Marketing Demystified: 25 Simple Stories for Kids and Adults to Understand

Communication is everything because it is the foundation of all human interaction and understanding. Without communication, it would be impossible for us to share ideas, express our thoughts and feelings, or connect with others. Those of you who know probably heard the phrase:

Communicating with and between people is one of the hardest things to do

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Effective communication is a crucial element of successful relationships, both personal and professional. However, it can be a challenging task due to the vast differences between individuals. Each person is unique, with their own set of experiences, perspectives, and ways of understanding and processing information. As a result, it can be difficult to find a common ground and effectively communicate with others.

As marketers, we are very well-equipped with terms, acronyms, and a lot of other "sexy" jargon, but how often do we put ourselves in our client's shoes? How often do we think, 'Do these people have a clue what I'm talking about or do we simply prefer to stay "safe" under the wall of terms and marketing jargon?'

Thinking about this I decided to do an experiment. Here is the scope:

• I wanted a list top 100+ digital marketing terms and acronyms and explain them in simple language for a 5-year-old child to understand.
• Leveraged the power of AI using ChatGPT to assist in this process.
• Tested the explanations by having a 6-year-old Darcy listen to each explanation and evaluate if she was able to understand the concept or not. The same process was repeated with my 6-year-old daughter to gauge her understanding.
• I decided to start with just 25 terms as proof of concept.

Here is a short video with some of Darcy's answers

I devoted about a week to this experiment while balancing other tasks and overall it was a great and fun experience. As the reader, you can assess the quality of the experiment, its applicability, and provide suggestions for improvement. So, take a moment to relax, grab a cup of tea and dive into the content.

A/B testing

You have a chocolate chip cookie recipe and want to know if changing one ingredient will make it better. You make two batches of cookies, one with the original recipe and one with the changed ingredient. Have your child taste both and see which they like better. This is A/B testing, comparing two versions to see which is better. In this case, you are comparing two versions of the cookie recipe.

Above the fold

Imagine you are a 5-year-old playing with toys on the floor. You have a big box of toys and like to keep your favorites within reach. The top of the box, where all your toys are visible, is like the area above the fold on a website. It's the part that can be seen without scrolling down. Just like how you can see your favorite toys at the top of the box, people can see important information on a website without scrolling down. This is important because if something is above the fold, it's more likely that people will see it and be interested. So, if a business has an ad on a website, they want it above the fold so more people will see it.

Affiliate marketing

Imagine you have a friend who really loves a particular brand of snacks. They are an affiliate for the brand, which means they help promote the snacks to others. Whenever someone buys a bag of the snacks because of your friend's recommendation, the snack company gives them a percentage of the sale. That's the basic idea behind affiliate marketing.

?Attribution model

Imagine you have a jar filled with stickers, and every time you eat a cookie, you put a sticker on the jar. The stickers represent different actions that help you get more cookies, like looking at a recipe or asking your mom to buy more. The attribution model helps you understand which actions are most important in getting more cookies by giving them more credit. For example, looking at the recipe might be more helpful than just asking your mom to buy cookies. This model helps people understand which actions help them reach their goals, whether it's getting more cookies or something else.

Brand awareness

Imagine you and your friends are playing hide and seek. One friend is wearing a red shirt with an apple on it. Whenever you see that shirt, you know your friend is nearby. It's like a brand for your friend. Now, let's say that same friend wants to sell lemonade. They have a sign with their brand - the red shirt with the apple - and are selling lemonade. They want to make their brand known to as many people as possible, so more people will recognize it and know where to find their lemonade. That's brand awareness - people recognizing and remembering a brand and what it stands for.

Buyer persona?

A buyer persona is like a character in a story that helps you understand what people want and how they might decide to buy something. For example, if you have a store that sells toys, you might create a buyer persona for a mom who is looking for toys for her kids. This persona might include information about what the mom is looking for in a toy, such as whether it's educational or keeps her kids entertained for a long time. It might also include information about how much the mom is willing to spend on a toy, and whether she cares about the safety of the toy. By understanding what each buyer persona is looking for, you can be a better shopkeeper and help your customers find exactly what they need.

Campaign

Imagine you are having a birthday party and you want all your friends to come. You create a list of all the people you want to invite and send out invitations to each of them. This is like a campaign. You have a goal - to get as many friends to come to your party as possible - and you use different tools and strategies to reach that goal. For example, you might decorate your house, make a special birthday cake, or create fun games for everyone to play. All of these things are part of your campaign to make your birthday party a success. Just like how businesses use campaigns to reach their goals and promote their products or services to the right people.

Conversion

A conversion is when someone does what you want them to do. For example, if you have a lemonade stand and someone buys a cup of lemonade, that's a conversion. Or, if you put up a sign that says "Lemonade for Sale!" and someone sees it and buys your lemonade, that's a conversion too. A conversion can be buying something, signing up for something, or even just visiting your website. It's how you know if you're doing a good job at getting people to do what you want them to do.

Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking is a way for businesses to keep track of how popular their products or services are. For example, at the grocery store, the store manager uses conversion tracking to see which brand of cereal is bought the most. They do this by marking down every time someone buys a box of cereal on a special piece of paper. At the end of the week, they count up all the boxes of each brand and see which one was bought more. This helps the store manager know which brand is the most popular and stock more of it on the shelves.

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Imagine you're at a carnival and you want to play a game to win a prize. The person running the game charges you a certain number of tickets to play. If you win, you get to choose a prize from the prize table. The cost per acquisition, or CPA, is like the number of tickets you have to pay to play the game and win a prize. In the first example, the CPA was one ticket because that's all it cost you to play the game and win a prize. In the second example, the CPA was three tickets because that's how many tickets you had to pay to play the game and win a prize.

Cross-channel marketing

Imagine you have a little shop that sells ice cream. You have a sign outside the shop that tells people about all the different flavors of ice cream you have. You also have a website where people can learn more about your ice cream and order it online. You also have a social media account where you post pictures of your ice cream and share special deals.

All of these different ways of reaching out to people and telling them about your ice cream – the sign, the website, and the social media account – are different channels. Cross-channel marketing is when you use multiple channels to reach out to people and tell them about your business. It's like sending out a bunch of different invitations to come and try your ice cream, so more people can find out about it and come to your shop!

?Demographic targeting

As a farmer, you grow delicious fruits and vegetables in your garden. You want to sell your yummy produce to people in your town, but you don't know who might be interested in buying it. You decide to ask your friends and neighbors about their favorite fruits and vegetables and find out that different people have different tastes. You use demographic targeting to help you reach the right customers. Demographic targeting is like a map that shows you which fruits and vegetables are popular with different groups of people. This way, you can make sure to sell your produce to the right people and everyone will be happy!

Display advertising

Imagine you and your friend are playing with a toy truck in your backyard. Your neighbor across the street sees you and is interested in the truck. You think they might want one too.

This is a little bit like display advertising. Businesses use display advertising to show pictures or videos of their products to people who might be interested in buying them. Just like you saw your friend's toy truck and thought your neighbor might like to have one, people who see display ads might think, "That looks like a cool product. I want to learn more about it." They can then click on the ad to find out more or buy the product.

Display advertising helps businesses reach people who might be interested in their products. It's a way to show people what they have for sale.

Geofencing

Imagine you and your friends are playing a treasure hunt game at the park. You have a map and a magic compass to help you find the treasure. The compass is like a geofence because it only works in the park. If you leave the park, the compass won't work. Geofencing is like a virtual boundary around a specific location. When you're inside the boundary, something happens. In the treasure hunt game, the geofence is the park and the compass starts working. In marketing, businesses use geofencing to show ads or special offers to people in a certain area. This helps them reach people who might be interested in their products or services.

Google Ads

Imagine you have a lemonade stand and you want more people to come and buy your lemonade. You can use Google Ads to help more people find out about your lemonade stand. When someone types in "lemonade" on Google, your ad for your lemonade stand might show up at the top of the search results. That way, more people will see your ad and know about your lemonade stand. You can also use Google Ads to show your ad to people who are interested in lemonade, like if they have been looking at websites about lemonade. This way, you can reach more people who might want to buy your lemonade. That's how Google Ads works!

Influencer marketing

Imagine you and your friends are playing at the park, and you all love playing with a certain brand of jump ropes. One day, one of your friends brings a brand new jump rope to the park and tells everyone how much they love it. Your other friends all want to try it out too, and they all agree that it's the best jump rope they've ever used. This is an example of influencer marketing. An influencer is someone who has a lot of friends and is trusted by them. When the influencer talks about a product or service and shares their experience with it, their friends are more likely to trust their recommendation and try it out themselves. This is a way for companies to reach new customers and promote their products or services, by getting influencers to talk about them to their friends and followers.

Keyword research

Keyword research is all about finding the right words and phrases that people use when they're searching for something. For example, if someone wants to find a recipe for a chocolate cake, they might type in keywords like "chocolate cake recipe" or "easy chocolate cake." If you're a baker who sells chocolate cakes, you can use these keywords on your website so that people can find you when they search for them. You can also use other keywords related to your business, like "homemade cakes" or "birthday cakes," to help people find you. Keyword research is like being a detective: you gather clues and ask questions to find out what people are looking for and how to help them.

Lead generation

Imagine you have a lemonade stand on a hot summer day. You have a sign that says "Lemonade for sale" and a table with a big pitcher of lemonade and some cups. You are hoping that people walking by will see your sign and stop to buy some lemonade.

Now, imagine that instead of just having a sign, you also have a sign-up sheet where people can leave their name and phone number. This sign-up sheet is like a lead generation tool because it helps you collect information about people who might be interested in buying lemonade from you in the future.

For example, if someone stops by your lemonade stand and they really like your lemonade, they might leave their name and phone number so you can let them know the next time you have a lemonade stand set up. This way, you have a list of leads - or people who might be interested in buying your lemonade - that you can reach out to and try to sell more lemonade to in the future.

Marketing funnel

Imagine that you are at the carnival, and you see a big bucket full of colorful balls at the prize booth. You are really excited to try and win a prize, so you pay a small fee to play the game. You throw the ball into the bucket and hope that it will land in one of the smaller buckets below. If it does, you get to pick a prize from the shelf!

The marketing funnel works in a similar way. A business wants to get people excited about their product or service, so they put out information (like the colorful balls) to attract people's attention. Some of those people might decide to learn more (like paying the fee to play the game), and if they are interested, they might make a purchase (like picking a prize).

The marketing funnel helps businesses understand how many people are interested in their product at each step of the way, so they can make changes to make it easier for people to find out about and buy what they are selling.

Marketing plan

Imagine that you and your family are going on a road trip. Before you leave, you need to plan out everything you need to do and bring to make sure the trip goes smoothly. You might make a list of things like packing clothes and snacks, booking a hotel, and deciding on a route to take. This is kind of like a marketing plan.

A marketing plan is a way for a business to think about how they want to reach their customers and sell their products or services. Just like you need to plan out everything you need for a road trip, a business needs to plan out how they will advertise, what they will sell, and who they want to sell to. This helps them make sure they are ready to reach their customers and sell their products or services.

?Media buying

Imagine you want to put up posters of your favourite superhero all over your neighbourhood to let everyone know about your superhero party. You would need to figure out where the best places are to put up the posters so that lots of people will see them. You might decide to put them up at the bus stop, the park, and the grocery store.

This is similar to how media buying works. When a company wants to advertise their product or service, they need to decide where they want to show their advertisements so that lots of people will see them. This could be on TV, on the radio, or online. The company will pay to have their advertisement shown in these places, just like you would pay for the paper and markers to make your posters. This is called media buying.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

Imagine you're at the park with your friends and you see a big sign that says "Ice Cream Truck Coming Soon!" You're really excited because you love ice cream and you can't wait to get some. But when the ice cream truck finally arrives, you see that there's a really long line of kids waiting to get ice cream.

Now imagine that instead of waiting in line, you could just pay a little bit of money to go to the front of the line and get your ice cream right away. That's kind of like how PPC advertising works.

When a business wants to advertise their products or services online, they can use PPC advertising to show their ad to people who might be interested in what they're selling. They only have to pay a little bit of money each time someone clicks on their ad and goes to their website. This helps the business get more customers and sell more products.

Programmatic advertising

Imagine you have a special machine that helps you find the best TV shows, movies, and games to watch or play. You can tell the machine what kinds of things you like, and it will show you things that match what you said. You can also tell the machine how much money you have, and it will show you things that you can afford to watch or play.

This is kind of like how programmatic advertising works. Businesses can use special machines (called computers) to show their ads to people who might be interested in their products or services. They can tell the machines what kinds of things their products or services are good for, and the machines will show the ads to people who might be interested. They can also tell the machines how much money they want to spend on their ads, and the machines will only show the ads to people who are likely to see them.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Imagine you are looking for a new book to read. You go to the library and see a big shelf with lots of different books on it. You want to find a book about animals, so you start looking through the titles. But some of the books are way up high and you can't reach them, and some are way down low and you can't see them. It's hard to find the book you want!

This is like when you use a search engine like Google to find something online. There are lots of different websites out there, and it can be hard to find the one you want. That's where SEO comes in. It's like a special tool that helps websites show up in the right place when you search for something.

For example, if you search for "animals" on Google, you might see a website about animals at the top of the list. That's because the people who made that website used SEO to help Google understand what the website is about. They used special words and phrases that tell Google that the website is about animals. This way, when you search for animals, Google knows to show you that website first.

Findings:

• When working with ChatGPT to generate the explanation and examples, I found that it took multiple attempts to find the right prompt that produced the desired output. Even after finding the right prompt, I still had to run it several times.
• Once we have the terms explained by ChatGPT and started the recordings with Darcy we found that the explanations were too long, which led 6 years old Darcy to lose interest while listening to the story, so obviously we need to shorten the output text.
• When we attempted to shorten the output from ChatGPT, it began to include more marketing terms in the explanations, which made it difficult for a 6-year-old to understand. To address this issue, we had to find a balance and manually edit some of the output. This involved removing some of the marketing language while still keeping the explanations relatively short and using language that a 6-year-old could comprehend.
• 6 years old Darcy got 20 out of 25 terms (80%), 16 year old got 24 out of 25(96%)
• While asking for examples appropriate for 6 years old ChatGPT can be very repetitive. In our case, it was all around "lemonade", "lemonade stand", "cookies", "cakes", "playing in the park" .... happy days?
• My 16-years old daughter finds explanations too childish and spots the repetitiveness in the examples ("OMG lemonade ...again")
• ChatGPT can be a great tool for generating ideas and was a great help and support for this experiment

Final thoughts and your input:

The recent ChatGBT event caused quite a stir on the internet. We saw the initial excitement and interactions between humans and AI, and it was clear how adaptive and creative humans can be when it comes to utilizing AI. We have thousands of different use cases and ideas at our disposal, which is truly remarkable. However, it's important to remember that ChatGPT is just a tool, not a catch-all solution to all our problems. As with any tool, we must use it wisely and responsibly.

My intention with this text is to bring awareness to all marketers about the language they use while communicating with clients and to offer some ideas on how we can improve our communication to better serve and make our clients feel more comfortable. At the end of the day, effective communication is key to building strong, meaningful relationships with our clients.

Additionally, I have a list of over 120 marketing terms, so let me know if you're interested in expanding the project even further. I would also like to thank Laura Davidson and Darcy for their invaluable help in putting this together. Their contributions made this project possible.