Cost Per Thousand (CPM) No, the abbreviation is not a typo; leave it to marketing to be confusing.

7 Digital Marketing Terms You Need to Understand to Grow Your Business: Week 5

You know about Pay Per Click (PPC) and Cost-per-click (CPC); now let's learn about Cost Per Thousand, referred to as CPM or cost per mille. CPM indicates the price of 1,000 advertisement impressions on one web page. Google Ads, which I'm familiar with, works on both a CPM and CPC model.

What you are paying for in a CPM model is impressions, and lots of them if you're on the right websites. Think of CPM as your online branding and awareness-building program. The more times people see your brand and message, the more likely they are to remember it. 

Think of this as renting a billboard on a busy highway; this helps build top-of-mind awareness so that when the time is right to buy, the prospect or customer thinks of you first.  

How can you make sure your CPM campaign is successful? First, you have to have a budget, not just a bucket of money but a specific dollar amount allocated to CPM, just like my example of a billboard; what are you able to invest in getting your message and brand in front of as many people as possible? 

Secondly, you must have a detailed understanding of the purpose and goal of CPM being awareness building and that your messaging, design, and strategy align with your company's goals and branding.

Lastly, you must plan for the next steps in your marketing strategy.  As you build awareness around your company, products, and services, what’s next? How will you capture the leads you generate or keep your online products or content fresh and updated so you keep people coming back for more?    

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