The ABCs of Mobile Marketing [Glossary]

For those who are just getting started with B2B mobile marketing, just getting to the basics can be a bit intimidating. With a few short steps and some new terminology, however, you can launch your mobile marketing initiatives with confidence.

First, you should become familiar with some popular mobile marketing terms:

Acquisition rate – the total participants who were offered to opt in on a mobile marketing campaign divided by the total audience. The percent gives you the number of respondents who opt in.

Aggregator – a company who provides an intermediary service between content providers, application providers, and the mobile phone service carriers. This company can serve several purposes including campaign management, analytics, administration as well as billing.

Bandwidth – this is a measurement of how much data can be pushed through a connection. The measurement is based on the number of bits per second ( bps ), kilobits per second ( kbps ), or megabits per second ( mbps ).

Call-to-Action ( CTA ) – this is an instruction to the reader to act on the message that was received. The action could be to click a link, send a mobile text, call a phone number, or other types of actions.

Click-through Rate (CTR) – this is a common measurement used to determine the number of users who clicked to access more information or take action resulting from a B2B mobile marketing campaign message.

Common Short Code ( CSC ) – this is the numeric digits entered by a mobile device user to send a message related to a campaign. For example “text WIN to 12345 for your chance to win this prize!” The 12345 is the CSC code, and can be anywhere from four to six characters in length. These codes are registered through the Common Short Code Administration organization.

Cost per Thousand ( CPM ) – this metric is used in order to apply costs to advertising banners for web sites and other internet-based advertisements. The fee is calculated based on the number of impressions that would occur when users view the ads.

Data Collection – this is a huge variety of metrics, demographics, and statistics gathered by marketers to analyze and plan campaigns.

Direct to Consumer ( D2C ) – the services or products delivered to an end consumer via a “provider”. The provider could be a third party, or direct from the company who is orchestrating the sale of the product or service.

End-User – this is the person who actually uses the product or service that is provided. The end-user is sometimes referred to as the consumer as well.

Free to End User ( FTEU ) – this is an application that is made available to an end-user at no cost other than an opt-in subscription. The SMS/ MMS costs that would normally be charged to the end-user is absorbed by the application provider. In some cases the mobile carriers may opt to charge end-users with other various fees, however.

Impressions – this measurement is used to count the number of times a person is viewing an ad or message. Impressions have become a very important metric with B2B mobile marketing.

Information on Demand ( IOD ) – this is the act of delivering messages to subscribers as the information is updated. This is common for sports scores, weather alerts, and stock alerts.

Interactive Voice Response ( IVR ) – this technology allows a user to respond to questions using voice instead of text or numeric responses on their mobile device. IVR systems have become quite sophisticated in recent years, and are very common with credit card companies as well as airlines.

Interstitial Ads – these are embedded into MMS messages in a variety of formats including image, text, and video. The message provides an opportunity for the viewer to read the ad while listening or viewing the MMS message.

Location Based Services ( LBS ) – depending on the geographic area of the mobile subscriber, messages can be customized to fit the location. For example the location of the nearest favorite restaurant, gas station, or store.

MMS Messaging – Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS , has become more prevalent with the increase in bandwidth and evolution of mobile technology. Multimedia messages can be a picture, a video clip, or an audio clip. Ads can be imbedded into the MMS , or the ad could be the MMS itself depending on what is being viewed by the subscriber.

Mobile Marketing Association – this non-profit trade association (and HubSpot customer) is dedicated to the education and standardization of mobile marketing technologies and practices. For B2B mobile marketing this association is a valuable resource.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information ( NPII ) – this is data that provides metrics and statistics, but does not provide specific information to contact or identify a specific end-user.

Online Performance Marketing ( OPM ) – this process gathers metrics and statistics over a period of time, then analyzes the results to predict and report trends and habits of subscribers.

Opt-In/Opt-Out – this is a decision mechanism that allows a subscriber to become part of a campaign, or to remove the subscription from the campaign.

QR Code –  A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code ) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL , or other data.

Real Time Streaming Protocol ( RTSP ) – this method is used to provide media systems with basic control command such as pause, play, rewind, etc.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – this process constructs data that is presented on websites to be ranking and found using major search engine providers. Varieties of complex algorithms are involved, and vary depending on the search engine.

SMS Message – the Short Message Service (SMS) is a very common method of sending text messages through mobile devices.

By familiarizing yourself with these terms, you can feel more confident that your B2B mobile marketing campaign will be successful.