Audience, offer, and call to action
The audience is the group the message is intended to reach. The offer is what the business proposes to provide. The call to action tells the person what to do next.
Write all three in plain language before choosing a channel. “Request an estimate for a replacement door” gives a campaign a more specific job than “build awareness” alone.
Impressions, reach, and frequency
An impression is a recorded display under the reporting platform’s rules. Reach estimates the distinct people or accounts exposed. Frequency describes repeated exposure within the selected reporting period.
Ask which platform and date range a figure comes from. Avoid adding reach across platforms as though the same person could only appear in one audience.
Conversion and conversion rate
A conversion is an action selected for measurement. Define the action explicitly, such as a completed purchase or submitted inquiry. Conversion rate divides the counted actions by a stated denominator.
Write the denominator beside the percentage. Ten inquiries from 500 visits is a different measure from ten booked jobs out of 40 inquiries.
Cost per inquiry and acquisition cost
Cost per inquiry divides the chosen marketing cost by the number of valid inquiries. Acquisition cost uses new customers as the denominator and should state which costs are included.
Keep spam, duplicates, existing-customer requests, and new-customer inquiries distinguishable. Otherwise, a lower reported cost can hide a decline in useful responses.
Return on ad spend and return on investment
Return on ad spend compares attributed revenue with advertising spend. For an internal return-on-investment calculation, define the profit or contribution being compared with the full marketing investment.
Document the assumptions and costs. Revenue, gross profit, and cash collected are different inputs and should not be substituted without changing the label.
Attribution and reporting windows
Attribution assigns credit for an action to interactions along the customer path. A model supplies the rules for that credit, as described in Google Analytics’ attribution documentation.
Use a consistent reporting window and investigate differences between advertising, analytics, and customer records before drawing conclusions.