9 Frightening Digital-Marketing Buzzwords

Buzzwords, buzzwords everywhere! Halloween is approaching, but the upside-down world of digital marketing has long been infested with buzz. Buzz that has the potential to put every marketer’s mind and strategy for a detrimental spin…

EEEEEK!

But let’s put the cauldron on the boil and get under the skin of nine pandemic buzzwords and marketing misconceptions.

Big Data

In the marketing sphere, the phrase “Big Data” is being tossed around like the finest meat at a Halloween feast. But what is Big Data?

Big Data differs from "regular" data in its volume, variety and velocity. In a nutshell, it's large quantities of data (gathered through multiple devices), which is used to unveil patterns relating to human behaviours and interactions.

That’s all fine and dandy. But even though big data is a massive asset, the sheer quantity won’t get you very far… Because:

Big data only becomes an asset when you figure out what questions to ask.

Customer-Centrism

You’ve heard it, You’ve seen it. And let's get the skeleton out of the closet: I’ve written it more times than I can count on all fingers on both hands.

It's not on the list because it's a bad word. Quite the opposite. It's a neat word with awesome connotations. Your actions need to be based on data, and your marketing activities should be founded in your customers' wants and needs.

But here's the thing: customer-centrism is being used as something extraordinary when it should be just. plain. standard.

Marketing Automation

Surprised to find this buzzword on the list? Don't be. Marketing automation has been, wrongfully so, framed as a beast that can only be tamed by greatest marketing warriors and data wizards. 

But this is a bone crushing fable that'll kill all motivation.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to unleash the power of automation. Rather, it's a highly scalable and customisable solution perfect for a crawl-walk-run-approach. It can be as easy as using behavioural triggers to send out confirmation emails for newsletter subscriptions, or it can be complex flows for browse abandonment. Don't let the buzzeyman scare you away...

Want to know what you need to get started? Check this out!

Omnichannel

Omnichannel is a strategy you should implement. I'd even say that it's a necessity to approach the perspective. At least if you want your business to make it out alive as customer demands and behavioural patterns change.

However...

It's quite common that multichannel and omnichannel is used interchangeably. And it isn't a small difference, penny-wise...

Omnichannel is a strategy where the data is automatically linked between channels and devices. The main point is to provide insights that pinpoint the customer's pain points to deliver a seamless customer experience.

Multichannel, on the other hand, is the utilisation of several channels for your marketing efforts. In a multichannel strategy, you simply use multiple channels to reach your audience. However, this doesn't translate into a unified approach to the customer experience.

Want to know the real difference between multichannel and omnichannel in detail? Check out this post!

Viral Content or Viral Marketing

The viral strategy rose as soon as viral content became so blatantly viral that it virality had to become a thing. But even though viral marketing seems cool, it'll lure you down the wrong path of digital marketing...

You can't compete with easily digestible content such as cute dogs, fried oreos or the like. Nor should you.

Digital marketing shouldn't have a spray-and-pray approach. And that's what viral content is – quantitative reach, not qualitative conversions. And more importantly; viral content might make you giggle, but it won't build that life-supporting trust.

“WAIT ‘TILL YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS – YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT!!!”

That’s right: clickbait.

The second cousin to viral content, and the spawn of the devil. You’ve seen them. You’ve taken the bait. At least I have, and they pulled me down into the depths of the abyss… Well, that’s a bit dramatic. But you get the point.

That’s because the strategy is spellbinding. It focuses on titillating headlines specifically designed to draw in attention – just to jolt you into a strange site with anticlimactic content.

But you bounce. Just as fast as a regular bullet bounces off the chest of a Werewolf. And that’s because clickbait is all style, no soul. They fail to deliver on the promises they make.

Emma Dyga, APSIS' own CEO, expressed during an interview that there's a special little place in hell for clickbait:

“I hate it, it has to go away. It’s just so annoying to see these headlines with ‘you cannot believe what happens next’. We have to stop clicking on those. It has to go away.”

Influencer Marketing

Now, this is a crowd divider. A lot of people have jumped and stayed on the bandwagon, and some attitudes lean more towards this:

For some companies, influencer marketing is their awareness-building lifeblood. For example, the cosmetics brand Anastasia Beverly Hills grew from zero to hero in a few years time through influencer marketing.

On the flip side, the nature of influencer marketing raises the question: is it out of love or money? Scepticism and lack of trust rises from the grave, and it's hard to know whether the customers will bite – or bite back.

But the problem with the term arises in its buzzed-up ultra hype and the fact that it's an old strategy that's been revamped with new tools... If we detract the social media bubble, influencer marketing is really all about third-party endorsements.

Artificial Intelligence isn't Skynet

The robots are taking over. And they're about to conquer the world of marketing.

Just kidding!

Even though artificial intelligence is titillating, the current reality of AI isn't quite that sci-fi-esque. Rather, it's about advanced algorithms that analyse and calculate large quantities of data to guide you towards an intelligent decision. 

Oh, the Abbreviations....

We’re joining Dante and entering the ninth circle of hell: abbreviations. And there’s no denying that the marketing sphere is plagued by the tongue-twisting insider illness. CRM, SoMe, CTR, AIDA, ASMR...

I get it. Abbreviations are standardised industry jargon. But for newbies or people outside of the industry, it’s mere gobbledigook. And, if you Googled ASMR, you've pinned down the problem.

But the death trap goes far beyond external communications…

It impacts your internal organisation, too. There are terms marketers need to know, and there are terms you don’t need to know. And the exact same goes for people in your other departments.

If you want to create a (marketing) department with full transparency and overview – you need to bury the acronyms and use language that creates cross-departmental understanding, collaboration and collective drive.

+1: Horrendous Emails

I know. This isn't a buzzword. But a gnarly email with subpar coding and design is pure hell. Not only does it cause your subscriber to close your email, but it creates a massive loss of potential revenue.

Thankfully, our team of crazy creative email designers test templates in a variety of browsers and devices to ensure that your emails are in mint condition. And it just so happens that they've created templates and image bundles for all APSIS One users. Booray!

To Sum Up the Buzz Busting...

The world of digital marketing is riddled with buzz. Even though a lot of them might lead you astray, they've been birthed for a reason. Not all buzz is bad. It's just about using it in the right way and not falling for false promises.

Want to get out of the buzz hellhole and awaken your customers? Check out APSIS One!