The pace that things change and advance in the digital era is extraordinary. The technology of a few years ago is already so old that it could probably be showcased in a museum. For the average person, it is actually quite hard to keep up with the speed at which things move. This makes it even more daunting when you need to go into a meeting with experts and you are not sure that you will know what they are talking about. The good news is that it is okay to ask. Never pretend that you know more than you do because you will be taken advantage of or be made to look foolish. Rather ask questions and show a willingness to learn. And, yes, do a bit of research before you attend the meeting as well. With this in mind, here are a few terms and phrases that you may well hear trotted out by the modern digital experts.
It is not a weather report
A very common phrase that you will hear these days is cloud migration or in the cloud. Let’s just say for the record that this has nothing to do with weather or atmospheric conditions. Rather it refers to the fact that the information is stored in online servers, rather than in a rack back at the office. Most companies now store their important data and files in this manner as there are all sorts of fail-safes, latency controls, back-ups and scalable solutions for when things get intense. A simple example of such a solution is Gmail. Instead of having the email downloaded onto a local computer, it is accessible from any machine anywhere in the world at any time.
The search is important
Search engine optimization is otherwise abbreviated as SEO. Explaining this in a way we are more familiar with, SEO is the directions that your website gives to the internet to tell them how to find you. The busier the street, or the more densely occupied houses, the louder and clearer the directions need to be. Search engines use complicated algorithms to identify quality websites that are authentic and connect content that is most relevant to the searcher. The websites are also recipients of the benefits of good SEO. They will benefit from an increase in the quality and quantity of traffic to the site.
Programmatic
The old days of online advertising being done via face-to-face negotiation between a sales agent from a publisher and a media buyer representing a brand are fast becoming history. Now, these transactions take place online through fancy exchanges that are designed to get the best market-related price for a banner. These platforms are global which means that instead of a brand only reaching an audience on a certain website where they have a relationship, they are now able to target a specifically profiled audience on whatever website they are visiting. It has changed the face of advertising massively, dropped the average price of banners but increased the fill-rate significantly.