Glossary

PPC (or pay-per-click) is a form of advertising where companies pay a fee to appear on a search engine results page (SERP) when a user types a keyword. PPC advertising helps companies stand out on SERPs, increase web traffic, and gain new customers.

A buyer persona is a detailed chart that includes the characteristics of individuals representing a target market. Companies research to learn the details of types of buyer personas to better tailor products and marketing materials, from social media posts to email marketing campaigns, to meet their customers’ needs. While one buyer persona may prefer a product with all the bells and whistles and doesn’t mind paying more, another could seek something that costs less and delivers basic functionality.

Personalized marketing taps into a recipient’s unique attributes like name, gender, age, location, or interests to optimize communications. Personalized emails create a rapport with recipients and maintain a long-lasting customer relationship, increasing their loyalty toward brands. This boosts brands’ return on investment (ROI).

A plain text email consists of only text, without the use of stylized fonts or graphics. Although it doesn’t have the visual appeal of an HTML email, it still plays an essential role in an email marketing strategy. When a company sends an HTML marketing email, a plain text version is often sent simultaneously by the multipurpose internet mail extensions (MIME) protocol to help avoid spam filters.

A preference center is a page on a website that provides recipients options to select what type and frequency of notifications and messages they wish to receive from a brand. Some companies also add links to their preference centers in the email’s footer to make it easily accessible for subscribers. These selected notifications enable recipients to avoid a constant stream of spam emails.

A press release is an official document that companies and corporations use to inform the public and media about newsworthy events such as product and service launches. It’s generally rolled out by a company’s Public Relations department.

The product lifecycle refers to the period between a product’s introduction and when it exits the market. It has four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Companies analyze these stages when deciding on price adjustments, refinements, and advertising budgets.

Product positioning is a marketing technique that shares a product’s benefits and advantages with a specific audience via social media and email marketing campaigns. Companies focus on unique customer groups by performing market research and gauging responses. Brands also leverage a step-by-step product positioning framework – including identifying the target audience, studying the market and competitors, and designing a positioning strategy – to reach their desired audience.

As the name suggests, progressive profiling is a technique used by companies to gradually build specific consumer profiles based on the products they interact with to create stronger relationships with consumers.

A promotional mix is an amalgamation of promotional variables, which are: direct marketing, personal selling, sales promotion, advertising, and public relations. It helps companies expand and optimize marketing efforts and reach more customers by improving communication and creating compelling marketing campaigns. It sets a company apart from the competition, boosting conversions.

A promotional plan involves the strategies companies use to achieve their short and long-term marketing goals. When a business identifies these goals, it outlines a plan including target audience, strategies, and budget and most importantly, what promotional strategies will help them achieve desired outcomes. The plan also maps out a timeline defining revenue and sales goals. Promotional strategies include offering discounts, digital marketing, and online advertisements.

A promotional strategy seeks to increase company sales through specific marketing tactics that build brand awareness and create loyal customers.

Psychographics are a customer's unique cognitive and psychological qualities like ideals, goals, and attitude that paint a comprehensive picture of their personality. This helps email marketers gain a deeper understanding of customers’ unique identities, points of view, and needs to better personalize content and calls-to-action (CTAs). This helps them trigger the feeling of exclusivity in recipients, encouraging them to make a purchase and become loyal customers.