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Ever been in a meeting (Zoom counts) and someone casually drops an acronym that you’ve never heard of and no one else so much as bats an eye? You quickly pull out your phone to Google the mystery letters and hope for some instant clarity. SMH. (Shaking My Head? Smacking my Head? Scratching my Head? Pick one. They could all apply.)
Mentally you’ve lost focus. And getting back on track is not always as simple as a quick internet search because many acronyms use the same letters and business terminology is constantly evolving. Whether this has happened to you professionally or while scrolling through your social media feed, everyone has experienced being lost in alpha-translation.
We’ve put together a short list of some of the acronyms commonly used in the PR and marketing worlds to help you understand what we do! Here are nine for starters:
AP Style: Associated Press Style
Preferred by journalists for news writing, it is an A-to-Z style guide for issues, such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and other language questions. AP Style ensures uniformity across outlets. It is easy to read, concise and continually updated.
B2B: Business to Business, B2C: Business to Consumer
These terms relate to whom a business sells its products to or communicates with – either to other businesses, or directly to consumers.
CTA: Call to Action
CTA is an instruction to the audience designed to provoke a desired response.
What are you asking people to do and how do you want them to do it? An example might be “Add to cart” or “Donate now.”
CMS: Content Management System
A content management system is software that helps users create, manage, and modify content on a website without the need for specialized technical knowledge. This means you don’t have to know how to write code and you can still design a website.
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
This is software that lets you keep track of your current and potential customers or clients. It helps you with everything from remembering birthdays to tracking email correspondence to recommending a complimentary product or service.
DMA: Designated Marketing Area
DMA is used to define television and radio markets by region across the United States. The data and boundaries are owned and determined by Nielson. They impact the cost of advertising based on viewership and listenership. Understanding DMAs is crucial because audience is everything.
ROI: Return on Investment
Profitability or revenue is likely what comes to mind when you hear ROI. In PR, return on investment means more than just financial gains. ROI can be measured by press mentions, social media engagement and sales figures. However success can also be in the form of less trackable things, such as brand visibility, consumer attitude and other qualitative measures.
SEM: Search Engine Marketing
Think paid ads here. Have you ever noticed that when you look for something on a search engine, the top offerings are always paid ads? That is the result of SEM.
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SEO, on the other hand, is an unpaid marketing tactic that aims to get your website or blog at the top of search results, or what is known as a higher ranking. It is the process that makes your site easy to find. It’s the eye level product placement on the end cap of the grocery store display.
These are just a few terms you’ll hear tossed around in digital marketing, social media and PR conversations. If you’d like clarification on anything mentioned here or come across some new lingo, give The Firm Public Relations & Marketing a shout at 702-739-9933 or newbusiness@thefirmpr.com. TTYS! (Talk To You Soon!)
