Why a marketing glossary matters for owners
Marketing conversations in Tashkent mix English abbreviations with Russian and Uzbek words, and the same term can mean different things to different people. If you don't know the meaning, you either agree to everything or distrust everything. Both habits cost money. Knowing the vocabulary helps you brief tasks clearly, read reports and ask sharper questions.
One rule runs through everything below: a term is useful only when everyone means the same thing by it. One specialist calls any form submission a "lead"; another counts only calls from people ready to pay. So each definition comes with a note on what to watch for.
Customers and market terms
Your target audience is the group of people the product is built for. For a dental clinic in Tashkent it may be families from nearby districts; for a shop on Uzum it may be buyers across several regions. Inside it sit segments: groups with similar needs, such as students, office workers or young parents. Each segment responds to a different message.
A customer persona describes a typical buyer: what they do, what worries them, where they look for information and how they pay, whether cash, Click or Payme. Market size is the demand available in a city or region over a period, and it shows how much room there is to grow. Competitors can be direct (selling the same thing) or indirect (solving the same problem differently, like a private tutor instead of a language centre).
Offer, positioning and brand
These words get used constantly and understood differently almost as often.
- USP (unique selling proposition): what makes you different and why someone should choose you. "Good quality, fair price" is not a USP, because everyone says it.
- Offer: a specific proposal with terms, meaning what the customer gets, under what conditions and until when.
- Positioning: the place your company holds in a customer's mind relative to competitors, such as "the fastest," "for families" or "premium."
- Brand: not a logo, but what people think and feel when they hear your name.
- Brand book: a document with rules for the logo, colours, fonts and tone of voice.
Funnel and sales terms
A sales funnel is the path from first contact to purchase. Someone sees an Instagram ad, messages you on Telegram, asks about terms and buys. At every step some people drop off. A lead is a potential customer who left contact details or sent a question. Conversion is the share of people who move to the next step. If many people write but few buy, the cause may not be the ad at all; it could be slow replies or how the sales manager handles the chat.
A touchpoint is any place where a customer meets your company: a sign, an OLX listing, a chat, a courier, a receipt. Upsell means offering a pricier version; cross-sell means offering a related item, like a case with a phone. A lead magnet is something useful given in exchange for contacts: a checklist, a consultation, a trial lesson. A CRM is a system for tracking customers and deals, and without one, enquiries get lost in personal chats. A UTM tag is a small addition to a link that shows where a visitor came from.
Metrics you will see in reports
This is where misunderstanding is most expensive, because budget decisions rest on these numbers.
- CPL (cost per lead): what one lead costs.
- CAC (customer acquisition cost): what it costs to win one new paying customer, not just an enquiry.
- Average order value: the typical amount of a single purchase.
- LTV (lifetime value): the profit a customer brings over the whole relationship.
- ROMI: how well marketing spend pays back.
- Reach: how many people saw your message at least once.
- Retention and churn: the share of customers who keep buying and the share who stop.
Strategy, tactics and offline terms
Strategy is the choice of which customers to target, with what offer and through which channels. Tactics are the concrete actions: launching ads, updating a website, running a promotion. The 4P framework covers product, price, place and promotion. A SWOT analysis lays out a company's strengths and weaknesses next to outside opportunities and threats.
If you sell through physical points, you will also hear trade marketing (promotion at the point of sale), POS materials (price tags, wobblers, door stickers), merchandising (how products are arranged on a shelf), sampling (handing out trial portions) and promo campaigns (temporary sales boosts).
How to agree on terms with your agency
No metric should be read alone. A cheap lead is worthless if it never buys, and a high ROMI on a tiny volume doesn't mean the channel can absorb a bigger budget. Follow the chain: CPL, conversion, CAC, LTV.
When a report uses a term you didn't agree on, ask how it is calculated and where the data comes from. If you hear "conversion improved," ask: from which step to which, over what period, compared with what. Keep a one-page internal glossary that at least defines "lead," "customer" and "sale."
At markdev we like to settle these definitions during the strategy stage, so reports stay comparable month to month. If you want to work out which metrics your business actually needs, talk through the task with our team.
FAQ
Which marketing terms should I learn first?
Start with target audience, lead, conversion, CAC, LTV and ROMI. They are enough to read most reports and judge whether advertising pays off.
What is the difference between a lead and a customer?
A lead has left contact details or asked a question; a customer has bought. Agree with your agency in advance what counts as a lead: any enquiry or only qualified ones.
How is CAC different from CPL?
CPL is the cost of an enquiry; CAC is the cost of a customer who bought. CAC accounts for how many enquiries turn into sales, so it is closer to your real cost.
Do I need to calculate metrics myself?
Not by hand, but you should understand the formulas. Ask your agency to show how each number was obtained and from which sources.
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