In any industry there will be a lot of jargon – words and phrases which people from that industry understand. I bet you know a lot of jargon from your industry! The problem with jargon is that we tend to forget that other people don’t understand what we’re talking about. We rabbit on about this, that and the other, often not seeing the blank looks on other people’s faces.

So in this blog, let’s play a game of Marketing Bingo. Read on for some of my favourite jargon words

How many of these ‘marketing tactics’ have you heard of or used? Score yourself one point if you’ve heard of them, two points if you know what they mean and three points if you’ve actually used any of them. Or just read on for a bit of fun!

1. CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Or in simple terms, a database that you use to store details of your clients and your prospects. Do you know when your clients’ birthdays are, or what their pets are called, or when and where they’re going on holiday? A database can help you to remember this useful information – as well as what clients buy from you and when – to help you build stronger relationships with them. A database is also where you can store information on your prospects, like when you last spoke to them, what they like about your service and when you need to call them next, in order to close the deal.

2. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Otherwise known as doing what needs to be done to help people find your website when they search for you online. Don’t be fooled by anyone who tells you that they can get your website onto the first page of Google – they might be able to, but it will cost you a LOT of money. You also need to remember that when you provide a service such as coaching, consultancy or training, people don’t necessarily search for coaching, consultancy or training. That’s the solution to their problem and they might not actually know what they solution is yet. What people will search for is your name and your company name, if they’ve heard of you or met you. Make sure that anyone searching the internet can find YOU.

3. Mobile Optimization. Because so many people now seem to live attached to a mobile phone or tablet, your website now needs to look good on whatever device your clients and prospects are using to find it. It also needs to work so that people can easily order your products, sign up to your newsletter or call you, at the swipe of a screen.

4. Brand. Is this your logo and the colours on your website? Is it what you wear to networking events? Is it how you answer the phone. Actually it’s all of them! Your brand is what people say about you when you’ve left the room – or before you enter the room in the first place. It’s how you look and sound, both in person and online. It’s also the way in which you treat people and how you make them feel.

5. Differentiation. Do you stand out from the crowd of your competitors? If so, what makes your business different? Don’t know? Well you need to! But you need a USP? And what’s one of them anyway?

6. Content Marketing. A couple of years ago marketers started going on about ‘content marketing’. Some people say that content marketing is a “strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” Others say that it’s a new tool that you simply must use if you’re going to find new clients. I say that content marketing is not new – we’ve been writing and sharing great content (aka advice, tips and knowledge) in newsletters like Scribbles for nearly 15 years!

7. Engagement. With the rise in social media, this word is being used more and more. We must strive for engagement with our followers; we must be more with our engaging audiences. Why? Because when it gets difficult to measure your marketing, you can turn to engagement, which you can measure – like the number of likes you get on what you like! Or you could actually find a way to properly measure your marketing …?

8. Client Touch Points. According to that fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia, a touch point is any way a prospective client can interact with your business, whether that’s person-to-person, through your website, an app or any other form of communication. When prospects come in contact with these touch points, have the opportunity to compare their perceptions of your business and form an opinion about you. What does this mean? It means does what a prospect read about you on your website match up with what they find when they pick up the phone to call you?

9. Remarketing. People use the internet to do stuff. Sometimes, the stuff they do tells you they’re interested in buying from you, even if they don’t buy straight away. When they visit your website to see what you sell, you can place a cookie on their computer and add their information to a special ‘pool’ of people, called a retargeting pool. You can then send follow-up advertising to them. Sound creepy? Slightly, when you realise that someone has been watching what you’ve been up to! But it seems to work, especially when you can remind someone that they forgot to buy from you!

10. Thought Leader. It is the goal of many aspiring business owners to become a ‘thought leader’ within their industry. What is a Thought Leader? Basically it’s someone who is an expert in their industry and who writes or speaks about that industry a lot. Simple!

11. Big Data. Big data refers to massive collections of structured and unstructured data – so big that the data is often difficult to process and know what to do with it. As we find more and more ways to collect data from people through their mobiles, web browsing, subscribing to what you … finding a way to store, manage and use such big amounts of big data becomes a bigger challenge.

So how did you do? How many of these phrases have you come across this year? How many of them do you understand? How many of them have confused you?! If there are other marketing words and phrases you’ve heard, that you don’t understand, send them over and I’ll see if I can translate them for you!