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Every industry has its jargon. Here’s a quick A-Z explanation of some of the terms commonly used in marketing communications that you might come across when planning your marketing activity. Advertorial An advertorial is paid-for space in a magazine or newspaper, written and presented to look like a news story. It will often include wording to distinguish it from ‘straight’ editorial, such as ‘advertising feature’. Advertorials differ from editorial because they are paid-for space, in which the advertiser has control over content. They differ from adverts because they offer an opportunity to explain a product or service in more detail than is possible within an advert. Article Generally a longer, more in-depth piece of writing than a press release, articles are usually based around an issue and show the solutions available to readers. AVE Advertising Value Equivalent - the method many PR agencies use to put a value on the media coverage generated by a campaign. It represents the cost of booking the equivalent advertising space in a given publication. Whilst most agencies use AVE, many are developing additional, more sophisticated means of measuring the value of media coverage, such as key message analysis. Colour separation fee The charge that the majority of trade publications make for reproducing a photograph with a news story. Historically it dates back to when photographs were supplied as prints, and the films had to be separated to reproduce the image. Now that images are supplied digitally, this process is obsolete, yet in many trade magazines, the charges remain. Press release Also referred to as a news release or media release, this is a written communication that is sent to selected print and broadcast journalists to alert them to something newsworthy. You may think every aspect of your business or product is interesting, but don’t think it will be riveting to everyone else. The skill of a good PR person is to identify the newsworthy aspects of your business or product and present it in a way that the media can use. Affiliate marketing An affiliate agrees to display an advert or link on their website at an advertiser’s request. If a visitor to the site clicks on the link, they will be redirected to the customer’s website and the affiliate receives commission. Audience Refers to the target group:
Average issue readership (AIR) The number of people who claim to have read or looked at a publication in the last issue publication period. For example yesterday for daily press, or in the last week for weekly press. Banner A long, horizontal, online advert that generally runs across the top of a web or printed page in a fixed placement. A square online advert usually found embedded within a website page that provides an opportunity to click through to a selected page on the advertiser’s website. Circulation In print terms, it is the number of copies of a publication sold, sent to subscribers, sent free of charge to specified people or addresses or otherwise distributed to readers. It does not include copies of a publication printed but not distributed. Promotional copies or those that are given away free may or may not be included in the circulation. Audited circulation refers to magazine or newspaper circulation that has been verified, usually by an independent company (ABC is the most widely used audit system in the UK) as opposed to publishers’ claims of circulation. Click-through When an internet user interacts with an advertisement and clicks through to the advertiser’s website. Controlled circulation The distribution free of charge of a publication to a member of a professional association, or to people who are selected because of their position, job function or profession. A publication not available to the public at large. Some publications have mixed controlled circulation and sales. Coverage (reach) The numbers of people within a particular target audience who have the opportunity to see or hear an advertisement. Usually measured as a percentage, but can also be expressed in whole numbers. Display A display advertisement is not classified under a specific heading within a publication and, as such, appears anywhere in the publication. Four-colour/full colour Technically, the page is printed in four colours, each one over the other, in order to arrive at the finished product. More cost effective print options include one, two or three colour print. Gummed insert A card or product sample glued to a page of advertising so that it can be easily removed by the reader. Hit A single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server. Traffic to a website is generally measured in terms of the number of ‘hits’ to a given page. Keyword marketing The purchase of online keywords (or ‘search terms’) by advertisers to increase their ranking in internet search listings. Media schedule A advertising campaign plan which details which advertisements are to be used, using which media, on which dates, and in what quantities. Opportunity to see (OTS) The opportunity to see (hear) an advertisement, for example the readership of a magazine would be considered to have had an opportunity to see an advertisement appearing in that particular issue. Opt-in Someone who has given a company permission to use his/her data for marketing purposes. Opt-out Someone who has stated that they do not want a company to use his/her data for marketing purposes. Organic search results The ‘natural’ search results that appear in a separate section of the internet (usually the main body of the page) to the paid listings. The results listed here have not been paid for and are ranked by an online search engine according to relevancy to the term searched upon. Podcasting Podcasting involves making an audio file (usually in MP3 format) of content, usually in the form of a radio programme, which is available to download to an MP3 player. PPC (Pay Per Click) Allows advertisers to bid for placement in the paid listings search results online on terms that are relevant to their business. Advertisers pay the amount of their bid only when a consumer clicks on their listing. Also called Sponsored Search/Paid Search. Print run The number of copies of one issue of a publication that were printed. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Software that allows you to flag website content (often from blogs or news sites) and aggregate new entries to this content into an easy to read format that is delivered directly to you. Run of paper An advert booked to appear anywhere in a publication. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) The process that aims to get websites listed prominently in search-engine results through search-engine optimisation, sponsored searches and paid inclusion (such as pay per click). The process that aims to get websites listed prominently within search engine’s organic search results. The unit measure used on press rate cards to calculate the costs of different advertising space sizes. For example 25cms x 4columns = an advert size of 100 column centimetres. Skyscraper A long, vertical, online advert usually found running down the side of a printed or web page in a fixed placement. Solus An advert booked to appear on its own and not directly next to other advertising. Spider A programme that crawls the internet and finds web pages in order for them to be indexed against keywords. Used by search engines to formulate search result pages. Target audience The specific audience that your marketing activity is designed to reach. Traffic The number of visitors who come to a website. Viral marketing This refers to the idea that people will pass on and share striking and entertaining content. It can be sponsored by a brand that is looking to build awareness of a product or service. These viral commercials often take the form of funny video clips or interactive Flash games, images and even text. Vodcasting Vodcasting is a similar process to podcasting, using audiovisual files instead of audio files. |
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