Glossary

New to performance marketing, or trying to broaden your industry knowledge? You’ve come to the right place: Swaarm’s glossary covers what you need to know about launching successful campaigns and beyond.

We define all those pesky industry acronyms, from DSPs to ATT, and everything else in between. Dive in below!

A

Ad Creative

Ad creative is the contents of an advertisement that can be served to users in a digital environment. (more…)

Ad Fraud

Ad fraud is the practice of defrauding advertising networks for financial gain. (more…)

Ad Network

Ad Network refers to Advertising networks that connect advertisers with publishers who have inventory upon which ads can be displayed.

AdServer

An ad server is software on a server that is used to manage online ad campaigns. (more…)

AdTag

An ad tag is HTML code that has been inserted within a web page’s source code. This makes it possible to display an ad.

Advertiser

Advertiser is a company that would like to advertise their product or service.

Advertiser Postback

An Advertiser postback is a signal from the advertiser’s servers that is sent to announce a conversion.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is an advertising model whereby companies pay affiliate partners to advertise their products to generate sales.

Affiliate Network

Affiliate networks connects publishers – such as influencers and bloggers – with advertisers who want to work with affiliate partners (more…)

Affiliate Program

Referral Marketing is a form of advertising used to drive sales and conversions. (more…)

Alpha testing

Alpha testing refers to the preliminary testing developers carry out to check and see if the product will perform as intended.

App Store Optimization (ASO)

App Store Optimization (ASO) refers to the process app developers follow to improve app visibility (more…)

Application Programming Interface (API)

Application Programming Interface (API) is a type of software interface that offers a service to other pieces of software.

Attribution

Attribution is the identification of where a conversion came from. For example, a tracking link can be used to identify (more…)

Average Revenue per User (ARPU)

Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is the average revenue that is generated per user.

B

Banner ads

Banner Ads is an ad format that displays an ad as a banner at the top or bottom of a user’s screen.

Beta Testing

Beta testing refers to the second stage of software testing. In this phase, real users get to use (more…)

C

Campaign Management System (CMS)

A campaign management system (CMS) is a software solution that businesses can use to manage different components (more…)

Campaigns

A campaign is a the promotion of a product using strategically chosen advertising channels.

Click-Injection

Click injection is a type of mobile ad fraud for Android devices whereby a fake click is triggered just before an app is fully installed. (more…)

Click-Spamming

Click-Spamming or Click spam is a type of ad fraud. It occurs when a fraudster executes fake clicks that are attributed to real users

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Your CTR is the percentage of users who clicked on your ad when delivered an impression.

Clicks

This is an action that occurs every time a user clicks on an ad or affiliate link to your ad’s desired location. (more…)

Conversion

A conversion occurs when a user completes a desired action. For example, a conversion can be any time a user installs your app. (more…)

Conversion Rate

A conversion rate is the percentage of users who have converted. (more…)

Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking is the practice of using tracking links to learn the percentage of users who completed a desired action. (more…)

Cost Models

This is how advertisers purchase campaign inventory, which is agreed by advertisers and publishers before a campaign begins. (more…)

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

This is the marketing metric that measures the cost to acquire a user. (more…)

Cost-per-Click (CPC)

Cost per Click is a cost model that gives payment to the publisher for every click generated as a result of their exposure.

Cost-per-conversion

This is a cost model that gives payment to a publisher or affiliate partner for every conversion that occurs as a result of their exposure.

Cost-per-Install (CPI)

This is a cost model that gives payment to a publisher or affiliate partner for every install that is generated as a result of their exposure.

Customer Journey

A customer journey refers to the entire experience a customer has when communicating with a particular brand. (more…)

Customer Lifecycle

Marketing analysts Matt Cutler and Jim Sterne developed a matrix to break down the customer lifecycle (more…)

D

Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

This is a system that enables advertisers to manage their ad exchange and exchange accounts using a single interface.

Demographics

Demographics means statistical data related to a population and a certain group of people within it. (more…)

E

Events

An event is an in-app action that is performed by a user. Any action completed by a user within an app can be described as an event.

F

F2P Model

The F2P model is a business model that allows players to gain free access (more…)

G

Game Localization

Game localization is when developers produce video game content to appeal to a specific region, (more…)

Geolocation

Geolocation in simple terms refers to the geographical or longitudinal/latitudinal location of a device (more…)

Google Ads Universal App Campaigns

It’s an automated ad format in Google ads that helps advertisers get more app installs (more…)

H

Hyper-Personalization Marketing

Hyper-personalization marketing taps into individual wants and needs and tailors campaigns to best suit a person. (more…)

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a concession or assumption made for an argument on known facts for which there is no proof yet.

I

IDFA

Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) is a device identifier by Apple. (more…)

Impression

An impression occurs every time a user is delivered an advertisement (ad) on a publisher’s inventory.

In-app Journey

An in-app journey refers to a series of steps that companies want users to take when interacting with an app. (more…)

Influencer

An influencer is anybody who has an influence over an online audience. (more…)

Install

An install occurs when a user downloads an app and opens it for the first time.

Interstitial ads

This is a full-screen advertising format for mobile devices.

K

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

These are the metrics that can be used to observe the performance of your campaigns.

L

Lead Generation

This is when a campaign has resulted in a new lead or prospect.

M

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is the use of automation technology to complete actions related to marketer’s tasks. (more…)

Microtransactions

Microtransactions refer to players’ digital purchases within a gaming app to unlock (more…)

Mobile Game Monetization

Mobile game monetization is the process developers follow to generate money from the game app.

Mobile Marketing Automation

Mobile Marketing Automation (MMA) refers to the usage of smart or intelligent tools to oversee, execute, and automate (more…)

N

Native Advertising

Native Advertising, also called sponsored content, is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears.

O

Organic Installs

This is an install that cannot be attributed to a campaign. It indicates that the user converted organically, rather than being influenced by a marketing campaign.

P

Paid Search (Pay-per-click or PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) is anvadvertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked.

Partner

Media partners own advertisement space in some capacity, selling space (known as inventory) to advertisers for a limited time. (more…)

Performance Marketing

Performance-based advertising is a form of advertising in which the purchaser pays only when there are measurable results.

Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is a way to automatically buy and optimize digital campaigns, rather than buying directly from publishers.

Psychographics

Psychographics is the study of customers based on their activities, interests, and opinions (AIOs).

Publisher

A publisher provides the capability and inventory that allows advertisers to run ads in their apps or on mobile sites. (more…)

Publisher Postback

Postback is a function that will notify publishers when a conversion occurred or was approved/rejected.

R

Real-time bidding

Real-time bidding refers to the practice of buying and selling ads in real time on a per-impression basis in an instant auction.

Retention

This is the percentage of users who are still active in an App after a defined period of time.

Return on ad spend (ROAS)

ROAS is the overall return on the amount spent on ads.

Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI is the overall return on an investment for a campaign or marketing channel.

Revenue

This is the income generated by a company, usually measured across a set time period. (more…)

S

SDK

An SDK (Software Development Kit) is a collection of software development tools that can be installed as a package. (more…)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is the practice of making strategic changes to your online content to gain a higher ranking on search engines.

SKAdNetwork

Apple introduced the SKAdNetwork in 2018, a different approach to campaign measurement where data at the user level is not available.

Soft Launch

Soft launch refers to the product’s release to a limited number of users. (more…)

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is centrally hosted software that typically works on a subscription basis. It is a method of delivering applications via the Internet as a service.

Supply-Side Platform (SSP)

A supply-side platform (SSP) enables publishers to manage advertising inventory, such as filling it with ads and receiving revenue.

T

Target audience

A target audience is a specific group of people who are likely to buy a product and become customers.

Tracking Link

A tracking link is a URL with appended tags – or parameters – that can be used to indicate which channel a user came from and which ad they clicked on.

V

Video ads

This is an ad format that utilizes video to promote a product or brand.

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Glossary

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

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V

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Resources

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