Performance marketing

Performance marketing: strategy and execution

Performance marketing is not a standalone marketing discipline, but an approach that can be applied to most campaigns and online marketing activities. All activities along the customer journey should be planned so that results can be measured on an ongoing basis and the insights used for optimization purposes. Wherever KPIs are generated, performance can also be measured. In addition to banner advertising and affiliate marketing, performance marketing is mainly used in the following marketing areas: 

• Performance marketing and SEO: SEO is a fundamentally important interface to performance marketing. Rankings are achieved through search engine optimization, which then drives website traffic.
• Performance marketing and SEA: search engine advertising can also be used to generate traffic.
• Performance marketing via email campaigns: sophisticated automation processes and good content make email marketing one of the most important measurable marketing disciplines.
• Performance marketing and social media: what is each post’s rate of reach and engagement? In fast-paced social networks, individual post performance can be measured quickly and easily.
  

Performance marketing: KPIs

Which KPIs provide the greatest insight into marketing activity performance? That depends on the goal of the activity, perhaps to increase website traffic, build an email list or boost sales of a particular product.

Performance marketing KPI: reach

When using SEO to reach prospective customers, these are some of the indicators that are crucial to success:

• Impressions in Google SERPs
• Top rankings on Google (depending on the search volume)
• Searchmetrics, Sistrix or Xovi visibility index

These performance factors provide insights into the effectiveness of activities and achievable user potential.

Performance marketing KPI: engagement

Engagement is about the desired action from the user:

• How many of the people reached click on a result in the SERPs?
• How many unique visitors stay on the website and for how long?
• How many views does a video get?
• How many comments and shares does a post generate?
• How many new contacts (leads) enter their data in the contact form?

By measuring motivation to engage, engagement KPIs indicate whether users have been successfully reached.

Performance marketing KPI: conversion

The conversion is the grand finale of the customer journey:

• How many inquiries were received?
• How many purchases were made?
• How much was generated in sales?

Within the context of a comprehensive performance marketing strategy, it is also important to establish relationships between figures, e.g.:

• How many leads were converted from a specific email campaign?
• How many inquiries were received via a landing page and how many purchases were made?
• What did the two campaigns costs, what was the level of engagement and how much was generated in sales?

Performance marketing creates transparency

Performance marketing enables the most effective and transparent use of marketing budgets. Specific targets can be formulated, pursued and measured. Performance marketing is certainly key to survival in e-commerce, but KPI measurement and analysis has a direct impact on the success of marketing activities in other areas as well.