Impression

An "impression" is not about leaving Grandma awestruck with your new haircut. In marketing lingo, it's just a fancy way of saying someone *might* have glanced at your ad while scrolling past on their fifth cat video of the day. No promises they actually noticed it, but hey, brand presence is half the battle, right?

In marketing, an impression refers to the number of times an advertisement or piece of content is displayed or appears on a user’s screen, regardless of whether it is clicked or not. It is a metric used to quantify the potential reach of an ad, serving as an indicator of its visibility and exposure in the digital landscape. Unlike engagements or clicks, impressions do not account for user interaction; instead, they focus on the sheer occurrence of display, thus providing insight into the potential audience size. In the context of digital advertising, impression metrics are typically used to evaluate the performance of campaigns and are a foundational component for calculating metrics like CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions). Understanding impressions is crucial for marketers in evaluating the effectiveness of their reach and optimizing the strategic placement of their advertising efforts.