A Massive List of Sales and Marketing Acronyms

Acronyms are an essential part of business culture, and marketing is no stranger to this. With so many long phrases used, it makes sense… unless you have no idea what they mean! The last thing anyone wants to do is admit they need a list of marketing acronyms for a conversation that just occurred.

As a consultant, this has been a fairly regular occurrence with my clients. I used to make glossaries of customer-specific acronyms because every business had its own. Over the years, I’ve found there are a few (okay, way more than a few) that are standard across organizations – and this is my list so you’re not stuck wondering what they are!

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Channels & Campaigns | Compliance | Concepts & Models | Lead Management | Metrics | Time | Technology | Web | General Business

Channels & Campaigns

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
CMGR	Community Manager	Person dedicated to engaging the social community for a brand using their own voice
DM	Direct Mail	Marketing channel where tangible items are sent via postal service
DM	Direct Message	Private message sent on a social media platform, such as Instagram
FB	Facebook	Social networking giant where users can share and engage with others
IG	Instagram	Mobile-first social platform that focuses on photos and video
LI	LinkedIn	Business-focused social platform focused on networking and career
NPL	New Product Launch	The launch of a new product
PR	Public Relations	A company’s engagement with media and the public as a whole
RT	Retweet	Share someone else’s tweet
SM	Social Media	Website or app that encourages user content and networking
SMM	Social Media Marketing	Engage customers and promote a product /service on social networks
TW	Twitter	Social platform where users post with a limit of 280 characters
WOM	Word-of-Mouth	Process of actively influencing organic discussion of your brand or product
YT	YouTube	Video platform that’s the world’s third most-popular search engine

Compliance & Deliverability

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
CAN-SPAM	Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act	Privacy compliance legislation for the US signed in 2003
CASL	Canada Anti-Spam Legislation	Privacy compliance legislation for Canada that has high standards.
CCPA	California Consumer Privacy Act	Privacy compliance legislation for California only.
COI	Confirmed Opt-In	A status for a user in your database where they have confirmed they’d like to receive your emails
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation	Privacy compliance legislation for the European Union
SPF	Sender Policy Framework	A record that specifies which IPs can send emails from a domain, i.e. allows your MAP to send your emails
DKIM	DomainKeys Identified Mail	Similar to SPF, but adds proof the message has not been tampered with, adding more credibility
DMARC	Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance	Authentication method that verifies if an email was actually sent by the owner of the domain the user sees

Concepts & Models

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
ABM	Account-Based Marketing	Marketing and sales model targeting full accounts, not single contacts
ABS	Account-Based Selling	Sales concept of going after target accounts in a holistic way, instead of targeting individual people
ABX	Account-Based Experience / Everything	References the combination of ABM and ABS into a more holistic, unified experience for target accounts. Why call it ABX?
AIDA	Attention or Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action	Early model created to demonstrate the buyer’s journey
BANT	Budget, Authority, Need, Timing	Typical sales criteria used to determine if a prospect actually has a need that can lead to a sale
CJM	Customer Journey Management	Means by which a marketer maps out lifetime engagement of a customer
CX	Customer Experience	How companies go to market across channels to engage with customers
DG	Demand Generation	Marketing focus to create demand for a product or service
DL	Deep Learning	A subset of machine learning where networks learn unsupervised
DTX	Digital Transformation	Process of changing processes, tech, and team structure / skills to adapt to evolving customer demand
IoT	Internet of Things	A network of connected objects able to collect and share data
LG	Lead Generation	Process of identifying, engaging and qualifying new leads
LOOP	The Loop	Okay, it’s not an acronym … we’re just seeing if you’re paying attention 🙂
MOPs	Marketing Operations	Function of marketing dedicated to data, process, and tech.
RevOps	Revenue Operations	Tightly-collaborative efforts between sales, marketing, and customer success. Read more here.
RM	Revenue Marketing	The idea that marketing is a contributing, strategic business driver
RM6	Revenue Marketing 6	A model that outlines the six components a company needs to realize revenue marketing
RTP	Real-Time Personalization	Means to deliver tailored experiences on your website in real time.
UI	User Interface Design	The design of any front-end digital property or software
UX	User Experience	How a person experiences and reacts to a brand, produce or service

Finance / Purchasing

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
AFS	Annual Financial Statement
ARR	Annual Recurring Revenue	Revenue realized on a yearly basis
CCG	Corporate Controllers Group	Group within Finance that typically provides key records, such as financial statements for investors
CFO	Chief Financial Officer	C-Suite executive responsible for all accounting / financial initiatives within the company.
CRR	Capped Retention Rate	Is based on a capped renewal bookings number for each order number
CV	Contract Value	Typically used as a moment-in-time measurement of active contracts a company has with customers
EBITDA	Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization	Metric typically used to evaluate a company’s performance. 10% or more is considered good. More info here.
EPS	Earnings Per Share	How much $ a company made / how many shares it has outstanding. Used to determine corporate value and how profitable a company may be by investors.
P&L	Profit & Loss	Expressed in a statement (P&L statement), a summary document showing a company’s financial health
PO	Purchase Order	Document that binds a sales between buyer / seller. Used by purchasing departments to control costs.

Lead Management (Sales & Marketing Alignment)

Related: Read about key stages of effective lead management

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
ABC	Always Be Closing	Mindset used to motivate a sales person to meet their revenue quota
AE	Account Executive	Main sales contact for a particular account or business
AQL	Automated Qualified Lead	Lead qualified via lead scoring by a marketing automation platform
ASP	Average Sales Price	Average contract price of a deal marked closed-won in the CRM
BANT	Budget Authority Need Timeline	Shorthand methodology to describe a qualified lead for sales.
BDR	Business Development Representative	An individual who qualifies leads before passing them to sales
BOFU	Bottom Of Funnel	Stage in a funnel where content / ads focus on conversions
CRO	Chief Revenue Officer	A C-level position that typically heads both marketing and sales. Has been growing in popularity.
KYC	Know Your Customer	Often used to start conversation for updates on a given customer / prospect
KYD	Know Your Deals	Mantra for sales (and marketing!) to always know latest updates on current opportunities in pipeline
MA	Major Account	Designation for high-value account that is crucial to company’s success
MAL	Marketing Accepted Lead	A lead that is accepted by marketing
MOFU	Middle Of Funnel	Stage in a funnel where content / ads focus on building greater engagement
MQL	Marketing Qualified Lead	A lead qualified via lead scoring by a marketing automation platform
NAM	Named Account Manager	The main sales contact for a particular account
RFP	Request for Proposal	Formal request from a business for vendors to submit a project proposal
SAL	Sales Accepted Lead	A lead that sales has accepted from marketing as valid
SDR	Sales Development Representative	An individual who qualifies leads before passing them to sales
SLA	Service Level Agreement	In a lead management context, rules of engagement between sales and marketing for lead processing
SQL	Sales Qualified Lead	Lead identified by sales team as having potential to buy
TAL	Target Account List	Ideal set of companies / targets your sellers could pursue in tandem with targeted marketing efforts
TAM	Total Addressable Market	List of companies (or users) to whom you could market your products and services.
TOFU	Top of Funnel	Stage where content / ads focus on initial engagement with target audience
TQL	Tele-Qualified Lead	A lead qualified over the phone by an inside sales person

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Metrics

Related: Our marketing KPIs course – it’s free!

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
ARR	Annual Recurring Revenue	Revenue realized on a yearly basis
CPA	Cost Per Acquisition	Average advertising spend per new customer gained
CPC	Cost Per Click	Total Cost / Total Clicks
CPL	Cost Per Lead	Average ad spend per lead gained
CR	Conversion Rate	% of people who clicked on an ad and took an action you wanted them to (i.e. filled out contact form)
CTR	Click-Through Rate	Total Clicks / Total Impressions
KPI	Key Performance Indicator	Standards by which you measure success. Can vary.
LTV	Lifetime Value	Monetary value of a customer over the span of all their purchases
MRR	Monthly Recurring Revenue	Revenue realized on a monthly basis, mainly for subscription-based billing
PPC	Pay Per Click	Term referencing paid digital advertising industry, including Google / Bing Ads and social advertising
ROAS	Return on Ad Spend	Revenue impact of advertising budget specifically
ROI	Return On Investment	Ratio between the net profit and the original cost of investment
ROMI	Return On Marketing Investment	Ratio between net bookings and original cost of marketing

Time

Acronym	Meaning
COB	Close of Business
EOD	End of Day
EOM	End of Month
EOT	End of Term (often used in regards to contracts)
EOW	End of Week
FQ	Fiscal Quarter
LOE	Level of Effort
MoM	Month Over Month
QoQ	Quarter Over Quarter
QTD	Quarter to Date
YoY	Year Over Year
YTD	Year to Date

Technology

Want to get more from your tech stack? Check out our martech consulting.

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
AEM	Adobe Experience Manager	Software by Adobe that facilitates website, app and form management and offers a cloud service
AI	Artificial intelligence	Theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence
AR	Augmented Reality	Tech that uses some elements of virtual reality but integrates them to seamlessly work with the “real world”
ASP	Application Service Provider	Company who provides access to an application (Example: Google is the ASP for Gmail)
AWS	Amazon Web Services	An on-demand cloud services provider from Amazon often used for websites and apps
CDP	Continuous Data Protection	Real-time backup, a method of ensuring data is not lost
CMS	Content Management System	Software application used to create and modify content. WordPress is one well-known example.
CRM	Customer Relationship Management	Software that tracks interactions with and interests of with current and potential customers. Salesforce and Hubspot are two major CRMs.
DAM	Digital Asset Management	System that houses digital assets, such as images, in a central location
DMP	Data Management Platform	Software used for collecting and managing data
DSP	Demand Side Platform	Typically, a software used to purchase ad space through an SSP (see below) on a variety of networks
ESP	Email Service Provider	A vendor that provides mass electronic mail services, i.e. Mailchimp or Constant Contact
GA	Google Analytics	Commonly-used program to track how users interact with your website
GA4	Google Analytics 4	The iteration that succeeded Universal Analytics; forced adoption by Summer 2023.
GMB	Google My Business	System for local businesses to claim and manage their Google Maps listing
GSC	Google Search Console	Free service that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results
ISP	Internet Service Provider	A vendor that provides their customers with internet access, i.e. AT&T, Comcast, etc.
LMS	Learning Management System	A software application that manages educational courses
MAP	Marketing Automation Platform	A software platform that programs tasks for marketing campaigns and lead management. Examples are Marketo, Pardot, SFMC, and Eloqua.
ML	Machine Learning	Algorithms and models computers use to complete tasks without explicit instructions
QR Code	Quick-Response Barcode	Barcode that can be scanned by a mobile device for instant information
SaaS	Software as a Service	Software purchased on a subscription model and hosted centrally
SFDC	Salesforce.com	A customer relationship management vendor
SFMC	Salesforce Marketing Cloud	Campaign management tool native to Salesforce. Not to be confused with Pardot.
SMS	Short Message Service	Format of text messages that are less than 160 characters. Used in mobile marketing campaigns
SRP	Social Relationship Platform	Software that helps brands manage their presence and engagement on social media platforms
SSP	Supply-Side Platform	Software that allows websites/apps to offer ad space on networks for purchase through a DSP
UA	Universal Analytics	Known as the “standard” Google Analytics from 2005 – 2023 until deprecated in favor of GA4
UID	Unique Identifier	Data point to differentiate your set – for example, email address is a UID for email and social marketing
VR	Virtual Reality	Computer-generated simulation of a 3D image or environment.
WP	WordPress	Popular website platform builder.

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Web

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
API	Application Program Interface	Allows a developer to have their system / program easily leverage another to streamline functionality
CLS	Cumulative Layout Shift	Metric measuring how much time is used on a page load to move elements from initial load into their proper place. Lower is better.
CRO	Conversion Rate Optimization	Process of examining lead funnels and making changes to increase rate of people converting
CSS	Cascading Style Sheets	Standard markup language that describes how the HTML is presented
FCP	First Contentful Paint	Time to when first image or text is “painted” on screen and seen by the user – useful in SEO
GIF	Graphics Interchange Format	A bitmap image format…debate exists on how to pronounce
HTML	Hyper-Test Markup Language	Standard markup language for documents to appear on the web. The “skeleton” of a website.
JS	JavaScript	Common programming language used on the web to control HTML and CSS in dynamic ways
LCP	Largest Contentful Paint	Metric denoting how long the largest item on a page (whether code, an image, etc.) takes to load. Lower is better.
NSFW	Not Safe for Work	Designation for content that is inappropriate for the workplace
pURL	Personal Uniform Resource Locator	Typically used in a direct mail marketing campaign; a unique landing page link for every person
PV	Page View	Counted when a page is loaded in a browser
RSS	Really Simple Syndication	A web feed that accesses updates to websites in a readable format
RTB	Real-Time Bidding	Refers to the process of ad auctions taking place while a page loads to determine which ads show
SEM	Search Engine Marketing	Process of encouraging people to visit your website through paid digital advertising
SEO	Search Engine Optimization	Process of making a website more relevant a user’s wants, which in turn helps your rank in Google, Bing, etc.
SSL	Secure Sockets Layer	Original method of providing secure connection for a browser to a website. Replaced by TLS
TLS	Transport Layer Security	TLS provides a secure connection for websites, communications, etc.
UGC	User-Generated Content	Content generated by users on a program / app, for example an uploaded image on Instagram
URL	Uniform Resource Locator	Reference address to a specific asset found on the web, generally known as a link
XML	Extensionable Markup Language	Markup that’s both human- and machine-friendly, most commonly seen for sitemaps

General Business

Acronym	Meaning	Definition
AM	Account Manager	Person who handles client relationships and is the go-to for all questions relating to the client
AOB	Any Other Business	Used for open times in meetings to address anything not on the agenda
B2B	Business to Business	Shorthand for a business that sells directly to other businesses
B2B2C	Business to Business to Consumer	Often, method of a company leveraging a network of dealers / sellers to sell products to customers
B2C	Business to Consumer	Shorthand for a business that sells directly to consumers
B2G	Business to Government	Shorthand for a business that sells to the government
BPU	Business Process Improvement
BU	Business Unit	In an enterprise, each company that operates as its own entity is referred to internally as a BU.
CDO	Chief Digital Officer	Executive responsible for digital transformation at a company
CDO	Chief Data Officer	Executive responsible for all data management
CMO	Chief Marketing Officer	Executive responsible for all marketing at a company
CSO	Chief Sales Officer	Executive responsible for revenue at a company, may roll up to CRO
CTO	Chief Technology Officer	The executive in charge of all technology and sometimes R&D within a company
DRI	Directly Responsible Individual	Person primarily responsible for a given task
EM	Engagement Manager	An individual that is responsible for growing a relationship with a client and ensuring healthy relationships
LOE	Level of Effort	Estimate of how much time, money and resources a task will take
M&A	Mergers and Acquisitions	Refers to process of companies combining or one buying another. Read our blog for more on M&As
MSA	Master Services Agreement	Legal document that spells out the terms and conditions that govern agreements between parties.
NDA	Non-Disclosure Agreement	Written agreement about sharing confidential information from one party to another
OOO	Out of Office	Typically seen in an automated email to refer to vacation time
PM	Project Manager	An individual who manages a project
PTO	Paid Time Off	Vacation time an employee takes off with pay
R&D	Research and Design	What a company does to create and produce new products
SAM	Strategic Account Manager	Account Manager who handles high-value accounts termed “strategic” to business health and growth
SMB	Small and Mid-size Businesses	Categorization of businesses by total revenue earned. Often referenced as SME
SME	Small and Mid-Size Enterprises	In the US, there is no set definition for the revenue figures for each.
T&C	Terms and Conditions	That thing you said you read … but didn’t. #CheckboxLife
TLA	Three Letter Acronym	An irritating concept to confuse those new to the corporate world
TOS	Terms of Service	A written agreement between two parties on how a product or service will be used

WHEW! What a list!

We’ll try to keep this list updated as we come across more acronyms!

What are we missing? Let me know on LinkedIn or send us a note!

You may also enjoy our Resources hub filled with blogs and more on a variety of major topics, or online marketing training with Revenue Marketing University!