Advertorial
A print or web advertisement designed to look like a news story. The television or radio equivalent is known as an “infomercial.”
Agency of Record (AOR)
The advertising agency that has been given a contract to buy media space (and usually, but not necessarily, to produce the advertising/commercials that ar to fill that space) on behalf of another company.
AIDA
Attention. Interest. Desire. Action. This is a traditional model of the purpose and flow of marketing communications and direct sales efforts:
• Create attention
• Generate interest
• Develop desire
• Initiate action
Ambush Marketing
A deliberate attempt to gain the benefits of being associated with a major event, such as the Olympics, the Academy Awards, etc., without being an official sponsor or paying the fees associated with official sponsorship.
Audience Duplication
People, households, or organizations that read, view or hear an advertisement or other marketing communication vehicle more than once, whether through a single or combination of media vehicles.
B2B Marketing
Business-to-business marketing communications directed at other businesses instead of consumers.
B2C Marketing
Business-to-consumer marketing communications directed at consumers.
Banner Ad
On the web, a standard advertisement (either static or animated) that normally, although not necessarily, appears near the top of a web page. The term is generally taken to mean a particular size ad (industry standard: 468 x 60 pixels) rather than placement on the page.
Barrier to Entry
A challenge a new competitor needs to overcome in order to enter the market for a particular product class. For example, a patent that locks up an entire product class is an extremely high barrier to entry. It can only be overcome if a substitute product can be developed without breaking the patent. Patents aren’t the only barriers to entry. Requirements for the investment extremely high up-front capital costs or the need for expert skills that are in very short supply would also be barriers to entry. Likewise, if it is a mature market and customers must incur high costs to switch from their existing supplier to a new one, this too would be a high barrier. These are only a few examples of barriers to entry. Others exist.
Bellyband Advertising
Advertising that is printed on a band (of any width up to the dimension of the publication) wrapped around a newspaper or magazine. This wrapper is designed such that reader cannot read the publication until he or she removes the wrapper.
Bingo Card
A card inserted into a publication that allows readers to request information from one or more of a group of companies listed on the card.
Bleeds
Ads, illustrations or photographic images printed so as to run to the edge of the page (after trimming if the page is trimmed).
Blow-In Card
A printed card “blown” into a publication and, therefore, loose rather than bound to the publication.
Blurb
A short piece of text, usually no more than a single short paragraph, describing a company, person, product, service or event. The blurb is used inside a larger marketing communication vehicle. For example, an event program may include company blurbs describing the sponsors of the event.
Body Copy
The main text of any marketing communications vehicle.
Boilerplate
-Pre-written, standardized copy used whenever a particular marketing communication requirement arises. It may be written to adhere to legal or company standards. It may also be used to eliminate the need for original writing when a specific communication requirement is likely to arise frequently.
Brand
Any name, symbol or other identifier used individually or in combination to identify the goods and/or services of a seller and differentiate them, on any tangible or intangible basis, from similar goods and/or services of competitors.
Brand Extension
Development of new products, perhaps in a different yet related product category under an existing brand name. The objective is to transfer some of the existing brand recognition and loyalty to the new product, thereby accelerating the product’s introduction into the market and lowering the costs of that introduction.
Branding
The process of establishing the elements of a brand, including its name, identifying symbols and related marketing messages.
Business Reply Card (BRC)
A card distributed with an advertising piece. The card is pre-printed with the address of the advertiser or its fulfilment house. Return postage is prepaid by the advertiser. The recipient uses it to respond to an offer (which may simply be an offer to provide more information) made by the advertiser.
Business Reply Envelope (BRE)
An envelope distributed with an advertising piece. The envelope is pre-printed with the address of the advertiser or its fulfilment house. Return postage is prepaid by the advertiser. The recipient uses the envelope to respond to an offer (which may simply be an offer to provide more information) made by the advertiser.
Bulk Mailing
The mailing of a large number of identical marketing communication pieces at a reduced rate. (The quantity and other specifications required to qualify for bulk mail rates varies among different countries’ post offices.)
Call to Action
A statement, usually at the end of a marketing piece, encouraging the reader/viewer/listener to take the action that is the objective of the piece. This action may be buying the company’s product or service, or simply taking the next step in the sales cycle, such as arranging a product demonstration.
Callout
A line of text beside, above or below a photograph or illustration. It typically highlights a detail in the graphic, verbalizes the analogy implied by the graphic or emphasizes the message delivered through the graphic.
Cannibalization
An action, such as the launch of a product that is competitive with or a substitute for another of the same company’s products, that lessens the revenue of one of a company’s products. One reason why a company might undertake an action that cannibalizes the sales of one of its products is, “if you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will do it for you.” Multiple similar products with somewhat different features that appeal to different market segments, even if there is some crossover from one segment to segments already addressed by one of the company’s other products, are likely to, in total, capture a larger share of the broader market and, possibly, block competitors’ entry into the targeted segments.
Card Deck
A collection of post card size advertisements, each promoting a different product, service, brand, organization or event, distributed as a group. The post card is usually pre-addressed, and often postage-paid, to be mailed back to the advertiser to request more information, place an order, register for an event, etc.
Card decks are often an advertising service of magazine publishers, but may also be an independent service.
Centre Spread
An advertisement appearing as a single printed sheet running across both facing pages at the centre of a publication. This is considered favourable placement both because it is a single, unbroken sheet flowing across two pages and because the publication tends to naturally fall open at the centre spread.
Click-Through
This is a web term. A click-through is counted if a viewer clicks on a web page ad, thereby triggering the link assigned to it.
Click-Through Rate
The number of times a web page ad is clicked on as a percentage of the number of times the ad is displayed.
Co-op
The joint funding (e.g., by a retailer and manufacturer)of marketing communications activity.
Cold Call
A sales call made to someone with whom you have had no previous contact. Cold calls are typically made over the phone, but the definition of the term does not preclude an in-person visit.
Collateral
Any material describing a product, service and/or company that is used to support sales and marketing efforts. The material can be electronic (such as on a CD-ROM) or printed.
Compiled List
A list of people with common traits that are of interest to a marketer. The compiled list can be assembled from multiple sources. Compiled lists are often assembled from publicly available sources such as telephone books.
Contra
A service (such as advertising time or space) that is exchanged for another service (such as printing or ) rather than for cash.
Conversion Rate
In direct response marketing, the number of sales divided by the number of orders taken for a given campaign.
Cookies
A small file that is saved on your hard drive by a website to record your preferences and activities on that site. This tracking can violate privacy, and can be blocked, but disabling cookies sometimes makes websites unusable.
Copy
The spoken or written words in a marketing communications vehicle.
Copywriter
Someone who writes text for marketing communications material.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
Applicable to web advertising. This is the fee that is paid to the Webweb publisher each time a visitor clicks on an ad. Abbreviated as CPC. This compares with a campaign that is bought based on the number of impressions delivered and paid for on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis.
Creative
Activities involved in the creation of marketing materials. It may include copywriting, design, photography, illustration, music, etc.
Customer Acquisition Cost
The average marketing, sales and any other costs of winning a new customer.
Database Marketing
The extensive use of data stored in electronic databases to better target marketing communications and more finely tune marketing messages for individual prospects at specific points in their lives and buying cycles. The information stored in the databases can come from internal sources (order entry systems, sales lead tracking systems, retail checkout scanners, accounts receivable systems, etc.) or outside sources such as third-party market research databases.
Demographics
Statistics denoting the personal and socioeconomic characteristics of a particular segment of the market. The statistics cover characteristics such as age, gender, income level, nationality and religion.
Direct Mail
Mailed advertising that is addressed to specific individuals rather than being dropped unaddressed and en masse to a whole geographic area.
Direct Marketing
The targeting of marketing communications directly to individuals (typically a large number at a time) rather than through mass media.
Display Ad
An ad (typically, but not necessarily, box-shaped) that appears anywhere outside of the classified advertising section of a print publication.
Drip Marketing
The method of sending promotional pieces on a scheduled basis to current and potential clients in order to keep your name in front of your client base and increase their readiness to make a purchase.
Drive Time
A radio term for the morning and evening rush-hour time slots. These are considered prime times for radio listeners.
Early Adopters
Those who are among the first to buy a new product or service, typically in a new product or service category, when it is launched.
E-mail Marketing
A form of direct marketing that uses e-mail to send messages, promotional materials and information.
End Matter
(Also called “back matter.”) Items placed after the main body of a document. Examples of end matter include appendices and indices.
Envelope Stuffer
An advertising piece included in an envelope used primarily to deliver other business correspondence such as invoices, letters, etc.
Fact Sheet
A document containing factual information about a product, service, company or event, without high-pressure sales or marketinglanguage.
By definition, a fact sheet is printed on a single sheet. Printing may be on one or both sides and the sheet may be large and folded to create multiple pages. However, a fact sheet is typically one single or double-sided page and rarely folds into more than two single or double-sided pages.
Focus Group Discussion
A qualitative market research technique. The researcher or research organization assembles a group of individuals who are representative of a target market. A moderator focuses discussions on a series of topics of interest to the research sponsor. If the target market consists of distinct segments, multiple focus groups, each consisting solely of representatives of a single segment, may be assembled to focus on reactions of that segment without the risk of influence by members of other segments.
Freestanding Insert
Marketing literature (such as a brochure) that is delivered with a newspaper as an insert as opposed to being printed as part of the newspaper’s regular pages.
Friend of a Brand
The term refers to a particular situation when a brand (say A)) normally promotes another brand (say B) at its own cost; whereas the brand B doesn’t show any favour to the company which is promoting it. Brand A which is promoting B is called the friend of B. F for example, suppose there is a company which produces noodles specifically for kids. Now, suppose they start giving a particular super hero comic or poster with every purchase of their brand. Kids will buy the noodles, not because they want them, but because they want the poster or comics of that particular super hero. In this way, the noodles brand will see its sales increase and the super hero brand will also see its sale of comics increased. In this way, the super hero brand is not paying anything to the noodles company, but it is being promoted.
Front Matter
Introductory and organizational material that comes before the main content of a document. Examples of front matter include: title page, table of contents, copyright material, publication data, etc.
Galley Proof
The final copy, used for proofreading purposes, of all of the pages of any material that will be professionally printed. Unless errors are found, the galley proof will appear exactly as the material will be printed in production.
Giveaway
Promotional item given away to a prospective customer – typically at a trade show, conference or exhibition.
Guerrilla Marketing
Coined by Jay Conrad Levinson, guerrilla marketing usually refers to using innovative and aggressive tactics to market on a very small or even non-existent budget.
Gutter
In bound documents, the gutter is the margin space closest to the binding.
Hiatus
A period of time during which advertising is not run.
Hickey
( It’s not what you think.) In printing, a spot or imperfection in the printing, due to dirt on the film, flakes in the ink or any other cause.
Hits “Hits” is an ambiguous web term.
It is often used to mean one person viewing one web page. Using this definition, one person looking at 10 pages on a site would register 10 hits. (A more accurate and more common term for this is “page views.”.)
Occasionally “hits” is taken to mean the number of visits to a site. That is, if one person comes to a site once, but looks at 10 pages during that visit, it would, under this use of the word, be counted as one hit. (The more accurate and more common term for this is “visits.”
The official definition of “hits” is the number of objects, of any type, downloaded to web browsers. Thus, if a web page has 10 graphical elements and one Java program, if the viewer waits for all of the elements to load, it would count as 12 hits – 1 for the page itself, one for the Java program and 10 for the graphics.
Horizontal Publication
A business publication targeted at individuals who share common interests, responsibilities or positions, regardless of the industry in which they work.
House List
A mail, telephone or e-mail list compiled and therefore owned by a company rather than being purchased or rented from a third party. (A list bought with a contract that allows unlimited use would, after purchase, become part of the purchaser’s house list.)
Image Advertising
Rather than promoting a product or service’s specific attributes, image advertising promotes an overall perception of a company, product or service. Image advertising is generally used to position a product relative to the competition. For example, many companies create an image of their products as luxury products.
Impression
On the web, an impression is counted when an ad is displayed once. If an ad has had 10 impressions that could be 10 times to the same person (likely on different pages of a site) or it could be 10 different people each seeing the ad once – or any combination that totals 10.
In other media, an impression is counted when the ad is seen once by one person.
Infomercial
A television or radio commercial designed to look like a documentary or news story. The print or web equivalent is known as an “advertorial.”
Integrated Marketing Communication
The use of a mix of all appropriate marketing communication disciplines, media and vehicles in a well coordinated campaign to achieve a unified objective or set of objectives.
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Kerning
Adjusting the space between the letters within a word (as opposed to the space between words).
Leading
The amount of space that appears between the lines within a paragraph (as opposed to the space between paragraphs) in a printed document. (Pronounced “ledding.”)
Leave-Behind
Any item that a sales person leaves with the prospective customer after a sales call. The leave-behind is intended to jog the prospect’s memory about the sales call and the product or service being sold.
Lettershop
A firm that undertakes the production and mailing of sales letters and other marketing communication vehicles on other organizations’ behalf rather than its own.
Lifetime Value
The net present value of all future purchases expected from a customer. “Net present value” means that future sales are discounted to take into account the fact that a dollar received tomorrow is worth less than a dollar received today.)
List Rental
Rather than being purchased, mail, telephone and e-mail lists are often rented for one-time use or a limited number of uses. Mailing, calling or e-mailing people on the list more than the specified number of times is a breach of contract. (If someone on the list responds to the initial campaign, the list renter is then considered to “own” that name and can then conduct unlimited communications with the person or organization.)
Logo
A graphic element used to identify a company, product, service or brand. The logo is typically trademarked to protect it from use by other companies.
Logo Merchandise
A product (such as a t-shirt, baseball cap, pen, paper weight, etc.) displaying a logo or other promotional image. Sometimes referred to as “trinkets and trash” (Synonym: Advertising Specialty.)
Logotype
A company or brand name rendered in a specific graphical style and color. This differs from a logo, which is usually an icon representing the company or brand.
Marketing Penetration When talking about sales, market penetration is the percentage of customers in a particular market that buy the product/service/brand.
When talking about the effectiveness of advertising or other promotions, market penetration is the percentage of the customers in a particular market who have been exposed to the company’s messages.
Market Segment
A subgroup of the total market defined by one or more characteristics. There are any number of ways to segment the market. Income, age, location, education, affiliation to organizations and psychographics are just a few that apply to the consumer market. Common business market segmentation criteria include, among others, industry, company size (which may be defined by any available measure such as revenue, profit, number of employees, etc.) and job classification. Two or more characteristics can be used to define segments more precisely than a single characteristic (e.g., physicians with incomes over $300,000 living in the NYC area); however, at some point the segments may become too small to target profitably.
Market Share
The percentage of the total market for a product/service category that has been captured by a particular product/service or by a company that offers multiple products/services in that category. In the latter case, the company may choose to look at share on both an individual product/service basis and on a company-wide basis.
Share can be calculated either on a unit basis (i.e., i a company sells 1 million units in a total market of 10 million units, it has a 10 % share) or on a revenue basis (i.e., if a company sells $1 million worth of widgets in a $10 million market, it has a 10% share). Obviously, if a company is able to command a higher price for its product/service than its competitors, it would show a higher market share when calculated on a revenue basis than on a unit basis.
Market share numbers can vary greatly depending on how the market is defined. For example, a company may have a 1 percent% share of the widget market, 15 percent of the sports widget market, 45 percent of the luxury sports widget market and 85% of a particular geographically defined luxury sports widget market.
Marketing
All business activities focused on developing, expanding and facilitating the profitable introduction and promotion of a company’s products and/or services. Traditionally, this is taken to include the “4 Ps” – Product, Price, Promotion and Place.
• Product refers to discovering market requirements and ensuring that those requirements are reflected in the products and/or services offered by the company.
• Price” is obvious – determining and setting the most appropriate prices for the products/services.
• Promotion refers to all activities involved in making potential customers aware of the company, its products and services and their benefits – and encouraging them to buy.
• Place is a little less obvious. In addition to determining the best geographic areas to sell in, it also refers to the determination and management of the best channels for reaching those markets – direct sales, distributors, resellers, etc.
Marketing Channel
The term marketing channel is often used interchangeably with “sales channel” or “distribution channel,” i.e., any individual or company used in making the subject company’s products and/or services available to its customers. More specifically, a marketing channel would be any individuals or products through which the subject company conducts its marketing efforts.
Marketing Communications
All strategies, tactics and activities involved in getting the desired marketing messages to intended target markets, regardless of the media used.
Marketing Plan
A plan – either standalone or a component of a larger business plan – that defines all aspects of the marketing strategy. Areas that the plan should cover include product pricing, promotion, messaging, channel strategies and an analysis of the competitive environment.
Mass Marketing
The distribution of marketing communications through mass media that, while often offering access to audiences with some common characteristics due to a shared interest in the content of the media vehicle, do not offer the ability to communicate with a specific individual, household or organization.
Media Kit
A package of information distributed by a media outlet to sell its advertising space. The kit typically includes information about the media vehicle, advertising rates, information about the audience it can deliver, mechanical specifications for ads, closing dates, etc.
Media Plan
A plan providing clear definitions of the types of media, specific media vehicles and media scheduling for a specific campaign or for all campaigns within a year. In addition, it may be a plan for a single product or service or for the whole company or division.
Media Release
Information written by an organization and distributed to media outlets with the hope that they will incorporate the information into their news or other services. (The term is often used interchangeably with press release; however, a media release implies a wider distribution – to all media outlets – than a press release.)
Minority Marketing
Marketing that specifically addresses minority groups (not necessarily visible minorities) within a larger population.
Mystery Shopper
Someone who is paid by a company to pose as a regular shopper in order to be exposed to the normal shopping experience in a company’s stores and report back to the company on the quality of that experience. Obviously, to form an unbiased view of the normal shopping experience, the people working in the store should not be aware of the mystery shopper’s identity or purpose.
Mystery shoppers are typically employed to test the shopping experience at the sponsor’s stores, but they could also be used to analyze the shopping experience at competitors’ stores.
Narrowcasting
The use of broadcast media to target very narrow interests (such as a cable channel dedicated exclusively to trout fishing).
Neuromarketing
The use of brain-mapping technologies, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) and Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG), to study brain activity that occurs in response to stimuli such as buying decisions or exposure to advertising images and messaging. This is believed to provide more accurate insight into people’s psychological reactions to these stimuli and, hence, their actions in buying situations because:
• People can’t always verbalize their feelings and thoughts in accurate, unambiguous ways.
• People’s conscious thoughts are sometimes contrary to their subconscious thoughts and emotions, but those subconscious thoughts and emotions influence their actions.
• Many people lie if they think that expressing their true feelings will make them appear foolish or politically incorrect.
News Releases
News information written by an organization and distributed to media outlets with the hope that they will use it as the basis of a written news story. (The term is essentially synonymous with Press Release.)
Omnibus Research
Research that is conducted by a market research firm on behalf of a number of its clients simultaneously. Because several clients buy space in the same research vehicle, the cost to each client is typically less than the cost of research conducted for a single research client or the cost that a company would incur if it conducted the research on its own.
Opt-In-E-mail
An opt-in-In e-mail marketing campaign sends bulk e-mail messages, but only to lists of people who asked to join the list. (Some jurisdictions have made “spam” – the mass mailing of unsolicited e-mail – illegal. In those jurisdictions, opt-in e-mail is the only legal form of bulk e-mail marketing.)
Paid Circulation
Distribution of a magazine or other publication to people, households or organizations that have paid a subscription fee. While the content of the publication tends to attract an audience with some common characteristics, the publication does not restrict readership based on those characteristics.
Pass-Along Readers
Relevant only to print advertising, pass-along readers are readers who did not buy or subscribe to the publication (or receive it free directly from the publisher in the case of free publications). Instead, they read someone else’s copies. Pass-along readership is relevant when evaluating the reach of a publication.
Penetration
The percentage of a market that a medium or an individual media vehicle reaches. Alternatively, the percentage of the market that a particular marketing message reaches, regardless of the media vehicles used.
Personalization
The automated customization of a marketing communication vehicle (using any medium) for the individual who will see it. This can be as simple as inserting the individual’s name or as complex as producing a unique presentation of the vehicle for each recipient based on his or her needs, tastes or stated preferences.
Piggyback
An advertisement (print or electronic) that is included with an advertisement for another product. Each part of the ad can typically also be run on its own.
Plug
A free and positive mention of a company, product, service and/or event in any media vehicle.
Positioning
Defining, within the minds of the market, a brand (corporate, product or service) relative to the competition. It is the latter part of the definition – i.e., relative to the competition – that separates positioning from other marketing communications messages.
Press Kit
A package of various marketing communication vehicles, usually housed in a presentation folder, used to provide general background on the company and its products and services. The press kit typically contains a profile of the company (often called a “backgrounder”) or an event, relevant press releases, product/services brochures, profiles and photographs of the key executives or, in the case of an event, key organizers.
It is distributed primarily to the press as background information for a story they are writing or to try to encourage them to write a story about the company and/or event. The press kit, or a portion of it, may, however, also be given to industry analysts who want information on the company or to prospects and customers as part of the sales process.
Press Release
News information written by an organization and distributed to the press, with the hope that they will use it as the basis of a written news story. (The term is often used interchangeably with “media release;” however, a media release implies a wider distribution – to all media outlets – than a press release. “Press Release” and “News Release” are virtually synonymous.)
Qualitative Research
Research that is subjective in nature and does not rely on statistical analysis. This can be useful in examining emotional responses and exploring for areas where additional quantitative research may be beneficial.
Quantitative Research
Research based on collected objective data that can be subjected to statistical analysis.
Quote
To provide information and pricing to a customer for a job or service.
Rate Card
A list of the standard rates for a publication, radio station/network, television station/network, web site or other advertising vehicle.
Reach
The number of individuals or households within a specific target audience that sees a particular marketing message. It can be stated as a percentage of the target audience.
Readership
The number of readers of a print ad/publication. (“Print” is a misnomer here as it could refer to either a physical print publication or an online publication that is composed primarily of text and some graphics. However, the term “readership” is usually not used when the media is primarily video.) The term can be confusing because in some contexts it refers to readership of a publication, while in other contexts it refers to ad readership. Ad readership can be lower than publication readership, particularly if the ad appears in a separate advertising section that some readers bypass. Readership numbers can also vary considerably from subscriber numbers. For example, newspapers are often passed around members of a family. Subscriber numbers count only the number of subscriptions; typically one per family, but readership counts all of the readers in a family. Likewise, business publications sent to offices may be passed around the office. Each copy sent counts as one subscription, but all readers in the office are included in the readership numbers. On the flip side, some publications, particularly free publications, are ignored by their recipients. In these cases, if the numbers are accurate, the readership numbers may be lower than the subscription numbers if there is not a lot of pass-along readership. Because of the nature of what they measure (i.e., not simply a count of the number of copies distributed), readership numbers usually have to be estimated.
Recognition
The ability of an individual to recall an ad or campaign when seeing or hearing it again or upon having it described to him or her.
Response Rate
Percentage of responses received from a direct marketing campaign (typically the percentage of recipients who responded to a mailing).
Rich Media
On the web, the term “rich media” differentiates an ad from those created solely with static graphics or simple animations. A rich media ad can include fill-in forms, more complex animations, sound and other devices to capture attention and stimulate interaction.
Roadblock
The simultaneous running of the same television commercial on all stations/networks covering a targeted market so that everyone watching television in that market at that time is guaranteed to see that commercial.
Run of Schedule
A commercial that can be run at any time at the discretion of the station, not the advertiser. (However, the advertiser might be able to restrict the commercial to running within certain time periods, such as anytime Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 4:00pm).
Search Engine Optimization
Abbreviated as SEO, it is a rigorous, scientific methodology to:
• Analyze search engine behaviour to try to figure out the algorithms the search engine uses to set the position of each found web page in the search engine results.
• Use that knowledge to tweak web page content to improve the position of the page in search engine results.
Companies want to improve their search results position because links near the top of the first page of results are much more likely to be clicked on than, for example, results on the bottom of the 23rd page. And getting people to visit your web site is a required starting point for getting them to look at the promotional material that you have on your site and convincing them to buy from your site.
SEO should be a rigorous and scientific discipline, but, with so many companies so hungry to improve their search engine position, a great many fly-by-night search engine optimization companies and individual “experts” have gone into the business with little research or rigor.
Segmentation
Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into groups such that individuals/businesses within each group share common characteristics.
The purpose is to prioritize segments of the market to improve marketing profitability and to provide a means to choose the most appropriate communication media and messages for each unique market segment.
Shelf Talker
A small promotional sign or card that sits on the shelf where a product is displayed.
Storyboard
A series of (usually rough) illustrations that depict the flow and appearance of a planned television commercial or other live-action or animated production.
Stuffer
An advertising enclosure that is included in another media, such as in a newspaper, invoice mailings, merchandise packages, etc.
Tag Line
A line of copy used on an ad or in a commercial that captures the theme of the advertisement or broader campaign and is placed prominently within it.
Teaser
Copy printed on the outside of a direct mail envelope to encourage the recipient to open, read and act on the piece.
Telemarketing
The use of telephones for marketing and sales. Telemarketing can be either outbound (the seller calls the prospective customer) or inbound (the prospect calls the seller, such as calling a toll-free number in response to an ad).
A distinction is sometimes made between telemarketing and telesales. In that case, telemarketing refers to solely the use of the telephone for marketing purposes (market research, lead generation, brand building, information dispersal, etc.), but not for closing sales. When this distinction is made, the term “telesales” is used to describe the use of the telephone to close sales.
Testimonial
A statement made by a customer endorsing a product, service or company. A testimonial may be a single customer quote or it may be integrated into other marketing material such as a case study about the customer’s use of a company’s product or service.
TINA
There Is No Alternative. The brands that can’t advertise in the mass media normally don’t have any option rather than using unconventional ways of advertising. For example, in India cigarette companies can’t advertise in the mass media, so they sponsor some sports events. These companies normally pay a huge amount for this kind of advertising because they don’t have any other alternative to advertise their product.
Trade Advertising
Advertising directed at distribution channels (wholesalers, distributors, sales representatives, affiliates, value-added resellers, retailers, etc.) rather than end-consumers.
Unique Selling Proposition
A marketing/advertising message that identifies a product attribute/value that both sets the seller’s offering apart from competitors’ offerings and is a particular benefit for prospective customers.
Up Selling
Selling a higher priced item(s) to an existing customer or a prospect who has already made a firm or mental commitment to buy another of your company’s products and/or services.
Vertical Publication
A business publication targeted at a single industry.
Viral Marketing
A marketing technique whereby web site visitors or e-mail recipients are encouraged to pass along the company’s marketing message to friends, colleagues and/or family, thereby creating exponential growth in the message’s reach.
Voiceover (VO)
The use of an unseen speaker in any type of commercial or other presentation.
White Paper
A document written in essay style that provides an in-depth discussion of an issue, technology, trend, product or process. White papers are predominantly informational rather than promotional.
White Space
Blank area on a page. (Despite the name, it may be a solid color rather than white.)
