Digital Marketing Lingo, Get used it, its going to stay for long

Abbreviations are all around us, from common titles like Dr. and Prof. to the abbreviations you see on street signs, then why this big fuss when it’s used in our daily communications. Abbreviations are perfectly OK (OK is also an abbreviation) in personal and casual writing—they’re often OK in formal writing too.

A good rule for abbreviations is to put the reader first. Ask yourself: Will the abbreviation makes the sentence easier to read? Or will it confuse the reader? If an abbreviation still sounds like a good idea, next consider the context. Let’s accept it and believe me abbreviations actually makes easier for people to remember, and easy for others to read. There are three forms of abbreviations: “acronym”, “initialism” and “truncations”, again Google will be your companion to understand these terms.

The social media and chat applications have given birth to endless interesting shorthand’s which are amazingly extensive. We all use these forms of abbreviations for not just in digital marketing terms, but also the way we communicate with each other on daily basis. And interestingly, each age group has their own acronyms, and some secret abbreviations too !!! 😉

In this post I’m compiling a list of abbreviations specifically targeted digital marketing world, so it helps the newbies to get used to this lingo. I haven’t covered the entire list, only the most common ones, and I didn’t bother to give a brief of each terminology, that’s where google will come handy.

AIDA:  Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
API: Application program interface
AOV: Average order value
AR: Augmented reality
ASP: Application service provider
ATD: Agency trading desk
BoFu: Bottom of the Funnel
B2B: Business to business
B2C: Business to consumer
CGI: Common Gateway Interface
CLV: Customer lifetime value
COS: Content Optimization System
CMS: Content Management System
CPA: Cost per Acquisition/Action
CPC: Cost per Click
CPL: Cost per Lead
CPM: Cost per Thousand
CPO: Cost per Opportunity
CPV: Cost per View
CR: Conversion Rate
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
CRO: Conversion Rate Optimization
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets
CTA: Call to Action
CTR: Click-through Rate
CX: Customer Experience
DM: Direct Mail / Direct Message
DMP: Data Management Platform
DNS: Domain Name System
DR: Direct Response
DSP: Demand-Side Platform
ECPM: Effective CPM
EPC: Earnings per Click
EPM: Earnings per Thousand
ESP: Email Service Provider
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FB: Facebook
FBML: Facebook Markup Language
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
GA: Google Analytics
IAB: Interactive Advertising Bureau
HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
HTTPS: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure
IM: Instant Messaging
IMAP: Internet Message Access Protocol
IP: Intellectual Property / Internet Protocol
IPTV: Internet Protocol Television
ISP: Internet Service Provider
KPI: Key Performance Indicator
LTV: Lifetime Value
MA: Marketing Automation
MoFu: Middle of The Funnel
MoM: Month on Month
MLM: Multi-level Marketing
MQL: Marketing Qualified Lead
MRR: Monthly Recurring Revenue
MT: Modified Tweet
MVT: Multivariate Testing
NPS: Net Promoter Score
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer
OS: Operating System or Open Source
PHP: PHP Hypertext Preprocessed
POS: Point of Sale
PPC: Pay per Click
PPL: Pay per Lead
PPV: Pay per View
PR:  Page Rank, Public Relation and Press Release
PV: Page Views
QA: Quality Assurance
QR Code: Quick Response Code
QS: Quality score
RFI: Request for Information
RFP: Request for proposal
ROI: Return on Investment
RON: Run of Network
ROR: Ruby on Rails
ROS: Run of Site
RSS: Really Simple Syndication
RT: Retweet
RTB: Real Time Bidding
RTD: Real Time Data
S2S: Server to Server
SaaS: Software as a Service
SEM: Search Engine Marketing
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SERP: Search Engine Results Page
SLA: Service Level Agreement
SM: Social Media
SME: Small / Medium Enterprise.
SBB: Small Medium Business
SMM: Social Media Marketing
SMO: Social Media Optimization
SMP: Social Media Platform
SMS: Short Message Service
SOV: Share of Voice
SOW: Statement of Work
SQL: Sales Qualified Lead (not to be mistaken for database)
SSL: Secure Sockets Layer
SSP: Supply-Side Platform
SWOT: Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats
ToFu: Top of the Funnel
TCO: Total Cost of Ownership
TLD: Top Level Domain
TOS: Terms of Service
UCD: User Centric Design
UI: User Interface
UGC: User Generated Content
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
USP: Unique Selling Proposition
UV: Unique Visitor
UX: User Experience
VOD: Video on Demand
VM: Viral Marketing
WOMM: Word of Mouth Marketing
YOY: Year on Year
YTD: Year to Date
XML: Extensible Markup Language
ZMOT: Zero Moment of Truth