Have you ever read an article or hear someone talk about something and think to yourself "I know they speak the same language as me but what are they saying!?".

It can't be just me experiencing this right...?

This all comes down to jargon. Terms that are specific to industries or communities that often show people who are in the "know" and who aren't.

Jargon isn't all bad. But many people use it to intimidate you.

In digital marketing, jargon can be used to speed up conversations. For example, if I talk about a funnel, it's easier than saying "the automated process used to help people decide to connect with you and help you build a relationship with them."

Honestly, that sentence sounded confusing!

Long story short, having specific terms for things in your industry is perfectly fine and helpful.

What's not helpful is having so many different terms for things, or additional terms for things, and using it to feel smarter or intimidate others. This is often how jargon is used.

A few years ago I was doing regular marketing for a client and they hired someone to put together a new brand for them. I was excited to see it but oddly was left out of every step of the development. (This was odd because I had day-to-day connections with the customer and created the marketing. At a minimum, I thought the brand designer would want to speak to me.)

After 6 months of work, the brand designer delivered the new brand details in a 70-page document.

Impressive, right?

That's what I thought...until I read it.

One of the specific talking points of the document was how the audience is not marketing experts and so the brand needs to have simple language to speak to them.

The issue was, all the language put together for the brand was filled to the brim with so much marketing jargon. Sentences like:

"Our funnel optimization and customer journey mapping strategies are essential for driving strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across all stages of the marketing lifecycle."

This sentence boils down to:

"Our efforts to connect to customers and get more sales are important for our yearly goals."

But the first one sounded so impressive, right?

Back to the story - it quickly became obvious why I wasn't brought into the brand discussion. As another marketer, I could read right through the jargon used and see how barely anything was being said.

I was actively excluded from the project because I could point out the problems.

Being excluded wasn't an issue for me, the deceit in the project being delivered was a major issue.

Frankly, it's things like this that cause people to hate marketers!

You see, jargon is intentionally used to make things more obscure. It's used to convince you that the person is the all-knowing expert you so desperately need. Like an artful illusionist, a cunning marketer can deftly wield jargon to make you complaisant - their prey, bewitched by the promise of solutions only they can provide.

Alright, I'm getting too poetic. 

To avoid this, you need to know the top marketing terms, what they mean, and how they impact your business.

A/B Testing (Split Testing): A type of experiment where two versions of a website, advertisement, or other marketing materials are compared in order to determine which one performs better. This can help identify the most effective options for increasing conversions and improving engagement with customers.

Automation: Utilizing technology to speed up marketing processes such as email campaigns. This allows marketers to focus on other tasks.

Call-to-Action (CTA): A statement or instruction designed to prompt people to take some form of action such as clicking on a link or downloading a file. CTAs should be clearly defined and highlighted within any marketing material in order for them to be effective.

Content Marketing: The strategy of creating valuable content (like blog posts or videos) that is tailored specifically toward your target audience in order to generate more qualified visitors and leads over time. 

Conversion Rate: A metric that tells you the percentage or rate of people who take a specific action. This can be buying a product or registering for an event.

Engagement Rate: The percentage of people who interact with a piece of content such as commenting, liking, or sharing posts across social media platforms. High engagement rates are seen as an indicator that customers have found value in your marketing efforts and may even act as influencers within your industry/market space. 

Funnel: The process of guiding potential customers through an automated sequence that leads them from awareness of the product to purchase the product. It typically consists of multiple stages or steps.

Hero Image (Banner Image): A large eye-catching image (or video) typically used at the top of webpages and advertisements in order to draw attention away from any other competing elements present on the page/ad. It should convey a key message relevant to what’s being marketed while also communicating an emotion associated with the product/brand itself (elevating its perceived value). 

Journey Mapping (Flow or Customer Journey): The process of tracking and mapping the customer’s journey as they interact with a company or brand, from awareness to purchase, in order to identify any areas that need improvement. 

Landing Page: A web page specifically designed for visitors who “land” on it after clicking through links within emails, ads, etc., typically used for lead generation and directing potential customers through funnels by providing helpful information about a product/service in exchange for contact information or other data. 

Optimization: The process of making changes to a website or app in order to improve its performance and user experience. This can involve anything from design tweaks, content updates, code optimizations, etc., and is an important part of improving the overall usability and functionality for users. 

Personalization (Dynamic Content): Tailored experiences for customers based on their individual preferences and behavior. Personalized messaging has been proven effective at increasing engagement rates with customers, driving higher conversion rates, and ultimately leading to better sales. 

Retargeting (Remarketing): Serving ads or marketing materials to people who have previously interacted with your brand or website in some way (like abandoned shopping carts).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The practice of optimizing content with keywords relevant to it so it appears higher up in search engine results pages (called SERPs). This allows your content to get found easier when people are searching for it.

User Experience Design (UX or UI, User Interface): The process of designing websites, apps etc., so that users have a positive experience when interacting with them from start to finish. When done well, UX design leads to higher satisfaction levels among customers which in turn leads to more sales opportunities down the line as prospects come back for repeat purchases or referrals

This is by no means an exhaustive list, let me know if there's a term you're coming across you'd love for me to define and tell you more about!

Ultimately, understanding these marketing terms and not falling prey to the jargon is an essential part of succeeding in business today. 

Whether you’re a small business owner or simply someone who works with various marketing platforms, taking an active role in the language being used can save you a lot of time, money, and confusion in the long run.  

You don't have to be an expert, remember if something seems off it probably is – trust your gut!