Many business owners are making the shift to digital marketing. With this shift comes a variety of terms not used in traditional advertising. Today we will look at the digital acronyms you need to know.
CPC – Cost Per Click
With CPC ads, every time an interested viewer clicks, you pay a set fee. This way you only pay for direct customer engagement, not for viewers that just scroll by. CPC is the cost to you. PPC or Pay Per Click is the name of the digital service. Under this strategy, you order PPC ads and factor in your CPC when determining the success of the campaign.
CR – Conversion Rate
When an online viewer goes from seeing your ad to becoming a paying customer, you have a conversion. The goal of any digital marketing strategy is to achieve a high CR rate.
PPV – Pay Per View
While CPC carries a cost for each viewer that clicks, PPV is aimed at viewers that simply see the ad. This is a good strategy for building brand awareness and requires the ability to create a lasting impression in seconds.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO leverages keywords and phrases that people type into search engines like Google. After analyzing which words are being used by your target market, those words can be put directly into your online content via your web pages, blogs, sponsored content, and guest blogs. When someone searches for that phrase, your brand or site is returned as an organic top search engine hit. This is a powerful way to directly reach your target market.
CTA – Call to Action
The CTA is an important part of your web content and digital ads. Viewers are more likely to convert if they have a little encouragement. Your CTA could be anything from a “click here to learn more” button to a line of text saying, “call now.”
SOV – Share of Voice & ESOV – Equal Share of Voice
It’s great to know how your own ads are doing online, but it’s even better to know how your ads are doing when compared to your competitors. If your ad was on a page with five others that promote similar products, your SOV would be 20 per cent. Achieving 100 per cent SOV and being the only advertiser in your market on the page comes at a premium. The ESOV can be a better option. This is when your ad is in a spot with other ads, but in equal rotation. Every ad has the same amount of time to garner impressions and clicks.
CPM – Cost per Thousand Impressions
An impression is when a viewer sees (not necessarily clicks) on your ad. CPM is important because it helps you determine the value of having your ad in scrollable feeds like Facebook.
CTR – Click-Through Rate
The CTR measures how many viewers clicked the ad. It is important in determining if your digital ad is successful. Let’s say you had 1,000 views. If five people stopped to click, your CTR is 0.5 per cent.
GA – Google Analytics
GA is a powerful suite of services that tracks and reports on your website traffic and other Google-based marketing initiatives. GA helps you understand where your ads are going, who is seeing them, and if your ads are promoting conversions.
KPI – Key Performance Indicator
A KPI is a measurable value that demonstrates effectiveness. A click is a KPI, for example. You can determine how your KPIs work for your brand. Perhaps success to you is a 5 per cent CTR, or analytics that show 80 per cent engagement within your specified demographic.
PV – Page Views
PV counts are part of your analytics. The PV indicates how many times your web page was successfully loaded onto a browser.
ROS – Run of Site
ROS ads appear across a website and can show up on any page. Banner ads and Big Box ads are a good example of ROS marketing.
RON – Run of Network
RON ads have a wider reach than ROS ads. They can appear on any site in a publisher’s network. For example, Great West Media operates local sites all across Alberta. A ROS ad would appear on a local site, but a RON ad could appear on a site in another city or town. This is great for companies needing targeted advertising in a local, but broad area. The advertiser could use ROS to target their town, but also rely on a network like Great West Media to target the entire province using RON.
SEM – Search Engine Marketing (Google Ads)
SEM ads are purchased to run on search engines. When you do a Google search and see sponsored answers, those are SEMs.
SERP – Search Engine Results Page
The SERP is the list of results displayed after you type keywords into a search engine like Google or Bing.
UV – Unique Visitor
UV refers to the number of visitors to a site during a time period. A KPI could be how many UVs visit between 9 AM and 11 PM, for example.
VTC – View Through Click
Not every person clicks on an ad right away. Sometimes they think about it and later visit your site. This is why impressions are important. Impressions can leave a lasting…well… impression!
Great West Media can Help
Our digital media strategists are more than familiar with these terms and all the other ones used in digital marketing. Let us show you which online strategies are right for your brand. There are many ways to engage in digital marketing – but your solution is as unique as your business. Contact us today to get started on your customized digital marketing solution.
The Great West Media Content Studio produced this article for the Great West Media Marketing Blog. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff.
