If you’re new to digital marketing, you might feel a little overwhelmed by all the acronyms you see flying around. In fact, it seems like almost everything can be whittled down to three letters. Don’t be left in the dark; here are some of the most common acronyms you should familiarize yourself with.
PPC: Pay Per Click
PPC is a type of paid media marketing. You bid on the keywords you want to show up for, and when someone searches for that term, an advert in the guise of a search listing will appear at the top of the page. Keywords are more or less expensive, depending on demand.
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is also a marketing channel, but one you can’t pay for. It’s the art of “optimizing” the content on your website so that search engines deem it to be good quality, fresh and highly relevant. This helps your page to naturally (or, “organically”) rank higher in the search listings.
CTR: Click-Through Rate
CTR is a result metric measuring the percentage of people who saw an advert and clicked on it. Performance marketing expert Eyal Gutentag believes result-based marketing is key to growth, so it’s an important figure to track. You take the total number of clicks and divide it by the total number of impressions (how many times an advert was seen) and then multiply the total by 100 to get your final answer.
CTA: Call To Action
The CTA is how you encourage a user to do something. Whether you want them to purchase, sign-up to receive communication from you, or click through to find out more, a strong call to action makes all the difference to a campaign’s success.
There are many acronyms in the digital space, and no doubt more will be added. But start slowly and, before you know it, you’ll know them all off by heart.