The sales question I guarantee I will answer

Katelyn Mary Skaggs

Dec 1, 2025

Every time I meet with a client about digital marketing, I can almost guarantee one question will come up, “How many clicks?”

Clicks are the easiest number to see and the easiest to understand; we all know how to click on something.

However, clicks are not the full story of any digital marketing. Yes, clicks do matter, but when we sell digital ads, we are selling awareness, visibility and brand recognition first. It is time for all of us, including our clients, to focus less on clicks and more on brand awareness.

When a digital ad runs, every time it loads on someone’s screen, that is an impression. Think of it like someone seeing your ad in the newspaper. You do not know how long they looked at it or if they folded the paper and put it in their car, but you know it was seen.

If a campaign delivers 50,000 impressions, this means your business was visible 50,000 times on computers, phones or tablets. That is 50,000 chances for someone to recognize your brand, remember your logo or associate your business name with the product or service you offer. That's brand awareness at work.

Most people assume their ads should get click-through rates around 5–10%. In reality, the national average for display ads is just 0.08%. This means less than one person out of every thousand who sees an ad will click it.

This number might sound small, but it is very normal. Most people do not click on ads. Think about your own behavior. How often do you see an ad, register the message and move on without clicking? I do it all the time. You are still influenced by what you saw. This is why impressions matter.

Let’s say you are working with the local roofing company on a digital programmatic campaign. Someone in your area sees the ad several times while reading the news or checking the weather. They do not need a roof right now, so they scroll past. Then a storm hits two weeks later, and the same person suddenly needs a new roof. They remember the roofing company name from the ads and look it up. This is a conversion. It did not come from a click, but it came from brand awareness built through impressions.

Clicks are a moment in time. Impressions build a memory of a business. Conversions are the result of the marketing magic.

When clients look at their reports, their eyes usually go straight to the click number. If it is low, they assume the campaign failed. This is when we need to step in and explain the bigger picture.

Start with simple questions. Did your website traffic go up? Did more people call or stop in?

If the answer is yes to any of those, the campaign worked.

Our job is to help advertisers understand that digital advertising is about awareness and consistency, not just instant clicks. People rarely act the first time they see a business’ ad.

This is why running a campaign for only one month rarely works. I always recommend that our clients run for at least three months to get a good picture.

Digital and print work best when they support each other. A print ad in the paper can introduce the message, and a digital ad can reinforce it later.

When advertisers understand that digital campaigns build familiarity and trust, not just clicks, they start to value the full impact. They see the awareness drives results in the long run.

Clicks will always be part of the story, but they should not be the bold headline.

When we focus less on clicks and more on brand awareness, our advertisers see the bigger picture, and our campaigns become more meaningful.

Katelyn Mary Skaggs is the digital marketing manager for Leader Publications, a group of four papers in Festus, Missouri. Skaggs, a Southeast Missouri State University graduate, joined their ranks in January 2019 as a reporter. Email katelynmaryskaggs@leaderpublications.biz