REFERENCE DESK / 50 TERMS
Marketing language, translated into plain language.
Short definitions help you read the library. Every term links to a field guide where the idea is explained in context.
A
- A/B test
- A controlled comparison that randomly shows eligible participants different versions to estimate how a defined change affects an outcome.Read the connected guide →
- Attribution
- A rule or model that distributes credit for a recorded outcome among recorded touchpoints. It does not by itself establish causation.Read the connected guide →
- Audience
- The people a message is intended to reach or the group a platform estimates is eligible to receive it.Read the connected guide →
- Awareness
- The extent to which people can recall or recognise a brand, product, organisation or idea.Read the connected guide →
B
- Behavioural targeting
- Selecting advertising using signals associated with previous activity, often grouped into inferred audience segments.Read the connected guide →
- Brand
- A set of identifiers and learned expectations connected to an offer, organisation or experience.Read the connected guide →
- Brand lift
- An estimated change in awareness, recall, consideration or another perception measured between comparable exposed and control groups.Read the connected guide →
C
- Call to action
- A clear instruction that identifies the next step, such as reading a guide, requesting information or completing a purchase.Read the connected guide →
- Campaign
- A coordinated set of communications and activities designed to produce a defined change for a defined audience and period.Read the connected guide →
- Causal effect
- The difference between an observed outcome and a credible estimate of what would have happened without the treatment or activity.Read the connected guide →
- Click-through rate
- Clicks divided by impressions. It describes interaction with delivered advertising, not profit or incrementality.Read the connected guide →
- Consent
- A specific, informed and freely given indication of choice that can be withdrawn when consent is the basis for processing.Read the connected guide →
- Contextual targeting
- Selecting an advertisement according to the subject, keywords, language or placement of the current content rather than a behavioural profile.Read the connected guide →
- Conversion
- A defined action considered useful, such as a qualified enquiry, completed registration or purchase.Read the connected guide →
- Conversion rate
- Conversions divided by an eligible base such as sessions, users or clicks. The denominator and time window must be stated.Read the connected guide →
- Copy
- The written or spoken words used in a marketing message, page, interface or script.Read the connected guide →
- Counterfactual
- An estimate of the outcome that would have occurred for the same people or market without the activity being evaluated.Read the connected guide →
- Customer journey
- A working model of the questions, actions, touchpoints and barriers involved in moving from a situation to an outcome.Read the connected guide →
D
- Dark pattern
- Interface design that steers, pressures or deceives people into choices they might not otherwise make.Read the connected guide →
- Data minimisation
- Collecting and retaining only the personal data necessary for a defined purpose.Read the connected guide →
- Disclosure
- Information that makes a material condition or commercial relationship clear enough for people to interpret a message accurately.Read the connected guide →
- Distinctive asset
- A recognisable non-name cue—such as a shape, colour combination, sound or character—that helps identify a brand.Read the connected guide →
E
- Earned media
- Attention or coverage provided by other people or organisations rather than purchased placement; it can still be influenced by public relations.Read the connected guide →
F
- Frequency
- The average or distribution of how often people in the measured audience received an impression during a period.Read the connected guide →
- Funnel
- A simplified model showing how a large eligible group narrows through stages toward an outcome. Real journeys often loop or skip stages.Read the connected guide →
G
- Green claim
- A statement or implication about an environmental characteristic, benefit, impact or improvement.Read the connected guide →
- Guardrail metric
- A measure monitored to prevent improvement in the primary outcome from causing unacceptable harm elsewhere.Read the connected guide →
H
- Holdout group
- An eligible group intentionally not exposed to an activity so its outcomes can provide a comparison.Read the connected guide →
I
- Impression
- A recorded instance of content or advertising being served. Definitions vary and do not always mean a person noticed it.Read the connected guide →
- Incrementality
- The additional outcome caused by an activity compared with what would have happened without it.Read the connected guide →
- Influencer
- A creator or public figure whose audience relationship can affect attention, perception or decisions; commercial relationships require clear disclosure.Read the connected guide →
L
- Landing page
- The destination reached from an advertisement, message or link, designed to continue the promise and support a next step.Read the connected guide →
- Lifetime value
- An estimate of the economic value of a customer relationship over time, based on assumptions about margin, retention and future behaviour.Read the connected guide →
M
- Market research
- A structured process for reducing uncertainty about markets, people, alternatives and decisions using appropriate evidence.Read the connected guide →
- Media mix
- The combination of channels and formats assigned different communication roles within a plan.Read the connected guide →
- Metric
- A defined quantitative measure. A useful metric states its unit, source, population, period and decision purpose.Read the connected guide →
O
- Objective
- A specific change sought for a defined audience, level and time period.Read the connected guide →
- Organic search
- Unpaid search results selected by ranking systems; it is separate from paid search advertising.Read the connected guide →
P
- Positioning
- The distinctive and credible place an offer aims to occupy relative to alternatives for a selected audience.Read the connected guide →
- Primary research
- Evidence collected directly for the current decision, such as interviews, observation, surveys or experiments.Read the connected guide →
R
- Reach
- The estimated number or percentage of distinct people or devices that received content during a defined period.Read the connected guide →
- Reference price
- A comparison point used to interpret a current price, such as a previous price, competing offer or higher tier.Read the connected guide →
- Retargeting
- Advertising to an audience associated with a previous interaction, subject to applicable privacy and platform rules.Read the connected guide →
S
- Sample
- The subset observed in research. Conclusions depend on how well the sample represents the population relevant to the decision.Read the connected guide →
- Segmentation
- Grouping a market by differences expected to produce a meaningful difference in needs, behaviour or response.Read the connected guide →
- Social proof
- Information about other people’s choices or evaluations used as a cue; it should be genuine, relevant and not fabricated.Read the connected guide →
T
- Targeting
- Selecting the audience, context or eligibility conditions for communication after evaluating whom the offer can serve.Read the connected guide →
U
- Unique value proposition
- A concise explanation of the relevant benefit, audience, alternative and evidence that makes an offer worth choosing.Read the connected guide →
V
- Viewability
- A technical measure of whether enough of an advertisement was in a viewable area for a minimum time; it does not prove attention.Read the connected guide →
- Vanity metric
- A number that appears positive or impressive but has no clear relationship to the decision or outcome being evaluated.Read the connected guide →
FROM DEFINITION TO DECISION
Use the term in context.
A definition is a starting point. The field guides explain assumptions, examples, limitations and evidence.