Most Needed Marketing Abbreviations and Acronyms
Welcome to Marketing 101 class! Here, we’ll show you the meaning of different business world and digital marketing acronyms. If you’re ready, hop on the train, and let’s start. Clickety-clack.
Oh, I’m sure you remember that discussion you were having that got you – err, almost – embarrassed when you couldn’t keep up. Say you were having a lovely chat with your friends. And suddenly, someone dropped a weirdo slang word, and, swoosh, you were lost.
Now, imagine a business meeting or job interview where you’re missing the meaning of an esoteric term or any of the most common business acronyms. What do you do? Read this blog, and you won’t face this question ever again.
If you don't even want to get into it, leave it to professionals. Drop us a line to bring your content to a new level. Yep, our CTA is right at the beginning. Shame on us:)
ABC - BANT Acronyms
1. ABC (Always Be Closing): Sounds like something Jordan Belfort would say. But ABC is a sales strategy (and a motivational phrase) that refers to salespeople always trying to get new paid customers.
2. AE (Account Executive): A person who is always calling to check on clients. An account executive acts as an intermediary between a customer and a company and is responsible for this relationship.
3. AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action): The AIDA model is a way a customer goes through from the first touch with a brand to a purchase (aka stages of the sales funnel). Look at this as meeting a new person. Would you be friends or dates? The same goes for most clients. Only 5% are ready to buy right away, while the majority need nurturing.
4. AM (Account Manager): This person is responsible for managing particular customers within an organization.
5. API (Application Programming Interface): API is a set of protocols that allow applications to communicate (connect) with each other. This is what makes software integrations possible.
6. ARPA (Average Revenue Per Account): As the name goes, this business acronym is the average of the revenue earned per customer (account) within an organization.
7. AOV (Average Order Value): This is the average amount of money spent per order. To calculate it, you need to divide the total revenue by the number of orders during the same period.
8. B2B (Business to Business): It refers to a business communication, trade, or any other type of connection involving two companies.
9. B2C (Business to Consumer): Business to consumer is communication or trade that occurs between a business and a consumer.
10. BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline): The BANT acronym is a kinda old-school model that is still used today, though. It refers to qualifying B2B leads and evaluating whether they meet all the requirements in terms of their budget, authority, needs, and timelines. This ‘check’ helps you filter prospects and find the right fit for your business.
BDR - CLV/CLTV Acronyms
11. BDR (Business Development Representative): This person is responsible for creating new business opportunities by expanding a pool of qualified leads and growing the number of potential clients.
12. BH (Black Hat): Remember that movie villain who wore a black hat and made your skin crawl? Yeah, we’ve all been there. But a black hat in this context refers to SEO experts who use illegal and shady tactics to rank well on search engines. If you got interested, you’d better not – Google has penalties for any black-hat techniques, so don’t get into that. We’re serious.
13. BR (Bounce Rate): This is the percentage of visitors who open your website and leave it without clicking anything or performing any other actions. If it’s high (50-70%+, depending on the website type), probably something is off, either with the content quality or the technical part of SEO.
14. CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): This is how much getting a customer costs you. It includes all the marketing and sales efforts needed to convince a person to buy from you.
15. CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart): Are you a robot? Rings a bell? Yup! CAPTCHA filters robots and humans. It was basically created to minimize the amount of spam out there.
16. CEO (Chief Executive Officer): You know this guy. That’s right! The highest-ranked executive in a company is your chief executive officer; the CFO is a different guy, just FYI.
17. CFO (Chief Financial Officer): Here he comes. Unlike the chief executive officer, the CFO has a more particular role – managing everything financial in a company, from financial planning to control.
18. CM (Content Marketing): It’s one of the most popular marketing tactics for years now. The idea is to create content (written, video, audio, etc.) to show off your brand, get more loyal customers, and have a constant flow of new leads.
19. CMO (Chief Marketing Officer): It’s the marketing big boss. Even though most marketing teams talk to their CMOs just a couple of times per year (either on Zoom or through an Excel sheet), this is an essential person for any company.
20. CMS (Content Management System): Are you enjoying your drag-and-drop e-store? Well, JSYK, you’re using a content management system since it allows you to create and edit a website without using programming codes. Some of the most popular CMSs are WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Shopify, Magento, Squarespace, Drupal, Joomla, etc.
21. CLV/CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value): This refers to how much revenue an average customer generates throughout the time they spend with your business. To calculate this number, do the following: Average Purchase Value (what is the average check you have?) x Average Number of Purchases (how many recurrent purchases does a customer make with you?) x Average Customer Lifespan (how long does an average customer stay with you?) = Consumer Lifetime Value (CLTV).
COB - CRM Acronyms
22. COB (Close of Business): This is the best part of your weekdays; the “5” on your 9-5. It basically is the end of business for the day when you can go home to ‘Netflix and Chill.’’. It might not be one of the most important business acronyms, but feels great, right?
23. COO (Chief Operations Officer): The COO runs business operations in a company. It is an executive who gathers financial reports, manages the company’s development strategies, and optimizes all the main business processes.
24. COS (Content Optimization System): It is a tool (software) that helps improve content to guarantee the best user experience possible.
25. CPA (Cost per Action): CPA is a mode of online advertisement where you only get charged after the prospect takes an action, say, an engagement (CPE), a download (CPD), a lead (CPL), and ultimately, a sale (CPS).
26. CPC (Cost per Click): This abbreviation in marketing refers to how much money you pay for every click on your ad. You can calculate it by dividing the total cost of the ad campaign by the number of clicks. This metric is usually used when dealing with PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns.
27. CPM (Cost per Mille): CPM means the cost per thousand impressions (aka mille). What does it refer to? Basically, it’s the amount an advertiser pays per thousand impressions on their ad.
28. CR (Conversion Rate): This one is a popular metric among social media influencers and marketing “gooroos.” Why? Because it is one of the things that really matter. Conversion rate is the percentage of people who performed an action you intended them to take, i.e., converted (bought from you, got enrolled in your course, subscribed to your newsletter, etc.).
29. CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization): Take a look at the previous acronym. Now, back here. Well, basically, CRO is the process of improving your CR, hehe. Just FYI: a good conversion rate might vary, but generally, for a website, for example, it is somewhere between 2% and 5%.
30. CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Customer relationship management software helps improve communication and interaction with clients. This includes email automation, pipeline management, feedback tracking, sales administration, etc. Some of the most popular examples of CRM tools are HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zendesk, etc.
CSS - DNS Acronyms
31. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): CSS is a computer language responsible for the design, structure, and style of the website. This includes the layout, visual effects, colors, etc.
32. CTA (Call to Action): “‘Click this link to get a million dollars (no strings attached).” This could be a page with the highest conversion rate in history. But unfortunately, there are no million dollars here (it’s sad, I know). “Buy Now,” “Access Today,” or “Join” are common examples of CTAs you see out there.
33. CTR (Click-Through Rate): The difference between how many people clicked on your website CTA compared to how many people viewed it is the click-through rate. It is a great way to determine whether your landing pages or ads are effective.
34. CTO (Chief Technology Officer): The CTO is a top executive responsible for R&D (research & development). What a chief technology officer does is oversee the IT department and all the technical operations.
35. CX (Customer Experience): What does a customer have to say about your business? Their interactions with your brand culminate in the customer experience. But remember that this includes every single “touch” your client has with your product/service: an ad they see, your social media accounts, the checkout process, your interview on YouTube, your customer support, etc.
36. DKI (Dynamic Keyword Insertion): It is a feature you’ll deal with when setting up your PPC campaigns (aka paid ads). DKI helps you align your advertisements with potential customers’ search queries. Google Ads, Microsoft Adcenter, and other ad services do it thanks to their data and machine learning or AI.
37. DLR (Deep Link Ratio): This is an SEO metric that shows the percentage of the internal links to specific pages on your website as opposed to the home page links. It is important to have an internal link structure that is clear and diverse. This way, you help search engine crawlers navigate through your content.
38. DM (Direct Mail / Direct Message): You may be thinking, “DM should be in Social 101 class instead.” Well, yes, that is a fair point. But for now, we only have a Marketing Acronym 101 Guide, so excuse us :) As for the abbreviation itself, by now, everyone knows what a DM is. By the way, check your Insta—maybe you’ve got one you forgot to answer.
39. DMP (Data Managing Platform): A DMP is a tool for collecting and storing information about your clients to aid your digital marketing process. This software is especially helpful when building your customer profiles (aka personas) and sharing this generalized information with advertising systems afterward.
40. DNS (Domain Name Server): This is a system that links our readable domains (e.g., google.com) with IP addresses (e.g., 192.158.1.38). And an IP address is something easily accessible and understandable for computers. It links your web address to multiple IP addresses.
DR - GA Acronyms
41. DR (Direct Response): It isn’t a direct message (aka DM) you get on social media. It is more about lead generation. Direct response is a marketing tactic where you encourage users to perform a particular action (buying, subscribing, etc.) right away.
42. DR (Domain Ranking): Domain ranking is how Google (and other search engines) see the quality and optimization of your website. It can also be called domain authority (DA).
43. EOW (End of Week): TGIF! This refers to the final day of the work week, Friday. Another fav acronym on the list.
44. EPM (Earnings per Month): This is where you (your company) calculate the moolah after a tedious business month. Cool, isn’t it?
45. ESP (Email Service Provider): Love newsletters? Then, you will definitely need an ESP. An email service provider is software that allows you to send out emails to your email list for marketing purposes.
46. ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival): Estimated time of arrival might refer to the time when your train arrives at its destination. But in the business and marketing context, it refers to the moment when any of your projects will come to fruition (e.g., your campaign will be ready for release, your new branding will be created, your new software update will be completed, etc.)
47. FAB (Features Advantages Benefits): FAB is a marketing model that helps you analyze how your product/service differentiates from the rest of the market and what its real strengths and sales points are.
48. FBML (Facebook Markup Language): “Why is Facebook so important to marketing?” Because it is an integral part of driving digital sales. FBML just describes its coding language.
49. FTP (File Transfer Protocol): It refers to the communication protocol used for file transfer from one location to another. It can involve just two machines (aka devices) or happen via the cloud.
50. GA (Google Analytics): GA is a Google statistics that shows you how your website is doing in terms of traffic, how much time people spend on your page, what the bounce rate is, etc. If you don’t have Google Analytics connected to your site, it’s time, my friend…
GAS - IM Acronyms
51. GAS (Guaranteed Article Submission): It is another search engine optimization acronym on the list. Guaranteed article submission mostly refers to link building and guest posting when you want to get your blogs submitted to another website and receive a backlink to your page.
52. GSC (Google Search Console): It is one of a few useful and free tools for SEO. This Google-native service allows you to check whether your pages are indexed, if there are any crawling errors you should fix, etc. Basically, it’s a primary health check of your website.
53. GYM (Google Yahoo MSN): Chill. It's not your workout time yet. This marketing abbreviation only refers to the three main search engines we have.
54. H1/H2/H3 (Level 1/2/3 Heading Markup): This is the hierarchy of headings in any HTML (aka hypertext markup language) website. But not only in the HTML, really, your copywriters also have to know about this structure and use it actively.
55. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): A hypertext transfer protocol refers to a system that allows data transfer through the network. Also, you can often see HTTPS, which is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. The idea here is the same; the only thing is that this transfer uses encryption. That’s why it has “s” for “secure.”
56. Href (Hypertext Reference): Href is an attribute in your HTML code that refers to a link. If we link to google.com with an anchor “Google” (surprise-surprise), the href would look like this: <a href=”google.com”>Google</a>.
57. IBL (Inbound Links): This is just another name for a backlink. Yes, they simply want to twist your brain with all this terminology. But it is as easy as a link on another webpage that leads to your site.
58. ICP (Ideal Customers Profile): As the marketing gooroos will say, “customer avatar.” It refers to the ideal customer for your product or service.
59. ILV (Inboud Lead Velocity): This is the rate at which you get more leads for your business.
60. IM (Internet Marketing): You surely know the meaning of this acronym. But for the sake of SEO, let’s both act like you don’t (wink, wink). This has a craze to it, and rightly so. Marketing on the internet does bring bountiful yields when done right.
IP - MTO Acronyms
61. Internet Protocol (IP): Do you remember that crime thriller featuring a stalker caught through his IP address? Well, this is the famous IP address. Each internet server has its own unique code that can be traced, called an IP address.
62. IPO (Initial Public Offering): An IPO is when a privately owned company lists its shares on a stock exchange. This way, it goes public, and anyone can become its shareholder by buying its shares.
63. ISP (Internet Service Provider): Ya know that AT&T? That’s an internet service provider. Those guys who make it possible for you to google why your cat looks at you in a strange way, binge-watch another very informative YouTube video (also known as procrastinate), and read this blog, of course. Kudos to them!
64. KPI (Key Performance Indicator): It’s a thing most of us, well, dislike. But in theory, it is created to evaluate the performance of any employee.
65. LTKW (Long-Tail Keyword): These types of keywords have more than three words – could be drudging at times. But if you’re just starting out your SEO journey, targeting these is generally easier because they tend to be less competitive.
66. MAP (Marketing Automation Platform): That autoresponder message won’t send itself. MAPs allow you to automate processes in your marketing strategy. Some examples of such tools include Zapier, Klaviyo, Marketo, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, etc.
67. MOM (Month Over Month): MOM shows how any particular metric changes from month to month. The only bad thing is that this mom won't hug you or make you a pie. I know it’s sad, again :(
68. MQL (Marketing Qualified Leads): This type of lead is someone who responds to your marketing efforts (good job!) and now wants what your brand is offering. In other words, a marketing team did well, and now this lead is ready to contact the sales and buy. Get more of these, and you can finally ask for that pay raise that is long overdue.
69. MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): MRR is how much revenue your business is predicted to make from subscriptions each month (so you can finally ditch that crystal ball, or is that just us?). Kind of like what subscription-based businesses like Netflix and Spotify use to evaluate their revenue growth.
70. MTO (Meta Tags Optimization): Optimizing your Meta Tags is like sending out invites to your Bar Mitzvah or wedding. It clues everyone in on what your website is all about and helps it rank your page higher on search engines.
NPS - PTO Acronyms
71. NPS (Net Promoters Score): On a scale of one to ten, how frequently will your customers refer your business? NPS is a scale that helps gauge customer loyalty – how likely are they to recommend you? This is a big deal for businesses and the highest form of compliment a customer can give you.
72. NSFW (Not Safe For Work): Imagine clicking on an innocuous link only to hear a really inappropriate sound. Not cool, right? Or is it? The NSFW label gives you or the consumer a heads-up that what you’re about to access is not appropriate for a work setting, saving you from awkward explanations.
73. OBL (Outbound Link): An outbound link directs customers from your page to a different website. As they help enhance user experience and improve search rankings, you want to bring out your A-game where links are involved.
74. OOO (Out Of Office): This means that you’re not working. It also often refers to an automated email reply for those times when you’re not available at work and can’t reply to emails. If you set those up, maybe, finally, Susan will stop trying to email you about some random tasks while you are on vacation. Oh, Suzy, Suzy…
75. OWBL (One-Way Backlink): This is a type of backlink that goes from one website to your webpage, and you aren’t required to link back to the original site. Unlike reciprocal links, where you have two pages linking to each other. If you are the SEO dinosaur (roar), you know how popular these were back in the day.
76. PG (Page View): Each time someone lands on your webpage, this visit is “registered.” This is known as page views, and marketers use it to gauge audience engagement on their page.
77. PM (Project Manager / Product Manager / Product Marketing): Well, yeah, those are too many options for just two letters. But trust us, you’ll get it from the context. A project manager is responsible for planning and managing (surprise-surprise) a project within schedules and budget limits. The product manager does everything to ensure that the product meets customer needs, industry trends, etc. As for product marketers, they focus on product messaging and promotion.
78. PPC (Pay per Click): There is no hiding from internet ads. PPC is a type of online ad that requires businesses to only pay for every click their ad gets. This is actually more cost-effective than many other models of online advertising.
79. PR (Public Relations): This refers to the brand image and message you have carefully created in the eyes of the world through the media. Luckily, we live in an age where authenticity is in and faux perfection is out, so don’t be afraid to embrace your quirks.
80. PTO (Paid Time Off): We all have had days when we couldn’t make it in to work due to illness or some other emergency (like chilling on the sofa:). That was your PTO.
QA - SM Acronyms
81. QA (Quality Assurance): Quality assurance describes the process of closely monitoring a product through all stages of production to ensure there are no errors, glitches, or failures. Your QA team is the Cisco Ramon to your Flash (Barry Allen version) – smart, tough, and quirky.
82. QoQ (Quarter Over Quarter): This refers to the levels of investments or growth your company records from one quarter to another. A quarter is a three-month period or one-fourth of a year.
83. QR Code (Quick Response Code): This is a type of barcode that you scan with your camera to get instant access to a site, service, messaging app, menu at the restaurant, or anything else, really.
84. ROI (Return on Investment): The profit you get from investing in something is called ROI. This lets you know whether your strategy is really working and bringing you money or if there’s a need to tweak it.
85. RSS (Rich Site Summary): This is a type of web feed created for websites that need regular updates, like news sites. Chances are that you have read some news in the RSS feed from different pages that are updated as often as anything fresh appears (aka almost every second).
86. SaaS (Software as a Service): From your Dropbox and Canva to Google and Microsoft. A SaaS platform allows you to get its software functionality online. The only thing you need is an internet connection and maybe a subscription (if you don’t use a free version).
87. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): This describes any tactics you use to make your page rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). For example, including certain keywords in your content or doing guest blogging – all to make your website get to the top on Google.
88. SER (Search Engine Ranking): SER means your spot in Google’s search results. Pages that appear in the top 3 are those with quality content, backlinks, and fast loading speed (amongst other things). Every website is ranked depending on its domain ranking (aka domain authority).
89. SLA (Service Level Agreement): This is an arrangement between a service supplier and the customer. It has all the details you need to know about the details of services, performance standards, and conditions.
90. SM (Social Media): Well, well, who is here? Little icons that changed our lives. Today, we have tons of SM platforms (FB, IG, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, etc.) that make it easy to share content and market to a much larger audience faster than sales teams decades ago even dared to dream of.
SMB - YTD Acronyms
91. SMB (Small to Medium Business): If your business has between 10 to 500 (some experts peg the number at 250) employees, then you qualify as a small to medium business. On the other hand, companies with more than 500 employees and above are considered large enterprises.
92. SMM (Social Media Management or Social Media Marketing): SMM focuses on using your SM accounts as a marketing tool to engage with your audience.
93. SOW (Statement of Work): A SOW is like a blueprint that contains all the plans, objectives, budgets, and time frames of a project.
94. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats): This is an analysis model that companies use to develop business strategies. You can make one for yourself as well if you want to grow personally (at least, that’s what they told me in the Personal Branding course.)
95. UI (User Interface): This means the layout of any app, webpage, or software. Think of the screens and display designs that make it easy for you to navigate around an app or site. A good UI is customer-friendly, easy to navigate, and effective.
96. URL (Uniform Resource Locator): This is the web address leading to any online page. A wrong or broken URL can cause a site to lose valuable traffic and lead opportunities, just FYI. A reminder we all needed, right?
97. UV (Unique Visitor): This means a person who has visited your site at least once within the given period. Even if this person visits again and again, they are still counted as one visitor. Metrics like UV gives you insights into how small or large your audience really is.
98. UX (User Experience): Your user experience determines how easy or difficult it is to interact with your website, product, or service. Depending on how good this experience is, your clients and potential customers will either play around with your online product and enjoy their time or will run away faster than Forrest did.
99. WOM (Word of Mouth): This is when you told him, he told her, and she told them. Well, you get the point. If your product or service causes this effect, well done! Word-of-mouth endorsements (aka referral marketing) can go a long way to promote your business, as 92% of people trust the recommendations of family and friends more than any ads.
100. YOY (Year Over Year): This shows the difference in your investments, ROI, or revenue starting from previous years to now. Comparing this data can help you track the profitability or costs of businesses compared to their growth year over year.
101. YTD (Year to Date): When people talk about YTD, they are referencing statistics and data of your business profits, expenses, etc., from the start of the present year to the current day. This is very important if you need to run an analysis of your company so you can make better business decisions.
Conclusion
Phew, so those were the 101 most common business acronyms. It might seem overwhelming, but this knowledge is a must for proper business communication. And you can be proud of yourself – you did it!
