Alexis Kestler
Running a small business can be challenging, especially when it comes to marketing. With so many new terms and acronyms floating around, it‘s easy to feel overwhelmed. However, understanding some key online marketing terminology can help small business owners make smarter decisions when promoting their company online.
In this guide, we‘ll define 25 essential online marketing terms every small business owner should know. Whether you‘re new to digital marketing or looking to brush up on the basics, this glossary will help you navigate the space and boost your marketing strategy.
A/B Testing
A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method of comparing two versions of a web page, email, ad, or other marketing material to see which one performs better. The goal is to determine which version drives more conversions or achieves the desired outcome.
For example, a business might test two different call-to-action button colors on a landing page to see which color generates more clicks. A/B tests help companies optimize their marketing assets over time.
Analytics
Web analytics tools like Google Analytics allow you to collect data on who is visiting your website, what pages they view, and what actions they take. Analytics provide insights into website traffic, lead generation, sales, and more.
Monitoring key metrics and trends helps businesses understand their customer base and fine-tune their digital marketing strategy. Useful analytics reports include traffic sources, bounce rates, conversion rates, and sales funnels.
Backlink
A backlink is an inbound link from one website to another. Backlinks are important for SEO because they help demonstrate the credibility and authority of a website to search engines like Google.
The more high-quality backlinks a site has from reputable sources, the better its rankings will be in organic search results. Building backlinks should be part of any small business‘s larger SEO strategy.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of website visitors who enter and then leave your site without viewing any other pages. Generally, a bounce rate between 26-40% is considered decent.
A high bounce rate often indicates that your website content or design isn‘t engaging users. Reducing bounce rate should be a priority, as visitors who stay on your site longer are more likely to convert into customers.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness measures how easily consumers can recall or recognize your brand. It reflects how aware people are of your business and offerings. Brand awareness is a key goal for small businesses looking to stand out from competitors.
Some ways to boost brand awareness include content marketing, social media marketing, PR, advertising, influencer partnerships, and branded merchandise.
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a detailed representation of your ideal customer. Personas include fictional but realistic traits like demographics, behaviors, goals, and motivations. Developing personas for different audience segments helps guide your content and product strategy.
For example, a furniture company might have two main personas: 1) interior designers buying in bulk, and 2) young professionals buying for their first apartment. Addressing the unique needs of each persona allows you to market and sell more effectively.
Call to Action (CTA)
A call to action (CTA) is copy or graphics intended to prompt an immediate response from readers. CTAs encourage visitors to take action, such as:
- Sign up for a free trial
- Download an ebook
- Add a product to their cart
- Subscribe to a newsletter
Well-designed CTAs can boost conversions and sales for small businesses. Place them strategically on landing pages, in emails, and at the bottom of blog posts.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate measures how often users click on a specific link. To calculate it, divide the number of clicks by the number of times the link was shown (impressions).
Higher CTRs typically mean the offer, headline, image, or page preview was compelling enough to entice a click. CTR is an important metric for optimizing ads and email campaigns.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is about creating and distributing valuable free content to attract and retain customers. Rather than pitching products directly, content marketing aims to build trust and establish thought leadership.
Small businesses can leverage content like blog posts, videos, podcasts, ebooks, guides, and more to grow an organic audience and generate leads. A strategic content marketing plan helps nurture prospects throughout the buyer‘s journey.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate measures how many site visitors complete a desired action (conversion). Common goals include email signups, downloads, purchases, and phone calls.
Conversion rate is calculated by dividing total conversions by total visitors. A high conversion rate suggests your website and marketing are effective at generating leads and sales.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer acquisition cost measures how much you spend to acquire new customers across sales, marketing, and other activities. To calculate CAC, divide total costs of acquiring customers by the number of new customers added during that period.
Monitoring CAC helps determine the profitability of your marketing and sales process. Generally, you want your CAC to be lower than the revenue you expect to generate per customer.
Email Marketing
Email marketing involves sending promotional or transactional emails to prospects and customers. For small businesses, email can be a cost-effective channel for driving repeat business, loyalty, referrals, and more.
Some best practices for small business email marketing include: segmenting your list, writing compelling subject lines, automating campaigns, focusing on mobile optimization, and analyzing email metrics.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rate reveals how much your social media followers are interacting with your content. To calculate it, divide your total interactions (likes, comments, shares) by your number of followers. The higher the engagement rate, the better.
An average engagement rate varies by platform but is around 1-3% on Instagram and Facebook. Monitoring engagement helps gauge what content resonates most with your audience.
Impression
An impression refers to the number of times your content is displayed to users. This metric applies to both website visitors and online ad campaigns. More impressions mean greater visibility.
However, high impressions alone don‘t guarantee engagement or conversions. You want to analyze impressions alongside metrics like CTR and conversion rate.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
A key performance indicator (KPI) is a metric that measures progress towards an important business goal. Common marketing KPIs include website traffic, lead generation, rank in search results, social media reach, and cost per conversion.
Monitoring KPIs helps spot trends and opportunities for growth. Set realistic benchmarks so you can evaluate the success of your digital marketing campaigns.
Keyword
Keywords are the words and phrases users search for in search engines like Google. Identifying keywords that potential customers use helps make your content more findable.
Some best practices for optimizing keywords include: researching relevant keyword terms, sprinkling them naturally throughout your site content, placing them in headings and titles, and tracking which ones drive the most traffic.
Landing Page
A landing page is a standalone web page that encourages visitors to take a specific action. Unlike your homepage, landing pages have a singular focus and exclude main site navigation.
You can create targeted landing pages for different campaigns, like email signups, content offers, webinars, and product launches. The goal is to convert visitors into leads or customers.
Lead
A lead is a potential customer who has expressed interest in your company in some way. Common types of leads include website visitors who sign up for something, download a content asset, or request information or pricing.
Nurturing leads helps turn them into paying customers. Make sure to collect lead contact information so you can continue marketing to them.
Marketing Funnel
A marketing funnel visually represents the journey a customer goes through from awareness to becoming a buyer. As customers move down the funnel, they engage with your brand and products more.
The funnel includes stages like reach (awareness), acquisition (consideration), conversion (purchase), and retention (loyalty). Aligning your strategy to the funnel maximizes conversions.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click marketing refers to advertising models in which you pay a fee every time someone clicks on your ad. PPC ads appear alongside organic search and social media results.
Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads offer PPC ad campaigns that can help drive traffic and sales for small businesses. You can target PPC ads to specific keywords, demographics, and interests.
Prospect
A prospect is someone who has shown interest and could turn into a customer for your business. Prospects are leads you’ve qualified as a good fit for your target customer profile.
Your sales team can prioritize prospects who are further down the funnel and more likely to convert soon. Effective lead nurturing also helps turn cold prospects into warm ones.
Return on Investment (ROI)
Return on investment (ROI) measures profit generated from investments or marketing campaigns. To calculate it, subtract your total costs from the revenue gained, then divide by total costs.
ROI helps determine how efficiently you’re spending your marketing and sales dollars. Aim for an ROI of at least 2:1 for your digital marketing initiatives and campaigns.
Referral
A referral occurs when an existing customer recommends your business to someone they know. Referrals are highly valuable, as people trust recommendations from family and friends.
Small businesses can encourage referrals through loyalty programs, discounts, giveaways, and asking satisfied customers for reviews and testimonials.
Retargeting
Retargeting, also called remarketing, shows ads to past visitors in hopes of re-engaging them. For example, if someone visited your online store but didn‘t complete a purchase, you can display ads across websites reminding them about items left in their cart.
Setting up retargeting campaigns helps maximize conversions from high-intent website visitors. Just make sure your ads aren‘t overly intrusive.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization means optimizing your website and content to improve rankings on search engines like Google. Higher rankings equal increased organic traffic.
Some key elements of SEO include performing keyword research, generating backlinks, optimizing site speed and structure, creating fresh high-quality content, and leveraging alt text. SEO is a must for small business websites.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing involves having a presence on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to engage with current and potential customers.
It provides opportunities to raise awareness, generate leads, retain existing buyers, get referrals, boost customer service, and more. Make sure to promote your social channels across all marketing materials and campaigns.
Target Audience
Your target audience, or target market, is the specific group of consumers most likely to buy from your business. Defining your audience‘s demographics, interests, behaviors, and other attributes ensures your marketing hits the right people.
Start by creating detailed buyer personas. From there, you can tailor your messaging, offers, channels, and assets to resonate with your targets.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Your unique selling proposition explains what makes your business stand out from the competition. It should highlight your core differentiator, be it a proprietary process, superior product, excellent service, pricing, or brand reputation.
Crafting a strong, memorable USP helps convince potential customers to buy from you rather than a competitor. Use it consistently across marketing materials.
Web Traffic
Web traffic refers to the number of visitors that come to your website over a given period. Traffic can be organic (from search engines), direct (from typing in your URL), referral (from links on other sites), social, email, or paid.
Monitoring traffic helps gauge the success of marketing campaigns. Sudden drops in traffic may indicate website issues or algorithms changes from search engines.
Website Conversion
Website conversion means getting visitors to take a desired action on your site. Conversions can include purchases, downloads, subscriptions, event signups, resource requests, etc.
A/B testing landing pages and optimizing website copy can help improve conversion rates. Make calls to action and forms short, simple, and prominent.
Mastering basic online marketing terms equips small business owners to make smart, data-driven decisions. As you optimize your digital strategy, refer back to this glossary anytime you need a quick refresher on key concepts.
With the right foundation, you can leverage online marketing to attract customers, boost sales, and build a thriving business for the long run. Focus on continually testing and improving based on your analytics and KPIs. Don‘t forget to tap the many cost-effective tools and tactics covered in this guide.
