Glossary
A reference to the most common inbound marketing terms, listed alphabetically and explained in plain English.
- Attribution
- The method of assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that contributed to a conversion. Models include first-touch, last-touch, linear and position-based.
- BOFU (bottom of funnel)
- The decision stage of the buyer's journey, where a prospect is comparing options and close to buying. BOFU content includes demos, pricing pages, case studies and free trials.
- CAC (customer acquisition cost)
- The total sales and marketing cost to acquire one new customer over a period. A core metric for judging whether a marketing programme is economically sustainable.
- CTA (call to action)
- A prompt asking the reader to take a specific next step — “Download the guide”, “Book a demo”, “Subscribe”. The mechanism that turns passive readers into leads.
- Conversion rate
- The percentage of people who take a desired action out of those who had the opportunity — for example, the share of visitors who become subscribers.
- Drip campaign
- An automated series of emails sent on a schedule or triggered by behaviour, used to nurture a lead gradually over time.
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — quality signals from Google's guidelines used to assess content, especially on sensitive topics.
- Flywheel
- HubSpot's growth model in which satisfied customers create momentum that attracts new ones, through the attract, engage and delight stages. Replaced the traditional funnel.
- Lead magnet
- A valuable piece of content — ebook, checklist, template, webinar — offered in exchange for a contact's details, usually an email address.
- Lead scoring
- Assigning points to contacts based on how well they fit the ideal customer and how engaged they are, to identify which leads are most ready for sales.
- LTV (lifetime value)
- The total revenue or profit expected from a customer over the entire relationship. Compared against CAC via the LTV:CAC ratio to judge unit economics.
- MOFU (middle of funnel)
- The consideration stage, where a prospect is evaluating approaches to their problem. MOFU content includes comparison guides, webinars and detailed how-to material.
- MQL (marketing qualified lead)
- A lead whose behaviour and profile indicate genuine interest, but who is not yet ready for direct sales contact. The output of marketing's qualification.
- Nurture
- The ongoing process of building a relationship with a lead who is not yet ready to buy, by staying useful and present until they are.
- Persona (buyer persona)
- A semi-fictional profile of an ideal customer, built from research, that captures goals, challenges and behaviour. Used to focus content and messaging.
- Pillar page
- A comprehensive page covering a broad topic at a high level, linked to detailed cluster articles to form a topic cluster.
- SQL (sales qualified lead)
- A lead that sales has reviewed and accepted as worth active pursuit, typically because they have shown clear buying intent.
- Search intent
- What a searcher is actually trying to accomplish — informational, navigational, commercial or transactional. Matching content to intent is central to SEO.
- TOFU (top of funnel)
- The awareness stage, where people first realise they have a problem. TOFU content is broad and educational — blog posts, guides and explainer videos.
- Topic cluster
- A pillar page plus a group of related cluster articles, interlinked, that together signal authority on a subject to search engines.