Glossary of Marketing Definitions

access Access to library materials and services, on one dimension, is represented in the location of physical facilities. Because libraries are travelled-to outlets, marketing location theories can be applied successfully to library siting.

accountability Libraries like private sector businesses are increasingly called upon to make all units accountable for results. Growing funds are needed for technology as opposed to only books. Funders often cut the library budget first, in favor of other agencies such as police and fire or other seemingly, more necessary agencies. Libraries are developing better performance measures within the present day control systems to offer better accountability.

acculturation The process by which people in one culture or subculture learn to understand and adapt to the norms, values, life styles and behaviors of people in another culture or subcultures. For example, acculturation is the process by which a recent immigrant learns the way of life of the new country. Library services and materials facilitate this process.

acquisition value The users' perception of the relative worth of a product or service to them. Formally defined as the subjectively weighted difference between the most a buyer would be willing to pay for the product or service, less the actual price of the item. Time user must spend to 'acquire' is often used as a surrogate for 'relative worth or price paid,' in library research. For example, a user might be willing to expend drive time and a brief time in the library to check out a best seller, but not wait two weeks for a copy to be returned.

activities, interests, and opinions (AIO) A measurable series of psychographic (as opposed to demographic) variables involving the interests and beliefs of users. Note, because psychographics are usually expensive to gather, yet offer a more precise profile of users, demographic variables are usually relied upon.

adopter categories Persons or agencies that adopt an innovation are often classified into five groups according to the sequence of their adoption of it. (To illustrate this think of individual use of the Internet within the library, and for an agency, libraries that offer Internet access to the general public. 1) Innovators (first 2-5%); 2) Early adopters (10-15%)' 3) Early majority (next 35%); 4) Late majority (next 35%); 5) Laggards (final 5-10%). This is important when considering how long it may take for the general public to 'adopt' a product or service.

advertising

The placement and purchase of announcements and persuasive messages in time or space in any of the mass media by business firms, nonprofit organizations. This has not been a traditional method of informing the public, rather public service announcements, which are placed at no cost, are the norm for libraries.

aggregation A concept of market segmentation that assumes that most consumers are alike. A library of the past had an 'opening day' collection of materials, that could be found in most towns and cities. Today's libraries are more aware of considering the unique needs of individuals in the market area.

aging The length of time merchandise has been in stock. For the library this could be of benefit by gaining knowledge about the duration of certain goods.

all-you-can-afford budgeting An approach to the advertising budget that establishes the amount to be spent on advertising as the funds remaining after all other necessary expenditures and investments are covered. Libraries often relegate all promotion related materials and services into this category.

ambiance An overall feeling or mood projected by a store through its aesthetic appeal to human senses. A brightly colored children's room is more appealing to juveniles than an area sectioned off within the adult room which blends in.

analysis In marketing and other social science disciplines, a variety of statistical and nonstatiscal methods are used to analyze data, instead of sheer intuition, or simple descriptive statistics-

attitudes Enduring systems of positive or negative evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies with respect to an object. Consumer's overall liking or preference for an object.

atmospherics The physical characteristics of the library such as architecture, layout, signs and displays, color, lighting, temperature, access, noise, assortment, prices, special events, etc., that serve as stimuli and attention attractors of users to the library or information agency.

audience The number and/or characteristics of the persons or households who are exposed to a particular type of advertising media or media vehicle.

audit

The process of reviewing the library's strengths and weaknesses (internally), and opportunities and threats (externally) to shed light on the agency's performance.

balanced stock The composition of merchandise inventory in the colors, sizes, styles and other assortment characteristics that will satisfy user wants. For the library this would mean, services and materials based upon users wants and needs.

barcode An information technology application that uniquely identifies various aspects of product characteristics, increasing speed, accuracy, and productivity of distribution process. Most library materials are barcoded for security.

benefit segmentation The process of grouping users into market segments on the basis of the desirable consequences sought from the product. For example, the library market for children's books, may include children and parents who are benefiting by developing the library and reading habit, and or recent immigrants who benefit from learning the language of the new country. Each is receiving a benefit from the product or service.

body language The nonverbal signals communicated in interactions through facial expressions, arms, legs and hands--or nonverbal communication. This can be positive ( a smile) or negative (a frown.)

brand A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name. Library could be considered a trade name.

broadcast television A method of distributing television signals by means of stations that broadcast signals over channels assigned to specific geographic areas.

budget The detailed financial component of the strategic plan that guides the allocation of resources and provides a mechanism for identifying deviations of actual from desired performance so corrective action can be taken. A budget assigns a dollar figure to each revenue and expense related activity. A budget is usually prepared for a period of one year by each component of an organization. A budget provides both a guide for action and a means of assessing performance. A budget is a library's post control system.

bureaucratic organization Official decision making is circumscribed by laws, rules, and regulations which often result in inflexibility, "red tape" and slowness to act. A hierarchical business structure, unlike business that operates in a competitive environment that does not reward slow

decision making if it results in poor sales or customer service. Library's are often linked to large bureaucracies, government or schools and universities.

cable television A method of distributing television signals by means of coaxial or fiber-optic cables. Some libraries have programs on public access channels.

census A complete canvass of a population.

census block Usually a well-defined rectangular area bounded by streets or roads. It may be irregular in shape and may be bounded by physical features such as railroads or streams. Census block do not cross boundaries of countries, tracts, or block numbering areas.

census tract A small, relatively permanent area (US) into which metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and certain other area are divided for the purpose of providing statistics for small areas. When census tracts are established they are designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status and living conditions. Census tracts generally have between 2,500 and 8,000 residents.

chain store system A groups of retail stores of essentially the same type, centrally owned and with some degree of centralized control of operation. This would be similar to the public library's system of branches.

channel of distribution An organized network of agencies and institutions which in combination perform all the functions required to link producers with end customers to accomplish the marketing task. For a library this would include vendors, publishers as well as library facilities.

circulation The number of copies of a print advertising medium that are distributed. For the library field, this is numbers of items checked out by users.

classic merchandise The merchandise that is not influenced by style changes for which a demand virtually always exists. For the library this might be print encyclopedias, indexes, classical literary works.

clustering A statistical method of forming natural groupings in which a number of important characteristics of a large diverse group are identified in order to define target markets. For a library such a cluster might include higher education levels, and income.

community analysis For a public library this is a market research exercise reviewing library statistics, population served characteristics, users and other stakeholders in the library characteristics to better profile the library's market area. (Wood and Koontz)

community relations The library's interactions with the locality in which it operates, with emphasis on disseminating library-related information to foster trust in the library or information organization's activities.

competition The rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, distribution and promotion. The agency changes to better meet consumer wants and needs. For a library competition may be bookstores, community events, video stores or even other libraries.

consumer The ultimate user of goods, ideas or services. Also the buyer or decision maker, for example, the parent selecting children's books is the consumer.

consumer behavior The behavior of the consumer or decision maker in the market place of products and services.

consumer characteristics The demographic, lifestyle and personality characteristics of the consumer. For a library this would be the user.

consumer satisfaction The degree to which a consumer's expectations are fulfilled or surpassed by a product.

contingency planning Developing plans to provide alternative plans to the main plan. This is proactive management that deals with events considered unlikely to occur.

convenience product A consumer good and/or service (such as soap, candy bar, and shoe shine) that is bought frequently, often on impulse, with little time effort spent on the buying process. A convenience product usually is low-priced and is widely available. For a public library this type of material might be newspapers or magazines, or perhaps a quick selection of other materials with little browsing or research. These materials or services are usually located within facility for easy and quick access.

convenience sample A nonprobability sample of individuals who just happen to be where the study is being conducted when it is being conducted. For example, a library could interview people exiting the library asking, 'Were you satisfied with the materials and services, if not why?'

copyright A copyright offers the owner of original work that can be printed, recorded or "fixed" in any manner the sole right to reproduce and distribute the work, to display or perform it and to authorize other to do so., during the author's lifetime and for fifty years thereafter.

core product The central benefit or purpose for which a consumer buys a product or service. The core product varies from purchaser to purchaser. For a library user the core benefit of checking out a book, may be for one user that there is no charge, and to another the availability of a work which can no longer be purchased.

correlation analysis A statistical technique used to measure the closeness of the linear relationship between two or more intervally scaled variables. For example public library use has a close linear relationship with people of higher education and income.

culture The set of learned values, norms, and behaviors that are shared by a society and are designed to increase the probability of the society's survival. These include shared superstitions, myths, folkways, mores and behavior patterns that are rewarded or punished. For libraries, the understanding of different cultures, as new immigrant groups move into the market area is extremely important to take into consideration, in order to provide the needed materials and services.

customer The actual or prospective purchaser of products or services. The library user is the library's customer.

database A compendium of information on current and prospective users that usually includes demographic data as well as use data, volume and content.

decennial census In the U.S. this is a complete count of the population every ten years. For example the next count is the year 2000, and previous years 1990, 1908, etc. There is also a sample census which is taken for hundreds of other population descriptive characteristics. For the library field census data are identified that strongly indicate library use through research.

decision support system (DSS) A decision support system (marketing definition) is a systematic collection of data, techniques and supporting software and hardware by which an organization gathers and interprets relevant information from business and the environment and turns it into a

basis for making management decisions. A DSS differs from a management information system in that it is designed to answer precise questions and what/if questions. An example would be, 'What affect on system library use will there be if Branch X is closed?'

Delphi technique A frequently used method in futures research to gain consensus opinion among experts about likely future events, through a series of questionnaires.

demand The number of units of a product sold in a market over a period of time. For example, six thousand library books were circulated in Branch X's market area last year.

demarketing The process of reducing the demand for a product--or decreasing consumption.

demographics Objective characteristics of consumers such as age, income, education, sex or occupation

descriptive research A research design in which the major emphasis is on determining the frequency with which something occurs. For example, how often users access the Internet in a given month.

destination merchandise A type of merchandise that motivates or triggers a trip to a specific store. This is also a 'specialty good.

developing country Characteristics: 1) more than 33% of the population is engaged in agriculture, less than 30% of population is urban; 2) at least 50% of population is literate; and 3) highly developed industrial sectors and consumer markets of significant per capita size.

diffusion model A model representing the contagion or spread of something through a population. (Examples: spread of air conditioning in Florida and subsequent population growth, and spread of Library of Congress pre-printed cards to American libraries.) Mathematical formulations are available to predict spread/growth.

diffusion of innovation The spread of innovation with a market group in stages--innovators (2- 5%), early adopters (10-15%), early majority (next 35%), late majority(next 35%), and laggards (final 5-10%.) Fair amount of disagreement about the percentages.

direct marketing Marketing efforts, in total directed toward a specific targeted group--direct selling, direct mail, catalog or cable--for soliciting a response from customer.

directional and departmental signage A signage system that helps guide the library user through the library and locate specific departments of interest.

display A special exhibit of a product or service at the point of sale, generally over and above standard shelf stocking. Simply books place on display over specific subject areas.

distribution The marketing and carrying of products to customers (bookmobiles, facilities, library loan.)

diversificationExtends skills or experience from current product or market activities rather than covering totally unfamiliar territory. Customized online searches by reference librarians would extend their current research in print skills.

dummy Preliminary layout for an ad, or other print material.

dwell time The amount of time a customer/user spends in time waiting in line. For a library user this is a price expended.

dwelling unit A single home or other unit in which a cohesive set of individuals reside, and typically many good s are purchased in common.

economic environment Part of the macroenvironment encompassing wealth, income, productivity, inflation, credit, employment, etc. which affect the markets and opportunities.

eighty-twenty principle The situation in which a disproportionately small number (e.g., 20%) of staff, products or users generate a disproportionately large amount (e.g., 80%) of a firm's use/profits. A use analysis should be conducted to determine what the cause is.

elasticity The degree that an economic variable changes in response to a change in another economic variable.

environment, external The complex set of physical and social stimuli in the external world of consumers.

environmental analysis Gathering data regarding political, cultural, social, demographic, economic, legal, international and ecological forces , identifying trends affecting agency.

environmental monitoring Keeping track of a changes in the environment.

erratic demand A pattern of demand for a product that is varied and unpredictable, e.g., some best sellers, or specific online databases randomly assigned in curriculum by teachers.

evoked set A set of alternatives that are activated directly from memory--certain brands considered during the buying process.

exchange All activities associated with receiving something from someone by giving something voluntarily in return. This is the heart of the marketing process.

exhibit The gathering and displaying of products, people, or information at a central location for viewing by a diverse audience. Most libraries have exhibits created by staff, community or other stakeholders.

experience survey A series of interviews with people knowledgeable about the general subject being investigated.

exploratory research A research design in which the major emphasis is on gaining ideas and insights.

external data Data that originate outside the organization for which research is being done.

factor analysis A body of statistical techniques concerned with study of interrelationships among a certain set of variables--none of which is given the special status of a criterion variable.

family A group of at least two people in a household based on marriage, cohabitation, blook relationships or adoption.

family decision making The processes, interactions, and roles of family members involved in making decisions as a group.

family life cycle A sociological concept that describes changes in families across time, emphasizing effects of marriage, divorce, births and deaths on families and changes in income.

feature The use of advertising, displays, or other activity, generally by a retailer, to call special attention to a product, generally for a limited period of time.

feature story A type of publicity material that can be used by the media at their convenience because it is not time-related. Library materials and services available are good candidates for this type of story.

fill rate An inventory's availability goal used when setting customer service objectives, for example 80 out of 100 reference questions were answered in a workday.

flagship store In a local department store organization/library system, the main or central store/library when it is large or dominant in relation to other company stores.

focus group A method of gathering quantitative data on the preferences and beliefs of consumers through group interaction and discussion usually focused on a specific topic or product.

forecasting models In forecasting sales, or library use, or other objectives, a variety of statistical models are used and available, offering insights otherwise difficult to obtain.

galley proof A copy of the individual pages of an ad, brochure, poster or other printed material used for final proofreading of the text before final negatives are made for the printing process.

gatekeeper Usually the individual who controls the flow of information from the mass media to the group or individual.

geodemography The availability of demographic consumer behavior and life style data by arbitrary geographic boundaries that are typically quite small.

goals A concrete point of measurement that the business unit intends to meet to achieve objectives.

goods A product that has tangible form in contrast to services that are intangible. A book versus a story read.

gravity model A theory about the structure of market areas. The model states that the volume of purchases by consumers/users the frequency of trips to the outlets are a function of the size of the stores/library and the distance between the store and the origin of the shopping trip.

growth state of product life cycle Second stage during which sales/use are increasing.

habit A learned response to a stimulus that has become automatic and routine, requiring little or no cognitive effort. It is often said that the reading and library habit if not learned as a child, will not be learned as an adult.

halo effect A problem that arises in data collection when there is carry over from one judgement to another.

high income countries Countries whose income per capita are high compared to the rest of the world.

image The sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that a person has of an object or agency.

income differential The difference in income levels among people of various categories, such as different jobs, geographic areas, age classes, sexes, races and the like.

industrialized country Characteristics: 1) degree of urbanization increases, literacy levels are high, exceeding 85%, population engaged in agriculture drops substantially; 2) wage levels rise sharply and ownership of durables; 3) need for labor saving methods creates new industries.

key success factors The factors that are a necessary condition for success in a given market. For example in a highly hispanic market, a library to succeed would have spanish language materials.

knowledge Consumers' meanings or beliefs about products, brands, stores, that are stored in memory.

life style The manner in which people conduct their lives, including their activities, opinions, and interests (AIO).

literature search A search of statistics, trade journal articles and other media for data or insight into the problems at hand. Special libraries often provide customized searches for a fee.

low income countries Countries with the lowest income per capita compared with the rest of the world. The bottom quartile is often considered low income.

macroenvironment The conditions facing a company/library including demographic economic, natural, technological, political, and cultural forces.

market The set of actual of potential users/customers. (Kotler)

market area A geographical area containing the customers/users of a particular firm/library for specific goods or services. (The library's legal service area.)

market demand The total volume of a product or service bought/used by a specific groups of customers/users in a specified market area during a specified period.

market development Expanding the total market served by 1) entering new segments, 2) converting nonusers, 3) increasing use by present users.

market positioning Positioning refers to the user's perceptions of the place a product or brand occupies in a market segment. Or how the company/library's offering is differentiated from the competition's.

market profile A breakdown of a facility's market area according to income, demography, and life style (often.)

market research The systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data with respect to a particular market, where market refers to a specific user group in a specific geographic area.

market segmentation The process of subdividing a market into distinct subsets of users that behave in the same way or have similar needs.

market share A proportion of the total sales/use in a market obtained by a given facility or chain.

marketing The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.

marketing channel A set of institutions necessary to transfer the title to goods and to move goods from the point of consumption. (Vendors, publishers, library facilities.)

marketing mix The mix of controllable variables that the firm/library uses to reach desired use/sales level in target market, including price, product, place and promotion- 4 P's.

marketing opportunity An attractive arena of relevant marketing action in which a particular organization is likely to enjoy a superior and competitive advantage. (Kotler) marketing plan A document composed of an analysis of the current marketing situation, opportunities and threats, analysis, marketing objectives, marketing strategy, action programs, and projected income statement

maturity stage of product life cycle Initial rapid growth is over and use/sales level off. microenvironment The set of forces close to an organization that have direct impact on its ability to serve its customers, including channel member organizations, competitors, user markets, publics and the capabilities of the organization.

mission statement An expression of a company's/library's history, managerial preferences, environmental concerns, resources, and competencies. It is used to guide the company's decion making process, answering what is our business, who do we serve, etc.

mores The cultural norms that specify behavior of vital importance to society and embody its basic moral values.

motivation The positive or negative needs, goals, desires and forces that impel an individual toward or away from certain actions, activities, objects or conditions. The inner needs and wants of an individual--what affects behavior.

multiple purpose trip A key concept in central place theory that argues consumers prefer to visit more than one store per trip, generating positive externalities for neighboring stores. This view has mixed reviews in the library field.

newsletter A brief digest of important or noteworthy information. A method of reaching various publics quickly--e.g., the friends of the library newsletter.

nominal scale A measurement scale in which numbers are assigned to attributes of objects or classes of objects solely for the purpose of identifying the objects.

nonprobability sample A sample that relies on personal judgment somewhere in the element selection process.

nonprofit marketing The marketing of a product or service in which the offer itself is not intended to make a monetary profit for the marketer.

norms The rules of behavior that are part of the ideology of the group. Norms tend to reflect the values of the group and specify those actions that are proper and those that are inappropriate, as well as rewards for adherence and the punishment for conformity. Norms are important for librarians to understand when serving culturally diverse markets.

objectives The desired or needed result to be achieved by a specific time. An objective is broader than a goal, and one objective can be broken down into a number of specific goals.

observation A method of data collection in which the situation of interest is watched and the relevant facts, actions and behaviors are recorded. This is a important area of library use which is usually uncounted--what people are actually doing in the library e.g., browsing, using the computer, reading to a child, etc.

opinion A belief or emotionally neutral cognition the individual holds about some aspect or object in the environment.

ordinal scale A measurement in which numbers are assigned to attributes of objects of classes of objects to reflect the order.

output evaluation An objective measure of use performance, such as circulation per capita of a library population, reference transactions per capita, etc.

patronage motives The motives that drive an individual/user toward selection of a particular outlet, retailer, or supplier of services.

penetrated market Actual set of users actually consuming the product/service. (Kotler)

per capita income A nation's or other geographic market's total income divided by the number of persons in its population.

perception

Perception is the cognitive impression that is formed of "reality" which in turn influences the individual's actions and behavior toward that object.

personal income The current income received by persons from all sources less contributions for social insurance--e.g., Social Security (US).

personal interview A direct, face-to face conversation between a representative of the research organization (the interviewer) and a respondent or interviewee.

personality Consistent pattern of responses to the stimuli from both internal and external sources.

physical inventory An inventory determined by actual count and evidenced by a listing of quantity, weight, or measure. Number of volumes, periodicals, vides a library owns.

place In the channels of distribution, the physical facilities point of location.

point-of-purchase Promotional materials placed at the contact sales point designed to attract user interest or call attention to a special offer, e.g., 'Sign up for Summer Reading Program.

point-of-sale(POS) A data collection system that electronically receives and stores bar code information derived from a sales transaction. This could the zip codes for library users, facilitating the library in determining geographic market are that users reside in.

population The totality of cases that conforms to some designated specifications.

positioning (see product positioning)

potential market Set of users who profess some level of interest in a designed market offer. (Kotler)

poverty level The poverty level is based solely on money income and updated every yearr to reflect changes in the consumer price index, used to classify families as being above or below the poverty level.

preindustrialized country Characteristics: 1) Low literacy rates and high perecentage of employment in agriculture; 2) low population density and low degree of urbanization; 3) linguistic heterogeneity and a small percentage of working age population; 4) industrial sectors nonexistent and

undeveloped; 5) heavy reliance on foreign sources for all manufacturers and principal engagement in agricultural endeavors.

press conference A convening of media by a person or organization to explain, announce or expand on a particular subject.

price The formal ratio that indicates the quantities of money goods or services needed to acquire a given quantity of goods or services. For a library user price may come in the form of time the library users must expend to obtain library materials or services.

private sector Activities outside the public sector that are independent of government control, usually, but not always carried on for a profit.

product A bundle of attributes or features, functions, benefits and uses capable of exchange, usually in tangible or intangible forms. The library's products include materials to use, questions answered, storyhours, online searching, etc.

product life cycle The four stages products go through from birth to death: introductory, growth, maturity, and decline.

product mix The full set of products offered by an organization e.g., books, videos, storyhours, etc.

product positioning The way users/consumers view competitive brands or types of products. This can be manipulated by the organization/library. The library's video collection, available for free, is competitive with local video stores that charge, if video collections are comparable. If the collections are not, the library is differentiating the video collection from the video store.

promotion mix The various communication techniques such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations/ product publicity available to the marketer to achieve specific goals. A library may use a combination of newspaper editorial, public service announcements (PSAs) on radio and possible television, if no budget is available for advertising.

psychographic analysis A technique that investigates how people live, what interests them, what they like--also called lifestlye analysis or AIO because it relies on a number of statements about a person's activities, interests and opinions.

psychographic segmentation

Dividing markets into segments on the basis of consumer life styles.

public opinion The consensus view of a population on a topic. public policy A course of action pursued by the government pertaining to people as a whole on which laws rest.

public relations The form of communication management that seeks to make use of publicity and other nonpaid forms of promotion and information to influence feelings, opinions or beliefs about the agency/library and its offerings. This is a traditional form of communication for library management, as paid advertising media is rarely used.

public sector Those marketing activities that are a carried out by government agencies for public service rather than for profit.

public service announcement (PSA) An advertisement or commercial that is carried by an advertising vehicle at no cost as a public service to its readers, viewers, or listeners. While the no cost aspect is appealing, a library or other agency utilizing this media quickly realizes there is no control on the most effective time of placement.

publics The groups of people that have an actual or possible interest in or impact on the company's efforts to achieve its goals.

quality control An ongoing analysis of operations, to verify goods or service meet specified standards, or to better answer customer/user complaints. Libraries have been criticized for not employing more quality control standards on library services.

quality of life Sometimes measured by income, wealth, safety, recreation and education facilities, education health, aesthetics, leisure time and the like.

quantity discount A reduction in price for volume purchases.

questionnaire A document that is used to guide what questions are to be asked respondents and in what order, sometimes lists the alternative responses that are acceptable. An excellent research instrument for libraries to assess customer satisfaction on exit interviews.

range The maximum distance a consumer is ordinarily willing to travel for a good or service; as such it determines the outer limit of a store/library's market area. Research in the library field indicate there is an average two mile limit for a library user to travel to a branch, while for a central library with specialized good, it may widen to even 10 or 15 miles.

This research does not allow for the travel limitations imposed by culture, age, or physical handicap, or topographical barriers.

reach The number of people or households exposed to a particular advertising media or media schedule during a specified time.

reference group A group that the individual tends to use as the anchor point for evaluating his/her own beliefs and attitudes. Teenagers influence their peers regarding library use.

regression analysis A statistical technique to derive an equation that relates a single, continuous criterion variable to one or more continuous predictor variables.

Reilly's law A model used in trad area analysis to define the relative ability of two cities to attract users from the area between them.

respondent A person who is asked for information using either written or verbal questioning, typically employing a questionnaire to guide the questioning.

roles The behavior that is expected of people in standard situations.

rural population The part of the total population not classified as urban.

salary Compensation paid periodically to a person independent of performance (in sales or levels of use stimulated.)

sample The selection of a subset of elements from a larger group of objects.

sample survey A cross sectional study in which the sample is selected to be representative of the target population and in which the emphasis is on the generation of summary statistics such as averages and percentages.

scanner An electronic device that automatically reads imprinted codes, as the product is pulled across the scanner. The library field is successfully using these for circulation and other use counts.

secondary shopping district

A cluster of stores outside the central business district that serves a large population within a section or part of a large city.

segmentation (see market segmentation)

self-concept The ideas, attitudes, and perceptions people have about themselves.

self service The type of operation in which the customer/user is exposed to merchandise (browsing and self-selection) without assistance, unless customer/user seeks assistance.

selling orientation (Wood) A company-centered rather than a client-centered approach to conduct of business. This orientation tends to ignore what the customer/user really wants and needs.

service(s) Products such as a bank loan or home security or library loans, that are intangible or at least substantially so.

shopping good Goods and products can be classified as convenience, shopping or specialty. A shopping good is one that more time is spent selecting (browsing) than a quick convenience good. Example, a certain type of mystery book.

situation analysis (SWOT) An examination of the internal factors of a library to identify strengths and weaknesses, and the external environment to identify opportunities and threats.

slogan The verbal or written portion of an advertising message that summarizes themain idea in a few memorable words--a tag line.

social advertising The advertising designed to education or motivate target audiences to undertake socially desirable actions.

social class A status hierarchy by which groups and individuals are classified on the basis of esteem and prestige.

social indicator The data and information that facilitate the evaluation of how well a society or institution is doing.

specialty advertising

The placement of advertising messages on a wide variety of items of interest to the target markets such as calendars, coffee cups, pens, hats, note paper, t-shirts, etc. These are widely given out to librarians at professional conferences from vendors. Libraries may use these items as well, but are usually sold in library gift shops.

specialty good A specialty good is one that users/consumers will spend more time searching for, and time travelling to and pay higher for. A library specialty good could be a certain online service or special collection of materials.

stakeholder One of a group of publics with which a company must be concerned. Key stakeholders for a library could be users, employees, board members, vendors or other who have a relationship with the library.

store layout The interior layout of the store/library for the ease of user movement through the store to provide maximum exposure of good and attractive display. Retail store layout, is also successfully applicable to library layout.

strategic market planning The planning process that yields decisions in how a business unit can best compete in the markets it elects to serve. The strategic plan is based upon the totality of the marketing process.

subculture The segments within a culture that share distinguishing meanings, values, and patterns of behavior that differ from those of the overall culture. These subcultures are important to recognize in library communities that may serve a disproportionate number, whose information needs may be nontraditional and unique.

subliminal perception A psychological view that suggests that attitudes and behaviors can be changed by stimuli that are not consciously perceived.

target market The particular segment of a total population on which the retailer focuses its merchandising expertise to satisfy that submarket in order to accomplish its profit objectives. Or for the library, a target market might be within the market area served, children 5-8 years old, for summer reading programs, to increase juvenile use and registration.

target market identification The process of using income, demographic, and life style characteristics of a market and census information for small areas to identify the most favorable locations.

technology

The purposeful application of scientific knowledge; an environmental force that consists of inventions and innovations from applied scientific and engineering research.

telephone interview A telephone conversation between a representative of the research organization, the interviewer, and a respondent or interviewee.

thumbnail A rough sketch for a layout for a piece of print advertising.

transportation A marketing function that adds time and place utility to the product by moving it from where it is made to where it is purchased and used. In includes all intermediate steps in the process.

underdeveloped country Characteristics: small factories erected to supply batteries, tires, footwear, clothing, building materials and packaged foods; agricultural activity declines and egree of urbanization increases; available educational effort expands and literacy rises.

underprivileged family A family in social class that does not have enough money to purchase the necessities, i.e., shelter, clothing and transportation, appropriate for its class status.

unit control The control of stock in terms of merchandise units rather than i terms of dollar value. This is representative of a the number of books, magazines, etc of a library collection.

urban population Persons living in places of 2,500 or more inhabitants incorporated as cities, villages, boroughs, or areas designated as such by the US Census, with some exceptions.

utility The state or quality of being useful. What is the utility of marketing practices to the library field?

VALS (values and lifestyles) An acronym standing for values and life styles. VALS is a psychographic segmentation approach developed at Stanford Research Institute International. This data is useful to public and private sector. Unfortunately, the data is still largely expensive, therefore, libraries and other non-profits still widely rely on demographics.

value The power of any good to command other goods in peaceful and voluntary exchange.

values

The beliefs about the important life goals that consumers are trying to achieve. The important enduring ideals or beliefs that guide behavior within a culture or for a specific person.

variety The number of different classifications of goods carried in a particular merchandising unit. How many different children's authors are represented in the juvenile collection?

vicarious learning The changes in an individuals behavior brought about by observing the actions of others and the consequences of those actions. Research indicates that immigrant adults often learn about the reading land library habit through their children's same experiences at school.

vision A guiding theme that articulates the nature of the business/library and its intentions for the future, based upon how management believes the environment will unfold. A vision is informed, share, competitive and enabling.

wants The wishes, needs, cravings, demands or desires of human beings.

wealth The aggregate of all possessions of economic good owned by a person.

will-call The products ordered by customers/users in advance of the time delivery desired. Books on reserve.

word of mouth communication(WOM) This occurs when people share information about products or promotions with friends--research indicate WOM is more likely to be negative.

workroom A service department such as apparel alterations, drapery manufacture, library materials processing.

young single stage (see family life cycle)

ZIP code A geographical classification system developed by the U.S. government for mail distribution, a nested numeric range of 5 to 9 numbers.

AAAA

American Association of Advertising Agencies. Contributed by: ManagerWise Staff

ABC

Audit Bureau of Circulation. An organization that conducts audits of magazine and newspaper circulation numbers. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Above the Fold

Material, such as an ad, appearing above the fold in a broadsheet newspaper. While the meaning has been lost, this term has been carried over into Internet marketing. In that context it means an ad that appears on the screen when a Web page first appears, without the need for the viewer to scroll down to see it. Because browser screen sizes vary a standard of 800 pixels wide by 600 high is usually assumed (thus, "above the fold" means in the first 600 pixels), however this standard will likely change as higher resolutions become the norm. Contributed by: ManagerWise Staff

See: Broadsheet Newspaper

Absorption Pricing

The setting of a product price such that it includes both the variable cost of making each item plus an appropriate portion of the fixed costs incurred by the company.

Accordian Insert

An ad insert that has been folded like an accordian. ( i.e.: //// ) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Account Executive

The advertising agency employee who is responsible for maintaining the relationship between the agency and the client. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Adjacency

A local television commercial spot that is purchased in a time period that usually is adjacent to a network program. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertising

Sponsored mass communications. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertising Allowance

Money a manufacturer gives to another member of the distribution channel (wholesaler, distributor, sales representative, affiliate, value added reseller, retailer, etc.) for the purpose of advertising the manufacturer's product, service or brand. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertising Medium

The collection of all advertising vehicles of a particular type. For example television is an advertising medium, newspapers is another, etc. (Plural: Advertising Media)

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertising Specialty

A product (such as a t-shirt, baseball cap, pen, paper weight, etc.) displaying a logo or other promotional image. Sometimes jocularly (or occasionally disparagingly) referred to as "trinkets and trash." (Synonym: Logo Merchandise.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertising Substantiation

A (US) Federal Trade Commission regulatory program that requires advertisements to provide documented support of the claims made in advertisements. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertising Vehicle

The specific entity into which an advertisement is placed. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advertorial

A print or Web advertisement designed to look like a news story. The televison or radio equivalent is known as an "infomercial". Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Advocacy Advertising

Advertising that promotes a political view, social cause, controversial issue or other point of view rather than a product, service or organization. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

aftermarket

Typically used in the automotive industry, but not exclusive to it, the aftermarket is the supply of goods that add on to or repair an original purchase. For example, a customer that buys a new car stereo sometime after having taken delivery of his or her car is buying in the aftermarket.

Agate Line

A measure of newspaper advertising size. Equal to one column wide and one fourteenth of an inch deep. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Agency of Record

The advertising agency that has been given a contract to buy media space (and usually, but not necessarily, to produce the advertising/commercials that are to fulfill that space) on behalf of a client. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

AIDA

Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. This is a traditional model of the purpose and flow of marketing communications and direct sales efforts:  1. Create attention;  2. Generate interest;  3. Develop desire;  4. Initiate action. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Aided Recall

The ability to recall information about an advertisement, product, service or brand, but only

after the subject has been prompted by naming/describing the advertisement, product, service or brand. The level of aided recall in recipients of marketing communications is used as one measure of communication effectiveness, although a weaker measure than unaided recall. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Unaided Recal

Ambush Marketing

A deliberate attempt to gain the benefits of being associated with a major event, such as the Olympics, the Academy Awards, etc., without being an official sponsor or paying the fees associated with official sponsorship. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Sponsorship

AOR

Agency of Record Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Agency of Record

AOV

Average Order Volume Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Average Order Volume

Art Director

The advertising agency employee responsible for creating artwork and layouts for advertisements. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Atmospherics

The physical aspects of a retailer's premises (typically a physical store, but possibly also an on-line store) that contributes to the retailer's image as perceived by the customer. Aspects of atmospherics include, but are not limited to, store decor, staff demeanor and wardrobe, and any amenities provided to customers. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Attitude Structure Analysis

The determination of perceptions, preferences and perceived benefits for various market segments. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Market Segment

Audience

All people, households, or organizations that read, view, or hear a particular marketing communication vehicle. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Audience Accumulation

The number of people, households, or organizations exposed to a single media vehicle over a designated period of time. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Audience Composition

An analysis of an audience based on characteristics relevant to an advertiser. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Audience Duplication

People, households, or organizations that read, view, or hear an advertisement or other marketing communication vehicle more than once, whether through a single media vehicle or a a combination of media vehicles. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Back Matter

(Also called "end matter.") Items placed after the main body of a document. Examples of back matter include appendices and indices. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Backgrounder

A document containing background information about a product, company, service or event. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Banner Ad

On the Web, a standard advertisement (either static or animated) that normally, although not necessarily, appears near the top of a Web page. The term is generally taken to mean a particular size ad (industry standard: 468 x 60 pixels) rather than placement on the page. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Barrier to Entry

A hurdle that a new competitor would have to overcome in order to enter the market for a particular product class. For example, a patent that locks up an entire product class is an extremely high barrier to entry. It can only be overcome if a substitute product can be developed without breaking the patent. Patents aren't the only barriers to entry, requirements for the investment extremely high up-front capital costs or the need for expert skills that are in very short supply would also be barriers to entry. Likewise, if it is a mature market and customers must incur high costs to switch from their existing supplier to a new one, this too would be a high barrier. These are only a few examples of barriers to entry. Others exist. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Belly Band Advertising

Advertising that is printed on a band (of any width up to the dimension of the publication) wrapped around a newspaper or magazine. This wrapper is designed such that reader cannot read the publication until he or she removes the wrapper. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Below-the-line

Below-the-Line Advertising - all advertising communications where no commission is payable, outside the five major media - the press, television, radio, cinema and outdoors; below-the-line includes direct mail, print such as sales literature and catalogues, sponsorship, merchandising, exhibitions,etc. Contributed by: Felicity Kelly

Bingo Card

A card inserted into a publication that allows readers to request information from one or more of a group of companies listed on the card. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Bleed

Ads, illustrations or photographic images printed so as to run to the edge of the page (after trimming if the page is trimmed). Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Blind Ad

An advertisement that does not identify the advertiser, but provides a box number for replies. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Blocking Chart

A graph of a planned media schedule. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Blow-In Card

A printed card "blown" into a publication and, therefore, loose rather than bound to the publication. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Blueline Proof

A one-color print typically used as a final check (other than to check colors) of the film that will be used to create a print piece. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Blurb

1. Boilerplate language.

2. A short piece of text, usually no more than a single short paragraph, describing a company, person, product, service, or event. The blurb is used inside a larger marketing communication vehicle. For example, an event program may include company blurbs describing the sponsors of the event.

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Body Copy

The main text of any marketing communications vehicle. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Boilerplate

Prewritten, standardized copy used whenever a particular marketing communication requirement arises. It may be written to adhere to legal or company standards. It may also be used to eliminate the need for original writing when a specific communication requirement is likely to arise frequently. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Bonus Pack

Packaging that provides the customer with additional quantity or something else extra at the same price as was previously charged for the regular product.

Bounce Back Offer

A promotion, such as a cents off coupon, that attempts to induce a repeat purchase of the product. The promotion is typically included inside the box so it can only be used on a future purchase, not the one that delivered the promotion. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Boutique Agency

An ad agency that focuses on just one or a few services. It might, for example, just produce videos.

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Brand

Any name, symbol or other identifier used individually or in combination to identify the goods and/or services of a seller and differentiate them, on any tangible or intangible basis, from similar goods and/or services of competitors. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Brand Extension

The development of new products, possibly in a different, but usually related product category under an existing brand name. The objective is to transfer some of the existing brand recognition and loyalty to the new product thereby accelerating the product's introduction into the market and lowering the costs of that introduction. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Brand

Brand Manager

The manager responsible for the marketing and advertising of a brand. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Brand Name

A brand identifier that can be spelled and spoken. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Branding

The process of establishing the elements of a brand, including its name, identifying symbols and related marketing messages. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

BRC

Business Reply Card. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Business Reply Card, Business Reply Envelope

BRE

Business Reply Envelope. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Business Reply Envelope, Business Reply Card

Broadsheet Newspaper

A traditional size newspaper, which is folded in half along the horizontal when delivered to readers. This contrasts with a tabloid size, which is not folded other than vertically between pages. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Broadside

A single folded sheet of paper with printing on one or both sides that opens up to a single, large advertisement. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Bucktag

An attachment that provides routing instructions for the associated material. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Bulk Mailing

The mailing of a large number of identical marketing communication pieces at a reduced rate. (The quantity and other specifications required to qualify for bulk mail rates varies among different countries' post offices.)Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Buried Ad

An ad surrounded by other ads, thereby tending to be less likely to be seen by the reader. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Bus Card

An advertisement placed in a bus. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Business Reply Card

A card distributed with an advertising piece. The card is preprinted with the address of advertiser or its fulfilment house. Return postage is prepaid by the advertiser. The recipient uses it to respond to an offer (which may simply be an offer to provide more information) made by the advertiser. (Abbreviation: BRC) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: BRE

Business Reply Envelope

An envelope distributed with an advertising piece. The envelope is preprinted with the address of advertiser or its fulfilment house. Return postage is prepaid by the advertiser. The recipient uses the envelope to respond to an offer (which may simply be an offer to provide more information) made by the advertiser. (Abbreviated as BRE.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: BRC

Business-to-Business

Selling/marketing to other businesses, rather than to end consumers. (Abbreviated as B2B.)

Buying Service

A company primarily engaged in buying media space or time for advertising purposes. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Call to Action

A statement, usually at the end of a marketing piece, encouraging the reader/viewer/listener to take the action that is the objective of the piece. This action may be buying the company's product or service, or simply taking the next step in the sales cycle, such as arrange a product demonstration. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Callout

A line of text beside, above or below a photograph or illustration. It typically highlights a detail in the graphic, verbalizes the analogy implied by the graphic or emphasizes the message delivered through the graphic. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

CAN-SPAM Act

A (United States) law with a number of provisions that restricts the use of unsolicited emailings for commercial purposes. Under this act, there are a number of stipulations that, to avoid breaking the law, must be adhered to when sending unsolicited commercial email messages. Fines for any contraventions of this law can be quite severe so you should review the act before undertaking any email marketing campaigns. Text of the act can be

found here. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Cannibalization

An action, such as the launch of a product that is competitive with or a substitute for another of the same company's products, that lessens the revenue of one of a company's products. One reason why a company might undertake an action that cannibalizes the sales of one of its products is, "if you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will do it for you." Multiple similar products with somewhat different features that appeal to different market segments, even if there is some crossover from one segment to segments already addressed by one of the company's other products, are likely to, in total, capture a larger share of the broader market and, possibly, block competitors' entry into the targeted segments. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Car Card

An advertisement placed in public transit (bus, subway, trolley, etc.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Card Deck

A collection of post card size advertisements, each promoting a different product, service, brand, organization or event, distributed as a group. The post card is usually pre-addressed, and often postage-paid, to be mailed back to the advertiser to request more information, place an order, register for an event, etc.

Card decks are often an advertising service of magazine publishers, but may also be an independent service. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Card Rate

The rate for advertising as appears on the media outlet's rate card. Discounts against this rate may be available depending on volume purchased and current supply and demand. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Center Spread

An advertisement appearing as a single printed sheet running across both facing pages at the center of a publication. This is considered favorable placement both because it is a single, unbroken sheet flowing across two pages and because the publication tends to naturally fall open at the center spread. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Channel Marketing

Active management of a sales channel from a marketing perspective, with the aim of making that channel attractive, customer friendly and efficient. Meaning: marketing communication, product marketing and e.g. buying incentives.

Chesire Label

Paper specially designed to allow name and address labels to be mechanically affixed to individual mailing pieces, thus allowing the process to be automated. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Classified Advertising

Print or Web advertising that is classified as to the product or service offered. Classified advertising typically, but not necessarily, contains only text, not graphics. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Cleansing

In direct marketing, the removal or revision of a name and/or its related data on a customer/prospect list. This done to correct errors (although they might not have originally been an error, such as an old address on file after someone moves), remove duplicate entries on the list or improve the quality of the list data in any other way. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: direct marketing

Click-Through

This is a Web term. A click-through is counted if a viewer clicks on a Web page ad, thereby triggering the link assigned to it. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Click-Through Rate

The number of times a Web page ad is clicked on as a percentage of the number of times the ad is displayed. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Closing Date

The final date by which artwork, video or audio material must be received by the media outlet for it to appear in the desired issue or time slot. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Co-op

The joint funding (e.g., by a retailers and manufacturers) of marketing communications activity. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Co-op Database

A database of customers and prospects formed by merging the databases from two or more different owners. All owners can then make use of the merged database for direct marketing purposes. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Direct Marketing

Coated Stock

Paper that has been coated so that it has a smooth and glossy finish. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Cold Call

A sales call made to someone with whom you have had no previous contact. Cold calls are typically made over the phone, but the definition of the term does not preclude an in-person visit.

Collateral

Any material describing a product, service and/or company that is used to support sales and marketing efforts. The material can be electronic (such as on a CD-ROM) or printed.

Compiled List

A list of people with common traits that are of interest to a marketer. The compiled list can be assembled from multiple sources. Compiled lists are often assembled from publicly available sources such as telephone books.

Contra

A service (such as advertising time or space) that is exchanged for another service (such as printing, accounting, or any other service) rather than for cash.

Controlled Circulation

Free distribution of a magazine or other publication to a list of people, households or organizations restricted by some defining characteristic such as occupation, industry, hobby, etc.

Conversion Rate

In Direct Response Marketing the number of sales divided by the number of orders taken for a given campaign.

Copy

The spoken or written words in a marketing communications vehicle.

Copy Testing

Research that measures responses to marketing communication copy in a test environment to evaluate the copy's effectiveness in fulfilling the intended objectives.

Copyright

The legal ownership that protects literary, music, or artistic work.

Copywriter

Someone who writes text for marketing communications material.

Corrective Advertising

Advertising that the relevant regulator requires an advertiser to run in order to correct a false impression that was created by a previous advertisement.

Cost Per Click

Applicable only to Web advertising. This is the fee that is paid to the Web publisher each time a visitor clicks on an ad. Abbreviated as CPC. This contrasts with a campaign that is bought based on the number of impressions delivered and paid for on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis.

Cost Per Rating Point

The of buying and ad in any media vehicle divided by the number of rating points that the media vehicle receives. Abbreviated as CPP.

See: Rating Point

Cost Per Thousand

Generally abbreviated as "CPM". ("M" is the roman numeral for 1,000.) This is used when quoting costs of a number of different media: 1,000s of banner ad impressions on the Web; 1,000s of viewers for a television commercial; 1,000s of readers for a print ad; etc. Web advertising can also be bought on a "cost per click" basis.

See: Cost Per Click

CPM

Cost Per Thousand

See: Cost Per Thousand

CPP

Cost Per Rating Point

See: Cost Per Rating Point

Creative

Activities involved in the creation of marketing materials. It may include copy writing, design, photography, illustration, music, etc.

Creative Director

The advertising agency employee responsible for supervising the work of all people involved in the creative aspects of producing advertising, including art directors, graphic designers, copywriters, etc.

Cross-Selling

Encouraging existing customers to buy other products and services (as opposed to buying more of what they bought before)

Customary Pricing

Customary pricing is a pricing tier that falls between discount pricing and prestige pricing. The pricing tier that a retailer chooses will, to some extent, determine the type of customers it attracts.

Customer Acquisition Cost

The average marketing, sales and any other costs of winning a new customer.

Customer Attitude

A customer's beliefs and feelings about a product, its attributes, the brand associated with it, and all aspects of the marketing mix applied to its promotion.

Database Marketing

The extensive use of data stored in electronic databases to better target marketing communications and more finely tune marketing messages for individual prospects at specific points in their lives and buying cycles. The information stored in the databases can come from internal sources (order entry systems, sales lead tracking systems, retail checkout scanners, accounts receivable systems, etc.) or outside sources such as third-party market research databases.

De-Dupe

Eliminate any duplicate ("dupe") listings in a mail, telephone, e-mail list. This is not a trivial exercise since the listings may not be perfect duplicates. For example, one may carry a first initial while another carries full first and middle names; one may contain an old address while another contains the new one; etc.

Decoy

A name in a mail, telephone or e-mail list placed solely for the purpose of tracking the use of the list to ensure that the list purchaser or renter does not break the sales or rental contract. The decoy person, household or organization either works for the list

owner/broker or otherwise agrees to help by reporting any misuse.

A similar term, "dummy", is a fictitious name included for this purpose.

The process of including decoys or dummies is called "seeding" or "salting".

Demographics

Statistics denoting the personal and socioeconomic characteristics of a particular segment of the market. The statistics cover characterstics such as age, gender, income level, nationality, and religion.

direct digital marketing

A digital marketing method that provides relevant marketing communications that are addressable to a specific individual with an email address, a mobile phone number or a Web browser cookie. Traditional direct marketing uses an individual’s postal address. With the evolution of direct marketing to direct digital marketing, addressability comes in the form of the three primary digital channels.

Direct Mail

Mailed advertising that is addressed to specific individuals rather than being dropped unaddressed and en masse to a whole geographic area.

Direct Marketing

The targeting of marketing communications directly to individuals (typically a large number at a time) rather than through a mass media.

Discriminatory Pricing

Despite the unfortunate choice of the term used to describe this practice it is not necessarily unethical nor even politically incorrect. It is the practice of charging — or attempting to charge — different prices to different groups of customers, in order to earn the maximum revenue that each segment will bear. Surrogate variables must often be used to discriminate between groups. For example, an airline charges more when customers need flexible, refundable tickets or when they must fly on short notice and on specific dates. The assumption is that the majority of people who require tickets under these conditions are traveling for business reasons and will be willing to spend more for a ticket than someone traveling for pleasure. In other cases group assignment is specific, such as offering student prices under the assumption that students have less disposable income and therefore will be more likely to forgo the purchase if required to pay the full price. Also refered to as "price discrimination".

Display Ad

An ad (typically, but not necessarily, box-shaped) that appears anywhere outside of the classified advertising section of a print publication.

Double Truck

Print advertising that uses any two full side-by-side pages (not necessarily the center ones, see "center spread") in a publication.

Drive Time

A radio term for the morning and evening rush hour time slots. These are considered prime times for radio listeners.

drop amount

Number of pieces mailed, Number of impressions, Mail volume

Dummy

1. A mock-up of a print piece showing placement in and the nature of the marketing

communication vehicle.

2. A fictitious name in a mail, telephone or e-mail list placed solely for the purpose of tracking the use of the list to ensure that the list purchaser or renter does not break the sales or rental contract.

A similar term, "decoy", is a real name included for this purpose. The decoy person, household or organization either works for the list owner/broker or otherwise agrees to help by reporting any misuse.

The process of including decoys or dummies is called "seeding" or "salting".

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Dupe

A duplicate listing of the same person, household or organization in a mail, telephone or e-mail list. The listing may not be a complete duplicated to be considered a dupe. For example, one may carry a first initial while another carries full first and middle names; one may contain an old address while another contains the new one; etc. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Duplicate Elimination

Eliminate any duplicate listings in a mail, telephone, e-mail list. This is not a trivial exercise since the listings may not be perfect duplicates. For example, one may carry a first initial while another carries full first and middle names; one may contain an old address while another contains the new one; etc.

Early Adopters

Those who are among the first to buy a new product or service, typically in a new product or service category, when it is launched. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Early Majority

The large portion of the market that tends to adopt a new product or service (typically in a new product or service category) only after it has gained some level of acceptance and credibility in the market. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

End Matter

(Also called "back matter.") Items placed after the main body of a document. Examples of end matter include appendices and indices. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Envelope Stuffer

An advertising piece included in an envelope used primarily to deliver other business correspondence such as invoices, letters, etc. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Eye-Tracking

An advertising research method that uses technology to track where on a ad a viewer's eyes fall in order to determine what first captures the viewer's attention and on which parts

of the ad the reader spends the most time.

Fact Sheet

A document containing factual information about a product, service, company or event, without high-pressure sales or flowery language.

By definition, a fact sheet is printed on a single sheet. Printing may be on one or both sides and the sheet may be large and folded to create multiple pages. However, a fact sheet is typically one single or double-sided page and rarely folds into more than two single or double-sided pages. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Fill-In

Information inserted into a form letter to personalize it. Examples may include the recipient's name, address or information about past purchases. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Flighting

The scheduling of advertising over time such that the amount of advertising varies according to a predetermined pattern, usually including some periods without any advertising. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Focus Group Discussion

A qualitive market research technique. The researcher or research organization assembles a group of individuals who are representative of a target market. A moderator focuses discussions on a series of topics of interest to the research sponsor. If the target market consists of distinct segments, multiple focus groups, each consisting solely of representatives of a single segment, may be assembled to focus on reactions of that segment without the risk of influence by members of other segments. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Four Color

Artwork reproduced in full color. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Fractional Ad

An ad that occupies less than a full page in a publication. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Freelancer

A self-employed service provider. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Freestanding Insert

Marketing literature (such as a brochure) that is delivered with a newspaper as an insert as opposed to being printed as part of the newspaper's regular pages. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Frequency

The number of times that an individual or household sees a particular marketing message within a given timeframe. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Friend of a Brand

The term refers to a partcular situation when a brand (say-A) normally promotes another brand (say B) at its own cost; whereas the brand B doesn't show any favour to the company

which is promoting it. Brand A which is promoting B is called the friend of B. Ffor example, suppose there is a company which produces noodles specially for kids. Now, suppose they start giving any partular super hero comics or poster with every purchase of their brand. Now what will happen is that kids will go to buy noodles not because they want to have noodles, but because they want to get that poster or comics of that particular super hero. In this way, the noddles brand wil get its sales increased and the super hero brand will also have its sale of comics increased. In this way, the super hero brand is not paying anything to the noodles company, but it is getting promoted by that.that is why the noodles company will be called as the friend of the super hero brand. Contributed by: Debasis Samanta

Front Matter

Introductory and organizational material that comes before the main content of a document. Examples of front matter include: title page, table of contents, copyright material, publication data, etc. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Fulfillment House

A company to which another company can outsource fulfillment processes, i.e. a company that fulfills orders or literature requests on behalf of another company. Also known as a fulfillment shop. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Fulfillment

Fulfillment Piece

Any marketing material that is sent in response to a reader, viewer or listner's request for more information. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Fulfillment, Fulfillment House

Fulfillment Shop

Also known as a fulfillment house. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Fulfillment House, Fulfillment

Full Position Ad

An ad that is surrounded on all sides by non-advertising reading material rather than filling a whole page or being placed next to another ad. Readers are more likely to read full position ads than ads that are isolated from the editorial material.

Galley Proof

The "final" copy, used for proofreading purposes, of all of the pages of any material that will be professionally printed. Unless errors are found, the galley proof will appear exactly as the material will be printed in production. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Galvanometer

An instrument instrument that measures galvanic skin response—the electrical conductivity of the skin as produced by persperation—to measure emotional arousal levels.

Galvanometers are used in marketing research to measure the reaction to an advertisement by a subject in a study; i.e., does the ad interest/excite the subject.

Giveaway

Promotional item given away to a prospective customer - typically at a trade show, conference or exhibition.

Guerilla Marketing

Coined by Jay Conrad Levinson, guerilla marketing usually refers to using innovative and aggressive tactics to market on a very small or even non-existent budget.

Gutter

In bound documents, the gutter is the margin space closest to the binding.

Harvest

Reduce various costs and hope that sales hold up. Contributed by: Ralph Mickeywww.myspace.com/latamier

Hiatus

A period of time during which advertising is not run. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Hickey

(If you're not familiar with printing terminology, it's not what you think.) In printing, a spot or imperfection in the printing, due to dirt on the film, flakes in the ink, or any other cause. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

High-Touch Service

Customer service that includes a high level of personal (as opposed to automated, machine-based) interaction with customers. Contributed by:

See: Low-Touch Service

Hits

"Hits" is an ambiguous Web term.

It is often used to mean one person viewing one Web page. Using this definition, one person looking at 10 pages on a site would register 10 hits. (A more accurate and more common term for this is "page views".)

Occasionally "hits" is taken to mean the number of visits to a site. I.e., if one person comes to a site once, but looks at 10 pages during that visit, it would, under this use of the word, be counted as one hit. (The more accurate and more common term for this is "visits".)

The official definition of "hits" is the number of objects, of any type, downloaded to Web browsers. Thus, if a Web page has 10 graphical elements and one Java program then, if the viewer waits for all of the elements to load, it would count as 12 hits -- 1 for the page itself, one for the Java program and 10 for the graphics. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Horizontal Publication

A business publication targeted at individuals who share common interests, responsibilies or positions, regardless of the industry in which they work. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

House Agency

An advertising agency that is owned and operated by the advertiser. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

House List

A mail, telephone or e-mail list compiled and therefore owned by a company rather than being purchased or rented from a third party. (A list bought with a contract that allows unlimited use would, after purchase, become part of the purchaser's house list.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

House Organ

A company-published newsletter or magazine. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Image Advertising

Rather than promoting a product or service's specific attributes, image advertising promotes an overall perception of a company, product or service. Image advertising is generally used to position a product relative to the competition. For example, to create an image of it as a luxury product. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Impression

On the Web, an impression is counted when an ad is displayed once. If an ad has had 10 impressions that could be 10 times to the same person (likely on different pages of a site) or it could be 10 different people each seeing the ad once -- or any combination that totals 10.

In other media, an impression is counted when the ad is seen once by one person. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Industrial Advertising

Advertising of industrial goods and services to manufacturers. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Infomercial

A television or radio commercial designed to look like a documentary or news story. The print or Web equivalent is known as an "advertorial". Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Insertion

A single placement of an ad in a publication. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Insertion Order

An advertiser's authorization (often through the advertiser's ad agency) for a publisher to run an ad in a specific issue at the agreed upon rate. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Integrated Marketing Communication

The use of a mix of all appropriate marketing communication disciplines, media and vehicles in a well coordinated campaign to achieve a unified objective or set of objectives. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Island Display

A point-of-purchase display away from competitive products, typically in the middle or at the end of an aisle.

Joint Demand

Highly correlated demand for two different products. I.e., demand for Product A tends to increase when demand for Product B increases and demand for Product A tends to decrease when demand for Product B decreases. This occurs when the use of one product requires the use of the second product.

Kerning

Adusting the space between the letters within a word (as opposed to the space between words).

Laggards

Those consumers who adopt the product/service as it reaches the end of its lifecycle. They usually pay a competitive price for the benefit of waiting. Contributed by: Hassan Abdur Rehmanforman christian college

Leading

The amount of space that appears between the lines within a paragraph (as opposed to the space between paragraphs) in a printed document. (Pronounced "ledding".) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Leave-Behind

Any item that a sales person leaves with the prospective customer after a sales call. The leave-behind is intended to jog the prospect's memory about the sales call and the product or service being sold. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Lettershop

A firm that undertakes the production and mailing of sales letters and other marketing communication vehicles on other organizations' behalf rather than its own. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Lifetime Value

The net present value of all future purchases expected from a customer. ("Net present value" means that future sales are discounted to take into account the fact that a dollar

received tomorrow is worth less than a dollar received today.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

List Broker

A company or individual who sells or rents mail, telephone or e-mail lists. The lists may have been assembled by the broker or, more likely, by a third-party organization that uses the broker as its sales agent. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

List Rental

Rather than being purchased, mail, telpehone and e-mail lists are often rented for one-time use or a limited number of uses. Mailing, calling or e-mailing people on the list more than the specified number of times is a breach of contract. (If someone on the list responds to the initial campaign, the list renter is then considered to "own" that name and can then conduct unlimited communications with the person or organization.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Logo

A graphic element used to identify a company, product, service, or brand. The logo is typically trademarked to protect it from use by other companies. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Logo Merchandise

A product (such as a t-shirt, baseball cap, pen, paper weight, etc.) displaying a logo or other promotional image. Sometimes jocularly (or occasionally disparagingly) referred to as "trinkets and trash." (Synonym: Advertising Specialty.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Logotype

A company or brand name rendered in a specific graphical style and color. This differs from a logo, which is usually an icon representing the company or brand. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Low-Touch Service

Customer service that includes a low level of personal interaction with customers. This does not necessarily mean that there is little interaction with customers. A high level of interaction may occur through Web-based systems, vending machines or automated kiosks. Contributed by:

Market Penetration

1. When talking about sales, market penetration is the percentage of customers in a particular market that buy the product/service/brand. 

2. When talking about the effectiveness of advertising or other promotions, market penetration is the percentage of the customers in a particular market who have been exposed to the company's messages.

Contributed by: Managerwise Staff

Market Segment

A subgroup of the total market defined by one or more characteristics. There are any number of ways to segment the market. Income, age, location, education affiliation to organizations and psychographics are just a few that apply to the consumer market. Common business market segmentation criteria include, among others, industry, company size (which may be defined by any available measure such as revenue, profit, number of employees, etc.) and job classification. Two or more characteristics can be used to define segments more precisely than a single characteristic (e.g., physicians with incomes over $300,000 living in the NYC area), however at some point the segments may become too small to target profitably. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Market Share

The percentage of the total market for a product/service category that has been captured by a particular product/service or by a company that offers multiple products/services in that category. In the latter case, the company may choose to look at share on both an individual product/service basis and on a company-wide basis.

Share can be calculated either on a unit basis (i.e., If a company sells 1 million units in a total market of 10 million units, it has a 10 percent share) or on a revenue basis (i.e., If a company sells $1 million worth of widgets in a $10 million market, it has a 10% share). Obviously, if a company is able to command a higher price for its product/service than its competitors, it would show a higher market share when calculated on a revenue basis than on a unit basis.

Market share numbers can vary greatly depending on how the market is defined. For example, a company may have a 1 percent share of the "widget" market, 15 percent of the "sports widget market", 45 percent of the "luxury sports widget market" and 85% of a particular geograpically defined luxury sports widget market.

Marketing

All business activities focused on developing, expanding and facilitating the profitable introduction and promotion of a company's products and/or services. Traditionally, this is taken to include the "4Ps" -- Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

"Product" refers to discovering market requirements and ensuring that those requirements are reflected in the products and/or services offered by the company.

"Price" is obvious -- determining and setting the most appropriate prices for the products/services.

"Promotion" refers to all activities involved in making potential customers aware of the company, its products and services and their benefits -- and encouraging them to buy.

"Place" is a little less obvious. In addition to determining the best geographic areas to sell in, it also refers to the dermination and management of the best "channels" for reaching those markets -- direct sales, distributors, resellers, etc.

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Marketing Channel

The term marketing channel is often used interchangeably with “sales channel” or “distribution channel”, i.e. any individual or company used in making the subject

company’s products and/or services available to its customers. More specifically, a marketing channel would be any individuals or products through which the subject company conducts its marketing efforts.

Marketing Communications

All strategies, tactics, and activities involved in getting the desired marketing messages to intended target markets, regardless of the media used. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Marketing Plan

A plan -- either standalone or a component of a larger business plan -- that defines all aspects of the marketing strategy. Areas that the plan should cover include product pricing, promotion, messaging, channel strategies and an analysis of the competitive environment.

Mass Marketing

The distribution of marketing communications through mass media that, while often offering access to audiences with some common characteristics due to a shared interest in the content of the media vehicle, do not offer the ability to communicate with a specific individual, household or organization. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Mechanical

Copy and graphics pasted onto a rigid board backing for reproduction by a printer. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Media Kit

A package of information distributed by a media outlet to sell its advertising space. The kit typically includes information about the media vehicle, advertising rates, information about the audience it can deliver, mechanical specifications for ads, closing dates, etc. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Media Plan

A plan providing clear definitions of the types media, specific media vehicles and media scheduling. The plan may be for a specific campaign or for all campaigns within a year. In addition, it may be a plan for a single product or service or for the whole company or division. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Media Release

Information written by an organization and distributed to media outlets with the hope that they will incorporate the information into their news or other services. (The term is often used interchangably with press release," however a media release implies a wider distribution -- to all media outlets -- than a press release.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Merge/Purge

A run of a computer application that merges multiple mail or telemarketing lists, possibly reconciling different formats on different lists, and purges any duplicates that either existed erroneously on one of the lists or that were a result of the same person appearing on multiple lists. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Minority Marketing

Marketing that specifically addresses minority groups (not necessarily visible minorities) within a larger population. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Mystery Shopper

Someone who is paid by a company to pose as a regular shopper in order to be exposed to the normal shopping experience in a company's stores and report back to the company on the quality of that experience. Obviously, to form an unbiased view of the normal shopping experience, the people working in the store should not be aware of the mystery shopper's identity or purpose.

Mystery shoppers are typically employed to test the shopping experience at the sponsor's stores, but they could also be used to analyze the shopping experience at competitors' stores.

Narrowcasting

The use of broadcast media to target very narrow interests (such as a cable channel dedicated exclusively to trout fishing). Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Nesting

Embedding one enclosure inside another before inserting it into an envelope. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Neuromarketing

The use of brain-mapping technologies, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG), to study brain activity that occurs in response to stimuli such as buying decisions or exposure to advertising images and messaging. This is believed to provide more accurate insight into people's psychological reactions to these stimuli and, hence, their actions in buying situations because:

People can't always verbalize their feelings and thoughts in accurate, unambiguous ways. 

People's conscious thoughts are sometimes contrary to their subconscious thoughts and emotions, but those subconscious thoughts and emotions influence their actions. 

Many people lie if they think that expressing their true feelings will make them appear foolish or politically incorrect.

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

News Release

News information written by an organization and distributed to media outlets, with the hope that they will use it as the basis of a written news story. (The term is essentially synonymous with "Press Release".) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Nonresponse Error

When doing market research using surveys, some people will be unreachable, such as people without a phone when conducting the survey over the phone, people with only a cell phone when conducting a phone survey in a jurisdiction that does not allow you to call cell phones, or people who are never home during the hours you call.

These people will not be randomly distributed. Particularly gregarious people are out more often and, therefore, less reachable. People who are more into modern technologies are probably more highly represented among the group of people who only have cell phones and not landlines (except in developing countries where cell phones are a way of getting around the absence in wired lines).

In addition, some people will simply refuse to answer your survey. The same character traits that led them to refuse to answer your survey may have affected their responses if they had in fact responded.

These groups of nonresponders will be, at best, underrepresented or, possibly, unrepresented in your survey results, meaning the results will not be a reflection of the entire market. This error is known as nonresponse error.

Omnibus Research

Research that is conducted by a market research firm on behalf of a number of its clients simultaneously. Because several clients buy space in the same research vehicle the cost to each client is typically less than the cost of research conducted for a single research client or the cost that a company would incur if it conducted the research on its own. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Opt-In E-mail

An Opt-In e-mail marketing campaign sends bulk e-mail messages, but only to lists of people who asked to join the list. (Some durisdictions have made "spam" -- the mass mailing of unsolicited e-mail -- illegal. In those jurisdictions, opt-in e-mail is the only legal form of bulk e-mail marketing.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Order-Taker

1. A person whose primary job function is to receive orders, likely over the phone, from customers and enter them on paper or into a  computer system, as appropriate, so the orders can be fulfilled by the vendor. In the case of orders received by order-takers, it is the customer who initiates the purchase transaction. 

2. A derogatory term for a salesperson who should be actively trying to sell products and or services to prospects, but instead more often just waits for customers to come to him or her and place orders with little prompting or encouragement from the salesperson.

Paid Circulation

Distribution of a magazine or other publication to people, households or organizations that have paid a subscription fee. While the content of the publication tends to attract an audience with some common characteristics, the publication does not restrict readership based on those characteristics (see Controlled Circulation).

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Pass-Along Readers

Relevant to only print advertising, pass-along readers are readers who did not buy or subscribe to the publication (or receive it free directly from the publisher in the case of free publications). Instead, they read someone else's copies. Pass-along readership is relevant when evaluating the reach of a publication. Contributed by:

See: Reach

Penetration

The percentage of a market that a medium or an individual media vehicle reaches. Alternatively, the percentage of the market that a particular marketing message reaches, regardless fo the media vehicles used. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Perceptual Mapping

A perceptual map plots all companies, products or services in a particular market on a graph showing how strongly each exhibits or, more precisely, is perceived to exhibit particular traits. This is typically a two dimensional graph showing two traits. A generic example might be price versus value, but each product/industry will likely have specific traits that are more salient in purchase decisions. The goal is to find a gap in the market that is not currently being served, but which the company doing the research can fill profitably. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Personalization

The automated customization of a marketing communication vehicle (using any medium) for the individual who will see it. This can be as trivial as inserting the individual's name or as complex as producing a unique presentation of the vehicle for each recipient based on the his or her needs, tastes or stated preferences. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Piggyback

An advertisement (print or electronic) that is included with an advertisement for another product. Each part of the ad can typically also be run on its own. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Plug

A free and positive mention of a company, product, service and/or event in any media vehicle. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Position Charge

An additional fee, usually a percentage of the basic charge, charged to an advertiser that wants to specify where its ad will appear in a publication. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Positioning

Defining, within the minds of the market, a brand (corporate, product, or service) relative to the competition. It is the latter part of the definition -- i.e., relative to the competition -- that separates positioning from other marketing communications messages. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Postal Walk

A geographical area defined by the post office based on letter carrier routes. When using

the post office to distribute unaddressed mail, a postal walk is usually the narrowest level of specification you can use to geographically target distribution. (However if, for example, a postal walk contains both single family residences and apartment buildings you can usually choose to have the piece be delivered to just one type of residence.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Preemptible Rate

A discounted rate for a television or radio commercial time-slot. The catch is that the broadcaster retains the right to substitute another ad if another advertiser is willing to pay a higher rate for the time-slot. In that case, the first advertiser's payment is not forfeited, but his or her ad will not run in the desired slot. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Press Kit

A package of various marketing communication vehicles, usually housed in presentation a folder, used to provide general background on the company and its products and services. The press kit typically contains a profile of the company (often called a "backgrounder") or an event, relevant press releases, product/services brochures, profiles and photographs of the key executives or, in the case of an event, key organizers.

It is so named because it is distributed primarily to the press as background information for a story they are writing or to try to encourage them to write a story about the company and/or event. The press kit, or a portion of it, may, however, also be given to industry analysts who want information on the company or to prospects and customers as part of the sales process. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Press Release

News information written by an organization and distributed to the press, with the hope that they will use it as the basis of a written news story. (The term is often used interchangeably with "media release," however a media release implies a wider distribution -- to all media outlets -- than a press release. "Press Release" and "News Release" are virtually synonymous.) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Press Tour

Often broader than a tour of just the press, it is a series of interviews held in the offices of publication editors, industry analysts and/or other industry influencers rather than in the sponsor's office. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Price Discrimination

Also known as "discriminatory pricing".

Price Lining

Targeting a specific market segment based on price. A retailer that practices price lining only carries goods that sell within a defined price range.

Prime Time

The most heavily watched television times -- (in North America: 8:00 - 11:00 pm, except in the Central time zone where it is 7:00 - 10:00 pm) Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Promotion

All marketing activities designed primarily to persuade members of a target audience to take a specific action. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Psychographics

Statistics denoting the attitudes and lifestyles of a particular segment of the market. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Psychological Pricing

Setting the price of a product based on the wanted public perception for that product. Contributed by: Cabe Kline

Pub-Set

Ads designed and produced for the advertiser by the publication in which they will appear. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Public Relations

Mass-communications for which, unlike advertising, there is no direct payment from the originating organization to the media carrying the information. The vehicle is typically a news story picked up by one of the news media, but also includes company-controlled activities and vehicles such as annual reports, lobbying, special events, and so on.

The purpose is to communicate information about the organization and/or its products and services to audiences that may go beyond prospective customers, to include any other group that the organization wishes to influence, such as investors or governments. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Publicity

Mass-communications for which, unlike advertising, there is usually no direct payment from the originating organization to a mass media outlet. The purpose is to build awareness of and/or foster a desired attitude toward a particular company, product and/or service. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Pull Quote

A quotation or statement that is separated (such as by placing it inside a box) from the rest of a document (brochure, article, white paper, etc). The quote or statement provides a very positive statement that emphasizes a point in the rest of the document. The quote may be a repetition of one used in the document or it may not appear anywhere else in the document.

Qualitative Research

Research that is subjective in nature and does not rely on statistical analysis. This can be useful in examining emotional responses and exploring for areas where additional quantitative research may be beneficial. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research

Research based on collected objective data that can be subjected to statitstical analysis. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Qualitative Research

Quote

To provide information and pricing to a customer for a job or service.

Qualitative Research

Research that is subjective in nature and does not rely on statistical analysis. This can be useful in examining emotional responses and exploring for areas where additional quantitative research may be beneficial. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research

Research based on collected objective data that can be subjected to statitstical analysis. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Qualitative Research

Quote

To provide information and pricing to a customer for a job or service.

Saddle Stitch

A publication binding method using staples in the fold of the pages. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Sales Promotion

All forms of paid communication that are attributed to a sponsor but are not advertising or selling. It includes, among other things, "cents off" coupons, samples, point-of-purchase materials, demonstrations, etc. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Salting

Placing names in a mail, telephone or e-mail list solely for the purpose of tracking the use of the list to ensure that the list purchaser or renter does not break the sales or rental contract. (Synonym: "Seeding"). A name so placed is called a "decoy" (a real name) or a "dummy" (a fictitious name). Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

sampling error

When doing market research using surveys, the sampling error is the difference between the results of the survey and the result that would have been seen if the entire market had been surveyed rather than just a sampling of it. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Search Engine Optimization

Abbreviated as SEO, it is a rigorous, scientific methodology to:1. Analyze search engine behavior to try to figure out the algorithms the search engine

uses to set the position of each found Web page in the search engine results. 

2. Use that knowledge to tweak Web page content to improve the position of the page

in search engine results.

Companies want to improve their search results position because links near the top of the first page of results are much more likely to be clicked on than, for example, results on the bottom of the 23rd page. And getting people to visit your Web site is a required starting point for getting them to look at the promotional material that you have on your site and convincing them to buy from your site.

SEO should be a rigorous and scientific discipline, but, with so many companies so hungry to improve their search engine position, a great many fly-by-night search engine optimization companies and individual "experts" have gone into the business with little research or rigor. Because there have been reports of search engine companies manually penalizing Web sites that blatantly try to subvert the search engine's ranking algorithm, a ham-fisted attempt at SEO could actually end up greatly hurting the positioning of a Web page. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Seasonal Rating Adjustment

An adjustment to rating numbers to reflect seasonal differences in viewership/listenership. Factors that may be compensated for include weather, holidays, etc. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Seed

Contributed by:

See: Seeding

Seeding

Placing names in a mail, telephone or e-mail list solely for the purpose of tracking the use of the list to ensure that the list purchaser or renter does not break the sales or rental contract. (Synonym: "Salting"). A name so placed is called a "decoy" (a real name) or a "dummy" (a fictitious name). Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Segment

Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

See: Market Segment

Segmentation

Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into groups such that individuals/businesses within each group share common characteristics.

The purpose is to: prioritize segments of the market to improve marketing profitability and to provide a means to choose the most appropriate communication media and messages for each unique market segment. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Self-Mailer

An advertising piece that is sent by mail, but which does not require an envelope. The addressing and postal payment information is printed on the outside of the piece. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

SEO

Search Engine Optimization

Contributed by:

See: Search Engine Optimization

Separation

The separating of a full-color image into the primary printing colors in positive or negative form. By overlaying the separations in the printing process, using the correct primary color for each, the result is a full color reproduction of the original. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Shelf Talker

A small promotional sign or card that sits on the shelf where a product is displayed. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Short Rate

A fee paid by an advertiser if it fails to buy the contracted volume of media space or time. The fee is charged because the advertiser received a reduced rate based on the contracted volume.

SIC

Standard Industrial Classification. An extensive hierarchical structure of codes defined by the U.S. Department of Commerce to categorize companies based on their industries. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Skew

Weighting advertising activity towards a particular market segment. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Social Marketing

Marketing that attempts to induce social change by advocating or reinforcing attitudes or behaviors toward a cause that does not directly benefit the sponsoring organization. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Sociocultural Forces

The influences in a society and its culture(s) that change people's attitudes, beliefs norms customs and lifestyles. Contributed by: Diane BrooksStudent at Kaplan University Business Science Course

Spam

The use of e-mail systems to send large volumes of unsolicited e-mail to lists of e-mail addresses compiled without the recipients' consent. Spam is generally viewed negatively and is illegal in some jurisdictions. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Split Run Test

Two or more different versions of an ad that are run in different copies of the same publication (i.e. in the same issue of one publication, person "A" sees one version of the ad while person "B" sees another) to test the relative effectiveness of each version. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Sponsorship

Funding a major event or organization (typically a charitable organization) in return for the

publicity value hat will be received by having the sponsoring organization's name associated with the sponsored event/organization. Hopefully, that brand association will prominent in all marketing literature and on-site signage at the event/organization, but that prominence will likely depend on how many dollars are put into the sponsorship. Contributed by: Marcommwise Staff

Spot Color

Color used to empasize an area of an otherwise black-and-white print piece. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Spread

Advertising that runs across two contiguous pages of a publication.

Storyboard

A series of (usually rough) illustrations that depict the flow and appearance of a planned television commercial or other live-action or animated production.

Stuffer

An advertising enclosure that is included in another media, such as in a newspaper, invoice mailings, merchandise packages, etc.

Tabloid

A newspaper approximately half the size size of a standard newspaper.

Tag Line

A line of copy used on an ad or in a commercial that captures the theme of the advertisement or broader campaign and is placed prominently within it.

Teaser

Copy printed on the outside of a direct mail envelope to encourage the recipient to open, read and act on the piece.

Telemarketing

The use of telephones for marketing and sales. Telemarketing can be either outbound (the seller calls the prospective customer) or inbound (the prospect calls the seller, such as calling a toll-free number in response to an ad).

A distinction is sometimes made between telemarketing and telesales. In that case, telemarketing refers to solely the use of the telephone for marketing purposes (market research, lead generation, brand building, information dispersal, etc.), but not for closing sales. When this distinction is made, the term "telesales" is used to describe the use of the telephone to close sales.

Telesales

Testimonial

A statement made by a customer endorsing a product, service or company. A testimonial may be a single customer quote or it may be integrated into other marketing material such as a case study about the customer's use of a company's product or service.

TINA

There Is No Alternative. The brands that can't advertise in the mass media normally don't have any option rather than using unconventional ways of advertising, for example, in India cigarette companies can't advertise in the mass media, so they sponsor some sports events (Gold Flake Open-Tennis), liquor brands sponsoring sports events, celebrity live performance shows etc. These companies normally pay a huge amount for this kind of advertising because they dont have any other alternative to advertise their product.

Tracking Study

Research on the effectiveness of advertising. A tracking study measures the affect that an ad or ad campaign has on brand and/or company awareness, top-of-mind and aided recall, interest, attitude and purchase intentions.

Trade Advertising

Advertising directed at distribution channels (wholesalers, distributors, sales representatives, affiliates, value added resellers, retailers, etc.) rather than end-consumers.

Trademark

Legal protection given to a brand name and/or logo.

Typography

The style, arrangement and appearance of the copy in the final version of marketing material. Typography is a design element chosen both for aesthetics, readability and, by setting a tone, to reinforce the marketing message.

Unaided Recall

The ability to recall information about an advertisement, product, service or brand without any prompting. The level of unaided recall in recipients of marketing communications is used as one measure of communication effectiveness.

Unique Selling Proposition

A marketing/advertising message that identifies a product attribute/value that both sets the seller's offering apart from competitors' offerings and is a particular benefit for prospective customers.

Universe

All people who are prospects for a specific product or service.

Up Selling

Selling a higher priced item(s) to an existing customer or a prospect who has already made a firm or mental commitment to buy another of your company's products and/or services.

Vertical Publication

A business publication targeted at a single industry.

Viral Marketing

A marketing technique whereby Web site visitors or e-mail recipients are encourage to pass along the company's marketing message to friends, colleagues and/or family, thereby creating exponential growth in the message's reach.

VO

Voiceover.

Voiceover

The use of an unseen speaker in any type of commericial or other presentation

Wait Order

An order (or a request since the advertising contract may not obligate the publisher to honor the request) to hold an advertisement to a later date. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

White Paper

A document written in essay style that provides an in-depth discussion of an issue, technology, trend, product or process. White papers are predominantly informational rather than promotional. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

White Space

Blank area on a page. (Despite the name, it may be a solid color rather than white.)

Yield Rate

In Direct Response Marketing, the number of sales divide by the total circulation for a given campaign.

Zapping

The use of a television remote control to switch channels in order to avoid watching commercials. Contributed by: MarcommWise Staff

Zipping

Fast-forwarding through commercials when playing back a pre-recorded program on a VCR