Business abbreviations, acronyms, and text lingo are used worldwide. Regardless of where you live in the world, chances are you would know CEO, CIO, OMG, LOL, and TTYL! by now. But there are hundreds of other acronyms used in business to make our lives easier.
Have you ever sat down with a strategic planner or social media marketer, who used business abbreviations and acronyms that left you clueless? Ie. TMI
As an illustration, your consultant will conduct a SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results) to determine the ROA (Return on asset). On the other hand, the SMM (social media marketer) wants to know your SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) to increase your CLV (Customer Lifetime Value).
Popular Business Abbreviations
Ever been in a business circle where everyone is laughing, sharing, and talking about projections, analytics, and technological advancements, except you. After all, business abbreviations and acronyms can sound like a foreign language, but one we must learn.
In fact, we’d all heard the old’ adage; stop trying to keep up with the Jones, however, it behooves us to keep up with business jargon.
What’s Amazing; after digesting this brief article, you will be ready for the next meeting. All things considered, in business time is money, and every advantage gives you a slight edge. Yesterday you texted just Google It… Tomorrow’s response; JGI!
Let’s get started!
Business and Operations
OMT: Office and Management Terminology
CEO: Chief Executive Officer.
CFO: Chief Financial Officer.
CIO: Chief Information Officer.
CMO: Chief Marketing Officer.
COO: Chief Operating Officer.
CSO: Chief Security Officer.
R&D: Research and Development.
QA: Quality Assurance
PR: Public relations.
HR: Human Resources
HQ: Headquarters
LWP: Leave Without Pay
MGR: Manager
QC: Quality Control.
SMB: Small to Medium Business.
S.M.A.R.T: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound
SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
MBWA: Management by Wandering Around
Text Email Lingo
COB: Close of business
EOD: End of Day.
EOT: End of Thread.
ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival.
YTD: Year to Date.
BID: Break it down.
OTP: On the phone.
TYT: Take your time.
WOM: Word of mouth.
BTW: By the way
IAM: In a meeting.
LET: Leaving early today.
LMK: Let me know.
OOO: Out of office.
OT: Off-topic.
POC: Point of contact.
NRN: No reply necessary.
JGI: “Just Google it.”
Conversational
DMC: Deep and meaningful conversation.
IRL: In real life.
WEG: Wicked evil grin
DAE: Does anyone else.
SMH: Shaking my head.
ELI5: Explain Like I’m 5 (years old).
GTR: Getting ready.
FUTABA: Feet up, take a break.
FTFY: Fixed that for you.
TIFU: Today I fudged up.
EAK: Eating at keyboard.
HAND: Have a nice day.
KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.
DFTBA: Don’t forget to be awesome!
WIIFM: “What’s in it for me?”
Office Emails
EOW: End of Week.
EOD: End of Day.
EOT: End of Thread.
ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival.
YTD: Year to Date.
FTE: Full-Time Equivalent
FYI: For Your Information
PTO: Paid Time Off.
SME: Subject matter expert:
ASAP: As Soon as Possible.
COB: Close of Business.
WFH: Work from Home.
Marketing Abbreviations
AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
B2B: Business to Business.
SaaS: Software as a Service.
B2C: Business to Consumer.
SMM (social media marketing) Acronyms
BR: Bounce Rate.
CLV: Customer Lifetime Value.
CPA: Cost Per Acquisition/Action.
CPC: Cost Per Click
PPC: Pay per Click
CR: Conversion Rate.
CRM: Customer Relationship Management
CTA: Call to Action
POC: Point of Contact
IM: Instant Messaging
DM: Direct Message
SEO Acronyms
SEM: Search Engine Marketing.
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
SERP: Search Engine Results Page
UV: Unique Visitor
CTR: Click-Through Rate.
PV: Page View.
WOM Marketing: Word of Mouth Marketing
Text Lingo
IMO: In My Opinion.
LMK: Let Me Know.
NVM: Never Mind.
NSFW: Not Safe for Work.
NWR: Not Work-Related.
ROFL: Rolling on Floor Laughing.
RT: Retweet.
TL; DR: Too Long; Didn’t Read
TLTR: Too Long to Read.
Finance and Legal Abbreviations
IPO: Initial Public Offering
KPI: Key Performance Indicator
MTD: Month to Date
DBA: Doing Business As
FIFO: First In, First Out
LIFO: Last in, First Out
MoM: Month on Month
ROA: Return on Assets
ROE: Return on Equity
ROI: Return on Investment
VPN: Virtual Private Network.
SLA: Service Level Agreement
TOS: Terms of Service.
Conclusion:
Business abbreviations, acronyms, and text lingo are used as a modern-day shorthand. This technique keeps office conversations short, succulent, and straight to the point.
AS small business owners it’s always good to know what’s going on within your company. Now you can catch the slang IE MBWA. If you began to see that jargon in emails. (Management by Wandering Around)!
If I missed any, let us know? Leave a comment below.
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Business Abbreviation and Acronym Cheat Sheet
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