We live in an age where marketing has become an essential part of business growth. With a huge number of already established businesses in the marketplace and more emerging on the scene every day, competition is more severe than ever before. That is why most companies lean on marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness and exposure. Marketing plays a crucial role in helping a brand or company stand out from the crowd and put more eyes on its product. The type of marketing a company uses depends upon a number of factors. With the advancements in technology, digital marketing has taken most of the roles occupied by traditional marketing. There are many different kinds of digital marketing and the number of their channels is growing every day. Some of these types include content marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, etc. This article will solely focus on performance marketing best practices.
Table of Contents
What is performance marketing?
As the name implies, performance marketing is performance-based marketing that is driven by results. It is a kind of marketing in which the company or brand pays the marketing service only when a certain objective is completed, i.e. a lead, click, or sale. This kind of marketing is best suited for companies that are looking to reach their audience at scale, as payments are based on a user’s interaction with the marketing content. Companies looking to use performance marketing for advertisements usually get in touch with marketing agencies or publishers. The said agencies then post the advertisements on several marketing channels like search engines, social media platforms, mobile ads, and more. But instead of using traditional payment methods, the agency receives payment based on how well the ads perform. The greater the number of sales, clicks, or impressions, the more they will be paid. Payment can be done based on the following factors: Cost per click (CPC), Cost per impression (CPM), Cost per lead (CPL), Cost per sales (CPS), Cost per acquisition (CPA), etc. Learn More: Performance Marketing Agency
Best practices for performance marketing
No matter which kind of marketing you are utilizing, it is ideal to learn the best possible practices to get optimal results. The following are some strategies that can help you in obtaining the best possible results through performance marketing:
Dynamic Marketing
Dynamic marketing focuses on using a customer’s behavioral data to personalize their experience. This type of marketing uses artificial intelligence to keep track of customer activity. This provides valuable insight into the preferences of a customer, i.e. what are they viewing and purchasing? By using this data, similar and relevant products are recommended to the user through ads. Statistics show that over 90% of customers are more likely to purchase a product from a company or brand that recommends relevant products instead of random ones. A continuous barrage of irrelevant ads leads to customer annoyance and frustration. Showing relevant ads through dynamic marketing is more likely to cause high conversion rates and generate more sales.
Native advertising
Another strategy you can use to make the most of your performance marketing campaigns is native advertising. Native ads are those ads that seamlessly blend into the platform they are featured on. They take on the look and feel of their platform and as such don’t feel like ads. Native ads can be highly advantageous for getting good results from performance marketing, as they don’t disrupt the user experience like banner ads. Research has shown that native ads result in an 18% higher lift in purchase intent compared to banner ads. A/B targeting can be useful to evaluate the performance of different formats of native ads.
Affiliate/Influencer marketing
Affiliate or influencer marketing involves affiliating yourself with well-known influencers or a social network to promote your products. In turn, the affiliates receive a commission for every click or sale made. Affiliate marketing can be highly advantageous as the influencers have an already in-built audience and can use their social media reach to build brand awareness. This can then translate into new leads or customers. And as this is performance marketing, there are little or no risks involved as you would only have to pay for measurable results. You can also receive information from your affiliates regarding the behavior of their audience to construct ads that can deliver the most optimal results. The data from these campaigns can then be useful to determine which affiliates delivered the most efficient results. This can provide you with a plan on how to move forward with your performance marketing strategies for the foreseeable future. Learn More: Social Media Influencer Marketing Services
Utilizing the “stories” format
The stories format is one of the most popular formats in use today. Originating from Snapchat, the format now is part of most social media platforms. Stories usually take the form of a set of images that disappear after a 24-hour time limit. Most brands and companies use this format to create a narrative by posting multiple images. They create a hook that keeps people intrigued enough to check out the whole set of pictures. You can use a variety of different tools like filters, effects, stickers, etc. to make them more visually appealing and engaging for your customers.
Track and measure
Keeping track of all of your marketing campaigns is one of the most important aspects of performance marketing. The data obtained from your marketing campaigns help you in determining what’s working and what’s not. Evaluating your gains and losses plays a huge role in making the most out of your performance marketing strategy. The data obtained can be useful to make further improvements to reach optimal results. At Admiral Media, we use the Growth Loop to framework to track and measure results – download our free guide to learn more.
Choosing reputable traffic sources
Choosing reputable traffic sources is very important for your performance marketing campaigns. Picking reputable sources come with several advantages. First of all, people are more likely to trust a reputable source than a non-reputable one. This can create trust issues that paint your brand in a negative light. A good customer-provider relationship is based on trust. Second, it is much better to pick reputable sources as they help you drive more meaningful traffic to your site. Generating low-quality traffic will hurt you in the long run.
Conclusion
Overall, performance marketing helps you target your audience with a more data-driven approach. The data obtained can be useful to optimize your marketing campaign over time. On top of that, performance marketing ensures that you only have to pay for measurable results like sales or clicks. If you are looking to work with one of the best performance marketing agencies in the industry, book a call to learn more about how Admiral Media can help.
