Marketing Terms

Advertising:
Announcements featured in print, radio, television and Internet media with the intention of soliciting or informing targeted audiences about the products and/or services offered by a business or organization; charges for advertising are usually contingent upon the size and duration of the specific advertisement according to media-specific rates.
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Blog (blogging):
An abbreviation for the term “weblogs;” continual and interactive online communication postings about a specific topic or issue; blogging consists of adding relevant commentaries, content, images, video and links to blog posts.
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Branding:
Identifying a business and its products and/or services with a distinct delineation or demarcation, such as a unique combination of graphics, images, color schemes, names and/ or phrases, that becomes representative of that specific business; a legally recognized branding becomes a trademark or trade name.
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Competitive advantage:
Occurs when a company meets with success or benefits over its competitors due to operating more competently and effectively, thus winning customer support through increased sales of products and/ or services.
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Database marketing:
Generating refined, pinpointed promotional, selling and advertising strategies after company database technologies identify, track, analyze and compile customer characteristics and other specifics.
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Demographics:
Classifying and describing characteristics of a population (for example, gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, race, household income, career, education and family size), usually with the purpose of further statistical compilation, study and analysis.
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Direct marketing:
Soliciting a specifically identified market of potential customers through targeted promotional and advertising campaigns such as direct mailings and telemarketing, the results of which can then be tracked to determine efficiency of strategies.
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Drip marketing (drip campaign):
A series of planned direct marketing episodes sent over time to identified prospects through advertising media such as e-mail campaigns and direct mailings.
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E-communication:
Electronic communication, or communicating via technology sources such as e-mail, blogging, website postings, social networks and other Internet-based forms of contact.
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External marketing:
Using various public relations strategies and media resources, such as advertisements (print, radio, television and Internet), press releases and direct mailings to present a business and its products and/ or services to audiences of potential customers.
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Googlebot:
Google’s robot, or program that automatically hunts for new and updated websites and web pages to add to the Google Internet search engine index; it functions as a decision-making tool for Google.
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Integrated marketing communication (IMC):
An overall marketing plan wherein all promotion and advertising strategies are coordinated and focused on the same objectives, working in unison over time toward achieving targeted goals.
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Internal marketing:
Using various staff training and customer service protocols to maximize customers’ positive encounters with a business, the results of which are existing customer retention and customer engagement of products and/or services.
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Marketing:
A planned strategy to reach potential and existing customers in order to introduce, promote and inform about a company’s products and/or services, the goal of which is an increase in customer satisfaction and sales.
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Media strategy:
A plan for how to use various print, radio, television and Internet media to successfully promote and advertise a company’s products and/or services to the consumer sector.
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Public relations:
Communicating with the public through various media and interactions to make the consumer sector aware of a company and the benefits of its products and/or services.
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Real simple syndication (RSS):
A simple way to update and disperse constant changes to web-based information, such as news and blogs, distributing the syndications to large numbers of Internet users who subscribe to the specific web-based news feeds and other online sources.
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Referral based marketing:
Obtaining new customers based on word of mouth recommendations and referrals of others, including existing customers, other businesses, community members and group affiliations.
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Syndication:
Simultaneous publication of information to multiple subscribers or sources.
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Target audience:
A group identified as the projected, desired recipient of a company’s marketing campaign, oftentimes based on specific characteristics and demographics of the group.
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Web 2.0:
Reaching beyond the World Wide Web, it allows for Internet interaction and sharing beyond passively posting and presenting information on websites, such as social and business networking sites, forums, blogs and wikis.
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Web based marketing:
Using the Internet and company websites to increase website traffic and an online presence through concepts such as blogging, audio and video components, search engine optimization, website links and social media networks.
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