13 Marketing Acronyms I Had to Learn

As I moved through the different phases of life, high-school, career, and career changes, I have been forced to learn the vocabularies of these worlds. While the colloquial slang of each microcosm comes with a host of new words and phrases, perhaps the hardest thing to adapt to is the copious amounts of abbreviations.

In high school it came in the form of SMS (short messaging service). I was forced to become efficient with phrases like ttyl, lol, brb, and bff.  Then came the world of construction. HVAC, GFI, and LVL were thrown about haphazardly and caused me no small amount of confusion. 

Now I work within the world of marketing and neither high school texting nor construction terms can hold a candle to the amount of acronyms I have had to learn inside this new world. 

Almost everyday I am looking up a new acronyms (because I am obviously too proud to just ask). Here are 13 that every marketer needs to know.

 

1. ROI – Return on Investment

 

2. CRM – Customer Relationship Management

 

3. KPI – Key Performance Indicators

 

4. SEM – Search Engine Marketing

 

5. PPC – Pay Per Click

 

6. CTR – Click Through Rates

 

7. CPC – Cost Per Click or Call

 

8. SEO – Search Engine Optimization

 

9. SME –  Subject Matter Expert

 

10. MAP – Marketing Automation Platform

 

11. UX – User Experience

 

12. B2B – Business to Business

 

13. CPL – Cost Per Lead


Maybe this list can help you avoid feeling out of the loop like I have from time to time. Throw in a few of these acronyms and buzzwords and you will sound like a marketing expert in no time.