General Terms and Acronyms

3C A checklist for the following terms: customers, competition, and the company. For example
you might use it when considering a decision and how your customers might respond, how your
competition might respond, and how the decision fits with the abilities and culture of the
company.

AIDA An acronym standing for Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.

Barista - From the italian word for bartender, baristas are more typically coffee house employees
preparing espresso based coffee drinks.

Brand Identity Model - Also known as the Aaker Model, the BIM is a four level model
designed by David Aaker, a marketing professor at the University of California Berkeley. This
model conceives of brand equity as a combination of brand awareness, loyalty and associations,
adding up to the value of the brand. The four levels of the brand identity according to the model
are Brand as product, Brand as organization, Brand as person and Brand as symbol.

Bundled pricing This refers to this process of bundling different products and services
together into one price - also an example of opaque pricing.

Brand Positioning Statement or BPS - A statement that defines the type of positioning strategy
planned for a brand. It typically contains information on the target audience or customer
segment, their needs or problems, as well as information about competitive products on the
market and what your brand might offer in context.

Business-to-business - Also known as B2B, meaning commerce transactions between

businesses, such as manufacturers and wholesalers.

CEO - Chief Executive Officer - American title for an organizations president, executive, or
Managing Director (MD) - the British title.

Channel economics A description of how money is divided, depending on whether the money
is traveling through a direct channel or an indirect channel.

Confidence interval - An interval estimate that aims to include the parameter of interest within
its range at a predefined confidence level (usually between 90% and 99%).

Cost of Customer acquisition Simply put how much it costs a company to acquire its
customers.

Cost-plus pricing A pricing strategy in which the selling price is determined by adding a
percentage markup to a product's unit cost. An alternative pricing method is value-based pricing.
Counterculture - A subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from
those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural norms.

Crowdsourcing - the activity of drawing ideas and input from the general public, consumers or
the crowd to help you in your business decision-making.

Customer lifetime value The retention or return rate on keeping a customers business.

Demographics - Information regarding human populations made up from a variety of data

including age, ethnicity, geographical location, gender, income, education, religion, language etc.

Direct channel A descriptor for when the customer is buying directly from the company, rather
than through a third party.

Differentiated value proposition See Point of Difference.

Differentiation In marketing differentiation refers to the process of distinguishing a product or

service from other options or competitors.

Dis-intermediary A reference for something that removes the middle-man, or intermediary,

from the supply chain.

Distribution Strategy - A business strategy orientated around getting a product or service

through the various distribution channels to the ultimate purchaser, or end-user.

Drone - Also known as UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicle, drones are aircraft without a human
pilot aboard. A drones flight is controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the
remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. A certain amount of controversy
exists around privacy and security issues connected to commercial and civilian drone use.

Dynamic pricing - Pricing that changes in real time and with fluidity according to external
conditions and influences.

Earned Media Word of mouth responses or what people say about your company. Earned
Media can happen both online and offline.

Free-mium model - A model in which the product or service is delivered free at purchase but
later upgrades or add-ons cost to purchase. Common in the computer game industry.

HR - Human resources, or the manpower/ people that make up a workplace or organization.

Hypothesis - Proposed explanation for a phenomenon. In the scientific method we expect to be

able to frame a hypothesis so that it can be tested by research.

Inbound Marketing A pro-active approach involving forums such as direct mail or online
email in which you are trying to see if the customer is interested and open to a relationship.
Indirect channel A process by which the customer buys from the company by way of an
intermediary or middleman.

Intermediaries Also known as channel partners or middlemen.

Intercept interviews - Method for collecting data, usually involving intercepting participants on
the street, in-store, by mail or by phone and conducting a short survey with them.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) - The combining of various different

approaches, such as billboards, print ads, viral videos, in the communication of an overall
message

Long tail - A reference to long-tail marketing. Previously Marketing tended to neglect the less
popular tail of consumer interest in a product because it was too niche an audience. However in
recent years technology and global distribution has changed, resulting in access to a wider
market for less popular items. It is now possible to build a business entirely based on the tail of a
very specialised area.

Lovemarks Construct - A four quadrant model created by Kevin Roberts based on a two
dimensional axis. One axis is connected to love for the product, the other to respect for the
product. The basic premise is that products can be divided into 4 categories (Brands,
Commodities, Fads, and Lovemarks) depending on where they fall on the two axis. Commodities
tend to be low in love and respect for example, while Lovemarks are high on both respect and
love.

Loyalty segmentation - Segmentation by customer loyalty, typically using a system such as Net
Promoter, that scores customers on how likely they are to recommend in order to divide them
into three groups; promoters, passives and detractors.

Marketing mix - A business tool used in marketing to make important decisions that lead to the
execution of a marketing plan. Often associated with the four P's: price, product, promotion, and
place.

Net promoter score (NPS) A management tool that can be used to gauge the loyalty of a firm's
customer relationship. It is predicated on the question Would you recommend this brand to your
friends and family?

Offline channels A channel of distribution in which the product is sold in-person.

Online channels A channel of distribution in which the product is sold on the Internet.

Opaque pricing A pricing strategy in which some of the costs of the product are hidden from
the buyer and the buyer cannot easily compare the price of your product to other comparable
products.
Outbound Marketing Traditional paid advertising, such as television or print where you are
pushing your message out to a large group of customers and expecting a reaction.

Owned Media Advertising your company by way of something you own, such as having a
website or storefront.

Paid Media Traditional paid advertising, such as paying to advertise your company on
television or in print.

Penetration approach Lowering the price with the goal of appealing to everyone who might
reasonably consider buying the product.

PEST An acronym standing for the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological dynamics
in society that impact your business, your competitors, and the customers you are trying to
appeal to.

PEST analysis - Political, Economic, Social and Technological analysis that describes a
framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of
strategic management, to ensure a comprehensive and systematic approach to data useage.

PhD - Doctor of Philosophy, a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities, and

covering a variety of academic disciplines.

P.o.P. An acronym standing for Points of Parity. These are features of a product that are similar
to other products. Points of parity allow you to play the game. Note similar P.O.P which refers to
point of purchase, denoting the area around a sales point in a retail environment.

P.o.D. An acronym standing for Points of Difference. These are features of a product that
distinguish your product. Points of difference may allow you to win the game.

Positioning (and Competitive Positioning) comes from understanding who the target segment
for your product or service is, and differentiating how your product will fill their needs better
than any other competitive product.

Pricing Discrimination Pricing the same product at different prices, often due to differences in
the customers willingness-to-pay.

Pricing sensitivity How sensitive your volume is to changes in price. High price sensitivity
implies that a small change in price will cause a large change in volume. Conversely low price
sensitivity implies that changes in price will cause little change in volume.

Pricing strategy A plan that you set with regards to your pricing.

Primary research Data that you gather yourself first hand or that you commission to be
collected. Tends to be more expensive but also more customizable.
Pricing tactics Either the means by which your implement your pricing strategy, or the means
by which your respond to someone elses strategy.

Product Levels - As described by Paul product levels can be understood as a series of concentric
circles that define the end product, traveling inwards from generic to specific.

Pull Marketing See Inbound marketing.

Push Marketing See Outbound marketing.

PLC - Product Life cycle Model - Simply put this is a model charting the history of a product
from introduction to the marketplace, through growth and maturity, and into decline. The PLC
model typically includes aspects relevant to marketing and management for each stage of the
product life cycle.

Psychographics - The study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.
Psychographics are sometimes also known as AIO (Attitudes, Interests and Opinions) variables.

Qualitative Data Data that deals with more subjective experiences such as complex opinions,
feelings and observations. It is typically less numerical in nature and has a lower number of
respondents. An example might be data from a series of free flowing interviews or focus groups.

Quantitative Data Data that is more number based and is intended to provide analytical proof
or evidence. Such data should easily lend itself to statistical analysis. An example might be data
gathered from an experiment or scaled questionnaire.

Real-time marketing - Quick turnaround marketing strategy designed to take advantage of

events or incidents that happen in the world for use in your marketing or communication
campaign immediately.

Research Methods - Method for carrying out research in order to answer a question you wish to
resolve. Can be carried out in a variety of ways such as using focus groups, in-depth or shorter
interviewing techniques, surveys, experiments, observations, etc.

Secondary research Research involving the use of previously collected data that may include
potentially re-analysing the data to extract further insights. Secondary research tends to be
quicker than primary research but less customizable. Often a good start to a research process,
since it can bring you up to speed of whats been done already in the area.

Segmentation - In marketing this refers to the division of a broad market into subsets of
consumers, businesses, or countries each with common needs, interests, and priorities, and then
designing and implementing strategies to target them.

Skimming approach An approach that requires micro-segmenting of the market, taking those
who are willing to pay a very high price for the product, and selling the product to them
specifically.
Statistical analysis - Analysis of data through a statistical process. In business intelligence it
may also refer to the whole process of collecting and analyzing data with the goal of identifying
relationships and trends.

SWOT An acronym standing for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

SWOT framework - A structured planning method used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats involved in a project or in a business venture.

Target Market - A group of customers towards which a business has decided to aim its
marketing efforts and merchandise. Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning are all factors in
Marketing Strategy.

Tiered pricing or High/medium/low pricing A system in which a company can offer some of
their products or services cheaply or even for free, while others are offered at medium or even
very high pricing.

Trading up - A trend seen in middle-market Americans to selectively decide that a luxury

purchase or experience is worth the extra expense and opting to sacrifice other goods, such as
dining out or clothing, in order to pay for the desired luxury.

Transaction pricing The pricing of a certain quantity of a good or service, expressed in terms
of the quantity of some other good or service.

Transparent pricing A pricing policy that allows for the buyer to easily know the price,
enabling them to easily compare the price of your product to other comparable products
available.

Touch point - The interface or contact between a product, service or brand, with the user (be it
consumer, employee or other stakeholder) before, during and after a transaction. Sometimes also
referred to as the moment of truth, touch points are frequently analysed, and managed
strategically in marketing to build a companys success.

VALs model - Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles model is a research framework used for
psychographic segmentation, designed by Strategic Business Insights.

Value Proposition VP - A simplified condensed or shortened version of the BPS often used for
efficient communication. The VP should be constructed after, not before, the BPS.

Variable - Variable is the name that is given to an item of variance that we wish to explain. The
purpose of research is to describe and explain variance in the world. Variance is simply the
difference or variation that occurs naturally in the world, or is changed as a result of an
experimental manipulation. Common variables in marketing research are dependent variables,
independent variables and moderating variables.
WIIFM An acronym standing for Whats in it for me?. The customers asks themselves this
when considering the benefits of a product and the benefits that come from the features.

Word of Mouth (W.o.M.) - Communication by customers regarding a product, service or brand.

WOM can be positive, but is especially problematic when it is negative.

Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind - a marketing book by Ries and Trout published in 2001
on communication, branding, marketing and product management.
www.amazon.com/Positioning-The-Battle-Your-Mind/dp/0071373586