Definition

Marketing Qualified Lead—a prospect deemed worthy of sales attention based on arbitrary criteria marketing invented to prove they're doing their job. May or may not actually want to buy anything.

Example Usage

We generated 500 MQLs last month, though sales claims 490 were tire-kickers who downloaded a free ebook.

Origin

B2B marketing and sales alignment frameworks, 2000s

Source: B2B marketing and sales operations terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

frequency capping

Limiting how many times the same person sees your ad, based on the radical notion that showing someone the same message 47 times in one day might be counterproductive. It's the marketing equivalent of knowing when to stop talking.

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Beginner

tear sheet

A physical page torn from a publication proving an ad ran as purchased, or its digital equivalent screenshot. The receipts that media buyers clutch when things go wrong.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Beginner

deck monkey

A junior marketer whose primary job is creating endless PowerPoint presentations for meetings that may never happen. The modern equivalent of a Victorian-era scribe.

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Advanced

lift study

A controlled experiment measuring whether your advertising actually moved the needle or if you just wasted money shouting into the void. Compares exposed audiences to control groups to determine incremental impact.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Intermediate

dealer tier

A cooperative advertising arrangement where manufacturers support local dealer advertising efforts with funding and creative assets. The automotive industry's way of saying 'please don't make terrible ads with our logo.'

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Intermediate

sentiment analysis

Using natural language processing to determine whether customer feedback, social mentions, or reviews express positive, negative, or neutral opinions about your brand. It's teaching computers to detect sarcasm, which goes about as well as you'd expect.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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