Matt,

Here's my approach to acronyms. If I don't know what it means, there is a good chance I don't need to know. A good example of what I mean exists in your posts.

I am certain those terms are important but I can't imagine why any marketer needs to know what they mean. If a client of mine needs a solution such as an API, they won't hire me, they hire someone with technical expertise such as you.

There is already too much for the average marketer to process, so we need to focus on those solutions that we offer and let the experts in other fields take care of the rest. That means that when we develop a web site for a client, my folks handle copy and design. We outsource all the techie stuff. So we need to be well-trained on creating sticky messages, copy that sells, and design that complements the copy and enhances the usability.

I don't need nor can I afford to spend the time to know what my tech guys know. That's why I hire them.

Matt,

From the tone of my first response, you can probably tell what kind of week I am having: surrounded by work needing done, but constantly running off to another meeting. So having a smart and big-hearted guy like you offer to teach me something seems like a knife to the heart.

Good post and nice use of teaching tools. Perhaps your other readers will be more amenable to learning something new than this old fart. I'll try to be more open to your next effort.

Lewis -- Thanks for that. I know what you mean, but I think it's better to know the basics of technology to know what's possible in marketing. I learned long ago that you don't have to program the stuff, but if you don't know how it works, you can't see the full potential. Plus everybody sounds smarter with acronyms ;)

Lewis, I hate to disagree, but API is something some marketers should know something about. Not all.

It really depends on the industry one is in. I know quite a bit of technical stuff and it is VERY helpful to me but I am in the tech industry.

But having this knowledge, I can see that technology is VERY often applied for non-tech companies. As Matt says, knowing what is possible is useful to marketers.

Technology is a set of tools. You don't have to know how to use every tool but knowing what's out there is good.

Acronyms are just short hand way of saying something.

Do people say National Public Radio, Federal Communications Commmision, Federal Trade Commision, etc.? Often they say NPR, FCC, or FTC, and so it goes. In Britain they call Members of Parliament MPs.

I like acronyms unless they are used with people not likely to know the ones you typically use. It is good to know your audience and define your terms.

Matt, as a technology marketer, I found your example very interesting and relevant. I would think giving out these proprietary API keys, whether you are Google or Yahoo or the like would constitute some financial "value". I can see Facebook for example giving away APIs to allow developers to build applications within the platform, but I'd like to know the "mix" of companies charging or monetizing APIs vs those giving them away. I suppose it depends on your business model...

Paul,

Generally, in my understanding, an API often benefits the company without directly monetizing it.

Let's say you are Microsoft. It is in your interest to enable people to easily write software for your operating system if it makes Windows more marketable. Windows does have an API.

Permission-based email marketing services might find it useful to have customers have an easy way to integrate their internal database with the email marketing application. That gets the ESP more customers and revenue.

But I do see your point, an API might be monetized if companies wanted to use it to create tools that would make them money without direct benefit to the firm that created the application. You use the example of FaceBook as a case where it might be in their benefit to *directly* monetize the API.

It would be interesting to know of examples of monetized APIs. I cannot think of any off the top of my head at the moment. Anyone know of examples and how it was done?

BTW, Paul, while there are of course proprietary APIs, there are industry standards, too.

That way, a developer does not have to re-invent the wheel every time he encounters a new application. This seems to be especially true with Web-based applications and the like.

Hi Matt,
Thank you for the useful comment. It was nice and thanks for sharing the video. The API is useful in Marketing, i know. But more than that i got much information about that and it is very useful.
Thank you once again.

Thanks for putting that in layman's terms! That really helped me to understand it better.