This guide will show performance marketing examples, will detail the key performance marketing channels, and will cover the benefits of using performance marketing.
Performance marketing is a form of advertising in which the advertiser only pays a platform for achieved results, such as clicks, leads, or conversions. This marketing concept, ergo, ensures a more efficient mobile campaign without wasting budget or resources.
With performance marketing, mobile digital campaigns are easily measurable, and app installs and conversions always count. Marketers pay for results and can track their performance using various tools, including powerful analytics for their campaigns.
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It’s a newer form of marketing, but it’s quickly becoming one of the most popular for digital marketers; the ability to target particular audiences, not to mention the scalability and accountability performance marketing provides, is all but unchallenged.
This piece should give you a clearer understanding of performance marketing and will demonstrate what it looks like in mobile advertising campaigns.
What is performance marketing?
It’s a form of marketing where the advertiser only pays for completed actions. Performance marketing is a broad term that refers to both online marketing and advertising programs. Mobile marketers and app owners pay marketing companies for app installs, conversions, and qualified leads. Performance marketing breaks down as follows:
- Digital marketing – The term digital marketing refers to a type of marketing in which a business promotes its products via various online channels. There are multiple forms of mobile digital marketing, including native advertising, the use of display ads, programmatic advertising, search engine, and social media marketing.
- Affiliate marketing – The term affiliate marketing involves the promotion of other businesses’ products in exchange for a commission. It’s a process where publishers earn a commission, typically through the use of affiliate links. Affiliate marketing firmly falls under the umbrella of digital advertising.
Performance marketing differs from traditional advertising, where fees are paid upfront and instead only pay for successful transactions. In essence, performance marketing reverses the traditional value proposition of marketing and advertising and allows for real-time ROI measurement. It’s cost-effective for mobile marketers and exposes their business to a wider audience.
Performance marketing agency example
Source: WebMechanix
Performance marketing ensures that marketers reach their target audience via a data-driven approach, optimizable over time. It moves the focus from ad impressions to user actions, leading to more meaningful and relevant advertising experiences overall.
Featured Performance Marketing Agencies
Key performance marketing channels
Digital marketers today use a wide range of performance marketing channels to ensure they meet their mobile marketing campaign goals (and can consistently provide value to their audience). Most users will do what they can to avoid advertisements, so it’s important that the ad formats and designs used are able to provide a meaningful experience.
There are a range of different strategies that mobile marketers can use to keep things varied and appealing to audiences, including the use of display advertising, native ads, paid search, and content marketing. We examine the key performance marketing channels at marketers’ disposal below.
Display advertising
Display ads appear on the side of mobile newsfeeds and at the top or bottom of web pages. Today, display ads are not as popular as they once were due to the widespread use of ad blockers. However, many mobile marketers find success with these ads when the experience is made more meaningful, such as through the use of interactive content, engaging graphics, and advertisements that transform into video content.
Native ads
Mobile native advertising comprises sponsored content, social media ads, and in-feed ads. Mobile devices are more generally used for personal activities, which makes them a particularly effective place for native ads to reach new users.
Native ads take on a natural, non-intrusive state and appear natively on web pages and platforms. Mobile users are more accepting of these ads as they don’t disturb the user experience.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of digital marketing that is affiliated with the advertiser and is paid out after a specific action, such as a mobile app install, takes place. This type of marketing generally involves partnering with coupon, loyalty, review, and incentive sites and may include working with a popular influencer, like a well-known YouTuber or a long-term, professional blogger.
Sponsored content
Sponsored content is a type of performance marketing where influencers (and PR sites) publish sponsored posts to promote a range of products and services. Sponsored posts are almost always contextual in nature and help brands access influencer fan bases to expand their own.
Performance marketing agency example
Source: AdQuantum
Content marketing
Content marketing is used to educate an audience; the focus is primarily on offering useful information to mobile users. Content marketing usually comes in the form of a series of high-quality blog posts that detail, among other areas, the specific benefits of a product in question. Content marketing includes the use of case studies and eBooks, in addition to regular blog posts.
Paid search marketing
Paid search marketing places targeted ads in front of relevant mobile users across search engine results pages. Tools such as Google Ads enable mobile marketers to choose a precise demographic, target keyword, and campaign budget. Paid search marketing ads generally rank higher than unpaid, organic listings.
Social media marketing
This is where mobile marketers can use the power of social media platforms to reach new users. Mobile users are able to share sponsored content quickly (and organically), which helps to extend the content’s overall reach. Facebook Ads, for example, offers an extensive list of services that performance marketers can employ.
Performance marketing vs. digital marketing campaign vs. affiliate marketing
Digital and affiliate marketing are effectively subsets of performance marketing in two different forms; they sit under the larger umbrella of performance marketing.
Affiliate marketing, sponsored content, social media marketing, and further marketing models all include the use of performance marketing (measurable business results) where suitable. Mobile digital marketing campaigns include the use of performance marketing along with other types of marketing, such as demand generation. Performance marketing itself is a digital marketing strategy.
Performance marketing
Performance marketing revolves around results-driven marketing. The key attraction of performance marketing is that it’s low-risk and can lead to high ROI (return on investment). By only paying when a specific action is completed, you reduce the risk of spending and not seeing desired results.
Performance marketing agency example
Source: Kurve
Digital marketing campaign
Digital marketing refers to the use of multiple digital channels to market products and services to customers; a digital marketing campaign is a plan that mobile marketers develop to achieve a particular outcome. An effective marketing campaign requires research, planning, time, and a good deal of patience.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of performance marketing that is affiliated with the advertiser and paid out after a desired action, such as a mobile app install, takes place. It’s where mobile marketers promote another company’s product or service in return for a commission.
Benefits of performance marketing
As advertising fees are only paid upon completion of a sale (or lead), mobile performance marketing is a measurable way to link marketing program costs directly to the results achieved by it.
Using performance marketing allows you to market your mobile apps and expand your reach efficiently; it’s good for your overall budget, you can track mobile marketing campaigns with ease, and there’s a low-risk ability to advertise to a segmented audience. Below we examine the key benefits of performance marketing.
Extends your advertising reach
You will gain access to a surfeit of publishers that will advertise and market your brand and mobile product. The publishers will be able to target specific niche markets, and you may find that sales are increased when your message is targeted across different verticals.
Performance marketing enables a mobile brand to promote products while leveraging the benefits of digital marketing. App owners are able to achieve a significant and more diversified (known as segmented) audience. The different platforms are able to help mobile marketers convert sales from content.
It’s measurable and trackable
With performance marketing, mobile marketers only pay for successful transactions and each is based on a consumer taking a specific action, such as making a direct purchase in the app or signing up for a subscription.
This form of marketing allows marketers to track every click; a marketing program’s effectiveness is, therefore, accurately determined. Having the ability to measure and optimize a mobile marketing campaign is how app owners will ultimately determine what’s working.
Budget-friendly approach
App owners that employ performance marketing will only pay when a specific action is achieved. Ergo, it’s a cost-effective and results-driven strategy, particularly useful for small businesses with limited resources; paying only for achieved results ensures money is well spent. In more traditional marketing formats, app owners would pay agencies a fixed amount up front; performance marketing flips this structure on its head.
Performance marketing agency example
Source: Moburst
KPI optimization
Key performance indicators (KPIs) will play a critical role when achieving overall objectives. Objectives such as increasing customer retention, boosting sales, and elevating conversion rates all benefit from the use of mobile performance marketing. Mobile marketers are able to target these metrics directly, and agencies are more focused on effecting real gains for a business.
Low-risk
There’s less risk when you use performance marketing. As you only pay for completed actions, you automatically get what you pay for. The types of marketing campaigns are flexible, and you can adjust your mobile budget as (and when needed). You can pause your performance marketing campaigns as desired, in most cases, simply by contacting the company.
Real-time metrics
Most performance marketing platforms are able to filter down performance by individual advertisement. This enables mobile marketers to adapt and react to feedback (as the campaign progresses).
For example, suppose a mobile ad with a specific headline delivers a high click-through. In that case, mobile marketers can use that headline against other media platforms to see if the conversion rate is optimizable further. This can ultimately lead to more positive results.
Learn new formats
Performance marketing usually takes place via single placement channels, and mobile marketers can partner with performance marketing agencies to expand their reach. These agencies provide new opportunities, which can provide extra insights into valuable placements. Performance marketing agencies are helpful for marketers targeting difficult-to-reach audiences.
Featured Performance Marketing Agencies
Performance marketing examples
There are many common types of performance marketing that can support successful mobile advertising campaigns. Performance marketing can be combined with traditional and trending mobile ad formats to significantly boost mobile marketing campaign efforts. Below we’ve examined each format, providing performance marketing examples.
Display advertising
Display advertising involves the placement of banners and other visual ad formats on websites, apps, and social media sites to deliver highly targeted messages to mobile users. Display ads use a combination of images, text, GIFs, and videos to stand out; they can be excellent tools for driving both performance and brand awareness.
Display ad examples
Source: One9Seven6
These ads allow you to experiment with static and dynamic ad formats; you can use a range of targeting measures to reach your ideal audience more easily. Performance marketing display adverts can be eye-catching and draw user attention, generating sustainable interest in your product or service. By placing ads where your target audience spends their time, you boost both engagement and conversions.
Display ad channels themselves offer a variety of targeting options that help you to reach your audience effectively; to maximize a mobile campaign’s impact, you can target viewers based on demography and location. Combining display advertising and remarketing strategies to generate new leads is effective here. Banner ads are a customary form of display ads that are used primarily for awareness campaigns.
Native ads
Native ads come in various forms and sizes and combine advertising with user-centric content; typically, the ad will appear as a part of the mobile app’s content. These ads are less intrusive than other formats and provide a higher click-through rate, better ad engagement rate, and generally an improved user experience.
Carousel native ad examples
Source: TechCrunch
Your users can still browse content while viewing the ad, and ads will appear in a contextually relevant manner. These ads are successful because users treat them as new content in their information flow, and therefore, it makes more sense for them to engage with them. Overall, performance marketing native ads are highly effective.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of performance marketing that is affiliated with the advertiser and paid out after the desired action, such as an app install, takes place. This form of marketing typically involves partnering with coupon, loyalty, review, and incentive sites and may include working with a popular influencer.
For example, on Instagram, users can showcase individual products, and they’ll earn a commission for purchases.
Instagram storefront affiliate marketing example
Source: Instagram
Affiliate marketing is, simplified, an agreement between someone who wants to sell something and someone who is willing to promote it. Mobile affiliate marketing has become increasingly popular with the rise of social media, with brands relying on top influencers to promote their products or services.
Mobile affiliate networks are a great way for app owners and mobile marketers to take advantage of affiliate marketing.
Sponsored content
Sponsored content is a type of performance marketing where influencers publish sponsored posts to promote a range of mobile products and services; it’s a way to build trust with a target market and is more effective than paid banner advertising.
This content is a form of inbound marketing, not a traditional ad; it’s replaced with creative and engaging high-quality content that inspires action.
Mobile sponsored content example
Source: Instagram
Sponsored content appears as articles, infographics, and social media content, including YouTube videos and social media posts on platforms such as Instagram. Brands sponsor influencers or other companies to post about their mobile products and services. The content is considered to be a class of native advertising.
Sponsored content allows you to reach new audiences and gain the trust of customers; a recommendation from an influencer can help produce the trust consumers need to convert to an eventual sale.
Content marketing
Content marketing is used to educate an audience and is the development of relevant, useful content such as blogs, newsletters, white papers, social media posts, and videos. This form of marketing is powerful and conveys expertise, making it clear your brand values the people it sells to overall. For example, businesses with blogs receive 67% more leads than other companies.
In 2017, Spotify launched a social media campaign called “Wrapped” and produced slides that were highly shareable and aesthetically pleasing. Wrapped is an example of influencer-driven content marketing.
Spotify content marketing example
Source: Spotify Wrapped
To use content marketing effectively, you’ll need to deliver the correct content at each stage of the sales cycle; content should offer a combination of helpful information and marketing and should educate the reader about what features (or functions) to look for and how specific product features address needs. For example, a design agency creates a series of short videos that showcase its work across different industries.
Content marketing makes it easy for prospects to find your mobile business through social media, websites, and email marketing campaigns. Content marketing benefits app owners in many ways and can increase online visibility, boost authority, and generate high-quality leads. It’s a great tool to tell the story of your app’s brand, demonstrate your expertise in the field, and engage with your app’s potential users.
Paid search marketing
Paid search is a form of digital marketing where search engines allow mobile marketers to show ads on their search engine results pages (known as SERPs). Paid search can also be referred to as Search Engine Marketing (known as SEM).
Paid search marketing places targeted ads in front of specific mobile users and enable mobile marketers to choose a precise demographic, target keyword, and campaign budget; this presents an opportunity for brands to promote their business to an engaged audience that’s looking to purchase products or services.
Mobile paid search ad extension marketing example
Source: WordStream
Google itself offers advertisers a variety of ad extensions to help increase their click-through rate, and mobile marketers can make use of them; ad extensions are extra pieces of information about your company you can include in Google ads.
With paid search, users have already typed something into a search engine with either the intent to research or purchase.
When executed properly, paid search can grow mobile businesses exponentially; the key is to set goals and outcomes and to think about what action you want your customers to take. Be sure to include keywords in your title, URL, meta description, headers, and paragraphs.
Social media marketing
Using the power of social media platforms to reach mobile users and drive them to your mobile app can be highly effective. Mobile users can share sponsored content quickly and organically, which only helps to extend the content’s reach.
Facebook Ads, for example, has an extensive list of services that mobile marketers use, but additional platforms such as LinkedIn Ads, Instagram, and Twitter offer opportunities as well.
Instagram social media marketing example
Source: Instagram
Social media marketing involves maintaining and optimizing your profiles and posting pictures, stories, and videos that represent your brand to attract a relevant audience. Responding to comments, shares, and likes and monitoring your reputation, as well as following and engaging with followers, customers, and influencers to build a community, are vital parts of a successful mobile marketing strategy.
Using social media marketing enables you to generate leads and conversions directly on those platforms via the use of direct messaging, call-to-action buttons on profiles, and appointment booking capabilities. These platforms open up both direct and indirect lines of communication with followers; you can gather feedback, hold discussions, and connect directly with customers.
The use of social media enables you to turn your brand into an active participant in the market, and your profile, posts, and interactions form part of an approachable persona that audiences can trust.
Performance marketing — final thoughts
Using performance marketing for mobile digital campaigns makes them easily measurable, and app installs and conversions always count. Mobile marketers only pay for results and can track their performance through the use of various tools, including powerful analytics for their campaigns.
Performance marketing shifts the focus from ad impressions to user actions, leading to a more meaningful and relevant advertising experience for mobile users.
Mobile marketers need to outline what they hope to achieve through performance marketing and ensure they choose the right platform, ad format, and optimization goals, as well as focus on their target audience. Successful performance marketing allows app owners to supercharge their app advertising campaigns and expose their business to a wider audience with a low-risk marketing strategy that allows for high ROI.