Where every click is a journey and every impression counts.
The principle that your key message should be clear and compelling enough to be understood if displayed on a billboard for only a few seconds. If you can't explain it while driving 65 mph, it's too complicated.
The video-sharing behemoth that transformed from a humble startup into the verb we use for watching literally anything online. Originally just a platform for uploading cat videos and people hurting themselves, it's now a critical marketing channel where brands desperately try to 'go viral' and influencers hawk protein powder. Every marketer's presentation now includes a 'YouTube strategy,' which usually means posting their TV commercial and hoping for the best.
An ad impression that actually appeared on a user's screen for a measurable duration, as opposed to loading in a tab they never opened. The advertising industry's reluctant admission that billing for invisible ads was perhaps unethical.
In data analysis and research, systematic errors or prejudices that skew results in a particular direction, usually the one that confirms what you wanted to believe anyway. Every analyst claims they're aware of biases and working to eliminate them, while simultaneously cherry-picking data that supports their hypothesis. It's the statistical equivalent of having a favorite child but insisting you treat them all equally.
Software that aggregates customer data from multiple sources into unified profiles, creating a single source of truth about who bought what when. Abbreviated as CDP, or 'the system that knows you better than your therapist.'
A cooperative advertising arrangement where manufacturers support local dealer advertising efforts with funding and creative assets. The automotive industry's way of saying 'please don't make terrible ads with our logo.'
A prospect who's been vetted by marketing, kicked over to sales, and deemed worthy of actual human attention rather than automated email sequences. Abbreviated as SQL, which confusingly has nothing to do with databases.
A customer account that's technically active but generates no revenue or engagement, cluttering your metrics like digital dead weight. They're not users, they're ghosts.
When companies publicly support social causes to appear ethical while doing nothing substantive behind the scenes. It's performative activism designed to boost brand image without affecting the bottom line or requiring actual change.
A collection of websites, apps, and videos where your banner ads can appear, giving you access to millions of placements ranging from premium publishers to extremely questionable mobile games. It's the democratization of ad placement, for better or worse.
The cost per thousand impressions in advertising, from the Latin 'mille' meaning thousand. It's the pricing model where you pay for eyeballs, whether or not those eyeballs care about what they're seeing.
A marketer who focuses exclusively on rapid user acquisition through unconventional tactics, often ignoring sustainability or brand building. A marketer who thinks rules are suggestions.
Creating elaborate diagrams showing every touchpoint a customer encounters with your brand, from blissful ignorance to purchase and beyond. It's like stalking, but with Post-it notes and the pretense of empathy.
A customer acquisition strategy that accepts high turnover rates by constantly replacing lost customers with new ones rather than improving retention. The marketing equivalent of a leaky bucket with a really big hose.
Placing ads based on the content of the page rather than the user's browsing history, making a surprising comeback now that cookies are endangered. It's targeting ads like it's 1999, except now algorithms read the pages instead of humans.
An advertisement placeholder that reserves space in a publication or website but intentionally runs blank or with minimal content, often used strategically to block competitors. It's passive-aggressive marketing at its finest.
The percentage of times your ad was shown divided by the total number of times it was eligible to appear, typically in paid search or display campaigns. It measures how much of the available opportunity you're actually capturing.
Fraudulent ad clicks generated by bots, click farms, or accidental touches that will never convert. Basically paying for robots to pretend they care about your products.
The organizational structure of a company's brands, products, and services—whether they're independent siblings, a parent-child hierarchy, or one big happy endorsed family. It's the family tree that determines who gets what inheritance.
High-production-value flagship content designed to make a big splash and attract massive attention, typically created infrequently. Your marketing team's Avengers movie, budget included.
The art of convincing people they need things they didn't know existed, using a combination of psychology, data analytics, and attractive people in stock photos. It's where companies spend vast sums to create "brand awareness" while claiming every campaign was a massive success. The department that everyone else in the company thinks has the most fun while actually drowning in spreadsheets.
When multiple team members independently contact the same client or prospect, creating confusion and looking spectacularly uncoordinated. The corporate equivalent of too many cooks.
The process of finding new prospects who resemble your existing customers, using algorithms to clone your best audience at scale. It's digital matchmaking based on the assumption that people similar to your customers will also tolerate your product.
In marketing, the emotional rush or novelty factor that gets people excited about a product or campaign. A product with 'kick' has the X-factor that makes people actually care instead of just scrolling past. Without it, you're just another forgettable ad in a feed of thousands.