Cache
File storage of web content so a web site can be accessed faster by a user.
Call To Action (CTA)
A Call To Action is a message or image imploring a user to act. A Call to Action can urge a user to do anything from buying a product to simply accessing a different web page by clicking on a button or text.
Campaign
A process: planning, creating, buying and tracking an advertising project from start to finish.
Casual Games
Casual games are typically defined by simplistic gameplay, short gameplay arcs, and requiring minimal investment of time from players. Casual games often work on freemium or advertising based models to make money.
Category Development Index
A statistic which shows the strength of a specific product in a specific market.
Cause Marketing
Cause marketing is the joint effort between a non-profit organization and a commercial company for a mutual benefit. The benefits for a non-profit organization are access to a greater amount of capital and consumer base, whereas the benefits for a commercial company are positive publicity and marketing opportunities.
CBO
A company's Chief Brand Officer. The CBO is responsible for integrating the work of the brand community.
Challenger Brand
New or rising brand that is viable despite competition from the dominant brand in its category.
Character Trademark
A character is a personification of a brand. Characters become spokespersons for brands as well as an extension of them.
Charismatic Brand
A brand inspiring a high degree of loyalty; also known as "lifestyle brand" or "passion brand".
Check-in
A check-in is a social media function that allows members of a social network to let their contacts know where they are or what they are doing.
Click Rate
Percentage of impressions that resulted in a click-through. Calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. For example, if a banner ad was clicked on 13 times after being displayed 1000 times, the banner ad would have a click rate of 1.3% (13/1000 = .013). This is also commonly know as a banner's "click-through" rate.
Click-Through
The action of clicking on a banner and having one's browser automatically redirected to the web page to which a banner is hyperlinked.
Client-Side
Refers to actions and changes that take place in a client on the user’s computer and do not require access to a remote server.
Cloaking
Cloaking is a search engine optimization technique where separate content is shown to human visitors and search engine spiders. Search engine spiders see cloaked content, enhancing the searchability of a website’s content.
Clutter
Conceptual noise of a market place; a disorderly array of messages or elements that hinders understanding.
Co-Branding
Use of two or more brand names to support a new service, product, or venture.
Collateral Design
Printed materials that are used to present information about a business and its services, products and/or capabilities. Collateral design may include brochures, fact sheets, fliers, direct mail pieces, and other communications pieces, produced directly by the business. All of a company's printed pieces should be in agreement with its overall marketing message and company image.
Consumer Trends
Consumer behaviors and habits that are observable in patterns. Typically, consumer trends follow what people purchase, how much they pay for it, and their satisfaction with that product or service.
Content Development
The development of original media for use by a brand. The content developed can be anything from a video series, collection of photographs, or collection of writings. Developed content is often used to support the overall marketing strategy of a product or brand.
Content Management System
A Content Management System (CMS) is a system, usually accessed through a web browser, that streamlines the process of creating and managing web site content.
Conversion
This term is used to describe the process of getting a web visitor to accept an offer, or become a paying customer. Advertisers aim for high "conversion ratios".
Cookie
Text stored on a user's computer so a web browser can remember a user's session or preferences on a web site.
Core Competencies
Those which best contribute to a company's ability to compete; found in the areas of skill and competence.
Core Values
A long-term set of principles that characterize the ethics of a company; part of a core ideology.
Corporate Identity
At a minimum, is used to refer to the visual identity of a corporation (its logo, signage, etc.), but usually taken to mean an organization's presentation to its stakeholders and the means by which it differentiates itself from other organizations.
Cost Overrun
An increase in a project's cost that exceeds its budget. This usually occurs because of an underestimation of the project's cost or because of scope creep.
Counterfeiting
When an individual and/or organization produces a product that appears as a branded product or service and that product or service is packaged and presented in a manner to deceive the purchaser or user.
Country of Origin
Customers' attitudes (not necessarily formed by rational causes) to a product and their willingness to buy it are greatly influenced by the country, or countries, where the product has been designed and manufactured.
CPA
Cost-per-acquisition is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pay for every time they make a sale as a result of a click originating from an affiliate’s web site.
CPC
Cost-per-click is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pay for each click-through made on their advertisement. Prices typically range from 1 cent to over 50 cents per click-through. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who seek to be guaranteed that they pay for only clicked-on views of the banner and visit a page on their web site.
CPE
Cost-per-engagement is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pay for every time a potential customer engages with an advertiser’s interactive ad.
CPM
Cost-per-thousand (CPM) is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pay for every 1000 impressions of their advertisement. Prices may range from $1 to over $50 per thousand impressions. This is an ideal method of payment for advertisers who want confirmation regarding the number of people who see their banner. The "M" in CPM is from the Roman numeral for 1000 ("M" is derived from the Latin word "mille" meaning "thousand").
CPP
Cost-per-point is one of the online payment models by which advertisers pay to reach 1% of a targeted audience.
Creative Brief
Document that sets parameters for a brand-building project. It includes context, goals, processes, and budgetary constraints.
Cross Media Marketing
Marketing that goes beyond traditional advertisement by including extra incentives for product purchase.
Cross Platform Compatibility
A software attribute denoting implementation on more than one platform and interoperability between all platforms. Cross platform compatible applications can usually run regardless of operating system and do not have separate versions between each system. Examples would include the browsers Firefox and Chrome.
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the hand-off of internal tasks to an outside community. The benefits of the practice is that that it can gather those most suited to a specific task and encourage mass-collaboration.
Culture
The culture and values of both a brand and the company behind it. A brand’s culture is not only an internal reflection of a brand’s identity, but also an outward expression towards consumers.
Customer Characteristics
Distinctive, typical and/or peculiar characteristics and circumstances of customers which can be used in market segmentation to distinguish one group of customers from another.
Customer Experience
The summation of a consumer’s experience purchasing and interacting with a brand’s product or service. Creating a positive customer experience is an integral part of building relationships with and loyalty among consumers.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Tracking customer behavior for the purpose of developing marketing and relationship-building processes that connect the consumer with the brand. CRM can entail developing software or systems to provide one-to-one customer service and personal contact between a business and a customer.
Customer Service
The manner in which the brand meets its customers' needs. Service can be offered via various channels. Common channels are: in-person (in retail, or entertainment, for example), telephone, internet (remote banking, for example).