CPM, or Cost per Mille, refers to the cost incurred for every thousand impressions of an online advertisement. An impression is counted each time an ad is served to a user. For example, if an ad network charges you $1,000 for delivering 1 million impressions, your CPM would be $1.
Opting for a CPM model can be an effective strategy if your primary campaign objective is to enhance brand awareness. By exposing your brand to a large audience through repeated impressions, you can effectively increase brand visibility and recognition among potential customers.
However, if your campaign goal revolves around encouraging user engagement or prompting specific actions such as signing up for a loyalty program, a Cost-per-Click (CPC) model might be a more suitable choice. Unlike CPM, where you pay based on impressions, CPC charges you only when users click on your ad, indicating a higher level of engagement and interest.
The choice between CPM and CPC depends on your campaign objectives and desired outcomes. While CPM is ideal for building brand awareness, CPC can be more effective for driving targeted user actions and interactions with your brand.
For example, you’re running an online ad campaign for your clothing brand:
> Total Impressions: 500,000
> Cost: $750
To calculate the CPM:
> CPM (Cost per Mille) = (Cost / Impressions) * 1000
> CPM = ($750 / 500,000) * 1000 = $1.50
In this example, the CPM for your ad campaign is $1.50, meaning you’re paying $1.50 for every thousand impressions of your ad.