WGU D373 Section 2: Lesson 2 Marketing Communications ACTUAL exam: QUESTION AND ANSWERS UPDATED 2026 LATEST

Buyer's Journey Stages

Awareness, Consideration, Decision

Call-to-action (CTA)

An image or line of text that prompts visitors, leads, and customers to perform a desired action. ("Subscribe to the Newsletter", "Buy Now")

Content marketing

a strategic marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing content that is valuable, relevant and consistent; ultimate goals are lead generations and customer acquisition

Awareness stage (Buyer's Journey)

Identify a need, problem, or opportunity

Consideration stage (Buyer's Journey)

Actively considering a new product or service

Decision stage (Buyer's Journey)

Make the purchase decision based on the products that meet your specific needs including features and price

Data-driven communications

the use of data to better understand target markets to deliver more relevant, contextual, or personalized messages

Earned media

a category of promotional tactic based on a public relations or publicity model that gets customers talking about products or services; drives organic traffic to a company website through SEO

Impressions

the number of times an advertisement appears in front of the user

Inbound marketing

a marketing strategy that focuses on attracting customers via company-created Internet content. Pulls consumers to your brand through value-added content that is relevant, contextual, or personalized

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

carefully integrating and coordinating the company's many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent, and compelling message about the organization and its products; includes advertising, PR, digital marketing, direct marketing, events and experiences, sales promotion, and personal selling

Objective

A short term, specific goal that leads to a larger goal; typically specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound

Organic content

content developed by a company that is featured on its website, social media, and its communications (NOT paid ads)

Owned media

Internet sites, such as websites, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, that are owned by a company

Paid media

a category of promotional tactic based on the traditional advertising model, whereby a brand pays for media space

Point-of-purchase

advertising or other display materials set up at retail locations to promote products to potential customers as they are making their purchase decisions

Pull Promotional Strategy

Companies attempt to influence customers to ask for a branded product at their favorite retailer.

Push Promotional Strategy

Aimed at wholesalers and retailers, to encourage them to market the product to consumers.

Reach

the number of target consumers exposed to a commercial at least once during a specific period

Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

The results a search engine lists in response to a user query.

Subscribed Audience

Prospects and customers who have subscribed to a company's email list, YouTube channel, etc, indicating they want to hear from the company

ABLE Framework

designed to help companies create effective marketing communications while simplifying the evaluation and creation process. Four components include attention, benefit, linkage, and equity

Brand advocate

a person who is loyal to your brand and speaks favorably about your brand to others

Creative Brief

a guideline or blueprint for the marketing communication program that guides the creative process; identifies goals, objectives, strategies, and deliverables

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

managing detailed information about individual customers and carefully managing customer touch points to maximize customer loyalty; includes a data system that allows departments to store and share common customer data

Customer segmentation

divides a market into categories that share similar attributes such as age, location, gender, habits, and so on

First Party Data

data on user or consumer behavior that is collected by an organization from the people who use the organization's websites or online services

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

The quantifiable metrics a company uses to evaluate progress toward critical success factors

Marketing Automation

a group of systems and technologies that can be used to establish a set of rules for handling different marketing related processes in an automated fashion (i.e schedule email campaigns, social media posts, etc.)

Marketing Communications

The various efforts and tools companies use to communicate with customers and prospects, to educate, inform, and entertain. Primary objectives to create awareness, elicit a response, and stimulate demand leading to a purchase

Metric

a standard of measurement (i.e. website visits, clicks)

Advertising

any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor (offline or online)

Public Relations (PR)

building good relations with the company's various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events

Digital Marketing

Uses all digital media, including the Internet and mobile and interactive channels, to develop communication and exchanges with customers (social media, website, SEO)

Direct marketing

direct communication between a seller and an individual customer using a promotion method other than face-to-face personal selling (email, mail, text)

Events and Experiences

company-sponsored activities and programs designed to create daily or special brand-related interactions with consumers, including sports, arts, entertainment, and cause events as well as less formal activities

Sales promotion

Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service (coupons, end-cap displays, table tents, free trials)

Personal selling

The two-way flow of communication between a buyer and a seller that is designed to influence the buyer's purchase decision.(sale reps, chat reps, phone reps)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.

Paid search

the process by which advertisers pay websites and portals to place ads in or near relevant search results based on key words

Customer acquisition process

Reaching the prospect

Attracting the prospect

Engaging the prospect

Following up with the prospect

Nurturing the prospect

Converting the prospect into a customer

Retaining the customer

Delighting the customer