It’s easy to feel lost when everyone uses a different term to describe what sounds like a newfangled idea. It seems like the tools available for marketing communications (abbreviated “marcomm” or “marcom”) change every week, and it's hard to keep up.
Here's a rundown of some common marcomm terms:
Battlecards give your sales team the tools and information they need to win bids over their competition. A typical battlecard includes the competitor’s sales messages, value propositions, product information and marketing strategy so members of your sales team can formulate their own messaging to counter objections from prospects.
Branding is one of the most confused terms in the online space. While many see branding as creating the visual look of a business, it actually goes well beyond the aesthetics (logo, colors and fonts). Branding also includes the personality of the business and the tone and voice of its written communications.
Case Studies are in-depth reports about a specific customer or project, often used to help market a business by showing results and successes the customer achieved by working with that business. These can be created as stand-alone documents or integrated into your website.
Content is the useful information that you put out into the world to educate and inform your audience. It includes video, text, audio and visuals and is part of your website, blog and social media efforts.
Direct Mail includes unsolicited advertising that’s sent directly to prospects’ mailboxes. While no longer widely used, direct mail is a great choice for some industries.
Ebooks are books in a digital format (usually a PDF) and are used to educate an audience to market products and services to that audience.
Email marketing involves emailing prospects and current customers to provide valuable information about your industry. It can also be used to communicate with them about offers, specials, important announcements, etc.
Growth Hacking is the process of experimenting across your marketing initiatives to figure out how to grow your business quickly.
Inbound marketing refers to gaining visibility and bringing new prospective customers in through content marketing (blogging, social media and search engine optimization). You are providing content that your prospects find.
Influencer Marketing is when you market your product to specific individuals who have a strong following with your target audience with the intention that the influencer will share with their followers.
Nurturing emails are emails designed to connect with prospective and current clients in an effort to stay relevant and top-of-mind for your audience.
One Sheets are typically PDFs or a printed page that easily allow businesses to deliver the details about a particular product or service and its pricing to prospective customers. They are often emailed or left behind after a sales pitch. Also called slicks and sales sheets.
Outbound marketing involves paid ads and cold calls in an effort to bring in new customers. You are seeking out the customers, rather than the customers finding you.
PDFs are documents that look and often act like a printed document. They are easy to share without losing the author’s formatting and don’t require special programs to view online.
Presentations allow professionals to deliver ideas to their audience more formally, with visuals, video and often audio--both in person and virtually. Formats include PowerPoint, Slideshare, Prezi, Keynote and others. Also called a Deck or Slide Deck.
Social Media marketing is the act of promoting a company’s content, products and services through a variety of social media platforms.
White papers are authoritative reports that deliver a specific message to a specific audience. They are similar to ebooks but are a more in-depth look at a specific subject and are often more trusted.
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