FRESH GRAD GUIDE

THE FRESH GRAD GUIDE TO COMMON BUSINESS BUZZWORDS

JUNE 27, 2020

 

These are some of the most common business buzzwords you will encounter once you start working. 

 

When you start work, you’ll begin to realize people say a lot of things that you don’t understand – not because you lack some kind of technical knowledge or experience, but the words or phrases they use seem odd and out of context. This, is all thanks to buzzwords. 

 

What even are “buzzwords” anyway? 

These are words or terms that sound cool, impressive, and maybe even complicated, although not everyone always understands what they mean. In the business world, there are a lot, and chances are, you will encounter them every once in a while 

Just so you don’t feel too lost during your first few weeks (or months) of work, these are some of the most common words and phrases you might encounter once you enter into the world of work. 

 

  • Advertainment: Advertising that doubles as entertainment  
  • Alignment: Coming up with ways for people in different teams to work towards the same goal. You will usually hear this as the “alignment meeting” 

  • All hands on deck: When everyone in the team is needed for a particular project, problem, or task.  

  • Bandwidth: A person’s capacity or limit to do work, in other words, if you will be able to add another task to your to do list. 

  • Customer acquisition: Used to describe “winning over” a customer. This is done by convincing customers to pay for a product or service. 

  • Customer-centric: A business approach where you prioritize positive customer experiences. 

  • Customer journey: A list of experiences (usually documented) that a customer will go through when interacting with a company, their product, or their services 

  • Deep Dive: Brainstorming, or having a long discussion about plans for a specific project or idea 

  • Disrupt/Disruptive: Something that challenges the status quo, or is game changing, usually referring to a product, service, or even a strategy.  

  • Freemium: A marketing strategy where the most “basic” version of a product or service is offered for free with extra functions requiring an upgrade to premium. 
  • Looping in: You will see this in emails all the time. This is when the person sending the email will add another person into that thread so they know what’s going in. 

  • Low-hanging fruit: Easy to grab wins. See, “Quick Win” 

  • Move the needle: Used in sales and marketing, used when effort is needed to make a difference big enough to be noticed 

  • Post-mortem: Refers to a debriefing meeting or open forum done after events or project where you and the team analyze all aspects related to the project’s lifecycle.  

  • Quick win: Something that can be easily accomplished or done without much effort, but could be a big win for the business. 

  • Retention: Or “customer retention”, refers to the ability to keep customers in your business by encouraging them to repeat purchases or services. 

  • Touchpoint: A channel or moment where a customer “meets” or gets in touch with your business. This can be phone calls, emails, a post on social media, or live chat. 

  • Value add: A positive impact or feature you can add to a product or service. 

 


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JUNE 27, 2020