Small Bussines Management

diversification

diversification A strategy whose goal is growth based on adding new products or services to the firm's existing collection of offerings.

domain name

domain name The specific name of an Internet site, consisting of a name followed by .com, .net, or a similar code.

prospects

prospects Sales leads who actually make some sort of effort to learn more about the product, service, or business in anticipation of a possible purchase.

sales leads

sales leads People who receive a promotional impression and who give some thought to buying the product.

search engine optimizaiton

search engine optimization (SEO) A general approach to website design intended to result in the site being displayed toward the beginning of a search engine's (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, etc.) listing for that term.

advertising

advertising Often used to support the corporate identity and value propositions that are established through public relations efforts. Part of conveying your message to your customers, advertising outlets include newspapers, magazines, billboards, television, and Internet banner ads, to name a few.

advertorial

advertorial Typically a paid advertisement from a company written in the form of an editorial, making the company's point about an issue, and published in the mass media.

affiliate marketing

affiliate marketing Partnerships between firms where a firm (often a content creator) mentions the product or service of another firm. That mention includes a link to purchase the product or service, and each time the link is clicked and produces the agreed-upon outcome (seeing the website, having a cookie placed, leaving their email, requesting information, buying the product) the content creator gets paid by the other firm

brand

brand The name a firm puts on itself and its products to differentiate them from competitors' offerings.

brand ambassador

brand ambassador A person who represents your brand, company, product, or service to others to increase brand awareness, sales, and positive attitudes among the public. They can be paid or volunteer. They often receive your products and services to use and show off to the public. Also called a spokesperson.

earned media

earned media Generally what has been called publicity or press or public relations, these refer to do-it-yourself and paid efforts to get the message of your brand, business, product, or service out to the general public or the mass media (TV, radio, print) in hopes it gets repeated by them.

free ink

free ink Mentions of your company or products in the media for which your firm did not pay.

lead generation

lead generation The promotional technique of obtaining prospective customers through paid and unpaid efforts to obtain contact information from people with the plan to send these prospects advertisements or other messages in hopes of getting them to become customers.

market expansion

market expansion A strategy whose goal is growth, based on selling in areas or to groups previously not served by the business.

market penetration

market penetration A strategy whose goal is growth, based on selling more of the firm's product or service to the existing customer base.

marketing funnel

marketing funnel The rule of thumb in marketing that it takes a large number of people to be made aware of your product in order to find a purchaser.

media content strategy plan

media content strategy plan A document, for the managers and employees of the firm to see, that details the specifics of the firm's marketing efforts including the goals, target audiences, distribution channels, keywords, content types, calendar, publishing procedures, action items, KPIs, and analytics across all the different types of marketing efforts the firm will attempt.

media integration

media integration The overlap of paid and earned media is based on generating leads through three paid types of efforts: advertorials (editorials written by a company as a type of ad), lead generation purchases (e.g., mailing or subscriber lists or contests), and contests or sweepstakes.

organic traffic

organic traffic People who come to your website based on their own actions (e.g., typing in your URL, clicking on a link mentioning your site on a web page, or clicking on a search engine finding based on where your site naturally—or "organically"—appears in the search results) where you have not paid for the link. It is also called unpaid search.

owned media

owned media These are promotional materials directly and wholly owned by your company, like your name, your websites, your signage, and the like.

paid media

paid media Generally referred to as bought or paid advertising, paid media are promotions where your firm pays another for the placement and distribution of the material.

personal selling

personal selling The process of selling your products and services; includes prospect and evaluate, prepare, present, close, and follow up.

press release

press release A written announcement intended to draw news media attention to a specific event.

trade association

trade association (also known as professional association). A group of people in the same industry who band together to gather and share information and present and represent the industry to the public and government.

unbundle

unbundle To break apart a product or service into components.

up selling

up-selling Selling additional accessories or higher-quality versions of the product at a higher cost.

user review sites

user review sites Online sites where customers and users of products and services can post their opinions, rating, and experiences for others to see. Smart companies track these sites and respond to customers' reviews on these sites.

viral marketing

viral marketing Any electronic equivalent of word-of-mouth advertising, in which the advertiser's message spreads quickly and widely via email, website, blogs, and other online tools.

virtuous cycle

virtuous cycle Situations where one good turn invites a another one from someone else are called virtuous cycles.

word of mouth

word of mouth A means of spreading information about your business through the comments friends and customers make to other potential customers.

brand promise

brand promise The gains provided (i.e., the benefits) or the help given (i.e., the pains removed) by the product or service your firm offers.

business directory sites

business directory sites Online services that provide the equivalent of the old telephone directory, listing businesses, their websites, phone numbers, and other information for prospective customers.

business profile kit

business profile kit The name for the media kit you create for your own business (to distinguish it in your mind from the media kits of other organizations).

co branding

co-branding When two companies or brands combine to create a new product or service that combines both brands, such as Nike's LeBron sneakers.

co marketing

co-marketing A type of media partnership where two products jointly pay to advertise together. Usually this is when customers use the two products together, like chips and salsa.

cognitive dissonance

cognitive dissonance Doubt that occurs after a purchase has been made. An inconsistency between experience and belief.

community service

community service Activities undertaken to help support, repair or improve the community, its institutions, infrastructures, or people. Examples include clean-up days, disaster relief, or helping-your-neighbor efforts, among others.

cross selling

cross-selling To sell related products.

keyword and description tags

keywords and description tags Terms included in the hidden portion of a web page (called the document head) that are used by search engines such as Yahoo! and Google to describe your website and evaluate its focus and category placement.

media kit

media kit A type of specialized web page or sales-material-based package (hard copy or PDF) sent to media outlets that is focused on telling them about your company and its story. These are often built around a press release for something of potential current interest to the media outlet. Also called a press kit.

media parternships

media partnerships These occur at the overlap of shared and earned media and represent the paid and unpaid arrangements made by your brand, company, product, or service with outside individuals or organizations to promote your brand to the public or their own social media or public bases.

native advertising

native advertising Native advertising are forms of ads inserted into the regular flow of noncommercial web pages so that it appears to be "native" to the page. The FTC regulates that native advertising carry an identifier (such as "Sponsored" in front of the item) to show it is an ad and not a statement by the page's content creator.

shared media

shared media Generally called word-of-mouth or referral advertising, these are promotional mentions of your brand, firm, product, services, or user experiences with them made by customers and others and posted or shared through their social media sites.

sponsorships

sponsorships Paying for a local organization's needs in exchange for recognition.

succinct message

succinct message The key point in as few and as memorable words as possible.

customer retantion

customer retention (CR) Techniques that focus on efforts to promote satisfaction with and interest in the firm.

customer vector report

customer vector report A type of CRM report that segments by customer (or customer group) on purchases or dates of purchase.

donations

donations Monetary or other gifts to organizations or people who are in need.

incentive media

incentive media The overlap of paid and owned media reflects the partnerships where you are paying for connections useful to your business. This includes affiliate marketing, brand ambassadors, native advertising, and sponsored content.

influencer

influencer A customer role describing a person or group who can make credible or recognized suggestions or recommendations to others regarding purchase choices.

newsworthy events

newsworthy events To garner serious attention from the media and the public, a news story needs to deliver certain essentials that will hold their attention and keep your news in their thoughts. It should have public recognition, importance, and interest.

product expansion

product expansion A strategy whose goal is growth, based on selling existing customers a product or service they have never bought before.

promotional mix

promotional mix How much of each message conveyance you will use to sell your product as well as your objective in using each one.

referrals

referrals Getting customers to refer their friends to you.

social media embassies

social media embassies These combine elements of owned and shared media and represent the social media platforms on which your brand, business, products, or services have a formal presence (like a company page). The page belongs to you, but it exists on a media platform that you don't own or control.

social media management platform

social media management platform An online service that captures and displays the feeds from your social media platforms and makes it easy to post across multiple platforms, schedule posts on different platforms, and help you see social media statistics

sponsored content

sponsored content Sponsored content is material you develop or have developed to present to customers information about your company, brand, products, or services. Links to this material are placed on other people or brand websites or social media feeds, in hopes potential customers will click on the links and learn more about your offering.

customer relationship management

customer relationship management (CRM) The process of tracking the customer's different contacts with the firm, and using these data to help improve sales as well as the customer's experience.

hashtag

hashtag A term developed to be easily searched on the Internet. Hashtags are words or multiword phrases (without spaces) preceded by a "#" sign (called a hash) that is associated with an idea, person, product, service, brand, firm, event, or the like.

hit rate

hit rate How many prospects or leads you need to approach in order to make one sale. Also called the conversion rate.

impression

impression What it is called when someone notices a promotional effort.