Marketing Glossary - A: Marketing Partners

 

ABC / Audit Bureau of Circulations

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is an independent, non-profit trade organization for publishers, advertisers, advertising agencies, and commercial websites, which primarily target consumer goods advertisers. ABC exists solely to audit and certify circulation and site-traffic claims of its members, and the organization is supported by its members. Its annual audit report for a member shows, among other data, the average net-paid-circulation of the print media (daily and weekly editions of newspapers, and magazines) and is used by advertisers in planning their marketing campaigns. Established in 1914 in the US, it has affiliates in most other countries. ABC can be found at www.accessabc.com.(Please see BPA for business publication and website traffic audits.)

Advertising

A term traditionally used to describe a paid promotional message for which air time or print space is purchased by the advertiser or agency. The advertiser pays to control the message and the timing of the advertisement. See also Marketing and Public Relations.

Advertorial

As might be guessed, this combination of the words advertisement and editorial describes an advertising message designed to look like an editorial. This type of advertising is used most often to communicate opinion about social, economic, political, or legislative issues. By law, an advertorial must be labeled as a paid advertisement so as not to be confused with actual editorial content.

Affidavit

A sworn statement from a television or radio station that is sent to the advertiser or advertising agency as proof that an ad was run as ordered. Generally, an affidavit is sent with the invoices for the advertisement, as many advertisers will not pay their bill without evidence that the ad ran as ordered.

Agency Commission

A commission given to advertising agencies by some media outlets (broadcast and print) for purchases of time or space made on behalf of clients. The media allows the agency a 15% discount off the Gross Rate shown on a rate card. (Marketing Partners passes all commissions directly back to clients.)

Alt Tag

An image alt tag identifies alternative text used to identify the nature or content of an image if a user cannot view it because of a slow connection or use of a screen-to-text reader. There’s no length restriction for an image alt tag, and your objective is to describe the context (using your keyword phrase) as well as the image itself.