The four populations
Loaded with an example. Every figure is yours to change — employees and workers come from your own records, peers and vendors are your estimate and are marked as such.
| Population | Carriers | Cost each | Impressions each, a year | Program cost | Impressions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employeesyour headcount | $47,500 | 450,000 | |||
| Gig & contract workersyour roster | $11,700 | 108,000 | |||
| Vendorsyour estimate | $7,200 | 48,000 | |||
| Peersyour estimate | $10,800 | 90,000 | |||
| Total | 780 | $77,200 | 696,000 |
We do not supply the CPM. Published benchmarks range from roughly $3 to $100 depending on channel and category, and every one we could find came from a vendor rather than a primary source. Yours is on your media plan and it is the only one worth comparing against.
What it comes to
This program costs $110.92 per thousand against $31.00 bought — 3.6x more. It does not win on price and should not be argued on price. What it buys instead is carriage by a named person, which Nielsen reports as the most trusted channel at 89%.
If the impression estimate is wrong
Impressions per carrier is the softest number here, and it is yours rather than ours. This varies it by half in each direction so you can see whether the case survives being wrong.
| Case | Impressions per carrier | Total impressions | Cost per thousand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | −50% | 348,000 | $221.84 |
| As entered | your figure | 696,000 | $110.92 |
| Aggressive | +50% | 1,044,000 | $73.95 |
What a carrier actually gets
Live from the working catalogue — 70,000 authorized SKUs across 200+ houses — filtered to what each budget above actually buys. Change a cost and these change with it.
Employees
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Gig & contract workers
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Vendors
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Peers
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The one figure we assert
“Recommendations from people they know (89%) is the most trusted channel” — and “Recommendations from people they know and solicited emails are almost 2x more likely to generate action.”
Nielsen, Trust in Advertising Study, US highlights, adults 15+, online survey, n=2,000. The same study puts the global figure at 88% across more than 40,000 respondents, September 2021. Nielsen does not state the comparison base for the 2x action figure, so it is reported here as worded and is not multiplied into any cost above.
Board paragraph
Take this with you
Email yourself the plan — every population, every figure and its source, exactly as built above. Or stand up a corporate room with these items already in it.
Talk through what your four populations actually look like.
(757) 390-0424Jenny Huang Goodman · MPA · MSc · MHSA · Principal
Or jenny@huanggoodman.com