B2B marketing is full of keywords that are overused, misused or so old that everyone knows them.
We won’t go into common keywords such as B2B, B2C, ABM, CTR, CTA, PPC, CRM, CX, IoT, SaaS, LBM, MQL, SQL, ROMI and ROI.
However, different terms can mean different things to different markets. Colloquialisms and societal preferences can change the meaning of a word. Here are 15 terms that you may not know, or that have been misused to the point that their actual meaning has been distorted.
1. Affinity marketing
When an aggregation organization and a company form a partnership, affinity marketing happens. An aggregation organization helps to bring many people with similar interests together, which brings a larger focused consumer group to the company.
2. Behavior-based marketing
Retargeting is a form of behavior-based marketing, which might make this term familiar to you. Behavior-based marketing occurs when you’re on a website, and after you’ve left, ads for that product or service show up on other sites you visit. BBM uses the activity of a user to help companies target potential leads.
3. BANT & GPCT
BANT stands for “budget, authority, need, timeline.” This a sales term that helps a sales team determine whether a lead is in a position to make a purchase.
GPCT stands for “goals, plans, challenges, timeline.” GPCTBA/C&I is a combination of the two that HubSpot has touted as its three-part qualifying process for leads, with C&I standing for (negative) consequences and (positive) implications.
4. Black hat SEO (spamdexing) / white hat SEO
Black hat SEO is all about outsmarting the way search engines catalog a website. This process makes your website seem more authoritative than it is by tricking the search engines with a lot of keywords and links.
White hat SEO is the opposite: With white hat, you’re trying to work with search engines instead of trying to beat them.
5. Content shock
The term “content shock” was coined by Mark Schaefer in 2014. Content shock happens when a company produces more content than their consumer can actually consume, with output outpacing consumption exponentially.
6. Data lake
When data is stored in a raw, natural format, it forms a repository called a data lake. Data lakes are often enterprise data stored in a singular spot and include data that helps to visualize information, report analytics and develop machine learning. Data lakes can include structured data, semi-structured data such as CSV logs, unstructured data such as PDFs and emails, and binary data such as videos and images.
7. Earned media
Earned media is content that’s given exposure or promotion by a third-party source. This type of exposure is earned, rather than paid for, and includes guest articles, traditional media such as TV or radio, paid or voluntary speaking opportunities, increased search rankings, tweets, and more. The important thing to keep in mind with earned media is that it’s free and earned, but not a form of paid media.
8. Gamification
The Term Gamification is newer to the marketing field but is quickly becoming popular among content producers. Gamification is the process of using design techniques that are normally found in online games to enhance your traditional media. Examples include progress bars, badges for completing steps, avatars and rewards for completing levels.
9. Historical optimization / content upcycling
Historical optimization, or content upcycling, is the process of taking evergreen or old content from your archives and reoptimizing it for your current audience. This practice helps increase your company’s visibility and lead generation. Pamela Vaughan coined the term in June 2015 when she discussed how historical optimization can help fight content shock and improve your content archives.
10. Keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing is a form of black hat SEO similar to link schemes and link farms.
When you keyword stuff, you take a specific keyword that you would like to be ranked very high for and put it all over a page, even if it doesn’t make sense to do so. Link schemes and link farms are websites set up to add links in a similar fashion to keyword stuffing.
11. Lead nurturing
We’re all familiar with lead nurturing. Using lead nurturing tactics such as creating targeted content, conducting timely follow-ups and employing personalized email marketing, you help your leads move through the funnel. Lead nurturing works during entry-level funnel actions as well as for longtime customers who are poised to become perfect brand ambassadors.
12. Omni-channel marketing
Also known as multi-channel marketing, omni-channel marketing occurs on multiple channels, such as mobile devices, social media, desktop ads and more.
To effectively practice omni-channel marketing, you should deliver a seamless experience across whatever devices or platforms your user interacts with.
13. Q Score
Q Scores, or Q-Ratings, are a way of measuring familiarity or interest in a topic, such as the appeal of a celebrity, brand or TV show. In marketing, they’re often used to establish the monetary value of a campaign, as the higher the Q Score, the more money will be allocated to that campaign.
14. Smart content
Smart content adapts and changes based on who is viewing it. This type of content shows viewers a different image, video, infographic, etc. based on their demographics. Using device type, location, funnel stage, buyer persona or on-site actions the user has taken, content is served that more accurately suits their preferences.
15. User-generated content
When your users generate content for you, it’s called user-generated content, or UGC. UGC can include video, images, audio, text, social media and more and is usually published to platforms such as Twitter or Facebook. UGC is often used for testimonials, problem resolution, advertising, research, and other helpful information. While social media is the first type of UGC that comes to mind, it can also include guest blog posts from your customers and how-tos.
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