Advertising Glossary: 63 Terms to Know

Advertising is an old industry adapting to drastically new times. Newcomers and experienced people alike can get lost in the various processes, tools, and dashboards. This glossary will help you understand the most important terms and concepts in the industry.

Whether you’re trying to reach new market demographics or increase key performance indicators (KPIs) within a specific time period, it’s essential to know the ins and outs of creating high-quality advertising. This requires knowing basic advertising terms to avoid getting lost in all the processes.

This glossary will overview and define various essential development tools, strategies, and processes performed by development teams to deliver an advertising message to a specific audience.

Talk with experts that can help your brand reach potential customers. Find top advertising agencies on Clutch.

63 Advertising Development Terms to Know

The advertising industry is an ever-evolving learning process. Embracing this process is the best way to find success within it.

A

• A/B Testing: a marketing experiment that splits the audience to test a number of variations of a campaign and determine which performs better.
• Above the Fold: content in the part of a web page shown before scrolling.
• Ad Campaign: a set of advertisements that focus on a single message.
• Ad Exchange: a digital marketplace that enables advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space.
• Ad Impressions: a metric used to quantify the number of digital views or engagements of a piece of content.
• Ad Network: an essential monetization element of the mobile advertising ecosystem.
• Ad Placement: the location a display ad will be shown.
• Ad Server: a technological engine allowing advertisers and publishers to optimize, manage, and distribute ads across a multitude of paid channels.
• Ad Space: an area on a web page where an advertisement can be placed.
• Advertising Elasticity: the relationship between a change in advertising budget and the resulting change in sales.
• Attribution: a measure to optimize the unique touchpoints that lead to conversions and sales.

Additional Reading, 'How to Make An Advertising Budget [With Template].'

B

• Banner Ad: a rectangular graphic display that stretches across the top, bottom, or sides of a website or online media property.
• Billboards: large-scale print boards used to promote a brand.
• Bounce Rate: the percentage of visitors that leave a webpage without taking an action.
• Brand Awareness: the familiarity of consumers with a particular product or service.
• Business-to-business (B2B): a type of commerce transaction that exists between businesses.

C

• Call to Action (CTA): a text prompt designed to inspire the target audience of a marketing campaign to take a desired action.
• Click through Rate (CTR): the number of clicks that an ad receives divided by the number of times an ad is shown.
• Contextual Targeting: a method of selecting audiences based on the type of content being displayed on a particular webpage.
• Consumer Behavior: a study of how people behave when obtaining, using, and disposing of products.
• Conversion: a completed action performed by the customer that directly results in sales or any other tangible engagement with the company.
• Conversion Rate: the percentage of visitors to your website that complete a desired goal out of the total number of visitors.
• Cost per Acquisition (CPA): a metric measuring the aggregate cost to acquire one paying customer on a campaign or channel level.
• Cost per Click (CPC): a metric that determines how much advertisers pay for the ads placed on websites or social media, based on the number of clicks the ad receives.
• Cost per Lead (CPL): a metric dividing the total amount spent on a campaign by the number of leads generated.
• Cost per Thousand (CPM): a metric showing how much it costs to serve 1,000 ad impressions.
• Cross-Device Targeting: a strategy that allows customers to view the same ad campaign regardless of the device they’re using.

D

• Demand-side Platform (DSP): a type of software that allows an advertiser to buy advertising with the help of automation.
• Digital Marketing: marketing through online channels.
• Direct Response: a type of marketing designed to elicit an instant response by encouraging prospects to take a specific action.
• Display Advertising: a type of online advertisement that combines text, images, and a URL that links to a website where a customer can learn more about or buy products.

E

• Email Marketing: a form of digital marketing using email to promote a business's products.

F

• Frequency: The number of times an ad is served to the same consumer during a specific time period.
• Frequency Capping: a strategy placing a limit on the number of times a customer will see an ad within a specific time period.

G

• Geotargeting: a type of advertising that uses location data to reach consumers with messaging appropriate to their locality and behavior.
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live outside of the European Union.

I

• In-stream Video ad: ads played before, during, or after the video content the publisher is delivering to the consumer.
• Interstitial ad: these are ads that appear when a user moves between two different content pages.

Additional Reading, 'OTT Advertising: How to Advertise on Streaming Services.'

L

• Landing Page: a standalone web page that can be reached after clicking through from an email, ad, or other digital location.
• Lead: a term referring to a potential customer.
• Lookalike Audience: a method targeting people who are similar to your existing customers which helps improve your conversion rates.

M

• Marketing Campaign: a strategic sequence of steps and activities that promote a company's product or service.
• Marketing Efforts: the resources a company dedicates to promoting its products and services.
• Marketing Strategy: a long-term plan for achieving a company's goals by understanding customer needs and creating a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage.
• Media Buying: a method of purchasing traditional media, such as television, radio, print, and outdoor, as well as digital channels, including websites, social media, streaming services, and apps.

N

• Native Advertising: is paid media designed to match the content of a media source.

O

• Online Advertising: a marketing strategy that involves the use of the Internet as a medium to obtain website traffic and target.
• Out of Home (OOH): a type of advertising that can be found outside of a consumer's home
• Overlay: an ad that floats over webpage content, graphics, or videos.

P

• Paid Search: a type of digital marketing strategy allowing companies to pay search engines to place their ads higher on relevant search engine results.
• Pay Per Click (PPC): a digital advertising model where the advertiser pays a fee each time one of their ads is clicked.
• Pop-under: a type of pop-up that loads under the current webpage.
• Pop-up: ads that appear in a new window while browsing online.
• Programmatic: the use of software to buy digital advertising.

R

• Reach: a term that can refer to the potential or the total number of people who can see a company’s message.
• Remarketing: engaging audiences who have already interacted with the brand, encouraging them to re-invest in the organization.
• Retargeting: an online advertising method of reaching out to previous visitors of your website or app, often by displaying ads or sending emails.
• Rich Media: a form of digital advertising that is characterized by its interactivity.

S

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): the method of getting pages to rank higher in search engines.
• Social Media Advertising: the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.

T

• Target Audience: the specific group of consumers most likely to want your product or service.

V

• Video Ad: a marketing strategy that involves creating informative video content to promote a product.
• View-Through: a metric measuring a consumer’s behavior after they’ve been served an ad.

Knowing the Jargon of The Advertising Industry is a Great Way to Stay in the Conversation

The advertising industry can be overwhelming to newcomers, especially given all of the terms and phrases a person needs to learn just to start. Fortunately, anyone can keep up with this expansive industry if they’re willing to learn and apply this knowledge.

Increase the number of impressions on your advertising campaigns by contacting the top advertising agencies on Clutch.

Additional Reading: 

• Advertising Agency Pricing Guide
• CTV Advertising: Basics of CTV Ads for Marketers