Interesting Marketing Terminologies

Interesting Marketing Terminologies

Much has happened in the world of marketing in the recent years. In this process of change and evolution, modern marketing has thrown up some interesting concepts and has added to the marketing jargon. Unless one is in touch with the latest developments in marketing there is every chance of one missing them. Most of them are simple yet important. This write-up takes a look at some of the marketing terminologies.

Outbound marketing: This is the traditional form of marketing where a company sends its message out to a large audience. The outbound marketing also includes interruption marketing, permission marketing and some other forms of marketing. Few examples of outbound marketing are Billboard advertisements, Tradeshows, Sponsorships, TV commercials, radio commercials, print advertisements, cold calls, and email blasts.

Inbound marketing: As the name implies, this is opposite of outbound marketing. Where as in outbound marketing the marketer approaches the masses, in inbound marketing the customers come to the marketers. This is not be confused with “pull” marketing where the marketer “pulls” the customers towards his offerings. Inbound marketing is where the marketer – ‘helps himself to “get found” by people already learning about and shopping in the relevant industry.  In order to do this, one needs to set one’s website up like a “hub” for the industry that attracts visitors naturally through search engines, the blogosphere, and social media.’[1]  

     

Permission marketing: Although this term was in existence for some time earlier, it was popularized by Seth Godin. Godin who launched a company called Yoyodyne – an e-marketing site where he used it very frequently. The concept involved in permission marketing is that the marketers seek permission before advertising and giving the details of the product. For example, they ask permission to send email newsletters to potential customers. In other words, consumers empower a marketer to send them promotional messages of their interest.

Interruption marketing: This is the opposite of permission marketing. In this form of marketing, companies find customers through advertising which interrupts the normal life of the customers. It is considered to be disturbing and irritating. Interruption can come in various forms such as

·Telemarketing: act of promoting a good or service over the telephone

·E-mail spam: electronic mails sent to large mailing lists

A milder form of interruption marketing can be

·Print advertising: promote a product via newspapers or magazines

·Direct Mail: promotional circulars sent directly via mail

·TV/radio advertisements: promote a product via television and radio

Personalization, Customization and Mass Customization: In internet marketing, the web pages viewed by a customer can be modified based on the characteristics (interests, social category, context, etc.) of an individual. This process is called Personalization. The modification is done on the basis of implicit data, such as items purchased or pages viewed. When a site is modified only on explicit data such as ratings or preferences, the term used is Customization.

The term customization is also used in product marketing (i.e. in non-e commerce context/traditional marketing) when the offerings are modified as per the need of a customer. When a single product is made for a particular individual, it is individual customization, which is   tailor made. Whereas the products are manufactured in mass and a product is made as per the individual requirement the process is called mass customization, an example being that of Dell computers.

Data Mart: “A data mart is a simple form of a data warehouse that is focused on a single subject (or functional area), such as Sales, Finance, or Marketing. Data marts are often built and controlled by a single department within an organization. Given their single-subject focus, data marts usually draw data from only a few sources. The sources could be internal operational systems, a central data warehouse, or external data”[2].

Captive Advertising: When engaging in advertising, companies must find effective ways of getting their advertisements to stand out above all of the others and catch the attention of the desired target market. One way to do this is by engaging in captive advertising, or captive audience advertising, which is a method of advertising in which companies take advantage of audiences in situations that make it impossible to miss their messages.[3]For example:

Airline passengers are confined to a small area that they can’t leave for the duration of the flight — except for the brief restroom break. For this reason, airlines can sell advertising space on their television screens and in the company magazines available in each seat with the understanding that passengers will pay attention to them.

Ambush Marketing: It is a marketing strategy wherein the advertisers associate themselves with, and therefore capitalize on, a particular event without paying any sponsorship fee.[4]

Let us take an hypothetical case of company ABC sponsoring world cup cricket and another company XYZ sponsoring the cheerleaders. In the TV coverage, the cheerleaders are shown more often the main sponsor – ABC and thus gains greater advantage. This is ambush marketing.

An another example is given below though it is not fair way in my opinion.

On day three of the Southampton Test, India’s debutant fast bowler Pankaj Singh came out to bat. After Pankaj had spent a couple of minutes out in the middle, a roll of tape was brought out and handed over to one of the on-field umpires, who proceeded to bend in front of the tall bowler and stick pieces of tape on errant manufacturers’ labels on his pads. Had the umpire not helped Pankaj save himself from the heinous crime of ambush marketing in time, Pankaj would have lost part of his earnings from a match the 29-year-old had been dreaming of playing for most of his adult life.[5]

Impulse products: Till now the products were classified as convenience goods, shopping goods and specialty goods depending on the purchase behaviour of the customers. However, newer knowledge on the consumers’ purchase behaviour has uncovered another purchasing behaviour – buying on impulse. An impulse buying is an unplanned decision to buy a product or service, made just before a purchase[6]. Retail items known for their unplanned purchases and, therefore, kept near the checkout counters, such as candy, chocolate, magazines, novelties, snacks,etc., are known as impulse products.

ATL, BTL & TTL: In 1954, the accountants of Proctor & Gamble, while making payments to the advertising agencies, differentiated among those who did promotional activities other than advertisements. Subsequently, the activities other than advertisements where treated as different marketing practice and came to be known as Below the Line (BTL). That’s how Above the Line (ATL) and BTL were born. ATL stands for all those marketing activities that are meant for mass audience and BTL stands for those activities that are targeted at individual level. Through the Line (TTL) is a recent addition and no one exactly knows when this was first used. Nevertheless, the term is used to explain the integrated marketing activities that combine both the mass and individual approach.

BANT: Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline

BANT is an acronym that sales representatives use to qualify their prospects. It stands for the four criteria which help them to determine whether their prospects have the budget, authority, need, and right timeline to buy what they sell. The acronym is expanded as follows:

B = Budget: Whether the prospect has a money for what one is selling.

A = Authority: Whether the prospect has the authority to make the purchasing decision.

N = Need: Whether there’s a need for what one is selling.

T = Timeline: What is the time frame for making the purchase.

The above list of marketing jargon is by no means exhaustive. Keeping in mind that this write-up is for blog, I have restricted to those concepts which I feel all the management students should be familiar with. Some of the terms such as ATL, BTL etc., may not be found in the marketing text books. Hence, this blog would also broaden their marketing vocabulary. Similar jargon have also evolved in other fields of management such as finance, HR, operations and corporate strategy. It is suggested that the students should make attempts to learn them to increase their knowledge and confidence.