Understanding Marketing Terms and Why You Really Don't Care

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 $𝟓,𝟎𝟎𝟎?

I recently talked with a business owner who had spent $5,000 on a marketing campaign.

The marketing company's reports looked great—there were lots of Impressions, clicks, and conversions.

The problem was none of that mattered to this business owner.

His business wanted phone calls from new clients to schedule in-home service visits.

They had only received 5 phone calls, and none of those calls became customers.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻?
This is a real problem with most marketing campaigns, no clearly defined outcome.
Before you spend one penny on marketing, you need to know two things.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙪𝙧𝙚?

Understand the desired outcome of your marketing campaign.

Success needs to be quantified.
↳ 1𝟎 𝐧e𝐰 𝐜u𝐬t𝐨m𝐞r𝐬
↳2𝟓 𝐏h𝐨n𝐞 𝐂a𝐥l𝐬
↳1𝟕 𝐃e𝐦o𝐬
You get the idea.
You also need to define the timeline. 30 days, 60 days, etc.
Failure must be defined as well.
↳ 𝟑 𝐧e𝐰 𝐜u𝐬t𝐨m𝐞r𝐬
↳7 P𝐡o𝐧e C𝐚l𝐥s
↳𝟗 𝐃e𝐦o𝐬
Why?
If you do not define failure up front, you will continue to burn money on marketing that is not working.

Understanding Marketing Jargon

Conversions

In marketing speak, a "conversion" is any action a user takes that marketers deem valuable. A conversion could be anything from filling out a form, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a white paper, or calling your business.

Reach

"Reach" refers to the total number of unique users who see your content. This metric is often used to gauge the potential audience size for content or an ad.

Impressions

An "impression" is counted every time your content or ad is displayed, regardless of whether it's clicked on. For example, if someone scrolls past your ad five times, that's five impressions.

Likes

"Likes" are a form of engagement where users show approval of your content. These are commonly seen on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR measures the percentage of people who click on your ad after seeing it. It's calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.

Shares

"Shares" occur when users repost your content to their followers or friends. This allows your content to reach a wider audience organically.

Why Marketing Terms Like Conversions, Reach, Impressions, Likes, CTR, and Shares Are Meaningless for Business Owners

Reality Check

Now, let's switch gears and discuss why these terms, while fancy-sounding, do not add to your bottom line.

Conversions

Oh, conversions! You've got someone to sign up for your newsletter. Hooray! Now, do they ever open your emails? Did they actually buy anything? If you can't tie these conversions directly to revenue, they're just numbers on a screen. It's like having a ton of Monopoly money—you can't spend it in the real world.

Reach

Fantastic! Your latest post reached 10,000 people. That's like shouting into a crowded room where everyone's wearing noise-canceling headphones. Reach doesn't pay the bills unless it leads to actual customer engagement and sales. It's great for your ego but not so much for your revenue.

Impressions

Impressions are the participation trophy of marketing metrics. Congratulations, your ad was displayed 50,000 times! Did anyone care? Did it lead to any sales? Impressions are just that—impressions. They don't guarantee any form of meaningful interaction.

Likes

Getting likes on your post is like getting pats on the back. Nice to have, but do they translate into paying customers? Rarely. Likes are a vanity metric. They make you feel good, but you can't cash them at the bank to make payroll.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Ah, the beloved CTR. So your ad got clicked 2% of the time. That's great, but what happened after the click? Did they bounce immediately? Did they buy anything? Focusing on CTR alone is like looking at a book rather than reading it. The click is just the beginning of the journey.

Shares

Shares can make you feel like you've gone viral. Look at all these people who shared your post! But it's just more noise unless those shares convert into new customers or sales. You can't add shares on a deposit slip to your bank account.

Measure What Matters

In the grand scheme of running a business, these marketing metrics can provide some insights but are often meaningless if not tied to revenue growth and customer acquisition. Instead of getting lost in the jargon, focus on converting leads into paying customers, building lasting relationships, and increasing your bottom line. So next time a marketer dazzles you with these terms, remember to ask the only question that counts: "How does this improve my revenue?"