In the realm of media planning and placement, there are many examples of distinct terms and industry jargon. Many of these are acronyms for mathematic equations used as a tool to help decide what mediums to use, as well as to track the effectiveness of campaigns. These specific terms are crucial for evaluating your advertising efforts; however, they can be a bit complex and confusing. In fact, very few people truly know what they mean or what goes into determining them.
At the end of the day, it’s all about impressions. Impressions refer to the number of individuals exposed to your message. By using these certain techniques, advertisers can accurately gauge and monitor the amount of impressions that an advertisement or full campaign successfully achieves. The more exposures you can get, particularly within your target market, the more successful your advertising efforts will be. More impressions will typically foster a greater return on your initial investment.
Here are five common media placement terms to become familiar with:
- GRP (Gross Rating Point) – The term Rating Point is used to represent one percent of the potential audience. For example, if 20 percent of the households you targeted are tuned in to a program while your ad plays, you just gained 20 rating points. Therefore, Gross Rating Points are a measure of the total number of Rating Points attained during an entire campaign. The formula for GRP is Reach x Frequency expressed as a percentage.
- CPP (Cost Per Point) – The term Cost Per Point is the cost of making an impression on one percent of the total population, or one GRP. It is another great tool for comparing the effectiveness of different media outlets when planning a schedule. The lower the Cost Per Point, the more you are getting for your money.
- CPM (Cost Per Thousand) – The term Cost Per Thousand is used to measure the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of various mediums. It is representative of how much it costs to reach 1,000 individuals or households. It is a very good tool used to give you an idea of what exactly you are getting for your investment in different media outlets.
- Reach – The principle of reach refers to the percentage of your target audience that have an opportunity to be exposed to your advertisement at least one time. Reach is a very important metric for determining the efficiency and success of advertising efforts, because it represents how effective you were at hitting your audience with your message.
- Frequency – The principle of frequency refers to the average number of times somebody in your target audience was exposed to your message. Frequency is incredibly important in monitoring and evaluating advertising efforts because the more times you can expose someone to your message, the greater the impact will be. Reach and frequency are used together to optimize advertising budgets by balancing the two metrics to get the most out of each of them.
Proper media placement is immensely important in advertising. Even if you have a great ad with an effective message, it is not going to be successful if the right people aren’t exposed to it. The above terms are very useful tools for targeting the right audience and getting the most out of your investment.
Need help in reaching your audience or tracking your success? Give us a call at (701) 478-1111 or visit us at absolutemg.com/contact. We would be happy to use our expertise and connections to maximize your budget and get you real results.