The Most Common Buzzwords Used In Marketing Job Adverts

Tired of seeing job adverts full of business buzzwords and corporate jargon that seem to say a lot but nothing at the same time?

You’re not alone.

We know that you just consider yourself as being bloody good at what you do. Not a rockstar, ninja or guru.

Marketing, in particular, seems to be rife with buzzwords and while some have merit, others definitely fall into the ‘WTF’ category.

So to shed light on the bullshit, we scraped over 1,000 live marketing jobs from LinkedIn and Indeed to find out which buzzwords are being used the most.

We also looked at the company benefits included in each advert to reveal what recruiters are choosing to share with potential candidates and what they’re leaving out.

Spoiler, less than half of the marketing job adverts include any mention of salary – mind-blowing!

Read on below to find out the full results.

The Cringey Buzzwords Most Commonly Used in Marketing Job Ads

You have to be laser-focused. Pardon?

‘Wear many hats’, but there is never any mention of what type.

Oooooh, ‘synergy’.

The recruitment is full of ridiculous buzzwords that cause even the most qualified to scratch their heads. It leaves candidates wondering what the job actually requires of them and can even result in them not applying despite being the right fit.

At The Marketists, we have no time for it.

It’s not what we stand for so we thought we’d pull the curtain back on the most cringeworthy buzzwords used in marketing job adverts.

The top five buzzwords used in marketing job adverts include:

• Communication skills – 31.27% of job ads
• Driven - 28.56% of job ads
• Flexible - 26.59% of job ads
• Dynamic - 26.40% of job ads
• Proactive - 23.31% of job ads

Descriptive phrases like ‘team player’ and ‘self-starter’ ranked in the top 20 most used buzzwords in marketing job ads, along with other cringe-inducing cliches like ‘hands-on’ and ‘work under pressure’.

It’s often counterintuitive too, and can undermine the genuine appeal of the role with phrases like ‘rockstar’ and ‘ninja’ seeming insincere.

We know that fluffy jargon like the above can also affect the clarity of job descriptions and confuse job hunters. This can, in turn, discourage top talent from applying for positions - so cut the crap!

Instead focus on clearly outlining what the job entails, the skills required and the benefits and opportunities for candidates. For more tips, read our blog post about why your marketing job adverts aren't attracting the best talent.

You’ll thank us later.

The Corporate Acronyms Most Commonly Used in Marketing Job Ads

They’re designed to speed things up but often, these shortcuts just cause so much confusion that it takes job hunters a long old while to work out what they mean.

In fact, Google searches for ‘What is a CRM?’ see volumes of over 100,000 each month worldwide. 

So, let’s break it down.

The top five corporate acronyms used in marketing job adverts include:

• CRM - 13.95% of job ads
• ROI - 10.77% of job ads
• SaaS - 4.68% of job ads
• CMS - 4.40% of job ads
• DOE - 2.53% of job ads

We don’t want to be one of ‘those people’ either so we’ve done a little breakdown of each of the acronyms we analysed below.

Corporate Acronyms Breakdown

• C-Suite - A company's top management positions where C stands for ‘chief’ i.e. CEO, CFO, etc. 
• CAC - ‘Customer acquisition cost’ measures how much an organisation spends to acquire new customers.
• CAD - This stands for Computer-Aided Design, which involves using software to create, modify and optimise designs and is commonly used in engineering, architecture and manufacturing.
• CIM - The ‘Chartered Institute of Marketing’ is a professional body that represents tens of thousands of members.
• CMS - A ‘content management system’ is an application that helps create, organise and store media and other files for use on websites. 
• COE - A physical or virtual ‘centre of knowledge’ that encompasses existing expertise and resources in a discipline or industry.
• CPA - ‘Cost per acquisition/action’ refers to the fee a company will pay for a marketing advertisement that results in a sale.
• CPD - This refers to Continuous Professional Development through the CIM to help marketers stay current with industry trends and best practices.
• CRM - Customer Relationship Management software helps businesses manage and analyse interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle. 
• CX - This encompasses all of the interactions a customer has with a company, influencing their overall perception and satisfaction - ‘Customer Experience’.
• DOE - An acronym (‘Depending on Experience’) that indicates salary or compensation is based on the candidate’s experience level.
• ESG - This criteria evaluates a company’s environmental, social and governance impact.
• FTC - A fixed-term contract is an agreement between an employer and employee that ends on a set date. 
• GDPR - The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU law that regulates data protection and privacy for individuals within the European Union.
• KPI - This refers to Key Performance Indicators, which are measurable values used to evaluate the success of organisations, teams and individuals.
• POC - Proof of concept is a demonstration that verifies certain concepts or theories have the potential for real-world application.
• POS - An acronym for ‘Point of Sale’ that refers to the place and system where retail transactions are completed.
• ROI - Return on Investment measures the gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the money invested.
• ROAS - This measures the ‘return on ad spend’, i.e. the revenue generated per pound spent on advertising.
• SaaS - ‘Software as a Service’ refers to delivering software applications on a subscription basis.

The Company Benefits Most Commonly Mentioned in Marketing Job Ads

Finally, but definitely by no means, least - company benefits.

Actually, the company benefits are probably the most important part of the job description.

No one is going to apply to a job advert that meticulously details the challenging requirements but fails to mention how they’d be looked after or what they’d be paid, are they?

That’s why we have scrapped over 1,000 marketing adverts for typical company benefits including parental leave, pensions, and wellbeing initiatives to see how many include these things.

Because we work in the industry, we also looked at ‘vibey’ company perks commonly associated with marketing such as dogs in the office and ping pong tables and compared these to the things that are actually important.

Key findings

• More job adverts mention company parties (12.45%) than they do health insurance/plans (7.96%), which indicates that many recruiters are under the impression that socialising is more important to job candidates than medical care.
• Having a dog-friendly office is mentioned more in job adverts than the phrase ‘personal growth’ - bizarre.
• Parental leave is mentioned in less than a fifth (18.27%) of marketing job adverts, despite around 70% of the industry being of child-bearing age.

How often is salary included in marketing job adverts?

Let’s not beat around the bush. Candidates want to know how much they will be paid.

Put. The. Salary. On. The. Advert.

Please.

Our research shows that more than 10% of marketing job adverts still use phrases like ‘competitive salary’ and ‘salary dependent on experience’. 

And just under half (49%) don’t mention it in the job advert at all. Mind-blowing!

It’s important because you could be missing out on top talent if you don’t include it.

A recent LinkedIn survey showed that 91% of job applicants said that including salary ranges in a job post would affect their decision to apply.

Methodology

We scraped over 1,000 live marketing jobs from LinkedIn and Indeed to find out which buzzwords, corporate acronyms and company benefits are being used the most.

We compiled the lists of these things from reputable online articles and insider knowledge.

Data is correct as of June 2024.

Expanding your business and trying to attract high-performing applicants? The Marketists is a specialist marketing recruitment business that can help you find the most suitable candidates for the role. Contact us to hear more about our services or check out our other articles to learn more.