If you’re working in sales, you’ll already know that your main goal is to increase revenue through a number of specific strategies.
You may not know, however, that the sales industry shares a lot of similarities with the marketing industry.
Especially in the digital age, it’s undeniable that these two industries have crossed over and, from an outside perspective, are almost indistinguishable.
From an insider perspective, you probably know that there are differences that mean both industries require different expertise, but these differences are getting smaller and smaller.
As a sales person, it’s almost your duty to understand a number of marketing terms in order to successfully do your job.
That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive glossary full of the marketing terms that are most relevant to sales people.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a practice that involves an online retailer paying commission to an individual, usually an influencer, as a result of traffic or sales that are generated from their referrals.
It is a practice that has become extremely popular in recent years, with 84 percent of publishers and 81 percent of brands having adopted affiliate marketing by 2016.
Buzzwords
Buzzwords are informal words or short phrases that are considered trendy, and tend to be overused by marketers.
Although they are used to impress clients or intimidate competitors, Digital Authority Partners recommend avoiding them as they become repetitive and audiences stop responding to them.
Target Audience
A target audience simply refers to the group of customers who are likely to respond positively to your marketing efforts and become paid supporters of your brand.
Your audience will depend on a variety of different demographics including gender, location, and age.
The better you are at determining your target audience, the higher your sales are bound to be.
Buyer’s Persona
A buyer’s persona is a semi-fictional character that represents your ideal customers. It helps to provide you with a more in depth understanding of your target audience and is based on market research and real data from existing customers.
As well as considering demographics as you would with your target audience, a buyer’s persona also involves considering the behaviour patterns, motivations and goals of your desired customers.
Business To Business (B2B)
B2B is the term used when businesses market their products or services to businesses and other formal organizations. It includes those who sell products for use in general business operations or for resale purposes, like wholesalers.
Business To Customer (B2C)
B2C marketing is the field most sales people work in, with the term referring to any business that markets towards customers. This includes fields like retail, hospitality, and ecommerce.
Remarketing
Nearly half of Americans would give up their privacy in exchange for a bargain, a fact which remarketing takes advantage of.
Essentially, remarketing uses cookies to track people’s behaviour online, allowing marketers to position targeted ads in front of an audience that have already interacted with your website.
Doing this will increase the chances of converting someone from a visitor to a customer.
Conversion Rate
In the marketing world, conversion rate simply refers to the percentage of people you have changed from a visitor or browser into a paying customer.
It’s often used in the world of online businesses, where these analytics are easier to track, though there may be elements of it in an in-person establishment, too.
Bounce Rate
A bounce rate is one type of customer behaviour you can track using analytics software, like Google Analytics.
This metric measures the amount of visitors a website receives that leave said website after viewing just one page.
You should aim to have as low of a bounce rate as possible, but the exact percentage your should aim for is very dependent on the industry you work in.
Return On Investment (ROI)
ROI is quite self-explanatory, simply referring to the gain or loss generated on an investment made by a company.
It’s usually presented as a percentage and is often used to determine the success of an investment. Some B2C and B2B businesses will also use ROI as a marketing tactic to prove the value of their products.
To calculate this yourself, all you need to know is the relatively simple ROI formula, which is as follows: (Net Profit ÷ Cost of Investment) x 100.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing refers to any type of advertising a business does that isn’t paid for through traditional means. This can include content marketing, podcasts, video, eBooks, email marketing, SEO, and social media marketing.
Domain Authority
Domain Authority is a ranking developed by Moz to predict how well a website will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).
It is predicted by evaluating several different aspects of your website, including backlinks, which are the amount of links your website receives from other websites.
The higher your ranking, which ranges from 0 to 100, the more chances you have of ranking highly in search engines.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
KPI is a common metric used to measure the success of an organization and the employees within it.
It involves evaluating a number of different factors to determine progress on a specific business goal. Carried out regularly, they ensure that a business is still on track to achieve their goals, or indicate that adjustments may be needed.
Summary
At the beginning of this article, we highlighted the vast similarities between the sales and marketing industries.
This means that many of the terms we have provided definitely apply to both, and cover a whole range of things that affect both industries.
Now, technical terms aren’t as industry specific as they used to be, which means you’re likely to face some of the terms we’ve mentioned in the future if you haven’t already.
Regardless of whether you’re talking about the return on interest of a certain business expense, or are talking about ways of encouraging your target audience to convert more, this article will provide you with all the vocabulary you need to impress in your next meeting.
