From CPM to ROI: Understanding Digital Marketing Acronyms for Successful Cannabis Advertising

Our hope is that you can avoid those dreaded meeting moments and maybe even impress a colleague or two with your newfound knowledge of digital advertising terms to go along with your cannabis marketing:

API: Application Program Interface

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The building blocks of software applications. Not to be confused with apps.

ATD: Agency Trading Desk

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A media buying and reselling function that gives buyers greater control over ad placement. Often layered with a demand-side platform (DSP).

BR: Bounce Rate

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The percentage of visitors who leave a website after visiting only one page.

CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost

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Pretty self-explanatory. This refers to the combined costs of convincing a consumer to buy a product or service.

CMP: Creative Management Platform

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A tool used by creatives to easily make ad versions for testing.

CPC: Cost Per Click

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The price an advertiser pays to a publisher each time their ad gets clicked. Also referred to as Pay Per Click (PPC).

CPM: Cost Per Thousand

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The cost of 1000 impressions on a specific publisher. But what’s that “M” for, you ask? It stands for “mille,” which is Latin for thousand.

CRM: Customer Relationship Management

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A company’s strategy that leverages past customer data to better interact and build relationships with their current and future customers.

CR: Conversion Rate

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Not just a football term, it refers to the percentage of customers who take a desired action.

CRO: Conversion Rate Optimization

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Unsurprisingly, a system or strategy for improving your conversion rate.

CTA: Call to Action

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An instruction to an audience or reader to provoke a response or action. Now, continue reading.

CTR: Click Through Rate

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The rate at which consumers use a specific link to visit a landing page, advertisement, or other communication.

CX: Customer Experience

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A customer’s experiences and interactions with a company.

DCO: Dynamic Creative Optimization

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Display ad technology that automates multivariate or A/B testing.

DMP: Data Management Platform

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A tool that collects and analyzes user data to improve targeting and messaging.

DSP: Demand Side Platform

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One half of a programmatic ad buying platform (partner to SSP). Used by advertisers to buy impressions from publishers.

DNS: Domain Name Server

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A program that controls domain names, websites, and email servers.

GDD: Growth Driven Design

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A web design system that iterates on smaller pieces in phases, resulting in a faster turnaround.

KPI: Key Performance Indicator

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One or more metrics identified to track the success of a company, a campaign, or a communication.

LTV: Lifetime Value

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The estimated company profit attributed to the entire relationship of a single, particular customer.

PMP: Private Marketplace

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A private, invitation-only media auction held by a publisher.

ROI: Return on Investment

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The expected value of each dollar spent on a specific project.

RSS: Rich Site Summary

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An organizational tool that searches websites and creates an informational feed in real time.

RSS: Really Simple Syndication

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The. Exact. Same. Thing. As rich site summary. We’re sorry, we don’t make the rules.

RTB: Real-time bidding

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The automated media-buying process used for most programmatic impression purchases.

SaaS: Software as a Service

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A licensing and distribution structure where software is centrally hosted and made available over the internet.

SSP: Supply Side Platform

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The other half of a programmatic ad buying platform (partner is DSP). Helps digital media owners and publishers sell digital ads in automated auctions.