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Marketing Playbook
Glossary Index and Hard to Find Definitions
of
Marketing & Selling
Terms, Acronyms, Jargon
A-B | C-D | E-M | N-R | S-Z
C
CASS Certified—Stands for Coding Accuracy Support System. Having your mailings CASS Certified proves the accuracy of its addressing and is the first step on the way to receiving postage discounts. Play R-13.
Chachka—See Tchotchke.
CD browser—The program that runs when you pop in a CD on your computer. Visually, the browser operates similar to Internet Explorer, but customized to the content on the CD. Play R-30.
Channels of Distribution—The ways in which products are sold to the ultimate user/buyer. Includes retail, direct, Value-Added Reseller, etc. Play T-02.
Channel—Anyone or firm who sells your products and services on your behalf. Includes: Direct, Reseller, Distributor, Dealer, Partner, Manufacturer’s Representative, OEM/Private Label and Licensee.
Church and State—Publishers, especially magazines, make reference to the apocryphal U.S. Constitution clause regarding “separation of Church and State” (which, in reality, says absolutely nothing about the government operating in complete isolation from the church—actually it says just the opposite), when describing how its editors operate in complete isolation from its advertisers. Play R-16.
Click-Thru Ratio, CTR—The rate of web ads clicked on to total ads displayed. A typical CTR is 0.5percent (1 in 200). The click-thru ratio of an advertising creative is one measure of its effectiveness. Of course, once someone clicks on your ad, you need to have content that will guide them to taking action. Play R-39.
CMYK—Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black. In print design, colors are defined as a percentage of each of these 4 ink colors. For example, the CMYK abbreviation for the color black would be 0-0-0-100. In contrast, display devices (e.g., computer monitors) typically define colors using RGB. K is used rather then B for black to prevent confusion between Black and Blue. An abbreviation for the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black. They are the core colors used in four-color process printing. Play T-06, Play R-12.
Collateral, Sales Collateral—Printed sales support materials such as advertisements, direct mail, brochures, posters, etc.
Comp—Short for comprehensive, a comp is a sample or rough draft showing layout and placement in a print or web design project. Also called a “rough.” Don’t be surprised to hear your graphic designer say, “Let me comp it up for you so you can get a better idea of what I was thinking.” That’s their way of saying, “I’ll do some work in my graphic design software (on my Mac) and show it to you when I have a few ideas to share.”
Contact—Any non-buying person at a Prospect or Customer. Many companies purposefully DO NOT enter Contacts into their CRM system until and unless these Contacts are directly connected to a sale. It’s a good way for keeping the CRM database clean. This is not to say these Contacts won’t be recorded someplace, such as in a newsletter e-mail database.
Cookie—Information stored on a user’s computer after he or she visits a Web site. The cookie tracks data about that user but can be disabled in the browser.
Copyright—The legal protection for all original works of writing, such as this book. When an author, like me, wants to claim his copyright, he uses the © symbol. This does not mean the work has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office (which is run by the Libary of Congress, by the way). The © symbol is only to say, “Hey, this is mine. Do your own work!” However, in my case, I have actually filed and received a statement of copyright protection from the U.S. Copyright Office—so do your own work!
Copywriter—A skilled writer who excels at creating interesting and grammatically-correct reading material from interviews, poorly written text, and oftentimes boring and technical mumbo jumbo. The copy they write is used for advertisements, brochures, proposals, and product manuals. A good copywriter can save your bacon.
Corporate Identity—A set of basic marketing elements every business must have. In most cases, a firm’s corporate identity includes logo, company name, business cards, letterhead, second-page letterhead, notecard, font(s) and color selection(s). Often, a static one-page home page design may also be included. Plays T-04, Play T-05, Play T-06, Play T-07, Play R-01, Play E-19.
Cost per Click-Thru, CPC—A measure of response to an online ad campaign (e.g., Google Adwords) expressed as the average cost you’re paying each time someone clicks on your ad. Play R-39.
CPM—Cost per Thousand, a metric for the cost of an ad divided by the number of readers. This is the raw method for comparing the cost of one media over another. In the online world, it’s not the number readers, but rather the number of impressions. CPM does not weigh the relative value of the recipients or response rates. The “M” is the Roman numeral for 1,000. Play T-11.
Cross-Sell—The process of selling similar priced products, accessories and services to customers. See also Up-Sell.
CSS—Cascading Stylesheets. In the world of HTML and web design, stylesheets drive the visual layout and ensure uniformity across all web pages.
Cubs Tickets—A good way to have a meeting with me in the summer. You supply the tickets and I’m there. There is no place on the face of this earth like Wrigley Field in the summer. Play T-11.
Customer—A company from which you are currently earning revenue.
D
Demographics—Descriptive data describing the makeup of a given customer or prospect base, and includes information such as age range, gender, education levels, and title, and buying habits. Play 2, 11.
Die Cut, Die Cutting—The process of using a sharp, metal die to cut irregular shapes out of paper or vinyl. Those small slits in your brochure that hold your business card are die cuts. Play 25.
DPI—Stands for dots per inch. DPI specifies the resolution of an output device, such as a printer or printing press machine. Print resolution usually runs from 300-1200 dots per inch. A typical computer monitor has an output of 72 dots per inch.
Duotone—The application of two colors to provide richer tones than a monotone (single-color image, usually grayscale) can provide. A good duotone image can simulate a wider range of the color spectrum than two colors used separately. Duotones also use a hue (color) to set the mood for a photo in a more stunning way than a full-color image can.
