All these marketing buzzwords and acronyms can get a bit confusing!
To help you cut through the jargon, we have created a glossary. We will be constantly updating it to make sure you know what we’re talking about and keep you informed.
A/B Testing
Also known as split testing, is when two versions of something, such as a Web page, are run at the same time, to the same audience. The results of the A/B test will show which Web page, app or email campaign, achieves your goals better.
Adwords
Google’s advertising platform. It is used to power adverts on Google’s Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) as well as thousands of adverts across their display network and YouTube.
API (Application Program Interface)
An API allows software solutions to talk, or interface, with each other. This is incredibly useful when doing software integrations. An example would be automatically transferring booking information from an eCommerce platform into an accounts package or CRM system.
Avatar
Avatars are small images that online users choose to represent themselves on websites, forums, blogs and social networks.
Backlink
An incoming Web link from an external website or application to a specific Web page.
Black Hat (SEO)
Black Hat techniques are used to help improve your website’s presence in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). They do not follow search engine guide lines, so can be very risky to use.
Bots
See Robot.
Bounce Rate
This is the percentage of visitors that come to your website, but only view one page, have zero interaction and then leave.
Bounces (Email)
Refers to undeliverable emails. If an email is sent, but can’t be delivered it, due to various reasons, such as closed or non-existent email accounts, it “Bounces”.
Buyer Persona
This is a semi-fictional description of your ideal customer based on market research and existing customer information. Buyer persona(s) provide structure and insight for your company.
Campaign
A set of specific marketing activities with one shared goal, the selling of a service or product, or to raise awareness of a business or brand.
Cloaking
A form of Black Hat (SEO). It is the practice of showing different content to search engine bots when they crawl your website, as opposed to what regular human visitors would see.
CMS (Content Management System)
CMS is a platform allows you to create, modify and manage your digital content. The most common CMS is a simple blog!
Content Marketing
The practice of attracting potential customers through the publication of informative and helpful content, such as infographics, images, video, reviews, blogs and menus. (See also Inbound Marketing)
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
A CRM system provides a central database of your customer information, such as orders and enquiries and can streamline the processes of your Sales and Marketing teams.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation)
A system for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that convert into customers or take a desired action.
CTA (Call-To-Action)
A clickable link or button to prompt an immediate action from the user.
CTR (Click-Through-Rate)
Refers to the number of clicks on a specific link compared to the number of impressions (views) it’s had. Often shown as a percentage CTR = Clicks / impressions (x100)
DMP (Data Management Platform)
DMP’s collect, analyse & segment a companies customer, audience and marketing data into one central location. This information is then output and used to inform & instruct advertising decision.
Drip Marketing
A communication strategy that sends, or “drips”, timely pre-written messages to customers or prospects over time. The process is often automated and uses email marketing platforms with predetermined rules that trigger emails to be sent to consumers, based on their actions.
Evergreen (content)
Content that is always relevant and stays “fresh” for its readers. Referred to as “Evergreen” as it reflects how evergreen trees retain their leaves all year round.
Forms
Forms collect information about your visitors. They are a critical part of the conversion process with the purpose to capture the information to generate a new business enquiry or lead.
Geo-Targeting
The method of identifying the geographical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location.
Google Analytics
A free service from Google that tracks and reports on visitors to your website.
Hashtag (#)
Is a method of grouping social posts by categories using keywords. It also enables users to search and follow discussions and trending topics – e.g. #HospitalityMarketing. Hashtags are used by most of the social media networks including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Hit
Often inaccurately used to describe unique visitors, visits, page views, or all of the above. A hit is a request for a file, such as an image. One Web page view could be tens of hits!
Hyperlink
Also referred to simply as a “Link”, is a clickable word, phrase or image that takes you directly to another document or to another section of the document you are currently on.
Inbound Marketing
A marketing strategy of attracting potential customers through digital content and interactions (social media) to your website. It expands upon Content Marketing using a combination of other marketing strategies and tools to convert these new potential customers into repeat customers and promoters of your brand.
Impression
Also known as a “View”, is a count of the number of times a Web page, or in some cases an advertisement, is either viewed by a user or displayed by a Web browser.
Influencer Marketing
A marketing strategy that uses a key individual with a following that can be influenced by their actions. Often, Celebrities with large social media followings are used to promote brands and products or services via their personal media channels. There are many influencers today without the celebrity status though, judged to have the capacity to affect the buying decisions of their followers.
Internal Link
A weblink from one Web page within your own website, to another Web page within your own website.
Keyword
A word or phrase that describes the content of a Web page. Keywords make up part of a Web page’s metadata and help search engines select relevant pages to particular search queries. Google Adwords also uses keywords to make its adverts target the correct audience.
Long Tail (Keyword)
A keyword phrase made up of three or more words. They are used to target niche demographics rather than large audiences associated with broader (shorter) keyword search terms. For example, Luxury Thames River Cruise as opposed to River Cruise.
Landing Page
A single Web page that is commonly used with a marketing campaign. Landing pages are designed with a very specific purpose, often gathering Leads.
Lead
The confirmation of consumer interest. A lead is generated when a stranger shows an interest in your company or service. In digital marketing this is often through a contact form on your website, with the user providing contact information and a purpose to follow up.
Martech
Martech is the combination of Marketing and Technology. The term represents the initiatives, efforts and tools that use technology to achieve marketing goals and objectives.
Meme
An Internet Meme is a form of content, often an annotated image, which spreads from person to person via the internet.
Open Rate
Refers to the number of “opens” or “views” an email campaign has received in comparison to the number of people it was delivered to. Often shown as a percentage, Open Rate = Opens / (Emails Sent – Bounces) x100.
Open Source
Software with a source code that anyone can inspect, modify and enhance – allowing programmers to manipulate a software ‘program’ or ‘application’ as they require.
Organic Listing (Search Result)
Listings on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) that appear based on their relevance to the search term entered, as opposed to Paid Listings (Search Results).
Paid Listing (Search Result)
Listings on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) that appear in prominent (higher visibility) locations for a price.
Plug-in (or Plugin)
These are extensions or add-ons that add new features to an existing computer software program.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
PPC refers to an online advertising method where an advertiser pays for a listing and agrees a set cost for each time that listing is clicked. These advertisements are most commonly seen on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP).
PR (Page Rank)
Is an algorithm used by Google Search to “rank” Web pages in order of relevance and importance to search terms entered into their search engine.
Qualified Lead
A Lead that has been through a qualification process, either through contact from one of your sales team, or by checking information provided aligns with that of your Buyer Persona.
Retweet
The act of resharing a tweet on Twitter, via the account you are logged-in on.
Robots (Bots)
Also known as Spiders or Crawlers, are programs that navigate, or “crawl”, your Web pages gathering information for search engines, which tells them what your pages are about.
ROI (Return On Investment)
ROI is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment. It is often shown as a percentage, calculated this way (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100.
RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication)
Enables the user to receive content updates from blogs, podcasts and other information sources through one central location. This gives the user full control and doesn’t require contact information such as email addresses.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Focuses on increasing the visibility of a Web page in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP), through paid advertising. SEM also uses the practices of SEO to achieve increased visibility and reduced advertising cost.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
A process focused on increasing the visibility of a particular Web page in search engine organic results . This process involves keywords, page loading speeds and other factors defined by search engine algorithms.
SERP (Search Engine Result Pages)
The page that you see having performed a search via a search engine such as Google. The organic listings are provided in order of relevance based on the keywords or search phrase you entered.
Social Monitoring
Is the active monitoring of social media channels for mentions or information about a company or organisation. It also provides an opportunity for your Hospitality company to gain insight about your potential and existing customers and their views related to your industry.
Social Publishing
The use of Social Media channels to share and promote content with your target audience.
Spiders
See Robots.
Tag
A keyword or phrase that is “tagged” to a piece of content, such as a blog post or media file. These tags are used to organise content by topic. For social media see Hashtags.
Thread
Refers to a sequence of responses, or discussion, based on an original message post.
Trending
When a topic or discussion goes viral and gets rapid coverage amongst social media users. Most social media platforms use Hashtags to organise and group topics and it is through these hashtags that topics “trend”.
Tweet
Is a post made by a user on the social network, Twitter. “Tweets” are restricted to 140 characters long, but can include images, GIFs, videos and links to external content.
User Generated Content
This refers to content that is created by users of an online system or service, often made available by social media channels. Content types can be, but not limited to; blogs, forums, posts, wikis, images, video or audio files.
Viral
When things go “Viral” they are rapidly and widely circulated on the internet.
Vlog (Video-Blog)
A Blog or Web log that includes video clips. It may be entirely video-based or could be a written blog that features videos as commentary. Examples of Vlogs include product and service reviews, instructional videos and personal commentaries.
Web Design
While inclusive of visual design elements, by “Web Design” LeadDigital also refer to the behind the scenes processes that you can’t see. The usability and capability of your website to function as a sales funnel, working for your sales team. It is essential to include processes that achieve your hospitality business goals including booking and payment processing systems.
White Hat (SEO)
Uses optimisation strategies and techniques that focus on the human audience ahead of search engine Robots (Bots). The process follows search engine rules and policies to increase visibility of your Web page.
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)
A WYSIWYG editor or program allows a developer to see the end result of a project while still in creation, in contrast to traditional editors that are typically code based. Often seen in landing page software platforms.
Want to discuss your hospitality marketing strategy? Cut through all the jargon
