This marketing glossary explains 68 terms from the work of Maze & Friends, the marketing agency from Vienna: from brand film and employer branding to AI visibility, SEO, tracking, performance marketing and email. Every definition answers what a term means in its first sentence. After that comes what matters in practice, and where to read more.
Last updated: October 2026 · 68 terms in 8 topics
01 · 9 terms
Moving images for brand, sales and recruiting: the terms from first plan to final cut.
All topicsA brand film is a short film that presents a company as a whole: what it stands for, its people and its work. Rather than selling a single product like a commercial, it builds trust where decisions are made: on the website, in sales, at trade fairs and in recruiting, often alongside short cutdowns for social media.
More on thisOn our Brand film & video production page, we show how we plan and shoot brand films.
Corporate film is the umbrella term for every film a company produces about itself. It covers brand films, recruiting videos, product films, trade fair films and video testimonials. The term alone says nothing about the goal. Whether a film should build trust, bring in applications or explain a product is decided by the concept.
More on thisOur guide Eight questions for any brand film agency shows how to find the right production partner.
A brand story film tells the story and the feeling of a brand, usually with few facts and a strong visual language. It sits closer to a commercial than the classic brand film, runs on one clear idea instead of a company presentation and plays to its strengths where people choose a brand because they identify with it.
More on thisThe guide Brand video vs advertising video shows where the line between the two runs.
Event content means the videos, photos and clips created at an event that keep working once it is over. It includes the aftermovie, speaker interviews, short clips for social media and images for press and sales. It is planned before the event, so every important moment is captured on the day. The event ends that evening. Its content is only getting started.
More on thisThe Event content page explains how we cover trade fairs, conferences and corporate events.
An aftermovie is a short film that sums up an event once it is over. It shows the atmosphere, the programme and the audience, and serves as proof next time, when tickets, sponsors and exhibitors are at stake. A good aftermovie is planned before the first camera rolls.
More on thisHow to use an aftermovie beyond the day itself is covered in the guide Aftermovies and event recaps done right.
A recruiting video shows applicants what working at a company really looks like, told by real employees rather than actors. It answers the questions people have before they apply, about the team and the daily routine, for example, and runs on the careers page, in job adverts and in social recruiting campaigns.
More on thisHow it turns into applications is explained in the guide Recruiting videos that get applications.
A storyboard is the drawn or photographed sequence of a film’s planned shots, frame by frame. Before the shoot, it shows what will be seen, from which angle and in what order. Client, director and camera team use it to agree on the film before a shoot day costs money. That way, surprises happen on paper instead of on set.
B-roll is supplementary footage cut over interviews or voice-over: hands at work, product details, rooms, people in conversation. It shows what is being talked about. That is what turns an interview into a film. Shoot too little of it and the edit will tell you.
A cutdown is a shortened edit of a longer film, cut for a specific channel or format. Typical examples are short ad versions or vertical edits for Reels and Stories. One shoot day yields many versions instead of a single film. Ideally, they are planned in the concept, so the right shots get filmed.
More on thisHow one shoot becomes content for many channels is shown on the Content marketing page.
02 · 8 terms
What a brand looks like, what it stands for and why good people want to work there.
All topicsCorporate design is a company’s consistent visual identity: logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and the rules for combining them. It makes a brand instantly recognisable on the website, business cards, a trade fair stand and social media, and it forms the visible part of the corporate identity.
More on thisAt Maze & Friends, logos and corporate designs are created by our own team. More on the Branding & corporate identity page.
Corporate identity is how a company sees itself and how it presents itself internally and externally: its stance, behaviour, communication and appearance. To outsiders, the corporate design is the first visible part of it. The identity goes further, down to the tone on the phone and the way leaders talk about their company.
More on thisOur guide The branding process in six phases explains how positioning and visual identity come together.
A style guide is a brand’s rulebook: how the logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and tone of voice are used, and how they are not. It makes the corporate design usable for everyone who creates content, from your own marketing department to the print shop. Without a style guide, every brand gets watered down, one job at a time.
Rebranding is the renewal of an existing brand, from a refreshed logo to a new positioning with a new name. Typical triggers are a changed offering, a merger, a new target group or a brand presence that no longer matches the quality of the work. A good rebrand brings existing customers along instead of confusing them.
More on thisReasons and process are explained in our guide What rebranding is and how it works.
Employer branding is the deliberate building of an employer brand, meaning the image skilled people have of a company as a place to work. It starts with the question of why good people stay, translates the answer into the careers page, recruiting videos, job adverts and social media, and aims for well-matched applications and employees who stay longer.
More on thisOn the Employer branding page, we show how we build employer brands.
The employer value proposition, or EVP, is an employer’s core promise: what employees get here that they will not find elsewhere in the same way. It combines tangibles such as pay and working hours with culture, development and purpose. A credible EVP comes out of conversations with your own team, rarely out of the boardroom.
More on thisThe path from EVP to employer brand is described in the guide Employer branding strategies that work.
The careers page is the part of a website aimed at applicants. It shows open positions, insights into the team, benefits and how the application process works. Many recruiting campaigns end up right there. To turn visitors into applications, it has to answer questions honestly and make it possible to apply in a few steps, even on a mobile.
More on thisThe guide What belongs on a good careers page covers exactly that.
03 · 6 terms
Terms for anyone whose own name is an important search query.
All topicsPersonal branding is the deliberate building of a person’s public profile, so they become known for a topic and are approached for it directly. For founders, managing directors and experts, it builds trust, because many people prefer to buy from someone whose thinking they already know. The profile is built mainly on LinkedIn, with video, photography and posts in the person’s own voice.
More on thisOn the Personal branding & LinkedIn page, we show how we build expert brands.
Thought leadership means being seen as a reference on a subject because of your own well-founded positions. It rests on knowledge and experience others do not have in the same way, made visible in posts, talks, interviews or studies. Repeating what everyone says keeps you present. It does not make you a thought leader.
More on thisHow to approach this on LinkedIn is explained in the guide Building thought leadership on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads are ads a company uses to promote posts by individual people. The post still appears under the person’s name and therefore feels more personal than an ad from the company page. According to LinkedIn, you can promote posts by employees, industry experts, customers or creators this way.
More on thisOur guide Personal branding for B2B decision-makers explains how ads and an expert brand work together.
Ghostwriting means someone writes texts that appear under another person’s name, such as LinkedIn posts, speeches or trade articles. Good ghostwriting draws out the thinking in interviews and puts it into the person’s voice. It does not invent opinions. Whether a post works depends on the substance behind it.
More on thisOur guide What a LinkedIn ghostwriter costs weighs cost against benefit.
Corporate influencers are employees who act as the face of their company on social networks, talking about their work, specialist topics and values. Their posts often reach people the company page does not, and they come across as more credible because a person is speaking rather than a brand. A programme like this depends on voluntary participation and clear ground rules.
More on thisCorporate influencers connect personal branding with employer branding.
Social selling is sales through social networks: salespeople build relationships on LinkedIn, share expertise and approach prospects when the time is right. That makes many conversations warmer, because the contact already knows you. The foundation is a profile that shows competence before anyone picks up the phone.
More on thisThe guide Generating B2B leads without cold calling shows the alternatives.
04 · 11 terms
How brands appear in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI answers, and how to measure it.
All topicsAI visibility describes how often and how a brand appears in the answers of AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot or Google’s AI Overviews. It measures whether the brand is named, recommended or linked as a source, and in what context. AI recommends the brands it knows.
More on thisOn the AI visibility (GEO) page, we show how we build and measure AI visibility.
Generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is the optimisation of content and brand so that AI systems name them in their answers and cite them as a source. The term comes from a 2023 research paper. GEO builds on SEO and adds citable content, a clearly described brand and mentions on sites that AI systems trust.
More on thisThe long version is in the guide Generative engine optimisation explained.
Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, shapes content so that search engines and assistants serve it as a direct answer. That can be a featured snippet, a voice assistant reply or a paragraph in an AI answer. The question or term is the heading, the first sentence answers it in full, and details follow. This glossary is built on exactly that rule.
More on thisHow AEO, GEO and SEO fit together is explained in the guide Why GEO builds on SEO.
A large language model, or LLM, is an AI model trained on very large amounts of text that can understand and generate language. LLMs power assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot. For brands, what counts is what a model knows about them from training and which current sources it draws on when it searches the web.
AI Overviews are summaries generated by Google that appear above the classic results for some searches. They combine answers from several sources and link to some of them. According to Google, the same fundamentals apply to inclusion as to SEO, with no additional requirements.
More on thisWhether your brand appears there is something we measure as part of AI visibility.
AI Mode is a separate Google search area where users ask complex questions in a conversation and get a detailed AI answer with links. According to Google, the system breaks a question down into several sub-searches, known as query fan-out. Pages that answer the sub-questions of a topic cleanly can become sources this way.
An LLM listing is the mention of a brand by name in a language model’s answer. A typical case: someone asks for an agency in Vienna, and ChatGPT lists several providers. Whether a brand appears there depends on what the model knows about it and which sources it finds: website, directories, reviews, press. This is tracked with a prompt set measurement.
More on thisHow B2B companies get into answers like these is shown in the guide GEO for B2B: getting ChatGPT to recommend you.
llms.txt is a text file in a website’s root directory that tells language models, in Markdown, what the site is about and which pages matter. It is a public proposal rather than a binding standard. Whether AI providers use it when answering has not been shown. It costs little, but it does not replace good content.
More on thisOur own file is at mazenfriends.agency/llms.txt.
An entity, for search engines and AI systems, is a clearly identifiable thing with fixed properties and relationships, such as a company, a person or a place. Google keeps such entities in its Knowledge Graph. The more clearly your brand is described, through structured data, Wikidata and consistent details across the web, the more reliably machines identify it.
Citability means content is built so that an AI can use it as a source and link to it. That includes a direct answer in the first sentence, sourced facts with a date, a recognisable author and paragraphs that make sense on their own, because AI systems often pick out a single section. A page that takes three paragraphs to get to the point makes life needlessly hard for machines.
More on thisOn the Content marketing page, we explain how we write content for people and machines.
A prompt set measurement checks a brand’s AI visibility with a fixed list of typical questions that are asked regularly in several AI assistants. The evaluation shows whether the brand is named, recommended or linked, and which competitors and sources appear. Because AI answers fluctuate, the trend across several measurements counts for more than a single hit.
More on thisMethod and tools are explained in the guide How to measure your AI visibility.
05 · 9 terms
Getting found on Google, with content that answers real questions.
All topicsSEO, short for search engine optimisation, covers everything that helps a website get found in the unpaid results of Google and other search engines. That includes a clean technical setup, content that genuinely answers search queries, and links from other websites. In the end, what counts is the enquiries that come in through search, more than the ranking alone.
More on thisOur approach is described on the SEO (search engine optimisation) page.
Local SEO is search engine optimisation for searches with a location, such as “video production Vienna” or “tax adviser near me”. It centres on the Google Business Profile, reviews, consistent company details in directories and pages that clearly name the location, and for service providers with a fixed catchment area it is usually the obvious place to start.
More on thisOur guide Local SEO in Graz for Maps and AI search covers Maps, reviews and AI search in detail.
The Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is the free business listing that appears in Google Maps and next to the search results. It shows the address, opening hours, photos and reviews. For local searches, it is often the first thing prospects see of a company. Complete details, current photos and answered reviews make the difference here.
Search intent is the goal behind a search query: whether someone wants to learn something, find a specific page, compare offers or buy straight away. Google shows the results that best match that intent, which is why a page only ranks for the long term if its content fits the intent, however often the keyword appears in it.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Google uses it in its guidance on helpful content to describe what good content looks like. E-E-A-T is not a single ranking factor. It is a yardstick for who is writing, where the knowledge comes from and why the content can be trusted.
Structured data is machine-readable information in a page’s code that tells search engines what a piece of content is, such as a company, an article or an event. The vocabulary comes from schema.org, and Google recommends JSON-LD as the format. This page also describes every term as a DefinedTerm.
FAQPage is a schema.org structured data type that marks up a page of questions and answers in a machine-readable way. Since August 2023, Google has only shown expandable FAQ results for well-known government and health websites (Google Search Central). According to Google, you do not have to remove the markup, and the question-and-answer structure stays clearly readable for machines.
Content marketing wins customers with helpful content instead of direct advertising, such as guides, videos, case studies or newsletters that answer real questions. It works more slowly than an ad, but good content stays findable for a long time. It becomes effective when it draws on your company’s own knowledge, because any AI can write generalities by now.
More on thisOur approach: Content marketing.
A pillar page is a comprehensive overview page on a core topic that links to several in-depth articles and is linked back from them. Together they form a topic cluster that shows search engines and AI systems that a website covers a subject in breadth; without links in both directions, it remains a long page with no cluster.
06 · 10 terms
The technology behind a website that brings in enquiries and counts them properly.
All topicsWebflow is a platform for designing websites visually, managing them through a built-in CMS and hosting them directly. Design happens freely in the browser, and the team later updates text and images in the Editor without shifting the layout. This website runs on Webflow too.
More on thisThe guide WordPress vs. Webflow: an honest comparison shows when Webflow is the better choice.
Core Web Vitals are three Google metrics that measure a page’s user experience. They capture the loading time of the largest element (LCP), the response to input (INP) and the stability of the layout (CLS). According to web.dev, good values are an LCP of up to 2.5 seconds, an INP of up to 200 milliseconds and a CLS of up to 0.1. Content still matters more than any metric.
More on thisOn the Web design & websites page, we explain how we build websites.
Conversion tracking measures which visitors take a desired action, such as sending an enquiry, booking an appointment or buying, and which channel they came through. Only then can you tell which ad, post or page delivers results. Without clean tracking, every campaign optimises on guesswork.
More on thisHow we set up tracking is shown on the Website & tracking page.
GA4, short for Google Analytics 4, is Google’s current analytics tool and the successor to Universal Analytics. It records everything as an event, from a page view to a form enquiry, and shows where visitors come from and what they do. It only becomes meaningful once the important events are marked as key events and consent is handled properly.
More on thisThe most common setup mistakes are covered in the guide Setting up GA4 in five steps.
A key event in GA4 is an event marked as especially important for the business, such as a submitted enquiry or a booked appointment. These events used to be called conversions in GA4 as well. Google renamed them to separate them from conversions in Google Ads (Google Help).
Google Tag Manager, or GTM, is a free Google tool for managing tracking codes in one place. Instead of touching the website’s code, you use it to set when GA4, Google Ads or the Meta Pixel fire, for example only after consent. That makes tracking quicker to change and easier to check.
Server-side tracking sends measurement data through your own server first, before it is passed on to services such as GA4, Google Ads or Meta. That makes measurement more robust against browser restrictions, and you keep control over which data leaves the building. It does not replace consent. The GDPR applies just the same.
More on thisBenefits and data protection are explained in the guide What server-side tracking can and may do.
Consent Mode v2 is a Google framework that lets website tags respect visitors’ consent. Four signals count for advertising and analytics: ad_storage, analytics_storage and, new in version 2, ad_user_data and ad_personalization. In basic mode, Google tags only load after consent; in advanced mode, they send data-minimised signals without cookies beforehand (Google documentation).
The Conversions API, or CAPI, is an interface from Meta that sends events such as enquiries or purchases directly from the server to Meta. It complements the Pixel in the browser, and the two usually run in parallel. When browsers block data, measurement for Meta Ads stays more reliable this way. The same data protection rules apply as for the Pixel.
More on thisThe guide Conversion tracking for Google Ads and Meta explains it for both platforms.
UTM parameters are additions at the end of a link that tell an analytics tool such as GA4 where a visitor comes from, for example ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email. The most common are utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content (Google Help). Assigned consistently, they show in your reports exactly which newsletter, post or QR code brought in visitors.
Performance marketing is online advertising steered by measurable results, such as enquiries, bookings or sales, rather than reach. The budget goes where ads demonstrably work and is shifted continuously. The prerequisite is clean conversion tracking; otherwise the campaign optimises for clicks instead of customers.
More on thisHow we run campaigns is shown on the Performance marketing page.
Meta Ads are paid ads on Facebook, Instagram and other Meta services, booked through Ads Manager. They are delivered based on interests, behaviour or custom audiences, such as website visitors. Because images and video take centre stage there, they work particularly well for brands with a strong visual presence and for recruiting.
More on thisThe guide Real estate Facebook ads to win listings shows an example from the property sector.
Google Ads is Google’s advertising platform for booking ads in Search, on YouTube, in Gmail, in Google Maps and in the Display Network. In Search, you usually pay per click and reach people exactly when they are actively looking for an offer, and the whole thing is steered through bids, keywords, audiences and conversion data.
ROAS stands for return on ad spend and shows how much revenue one euro of ad budget brings back: revenue from ads divided by ad costs. A ROAS of 3 means three euros of revenue per euro spent. Whether that pays off depends on your margin, because ROAS measures revenue, not profit.
CPL stands for cost per lead and shows what a single enquiry costs on average. The formula: ad costs divided by the number of leads. It says nothing about quality. A cheap lead that never buys ends up costing more than an expensive one that turns into a contract.
The conversion rate is the share of visitors who take a desired action, such as sending an enquiry or buying. It is expressed as a percentage of all visitors or clicks. It shows how well a page or ad turns attention into results, and every improvement makes your existing visitors worth more without the ad budget having to rise.
More on thisConcrete levers are covered in the guide Conversion optimisation for more enquiries.
A lead form is a contact form that opens directly inside an ad, without switching to a website. Meta calls it an instant form, LinkedIn a Lead Gen Form. The platform often fills in the name and email address from the profile. That lowers the barrier, which is why targeted questions are needed to bring in quality rather than sheer volume.
Retargeting, called remarketing at Google, shows ads to people who have already been in contact with a brand. They may have visited the website or watched a video, for example. Because they already know the offer, they usually respond more strongly than people hearing about it for the first time. Retargeting via your own website requires visitors’ consent in the EU.
An A/B test compares two versions of an ad, page or email by showing each one at random to part of the audience. The winner is the version that performs better on the same metric, for example by bringing in more enquiries. It only becomes meaningful with enough data and when just one thing changes per test.
08 · 6 terms
Channels for customer relationships, between inbox and feed.
All topicsEmail marketing is communicating with prospects and customers by email, from the regular newsletter to an automated welcome series. It is one of the few channels a company owns outright: the list stays, even when a platform changes its rules. It is measured by enquiries and revenue. The open rate alone says little.
More on thisOn the Email marketing & automation page, we explain how we set up newsletters and automations.
Email automation sends emails automatically as soon as a specific trigger occurs, such as a sign-up, a download or an abandoned basket. Once set up, these sequences run continuously and reach every contact at the right moment. Marketing automation is the umbrella term that, beyond email, also covers lead scoring and CRM workflows.
Double opt-in is a two-step sign-up process: after subscribing to a newsletter, the person confirms their address via a link in an email. This proves that the consent really comes from the owner of the address. Under Article 7(1) of the GDPR, you must be able to demonstrate consent.
Social media management is the ongoing running of company channels such as Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook. It includes planning, producing and publishing posts, replying to comments and analysing results. The goal is a regular, recognisable presence that contributes to enquiries or applications. The feed forgets quickly, which is why consistency counts for more than any single post.
More on thisHow we do it is shown on the Social media management page.
Community management is the dialogue with people who comment, send messages or mention a brand on social media channels. It includes prompt, friendly replies, handling criticism and spotting enquiries that are really sales opportunities. A well-answered complaint can win over onlookers more than an advertising post.
More on thisSee also Social media marketing.
A content calendar sets out which content appears when and on which channel, with topic, format, owner and goal for each post. It links occasions such as trade fairs, product launches or recruiting phases with recurring formats. A good plan leaves room for current events and is adjusted based on results, not gut feeling.
More on thisWhich channels bring in enquiries in B2B is shown in the guide B2B social media that actually wins leads.
In the initial call, we look at your goals and tell you plainly which of these terms matter for your brand and which you can safely ignore. Then you get a fixed-price quote.
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Social recruiting
Social recruiting means winning skilled people through social networks such as Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, usually with paid ads. It also reaches people who are not actively looking and never open a job board. It only works with genuine insights and an application that is quick to complete on a mobile.
More on thisWhat this looks like in practice is explained in the guide Social recruiting reaches those not looking.