Definitive Glossary of Marketing and Sales
The reference dictionary for mastering the language of business growth and making data-driven decisions.
A
A/B Testing (A/B Testing)
A method of experimentation that consists of comparing two versions of the same web page, email or advertisement (version A and version B) to determine which one works better.
API (Application Programming Interface)
Application Programming Interface. A set of rules and tools that allow different software applications to communicate with each other.
Domain Authority
A metric developed by Moz that predicts the likelihood of a website ranking in search results. It is based on the quantity and quality of backlinks.
Reach
The total number of unique people who have seen your content or ad. This is different from "impressions", which can include multiple views by the same person.
Attribution
The process of identifying and assigning value to the different touch points (channels, campaigns) that a customer has on their journey to conversion.
D.A.F.O. Analysis
Acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats and Opportunities. A strategic analysis framework for assessing a company's competitive position.
Lookalike Audience (Lookalike Audience)
A feature on advertising platforms (such as Facebook Ads) that allows you to find new users whose demographics and interests are similar to those of your current best customers.
B
B.A.N.T.
Acronym for Budget, Authority, Need and Timing. A sales technique to qualify leads and identify real opportunities.
B2B (Business to Business)
Business model in which trade in goods or services takes place between two companies, without the participation of the end consumer.
Brainstorming
Group technique to generate original ideas in a relaxed atmosphere. Literally, "brainstorming".
Briefing
A document or meeting that provides essential information and guidelines for implementing a specific project or task.
Buzz Marketing
A marketing strategy that seeks to generate buzz around a product or brand, often before its official launch.
Backlink
A link from another website to yours. Quality backlinks are one of the most important factors for SEO, as they act as "votes of confidence" for Google.
B2C (Business to Consumer)
Business model in which trade takes place directly between the company and the end consumer.
Branding
The process of managing and building a brand, including its identity, personality and public perception.
Budget
The amount of money allocated for a given project, campaign or time period. The amount of money allocated for a given project, campaign or time period.
Benchmark / Benchmarking
Method of comparing products, services and practices with those of competitors to identify areas for improvement and improvement.
BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel)
The bottom of the sales funnel. At this stage, leads are highly qualified and ready to make a buying decision. Content here should be about demos, case studies and offers.
Break-even
The break-even point at which a company's total revenues equal its total costs, generating neither profit nor loss.
Burn Rate
The rate at which a company consumes its financial resources, especially investment capital, before generating a positive cash flow.
C
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
The total investment in marketing and sales divided by the number of customers acquired in a period. It measures how much it costs to acquire a new customer.
Call to Action (CTA)
An instruction or visual element (such as a button or link) designed to elicit an immediate response from the user, such as "Buy now" or "Learn more".
Drip Campaign (Drip Campaign)
A series of automated emails that are sent to leads or customers over time. Each email is sent after a specific action or time interval.
Cashflow
The movement of money in and out of a business. A positive cash flow is vital to the financial health of the business.
CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
The most senior executive position in an organisation, responsible for strategic decision-making. Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer.
Check-in
A follow-up meeting, usually regular (weekly), to discuss the progress of a project between the team and the client.
Churn Rate
The churn rate. The percentage of customers or subscribers who stop using a company's services during a given period.
Cluster
Grouping of elements (people, products, companies) that share similar characteristics for analysis or segmentation.
CMS (Content Management System)
Content Management System. A software (such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal) that allows users to create, manage and modify the content of a website without the need for technical knowledge.
Coaching
A personalised training and development process in which a coach helps an individual to achieve specific goals and improve performance.
Cohort
A group of users who share a common characteristic or have performed a similar action in the same time period. It is used to analyse behaviour over time.
Gated Content
Online content (such as an ebook, webinar or report) that requires users to provide their contact information (usually an email) in order to access it.
D
Data-Driven
A strategic approach in which decisions are made based on analysis and interpretation of data, rather than on intuition or observation.
Deadline
The date or time limit for completing a task or project.
DRE (Income Statement)
Demonstrativo de Resultado do Exercício. A financial report that summarises a company's revenues, costs and expenses for a specific period to show its profitability.
E
E-commerce
E-commerce. The buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.
User Experience (UX)
The overall perception and emotions that a user experiences when interacting with a product, service or system, especially a website or application.
Sales Funnel
A model that represents the ideal journey a potential customer takes from brand awareness to customer conversion. It is usually divided into stages (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU).
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Enterprise Resource Planning System. Software that integrates and manages a company's core business processes, such as finance, HR, production and supply chain.
F
Follow-Up
The process of following up after an initial contact with a potential customer to nurture the relationship and move the sales process forward.
Forecast
Forecasting. The practice of predicting future results (such as sales or revenues) based on historical data and market trends.
G
Gap
A gap or difference between the current state and the desired state. Identifying gaps is key to strategic planning.
Growth Hacking
A subfield of marketing that focuses on rapid experimentation across different channels and strategies to find the most efficient ways to grow a business.
Google Ads
Google's online advertising platform, which allows advertisers to display ads on search results, YouTube and other sites on the Google network.
Growth
The main objective of many marketing and business strategies, focused on increasing key metrics such as revenue, users or market share.
H
Headhunter
A recruiter specialised in finding and selecting high-level professionals or those with very specific profiles for managerial positions.
High-end / Middle-end / Front-end
Terms to classify products in a "value ladder". Front-end (or Tripwire) is the low-cost offer to attract customers. Middle-end is the intermediate products. High-end is the high-value premium offering.
I
Impressions
The total number of times a piece of content or advertisement is displayed on a user's screen. It does not measure whether the user has interacted with it, only that it has been displayed.
User Interface (UI)
The visual part of a website, application or device that a user interacts with. Good UI design is intuitive, aesthetic and easy to use.
Inbound Marketing
A marketing strategy focused on attracting customers by creating valuable content and personalised experiences, rather than interrupting them with advertising.
Revenue (Receita)
The total value collected from the sale of products or services before deducting costs.
J
Joint Venture
A business partnership in which two or more companies join together to carry out a specific project or economic activity, sharing risks and benefits.
K
Kickoff
The first official meeting of a project, where the team is introduced, objectives and scope are defined and expectations are aligned with the client.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
Key Performance Indicator. A measurable metric that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving its key business objectives.
Know-how
The practical knowledge and experience accumulated in a specific field or task. "Knowing how to do it".
L
Landing Page
A stand-alone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. It is where a visitor "lands" after clicking on a link.
Lead
A potential customer. A person or organisation that has shown interest in your company's products or services.
LTV (Lifetime Value)
Customer Lifetime Value. A prediction of the net benefit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. A healthy LTV should be at least 3 times the CAC.
M
Contribution Margin
The difference between the selling price of a product and its variable costs. It is the money available to cover fixed costs and generate profits.
Viral Marketing
A marketing technique that seeks to exploit social media and other electronic media to produce exponential growth in brand awareness through a virus-like self-replication process.
Affiliate Marketing
A performance-based marketing model in which a company rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer they attract through their own marketing efforts.
Mentoring
A professional development relationship in which one more experienced person (the mentor) guides and advises another (the mentee).
Agile Marketing
A marketing approach that uses the principles of Agile methodology to plan and execute campaigns in short, adaptive sprints, prioritising collaboration and rapid response to change.
MOFU (Middle of the Funnel)
The middle part of the sales funnel. Here, leads are evaluating solutions to their problem. The right content includes comparison guides, webinars and use cases.
N
Networking
The process of establishing and maintaining a network of professional contacts to exchange information and create business opportunities.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
A metric that measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking how likely they are to recommend the company to others on a scale of 0 to 10.
Lead Nurturing (Lead Nurturing)
The process of building relationships with potential customers at each stage of the sales funnel, providing them with the information and content they need to move towards purchase.
O
OKR (Objectives and Key Results)
Objectives and Key Results. A framework for setting ambitious goals (Objectives) and measuring your progress through specific and measurable outcomes (Key Results).
Opportunity
A lead that has been qualified by the sales team and is considered to have a real potential to become a customer.
Outbound Marketing
Traditional marketing that actively seeks out customers through methods such as cold calling, TV commercials or trade shows.
P
Keyword
The word or phrase that users enter into search engines. Keyword research is fundamental to SEO and SEM.
Pitch
A short, persuasive speech designed to present a business idea, product or service to potential investors, customers or partners.
Poka-Yoke
A Japanese term meaning "error-proof". It is a mechanism in any process that helps to avoid human error.
Product Market Fit
The degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. It is the point at which you have built something that people really want.
Payback
The period of time required to recover the cost of an investment. It measures how quickly an investment pays for itself.
Business Plan
A formal document that sets out a company's objectives and strategies for achieving them, including market analysis, financial plan and organisational structure.
Power BI
A Microsoft business intelligence tool that allows you to visualise data and share interactive reports and dashboards.
Lead Scoring
A system to rank leads based on their level of interest and fit with your ideal customer profile, assigning points for their attributes and behaviours.
Person
A semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on market data and research. Helps you understand and empathise with customers.
Player
A relevant player or participant in a specific market or industry.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
Pay Per Click. A model of internet advertising in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked on. It is synonymous with CPC.
PUV (Unique Value Proposition)
A clear statement that describes the benefit you offer, how you solve your customers' needs and what differentiates you from the competition.
R
Rapport
A relationship of trust, harmony and affinity with another person, fundamental in the sales and negotiation processes.
ROI (Return On Investment)
Return on Investment. The most important profitability metric. It measures the profit generated in relation to the cost of the investment. Formula: ((Profit - Investment) / Investment) * 100.
Retargeting / Remarketing
A form of online advertising that allows you to show ads to users who have already visited your website, to remind them of your brand and encourage them to return.
Conversion Path
The sequence of steps a user follows on a website to complete a conversion, such as viewing a CTA, clicking on a landing page and filling out a form.
ROAS (Return On Advertising Spend)
Return on Advertising Investment. Measures the gross revenue generated for every euro spent on advertising. It is a specific metric of ad performance.
S
SaaS (Software as a Service)
Software as a Service. A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a provider and made available to customers over the internet, usually on a subscription basis.
Sell-in
The process of selling from a manufacturer to a distributor or retailer (B2B selling).
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Search Engine Optimisation. The process of improving the quality and quantity of a website's traffic from organic (unpaid) search engine results.
Shareholder
A person or entity that owns at least one share of a company and is therefore one of its owners.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
Stock Keeping Unit. A unique code used to identify and track a specific product in a company's inventory.
S.P.I.N. Selling
A sales technique that focuses on asking questions about the Situation, the Problem, the Implication and the Need-Payoff to guide the customer towards the purchase.
Stakeholder
Any person, group or organisation that can affect or be affected by the actions of a company (employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, etc.).
SDR (Sales Development Representative)
A sales professional specialised in prospecting, initial contact and qualification of leads, preparing them for the sales closing team (Closers).
Sell-out
The sales process from a distributor or retailer to the final consumer (B2C sales).
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
The page that a search engine displays to a user after they make a query. It includes organic results, paid ads and other snippets.
Shopper
The consumer at the point of sale. Shopper marketing focuses on influencing the purchase decision at the time and place of the transaction.
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
Service Level Agreement. A contract that defines the level of service expected by a customer from a supplier, establishing metrics by which that service will be measured.
Spin-off
The creation of a new independent company from the division or separation of a business unit from a parent company.
Sweet Spot
The optimum or ideal point at which a company's competence, market demand and customer satisfaction are perfectly aligned.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
Search Engine Marketing. A digital marketing strategy to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs) through paid advertising (PPC).
Share (Market Share)
The percentage of the total market that a company controls for a specific product or service.
Smart Outbound
An active and direct prospecting strategy, but using data and intelligence to personalise and target the message to the most appropriate prospects.
Spread
In finance, the difference between two prices, rates or yields. In marketing, it can refer to the dissemination of a message.
T
Target
The specific and measurable objective that an action or strategy is intended to achieve. It also refers to the target audience.
TOFU (Top of the Funnel)
The top of the sales funnel. At this stage, users are discovering their problem and searching for information. Suitable content includes blog articles, guides and social media content.
Average Ticket
The average value of each sale made by a company. It is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of sales.
Organic Traffic
Visits to a website that come from the unpaid ("organic") search results of search engines.
Trend
The general direction in which something is changing or developing. Identifying trends is key in marketing.
Turnover
In human resources, it refers to the employee turnover rate. In finance, it can refer to asset or inventory turnover.
U
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module)
Parameters that are added to URLs to track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across different sources and media in analytics tools such as Google Analytics.
V
Buyer's Journey
The active research process that a potential buyer goes through before making a purchase. It consists of three stages: Awareness, Consideration and Decision.
W
Webinar
A seminar, workshop or presentation that takes place online. It is a very effective tool for lead generation and product demonstration.
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