Marketing Vocabulary Explained for Small Business Owners
I get DMs all the time from people who use the words ‘sales page’, ‘landing page’, and ‘opt in page’ like they mean the same thing. They don't.
And I get it, nobody ever sits you down and defines these terms before you start a business. You just pick them up from podcasts (hi!) and Instagram captions and hope you're using them right.
This is part two of a series where I'm taking the marketing terms that get thrown around constantly and defining them. Last week was acronyms. This week is vocab.
By the end of this post, you'll be able to use these words correctly, which matters when you're trying to market your business or hire a marketer!.
First Vocab Word: Funnel
If you have a business, you have a funnel. Full stop.
A funnel is the path that takes someone from finding out about you to buying from you. That's it.
It can be as simple as someone Googling "house cleaning near me," clicking your website, and booking a service. That's a funnel, even though there's no freebie or email sequence involved.
In online business, we tend to make funnels more elaborate
Freebies, welcome sequences, opt-in pages, sales pages.
But the core idea stays the same: a funnel takes people from problem aware (top of funnel, or TOFU) to solution aware (middle of funnel) to ready to buy (bottom of funnel).
Check out my previous Funnels 101 blog posts and podcasts:
Opt-In Page vs. Landing Page vs. Sales Page
This is where a lot of people get confused, so let's separate these clearly.
Opt-in page
Your opt-in page has one job, getting someone's email address. You're usually offering something free or low cost in exchange. Bonus points if you also get their first name or a market research answer.
Landing page
This is the umbrella term for both of the above. Any page someone lands on after clicking an ad, link, or post falls under this category.
So when someone says "landing page," get context. They might mean either one.
If you want help writing opt-in page copy specifically, I have a free tool for that called the Opt-In Copy Bot. It will write your opt-in page for you!
Lead Magnets and Bounce Rate
What goes on that opt-in page depends on what you're offering, and that offer is called a lead magnet.
A lead magnet is the free or low cost thing you give someone to get them onto your list: it may be a checklist, a quiz, a mini training, or a discount code.
NOTE: a freebie is always a lead magnet, but a lead magnet isn't always free.
I price my Forgotten Launch Emails checklist at a dollar (use code PODCAST!) as a lead magnet, even though it’s not free.
Bounce Rate is something you track on your lead magnets, sales pages, and opt-in pages.
This is the percentage of people who land and leave without doing anything.
A high bounce rate usually means one of two things: the wrong people are landing on your page, or the right people are landing on a page that doesn't immediately make sense to them.
Either way, the fix is better copy, on the ad or on the page itself.
Broadcast Emails vs. Nurture Emails
A broadcast email is a one-time send to your list, usually about something happening right now. A nurture email is typically part of an automated sequence that keeps people warm between launches.
You'll hear broadcast, nurture, and newsletter used interchangeably, and that's fine.
The one I'd push back on if I’m being picky is "newsletter." If you've been telling yourself you have to send a weekly newsletter, you don't. You can send a weekly email that does anything, including sell something. Thinking of these as broadcasts instead of newsletters takes the pressure off and makes you more likely to include an offer.
List Segmentation
Segmentation means splitting your list into smaller groups based on something they have in common, usually a pain point you can solve with a specific offer.
An example of IRL segmentation
Think about walking into a convenience store. You see signs for beverages, snacks, gas, and restrooms. Each sign segments the crowd that walks in the front door. Someone on a road trip needing a bathroom break heads straight for that sign. Someone on a walk who's thirsty heads for the beverage wall. The store doesn't scatter sodas and energy drinks throughout the building. Everything thirst related lives in one place.
Your email list works the same way. If you know someone is newer in business, send them your smaller, lower priced offers. If you know someone is established and ready for more support, segment them toward your higher level program.
You can do this by surveying your audience, and having them self-segment as a result.
The Money Terms People Mix Up
I'm not a bookkeeper, but I work closely with enough CFPs and accountants to know these four terms matter and get confused constantly:
1. Revenue
The total value of what you sold, even if you haven't collected all the payments yet.
2. Cash collected
The money you've received.
3. Sales
Sometimes means the same as revenue, sometimes refers to the number of transactions.
4. Profit
What's left after you subtract expenses. This is the number that matters most, partly because it's what the IRS taxes you on.
It's entirely possible to have a huge revenue month and a terrible profit month at the same time. A six figure launch that costs $50,000 in ads and $50,000 in contractors might net zero profit, even though the top line number looks incredible on Instagram.
Evergreen, Attribution, and Organic vs. Paid
A few strategy terms to round this out:
Evergreen
This is marketing that works continuously without being tied to a launch date. People can opt in or buy any day of the year. Evergreen still means you're always selling, just without the launch energy.
Attribution
Figuring out which marketing channel deserves credit for a sale. Notoriously messy, especially since most people find you across multiple platforms before they buy. UTM links help here.
Organic vs. paid
Organic is reach you get without paying (search, social, referrals). Paid is ads. Neither is inherently better, but relying entirely on an algorithm is a fragile plan.
Launch Vocabulary, Quickly
A few more terms you'll hear constantly if you're launching:
Open cart: the first day enrollment opens
Promotion period: how long you're actively promoting that open cart
Pre-launch: the weeks or months before cart opens, often built around a webinar or event
Close cart: the day enrollment ends
Upsells and downsells: offers presented after purchase or after someone declines
Flash sale: a mini launch using an offer you already have, used either for a cash injection or to build pre-launch attention
Key Takeaways
Marketing language gets thrown around loosely, but knowing the actual definitions changes how clearly you can talk about your own business. An opt-in page collects emails. A sales page closes deals. A lead magnet doesn't have to be free. Profit, not revenue, is the number that tells you what you get to keep.
If you want help putting any of this into practice, whether that's a sales page, an email sequence, or your full launch strategy, you can get on my calendar here:https://nomadcopyagency.com/contact
And if you want a head start on your next launch emails, grab my Forgotten Launch Emails checklist for a dollar using code PODCAST.
Opt-In Copy Bot:https://www.nomadcopyagency.com/opt-in-copy-bot
UTM link tracker:https://samanthaburmeister--akaridigital.thrivecart.com/utms-made-simple/
Episode 45:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2532771/episodes/19418189
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/nomad.copy
Work with Sam:https://nomadcopyagency.com/contact
Forgotten Launch Emails checklist:https://nomadcopyagency.thrivecart.com/launch-emails-checklist (use code PODCAST to get it for $1!)
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