Do you feel that some days your marketing department is speaking in a different language? Are they swapping terms that you’ve heard before but can’t remember what the heck they mean? We’re here to help, with our list of 10 inbound marketing terms and definitions to keep you in the conversation. Getting the lingo right is critical to making sure your marketing team are in-tune with your business objectives.
1. Inbound Marketing
Above all, you need to understand what the term inbound marketing itself means. Those who are identifying themselves an inbound marketers are seeking or earning the attention of their customers. They are making the online business easy to find with engaging content that will draw their customer into the site. In contrast, outbound marketing is about pushing the message to the consumer out through traditional advertising, trade shows, commercials, cold calls and even email blasts.
2. SEO
Search engine optimization, normally called SEO, is one of the most common terms you can expect to come across in inbound marketing. SEO is the practice of making changes or optimizing of your website or blog to improve rankings in search engines.
3. Conversion Path
The conversion path alludes to the events that lead to capturing a lead. A typical conversion path could look like this: a call-to-action sends visitors to a landing page where they are presented with a lead capture form. Users submit their email address in return for access to premium content — helpful information that goes into greater detail than regular content with the intent to persuade leads to make a purchase.
4. Landing Page
Landing pages market a particular offer, such as an ebook or webinar, to capture a lead. Normally a business would create several landing pages, catered to a particular type of content and designed for a specific persona.
5. Personas
Personas are customer profiles within your target market. They are very comprehensive and including such intimates as consumers’ behaviors, demographics, and psychographic information.
6. Dynamic Content
Dynamic content allows you to display content differently according to the type of visitor, determined by data captured during previous interactions with your website. An online clothing store might want to display different clothing types depending on the user’s sex.
7. The Funnel: TOFU, MOFU, BOFU
The process that visitors take, starting as leads and ending as customers, is called the funnel and it consists of three stages.
- The top of the funnel (TOFU) is the beginning of the conversion process, where leads are looking for information. This is your chance to provide engaging, useful content that will cause prospects to become interested in your company and offerings.
- The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is the point where leads are seeking further information. Here, you provide more in-depth content that further emphasizes that your business is a good option.
- The bottom of the funnel (BOFU) is the final phase, where leads are about to convert into customers. Marketers pass the leads to the sales team, who will typically offer leads a promotional deal, free consultation, or demo.
8. Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing, also called drip marketing, moves leads from one stage in the funnel to the next. In order to successfully create conversions, you need to design campaigns with a certain stage in the funnel in mind, advises Savvy Panda.
9. Closed-Loop Marketing
It is necessary to track your inbound marketing efforts in order to ensure they are going as planned. Closed-loop marketing allows you to watch how a visitor interacts with your website and content to eventually become a customer.
10. Responsive Design
The ever-increasing number of mobile users has made responsive design still more critical. Responsive design enables your website to act differently according to whether a visitor is using a laptop or desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone.
And that’s just the first 10, but they are probably the most critical. Staying familiar with these terms will keep you on the right track to online growth and business success.
