Customers and strategy
| Term | Working definition |
|---|---|
| Ideal customer profile | Conditions that make an organization a suitable customer |
| Buyer persona | A research-based description of a decision role and its needs |
| Buying group | People who influence or authorize a purchase |
| Buyer journey | Decisions and interactions through a buying situation |
| Market validation | Testing assumptions before a commercial commitment |
| Positioning | The frame for understanding an offer relative to alternatives |
| Value proposition | The relevant value of changing to an offer |
| Go-to-market plan | Connected choices for reaching, selling to and serving a segment |
| Status quo | The buyer’s current approach, including doing nothing |
Use the distinctions together. An ICP describes organizations, a persona describes people and a journey describes a sequence of decisions. Substituting one for another can leave an important part of the buying process unexplained.
Programs and operations
| Term | Working definition |
|---|---|
| Account-based marketing | Coordinated attention to selected organizations and buying groups |
| Demand generation | Building relevant awareness, understanding and consideration |
| Lead generation | Creating identifiable responses for a defined follow-up process |
| Lead nurturing | Helping a suitable buyer resolve an unanswered question |
| Qualification | Assessing evidence for a particular next commercial action |
| Sales acceptance | A defined commitment to act on a routed enquiry |
| Handoff | Transfer of responsibility, context and feedback requirements |
| Disposition | Recorded outcome or state of a handled enquiry |
| Martech | Technology used to support marketing workflows and decisions |
| Closed-loop reporting | Connecting activity and downstream outcomes through defined records |
Lifecycle terms require local rules. A marketing-qualified lead is not a universally standardized level of readiness. Document the entry criteria, record grain and owner before comparing teams or tools.
Measurement and economics
| Term | Working definition |
|---|---|
| Metric grain | The unit represented by a record or calculation |
| Cohort | A defined group entering or selected during a stated period |
| Attribution | Assignment of credit to observed interactions under a model |
| Incrementality | Additional outcomes relative to a credible counterfactual |
| Pipeline | Eligible opportunities valued under explicit stage and amount rules |
| Influenced pipeline | Opportunity value linked through a stated influence rule |
| Contribution margin | Revenue share remaining after the agreed variable costs |
| Marketing ROI | Incremental contribution after marketing divided by marketing investment |
| ROAS | Revenue attributed to advertising divided by advertising spend |
| Benchmark | An observation about a defined comparison population |
| Leading observation | An earlier signal used to investigate likely progression |
Attribution and incrementality answer different questions. A credited amount is not proof of causal impact. Similarly, ROAS does not deduct all costs and should not be described as profit-based ROI.
Use language to improve decisions
When a discussion stalls, ask which definition each person is using and which record or event it refers to. Record the agreed meaning, source fields and effective date. Shared language becomes useful when it changes how work is routed, measured and reviewed, rather than remaining a list of acronyms.