Performance marketing – how to grow sales quickly and effectively?

There are many marketing techniques available on the market, but one particularly stands out. Today, we will talk about performance marketing, sometimes referred to as performance advertising as well. If you want to grow sales quickly – that’s your best bet. What is performance marketing? What do you need to know about this strategy? And what are the best paid performance channels? Let’s get right to it!

One of the great advantages of performance marketing is its versatility. Almost any type of business can benefit from it. It doesn’t really matter whether you run an online store or a manufacturing company – performance marketing will help you make more money and attract more customers. What do you need to know about this marketing technique?

What is performance marketing?

In general, the idea behind performance marketing is quite straightforward: You pay for results. That’s it. No art for art’s sake. Everything is purposeful and optimized to drive traffic and specific actions. And because this technique is all about bringing quantifiable results, it’s also settled this way. There are three most popular settlement models:

  • CPC/PPC (cost per click/pay per click)
  • CPM/PPM (cost per mille/pay per mille: You pay for every thousand impressions of your ads)
  • CPA/PPA (cost per action/pay per action)

The last model is particularly interesting because you can use it to get more:

  • Newsletter signups
  • Orders
  • Leads
  • Downloads

BENEFITS OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING

Apart from the benefits that we’ve already mentioned, it’s vital to say that performance marketing allows you to:

  • Maintain control over your marketing spend and plan it according to your current needs
  • Accurately calculate ROI (you know precisely how much money you earn on every invested dollar)
  • Get quick effects (unlike SEO or other long-term strategies, performance marketing works here and now, and a campaign can be launched within minutes)
  • Reach potential customers in any country, city, or region you want. The best paid performance channels have a global reach, so you can easily scale your business.

The best performance marketing channels

When it comes to paid performance, you should focus on two primary channels:

In fact, that’s enough to reach the vast majority of internet users worldwide! Of course, there are other performance marketing channels out there. But the fact of the matter is that you need just these two to achieve the majority of your goals.

Let’s examine these two channels more thoroughly. If you are a regular reader of our blog, you’ve surely already heard about them.

According to data from last year, 80% of businesses focus on Google Ads for PPC campaigns[1]. That’s hardly surprising; after all, Google is the most-visited website ever. Google’s offer for advertisers is quite broad, and it comprises Google Ads (text ads displayed in the SERP), Google Shopping Ads (formerly known as Product Listing Ads or PLAs), and Google Display Network (a large advertising ecosystem allowing you to promote your offer across over 2 million participating websites[2]).

Today, though, we want to focus on Google Ads because it’s the most accessible and straightforward way to promote your business among Google users. In fact, Google Display Network is a tool for the largest players, as it requires significant money investment to get sufficient exposure.

The previously mentioned source indicates that as much as 65% of clicked ads have specific buyer-intent keywords in them (e.g., buy, store, purchase). If you run an online store, that means it’s a perfect place to promote your business.

Take a look at how basic Google ads look:

google-ads-example 

And here’s an example of a Google Shopping Ad:

google-shopping-ads-example

That’s just the beginning, though. Google’s offer for e-commerce companies is much broader. If you want to know more about promoting your e-commerce business in Google, take a look at these blog posts on our website:

Here, let’s switch to Facebook Ads.

FACEBOOK ADS PERFORMANCE

In Google, you promote your offer to people who look for specific products. On Facebook, it’s a different story. Here, you advertise to people with particular characteristics, e.g., their interests, profession, location, and online activity. Facebook offers access to 2.8 billion active users and over 1,000 different targeting options, enabling you to reach precisely the people you want. For instance, if you want to show your ads to regular runners living in Toronto, or parents-to-be living in France, that’s a place to be. You are limited only by your imagination. Facebook gathers a lot of information about their users; it’s just a matter of utilizing these resources efficiently.

Because of all that, FB ads are quite effective. According to Sproutsocial.com, the click-through rate (CTR) on Facebook is almost 4%[3]:

fb-ctr-by-placement

People use Facebook as a daily news source but also to discover products and brands. Combined with Instagram, it’s a perfect place to showcase your products. And while we’re on this subject, you have to know that Facebook continually expands their offer for online retailers. One of their recent novelties is Facebook Shops – a service enabling online stores to sell directly via this social media platform.

If you want to read more about advertising and selling on Facebook, we invite you to read other articles on Dealavo’s blog:

Other performance marketing channels

As we mentioned earlier, these two channels are extremely important, but they are not the only ones. If you want to go beyond Google Ads and Facebook Ads, think about using these platforms and services to promote your e-commerce company:

  • Other Google services, including YouTube and Gmail
  • Amazon and other marketplaces (after all, Amazon is the largest marketplace ever, making it a perfect place for your e-commerce ads)
  • Instagram Ads (yes, they can be teamed with Facebook Ads, but it’s still a different channel, requiring a different approach)

Don’t forget to monitor prices!

Effective ads are one thing. Well-thought-prices are the other. Don’t forget that conquering the market takes more than just marketing. You also need attractive prices. And this is where our role begins. Discover our tools for e-commerce companies, especially price monitoring and dynamic pricing.

[1] https://www.digitalthirdcoast.com/blog/google-ads-statistics

[2] https://tinuiti.com/blog/paid-search/google-display-network/

[3] https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-stats-for-marketers/