Hello, Creatives!

Let’s talk about marketing communications terminology. For anyone just getting started it can be overwhelming because the acronyms are like alphabet soup. In this blog post, I’ll be breaking down some of the terms and how to apply this in your side hustle or day job.

Edited to Add (Feb 4, 2021): I did a video on this subject as well, so if you’d like to take a look, here is the link.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

Total Amount Spent on Ad

____________________________

Number of Total Clicks on the Ad

Cost per click is used at one of the primary metrics for campaigns where the end goal is lead generation or sales. Lead generation comes in a couple different forms: email sign ups, consultation appointments, blog or YouTube subscribers etc. Lead generation campaigns usually come with a freebie to entice the end goal, which is to capture potential client/customer data so you can continue to nurture the lead into a sale.

CPC can be a solid indicator on whether or not the targeting or the ad design is successful. When cost per click is relatively high compared to your industry’s average, you’ll need to reevaluate what might be going wrong. Do some research to see what competitors are doing and learn from them.

It’s also important to note that a click on the ad may or may not end up being an email sign up or purchase or whatever the end goal is. For that, you have to go into the analytics of the landing page and/or e-commerce platform to see where the traffic/purchases are coming from.

Cost Per Thousand (CPM)

Total Amount Spent on Ad

_____________________ X 1000

Total Number of Impressions

If you’re running a brand awareness campaign, then this is the metric that might be more useful to you. A brand awareness campaign is simply that, raising or maintaining awareness that your brand exists and the problems they solve. Whether you are breaking into a new market or see a rise in competition in your current market and need to stay “top of mind” to keep people from switching, a brand awareness campaign will focus on the cost of reaching the most amount of people.

Keep in mind, if you are in a highly saturated market, the cost per 1000 impressions will be higher than in a market that has few alternatives. Also, don’t confuse impressions with reach. Reach is the number of accounts that saw the ad whereas impressions is the number of times the ad was seen, which includes when a person has seen it more than once.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management software is an online tool or app that enables you to hold customer data and leverage it to create sales funnels, email marketing campaigns and other marketing communications strategies to build and maintain customer loyalty. Examples of CRMs include Salesforce, HubSpot, MailChimp and Zendesk.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

Total Number of Clicks

______________________

Total Number of Impressions

The click through rate can show how effective your ad design or problem-solution offer is. A generic baseline click through rate is about 2%, but check your industry’s average to determine what your benchmark should be. This means that, on average, for every 100 impressions, an ad should receive 2 clicks.

To be clear, 2 clicks does not mean 2 sales or sign ups. None of these metrics can accurately determine how many end goal metrics to expect. Why? Plenty of reasons. The ad might have been enticing but the landing page took too long to load, so they backed out. This contributed to what’s called a “bounce rate”. Or it was poorly designed and the the person couldn’t find what they were looking for. Or the offer didn’t meet the person’s needs. Or the person wasn’t ready to opt-in or buy.

So, while a high CTR can be good news, showing you have created an effective ad, it can’t make up for other factors that are needed to nurture the person through the rest of the sales funnel.

Pay Per Click PPC

Pay Per Click is simply the name for the type of ad where you will pay the ad servicer for each click on the ad. Google and Youtube operate like this. Other options for ad types are paying per engagement (likes, comments, and shares), and per 1000 impressions.

As you can see, there are a number of different ways to measure an ad campaign. And the metrics are simply one aspect of a campaign. They can be indicators of issues with the ad itself.

Was this helpful? Is there anything else you’d like me break down about marketing terminology and why it matters to your campaign? Let me know in the comments below.

Until Next Time,

Rochele

P.S. If you are ready to take the next step in your branding and marketing journey, let’s work together! Fill out the form and I’ll get in touch to book a discovery call with me for a brand coaching session or a strategic planning consulting service.