tweaking elements on a webpage (there are on-page and off-page SEO factors), you can move a webpage up on a search result “page.” Marketers generally want to get their website page to appear on page 1 of a search result, ideally at the very top of the page. SEO elements include keywords, title and image tags, links, and more.

73. Smarketing

The integration of sales and marketing.

It improves the skill sets and knowledge of both teams.

74. Social Media

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat that help users connect. Marketers use these networks to increase awareness, grow their customer base and achieve business goals.

75. S.W.O.T. Analysis

An internal study often used by organizations to identify their strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

76. Target Marketing

A group of customers toward which a business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and merchandise.

77. Top of the Funnel (TOFU)

Whereas Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) prospects are in the ready-to-buy stage, TOFU customers are at the initial stages of the buying process. They are looking for answers to a problem they just realized they are having. Marketers create TOFU content that help prospects identify the problem and leads them to solutions.

78. Unique Selling Proposition

A factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the low cost, the quality, etc.

79. User Experience

The experience a user has with your brand/website, from the moment they discover you, through the purchase and beyond  – where customers become advocates.

80. Value Statement

A description of your company’s top priorities and how those translate into marketing and sales initiatives.

81. Viral Marketing

A method of product promotion that relies on getting customers to market an idea, product or service on their own.

82. Website

A series of webpages that are connected, beginning with a homepage and generally includes other pages like “contact,” “about,” and “services.” Serving an individual or organization, your website should be strategically designed to attract visitors, convert users into leads and then turn leads into customers.

83. Workflow

A series of emails designed to nurture leads. A powerful marketing asset, you can use workflows to engage leads, learn more about prospects, segment lists, and much more.

THOMAS MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

THOMAS BOOK RECOMMENDATION

This book, THE SALES AND MARKETING POCKET BOOK simplifies the whole concept of sales and marketing by redefining and demystifying this field so that any individual, SMEs or large corporate can profitably sell their goods and services in a way that satisfy their clients. 

Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us? Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging.

The Sales Acceleration Formula provides a scalable, predictable approach to growing revenue and building a winning sales team. Everyone wants to build the next $100 million business and author Mark Roberge has actually done it using a unique methodology that he shares with his readers. As an MIT alum with an engineering background, Roberge challenged the conventional methods of scaling sales utilizing the metrics-driven, process-oriented lens through which he was trained to see the world. In this book, he reveals his formulas for success. Readers will learn how to apply data, technology, and inbound selling to every aspect of accelerating sales, including hiring, training, managing, and generating demand. 

STEVE JOBS INTERVIEW PRODUCT PEOPLE SHOULD GET PROMOVED OVER SALES MARKETING PEOPLE

TED TALKS

Imagine a world in which every ad you saw was relevant -- where advertising wasn't random or intrusive, but rather a carefully thought out combination of products you already wanted to know about. In this talk, advertising researcher Kristi Rogers describes how involving advanced mathematics in marketing will ultimately transform the way we interact with products, and the way brands interact with us. 

Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding. 

Copyright law's grip on film, music and software barely touches the fashion industry ... and fashion benefits in both innovation and sales, says Johanna Blakley. In her talk, she talks about what all creative industries can learn from fashion's free culture.