Marketing Glossary - C

Cause Marketing

Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a for-profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The non-profit receives donations and visibility, while the for-profit business improves its image with the hope of increasing sales.

CDI / Category Development Index

Percentage of sales for a specific category of products or services (e.g., lip balm or goat cheese) in an area in relation to the population in that area as compared to the sales throughout the entire U.S. in relation to the total U.S. population. The U.S. average sales per person becomes the base index of 100 for the category.

Circulation

Number of copies of a newspaper or magazine that are sold or distributed to the general public.

Classified Advertising

Advertising appearing in newspapers and some magazines that is arranged according to specific categories or classifications. The text of the advertisements is set in the same size and style of type and the ads are usually without illustration.

Click-through rate or CTR

CTR is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign. A CTR is obtained by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad on a web page by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). For example, if a banner ad was delivered 100 times (impressions delivered) and one person clicked on it (clicks recorded), then the resulting CTR would be 1 percent.

Collateral Material

Term used to describe pieces used for marketing/sales support of a product or service. Such materials were traditionally printed, but in addition to brochures and hangtags, collateral materials now commonly include video, CD-ROM, and other multi-media formats.

Colophon

A brief description, generally at the end of a book, of relevant production notes, including designers involved and typefaces used.

Column Inch

Unit of measure in a publication by which advertising space is sold. Magazines and newspapers are divided into so many columns wide and so many inches deep (depth = height). If the advertiser’s message fits into space that measures 4 columns wide by 5 inches deep, the advertiser needs 20 column inches (4 x 5 = 20).

Commissionable

Advertising time or space that is purchased by an advertising agency on behalf of a client and for which the agency receives a commission from the media. (Marketing Partners passes all commissions directly back to clients.)

Content Marketing

Anything you’ve developed, written or even shared (graphics, photos, a blog post, a brochure, a newsletter, etc.) is considered content (a marketing asset) and you can make use of it in your marketing to create interest in your products or services.

Cooperative Advertising

Individual advertisement sponsored by two or more manufacturers or retailers where the sponsors cooperate in the copy as well as the budget.

CPC (Cost per Click)

Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on its advertisement that brings one visitor to its website.

CPM / Cost Per Thousand

Cost of reaching an audience on a per thousand basis. The CPM is computed by multiplying the advertising cost times 1000 and dividing by the total audience.

Cumulative Audience

Audience accumulation for a medium over a specified period of time. Individuals or households count only once in this measurement, no matter how many times they may have been exposed to the medium. Cumulative audience represents the unduplicated audience (the number of people who will be reached at least once) for a schedule over a specific time period.