Glossary

“Bottom of the funnel” refers to the final phase of the buyer’s journey, where leads are converted to paying customers. At this stage, organizations focus on helping customers make a decision through tactics (sharing content, offering demos, organizing consultations, etc.) that validate the purchase.

Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers are familiar with your product or service. It fosters trust in your product and creates an association with certain emotions and actions — if you crave a cold drink, for example, chances are you’ll think of Coca-Cola.

Brand positioning is the process of placing your brand in the minds of your customers and differentiating it from competitors. Take Apple as an example — the technology company has become synonymous with creativity, luxury, and elegant simplicity. Its product design, marketing materials, and retail stores reflect this positioning.

Customer acquisition refers to the process of gaining new customers. While marketing aims to build your brand awareness, your customer acquisition strategy drives consumers to action. Customer acquisition can involve content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).

An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a detailed outline of a brand’s target customer used to hone marketing and sales efforts. An ICP should include details like your potential customers’ geographical location, income, purchase habits, and pain points.

In business, the “market” describes the groups of consumers (both individuals and organizations) that make up the pool of potential customers for a product or service. These groups can be divided into the following categories: demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral.

Market entry refers to the introduction of products or services to a target market. A market entry strategy outlines your business goals, target market, expected sales, and how you plan to achieve them. The organization must consider the size of the market, mode of entry (for example, partnering with local businesses or selling exclusively online), and finances required.

Market orientation is a business philosophy that prioritizes identifying and meeting consumer needs. It involves analyzing the target audience to determine their most pressing needs, which are then kept in mind as the organization designs and upgrades products. One example of a market-oriented company is Amazon, which consistently adds new features (including Amazon Prime and Amazon Lockers) to address customer concerns.

Market positioning is the ability to influence consumer perceptions of a brand, product, or service relative to its competitors. For example, Louis Vuitton has successfully established itself as a luxury status symbol.

Market research is the act of gathering information about consumers’ needs and preferences. It is used to determine the viability of a new product or service and is conducted through surveys, product testing, and focus groups.

Marketing analytics is the study of data to evaluate the performance of marketing activities. Marketing analytics helps businesses understand what drives consumer actions. These insights can be used to power future marketing campaigns.

A marketing channel is a tool used by marketers to connect and communicate with potential customers. Examples of marketing channels include social media marketing, email marketing, events, and direct sales.

The marketing funnel is a visualization of the theoretical buyer’s journey towards purchasing a product or service. The process is split into stages that include Awareness (the prospect is made aware of the product), Consideration (the prospect learns more about the product and its benefits), and Action (the prospect makes a purchase).

A marketing manager is responsible for managing the promotion of a product or service. Their duties can include devising marketing strategies, coordinating marketing activities, managing budgets, and tracking campaign performance.

A minimum viable product is a version of a new product that enables companies to gauge early customer interest before completing development. The minimum viable product typically includes enough features to be usable by the customer, allowing teams to observe user behavior.

A product launch is the process of bringing a new product to market. The launch gives customers the opportunity to buy the product and helps the company gain feedback and build brand awareness.

Product-market fit is the degree to which a product or service satisfies market demand — in other words, how likely it is that consumers will want to buy your product. Product-market fit is determined through early user testing and surveys, as well as word of mouth and media interest.

Segmentation is a marketing technique used to split an audience into groups that can be targeted with specific marketing efforts. It helps marketers build campaigns that connect with customers of varying demographics, values, and purchasing habits.

Targeting in marketing refers to splitting an audience into groups and designing marketing activities to appeal to these groups. Brands that choose the right segments to target will have a much easier job reaching potential customers.

“Top of the funnel,” or TOFU, refers to the first stage of the buyer’s journey. At this stage, the organization focuses on building brand awareness to generate leads that will potentially become customers.

Total addressable market (TAM), also referred to as total available market, is the overall revenue opportunity available for a product or service. Total addressable market helps organizations quickly understand the potential of a new product.

A unique value proposition (UVP) is a concise statement about the benefits a product can offer customers and why they should choose it over competitors. A UVP is often incorporated into the marketing strategy to create differentiation and align the product with customer needs.