Jargon Buster
Paste in marketing speak, get plain English back. Or flip it, and see how the agencies would say it.
In plain English
You're officially fluent
You've busted 13 lots of jargon. Time to put it to work. Book a free chat, and I'll translate your actual marketing into a plan.
Why I bust jargon
It started with my dad. He was Punjabi, moved to Australia at 21, and English was his second language. He was also a deep thinker and a big reader, so our conversations got complex fast. If I talked too quickly or hid behind fancy words, I lost him. So I learned to strip every idea back to the essentials.
Then I spent 28 years doing the same with partners on every continent except Antarctica. The funny thing: the people speaking English as a second language were often the easiest to understand. They kept it simple.
Keep it simple, stupid. Some acronyms never die, and that one has earned its place.
The phrasebook
Every term the Jargon Buster knows, with my take on what it really means.
- Synergy
- Working togetherTwo things that work better together than apart. Like your website and your newsletter actually talking to each other.
- Leverage
- UseUse what you've already got. That's it.
- Ideate
- Think up ideasThink. Usually with sticky notes.
- Funnel
- The journey from stranger to customerTop: they've just heard of you. Middle: they're comparing. Bottom: they're ready to buy.
- TOFU
- People who've just heard of youNot the bean curd. The people at Base Camp, just curious.
- MOFU
- People comparing their optionsThey know they've got a problem. They're working out who to trust.
- BOFU
- People ready to buySummit Day. Make it easy for them to say yes.
- Touchpoint
- Anywhere a customer meets your businessYour website, your invoice, your phone manner, the sign out front.
- Omnichannel
- The same experience everywhereWhether they call, click or walk in, it feels like the same business.
- Value proposition
- Why anyone should choose youThe one reason a customer picks you over the business down the road.
- Conversion
- Someone did what you wantedThey bought, booked, called or signed up.
- Conversion rate
- How many visitors actually did itOut of everyone who turned up, how many did the thing.
- Personalisation at scale
- Remembering every customerRemembering a customer's name, ten thousand times. AI makes it affordable now, as long as it's done safely, with permission.
- Disruption
- Doing it differentlyDoing what customers wanted years ago, before the rest of the industry caught on.
- Growth hacking
- Cheap experiments to win customersSmall, cheap tests. Keep what works, bin what doesn't.
- Lead magnet
- Something free in exchange for an emailMy free audit is one. Fair swap: your email for something genuinely useful.
- Lead
- Someone who might buyA real person who raised their hand. Treat them like one.
- Nurture sequence
- A planned series of helpful emailsNot spam. A conversation, one email at a time, until they're ready.
- Segmentation
- Grouping customersSo the right message reaches the right person at the right time.
- EDM
- An email newsletterCall it an EDM if you like. Your customers call it an enewsletter.
- SEO
- Getting found on GoogleMaking it easy for Google to understand you, trust you and send people your way.
- AEO / GEO
- Getting found and quoted by AIGEO is the same family in a different hat, so don't let anyone charge you twice.
- Zero-click
- They got the answer without visiting youThe concierge answered, and nobody walked to your shop.
- CTR
- How many people clickedOut of everyone who saw it, how many clicked.
- Impressions
- How many times it was shownShown, not seen. Big difference.
- Engagement
- People doing something with your postLiking, commenting, sharing, clicking. Proof someone's awake.
- KPI
- The numbers that show if it's workingPick a few that matter. Ignore the rest.
- ROI
- What you got back for what you spentThe only number your accountant cares about.
- Remarketing
- Ads for people who've already visitedIf you see my ad after visiting my site, you'll know my work works.
- Brand awareness
- How many people know you existStep one. Nobody buys from a business they've never heard of.
- Content pillars
- The few topics you always talk aboutThree to five topics, so you're known for something.
- Thought leadership
- Sharing what you knowShare what you know, often and honestly, so people trust you.
- Bandwidth
- TimeTime. They mean time.
- Circle back
- Talk about it laterTalk later. Maybe.
- Low-hanging fruit
- The easy winsStart here. Always.
- Move the needle
- Make a real differenceIf it doesn't change a number that matters, it doesn't count.
- Pivot
- Change directionA change of plan with a nicer name.
- Deep dive
- A closer lookA closer look. Bring snacks.
- Best practice
- What usually worksWhat usually works, for someone else. Test it on your customers.
- Scalable
- Works when you get biggerIt works for ten customers and for ten thousand.
- MCP
- A standard plug for AIThe travel adapter of AI: one plug, every socket.
- Agentic AI
- AI that does things, not just answersIt doesn't just answer the question. It books the table.
- First-party data
- Information customers gave you directlyThe most valuable list you'll ever own. Look after it.
- Customer journey
- Every step from hearing of you to buying againMap it once, and you'll see where people get lost.
- Omni-presence
- Being there when they lookNot everywhere. Just everywhere that matters.
Every definition here is mine, sorted with Claude's help. Missing a term? Send it in.
Your marketing should make sense to you
If someone's charging you in jargon, let's translate the whole plan. The first chat is free.