Inbound Marketing
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      Dictionary of Inbound Marketing Terms

      Inbound Marketing doesn't have to be hard. Here is a list of basic inbound terms. Reach out to us if you need assistance

      • A/B Testing – A comparison method intended to show you which version of your content your readers find more compelling. To make a side-by-side comparison, you'll have data on two versions (A and B, unsurprisingly) of the content.

      • B2B – Business to Business. Companies that do most of their work with and sell their products to other companies are B2B companies.
      • B2C – Business to consumer. Think Amazon. Or UnderArmor.
      • Buyer Persona – A detailed definition of your ideal customer, including details and information from current clients about their needs, likes, dislikes, and habits.
      • CTA – Call to action. Visitors can click on a button, link, or something to visit a landing page, get a question answered, and become a lead. See the bottom of this post for a real-life example ;)
      • CTR – Click-through rate. A metric used to track the percentage of people that click through or advance to the next part of your marketing campaign.
      • Content Management System (CMS) - Hubspot describes a Content Management System better than we can. In their words, a CMS is "a web application designed to make it easy for non-technical users" to create, edit, and manage a website. Helps users with content editing and more "behind-the-scenes" work like making content searchable and indexable, automatically generating navigation elements, keeping track of users and permissions, and more.
      • Editorial Calendar – An organized map in the form of a calendar that lays out content, strategy, and a timeline. An editorial calendar serves as a guide for your content marketing efforts.
      • Evergreen content – Content that is relevant and worthwhile to those reading it, no matter when they read it. If someone tells you to ensure your content is evergreen, that would mean ensuring no date-specific references (e.g., starting a blog post by saying, “Today is Halloween!"). It also means you must go back in and update your content as best practices, ideas, and statistics evolve and change.
      • GDD - Growth-driven design is an agile process of designing new websites or redesigning a website that focuses on continuous optimization and improvement based on data and user feedback. Growth-driven design approaches yield better ROI and improved user experience with decision-making based on real user data.
      • ICP - Ideal Customer Profiles. In a B2B environment, ICPs are a detailed description of your ideal customer company. They typically include information such as demographics, industry, company size, pain points, and more. By identifying your ICPs, you can focus your marketing efforts on the people most likely to convert into customers rather than wasting time and money on unqualified leads.  
      • Inbound – A marketing strategy that focuses on pulling your audience in with relevant, timely, and engaging content and conversations on social media and creating customers for life by delighting them with your knowledge and service. Inbound marketing is often referred to as content marketing because of the focus on generating engaging content. Read more here.
      • Keywords – Specific topics that websites get ranked for by search engines. Keywords can be long-tailed or short-tailed. (See below.) Keywords must be relevant and optimized to run a successful inbound marketing campaign.
      • Landing page – A spot for visitors to land on your website. They've clicked on something like a CTA or an ad, bringing them to a landing page with a form that will take some of their information in exchange for valuable information (like an answer to their question or a specific service). See our tips for tips to improve your landing pages.
      • Lead – Visitors who provide information in exchange for an answer to their question or service (on a landing page, perhaps!). A lead is one step closer to becoming a customer than a visitor because not only has she visited your page, but she is also actively engaged with you. She's provided you with her contact information.
      • Long-tail keyword - Long-tailed keywords are more lengthy phrases (usually three or more words long) that visitors use. Because long-tailed keywords are more specific, visitors who land on your site after searching with a long-tailed keyword are usually further along in the buyer's journey versus someone who happened to stumble upon your site from a short-tail or more general keyword search.
      • Metrics – Generally speaking, metrics are measurable data or results from taking these measurements. In inbound marketing, metrics that are of particular importance are organic search traffic (traffic that arrives from your sites due to organic search results, see below) and lead conversion rate.
      • Organic Search Results - Sometimes called natural search results. These are the items or links that appear in a search based on the relevancy of the content they include. Organic search results are unpaid. Their counterpoint would be PPC or paid advertisements or links.
      • PPC – Pay per click. The acronym PPC describes an advertising strategy that entails a company placing its ads on websites like Google or Facebook. When a person clicks on those ads, the business is charged a certain amount. So, they are paying per click. You can see a PPC ad on almost any Google search you complete.
      • SEO – Search engine optimization. How do you increase your website's ranking in search results on sites like Google? SEO includes keywords, proper links, relevant content related to headings, etc.
      • Short-tail keywords – More commonly used or general keywords or search terms. For example, someone interested in bees might search for "beehives." This is a short-tail keyword. In comparison, a long-tail keyword would be more specific: something like "making my beehive." Typically, short-tail keywords reach people higher up on the funnel or early in the buyer's journey. This brings us to our next term…
      • Top of the Funnel – A term used to describe the early stage of a buyer's journey. Top-of-the-funnel blog posts, for example, work to draw potential customers in—those who may be doing preliminary research or just looking for background information—by providing relevant and exciting content and answering a problem or question visitors have. Top-of-the-funnel content positions your company as a knowledgeable, reliable resource. Compare this to bottom-of-the-funnel content, which functions towards the close of a buyer's journey to secure a sale. Free consultations, a contact form, or a sales call would be bottom-of-the-funnel content.
      • User Experience (UX) – Describes a customer's entire experience with your company, from interactions and conversations to sales and use of your services to becoming a brand ambassador and continuing to be a satisfied client.