Marketing terms explained

Spark's screens use plain words. When you want the professional term behind them, open "learn more" on a stage or a step, or read this page.

Accounts and platforms

• Business account: A platform account for a business rather than a person: a Facebook Page, an Instagram professional account, a TikTok or Snapchat business profile, a Google Business Profile or a YouTube channel.
• Partner access: You keep ownership of your accounts and give Spark's business access to work on them. You can remove that access at any time without losing anything.
• Business portfolio (Meta): Meta's container for a business's Pages, Instagram accounts, WhatsApp accounts, ad accounts, pixels and catalogues — formerly called Business Manager.
• Business Center (TikTok): TikTok's container for a business's ad accounts, pixels and catalogues. Your Business Center adds Spark's Business Center as a partner.
• Manager account (Google Ads MCC): A Google Ads account that manages other accounts. Linking your account to Spark's manager account gives access only; ownership stays with you.
• Ad account: Where campaigns, budgets and the payment method live on an ad platform. It should sit inside your business, not Spark's.
• Official API: The sanctioned way for software to talk to a platform, with your permission. Spark never automates the platforms' sign-up or verification screens; their terms forbid it.

Identity and verification

• NAP (Name, Address, Phone): Your business name, address and phone number. They should be written the same way on every platform and directory.
• Brand kit: Your logos (primary, icon, monochrome), colours, fonts and tone of voice in one place, so every platform looks the same.
• Business verification: The platform checks official documents (such as the commercial register or tax certificate) to confirm your business is real before unlocking full features.
• Advertiser verification: A check of who pays for and runs the ads. Unfinished verification can pause ads.

Strategy

• SOSTAC: A planning order: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, Control. Understand where you are before choosing what to do.
• SWOT: Strengths and weaknesses inside the business; opportunities and threats outside it.
• Competitor analysis: Named competitors scored on what customers care about most, including what they advertise and where.
• STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning): Split the market into groups, choose the groups to serve, then decide how you want them to see you.
• Segmentation bases: Ways to group customers: where they are (geographic), who they are (demographic), how they live (psychographic) and how they buy (behavioural).
• Positioning statement: One sentence saying who the offer is for, what need it meets, how it differs from the alternative and why to believe it.
• Persona: A short, realistic description of a typical customer built from real data, so everyone writes for the same person.
• Jobs-to-be-done: Customers "hire" a product or service to get a job done — practical, social or emotional. Knowing the job explains why they buy.
• Value proposition canvas: Matches the customer's jobs, pains and gains with how your offer relieves the pains and creates the gains.
• 4Ps (marketing mix): Product, Price, Place and Promotion — the four decisions behind any offer.
• 7Ps (services marketing mix): The 4Ps plus People, Process and Physical evidence, because a service is experienced rather than held.
• SMART goal: A goal that is Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related (often adapted as Achievable and Relevant).
• Weekly spending cap: The most Spark may spend on your ads in one week. Splits such as 60% brand / 40% activation are benchmarks, not rules.

Catalogue, funnel and campaigns

• Catalogue: Your list of products or services with names, prices and pictures, shared with platforms so they can show it in ads and shops.
• Pixel / tracking tag: A small code on your website or booking form that tells the ad platform when someone becomes a lead or a customer.
• Marketing funnel: The stages a stranger passes through to become a loyal customer: awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty.
• Campaign objective: What you ask the platform to optimise for, such as awareness, traffic, leads or sales. Meta has six; TikTok and Google Ads group theirs similarly.
• KPI (key performance indicator): The number that shows whether a stage works — for example reach for awareness or cost per lead for conversion.
• Launch check: Spark's final checklist before the first ad: special ad category, budget equal to the cap, schedule time zone, placements and a test on a phone.