Are you engaging in performance marketing? If not, we have to talk.
Performance marketing brings a significant volume of business opportunities to your company. The practice is comparable to a commission-based sales job like a car salesperson or a real estate agent.
But at cleverbridge, we focus exclusively on software companies.
For many, the world of ecommerce causes concern because in many ways the internet remains a world of anonymity and uncertainty. But many global companies take full advantage of performance marketing opportunities, like Amazon, Apple, ebay and Microsoft. For anyone not taking advantage, you’re missing a substantial revenue pool.
A few of the benefits of performance marketing:
• Brings in a large volume of web traffic
• Helps your company reach new customer bases in different countries
• Builds key relationships with high-volume publishers
Performance Marketing and Fraud
Many people maintain the mindset that performance marketing is often connected to fraudulent activities due to the anonymity of the people you’re working with.
In the past, rumors of scary things like cookie stuffing, typo squatting, black hat SEO, link-farms, spam, trademark infringement and brandjacking certainly deterred engagement with regard to performance marketing.
Luckily, utilizing a proactive and experienced performance marketing service can prevent these activities. In today’s ecommerce world, every digital business needs to employ an effective anti-fraud department operating with the latest anti-fraud strategies and technologies.
Especially in Europe and Germany, the stereotypes about being overcautious are true. Every sale is audited with an anti-fraud system and can already be declined before the sale is even registered if fraudulent activities are presumed. More and more, finding fraud before it happens is becoming a standard practice.
It should be common sense to review an application before starting business with a partner. The incoming publisher should be reviewed and some key questions should be answered:
• How was the publisher referred?
• What are our corporate restrictions in terms of the content the publisher is delivering?
• How does the publisher capture leads? Is the traffic of a high quality?
• Is the traffic directed to us and not to any competitors?
A careful look at the web presence of the publisher already solves most of these issues.
The highest security standards along with anti-fraud and data-privacy standards are now rolled into the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can find all details to these updates in a previous blog post about GDPR.
Performance Marketing Offers More Value Than Ever Before
The challenges of the past have contributed a significant development in the area of performance marketing.
The industry’s expansion is such that “performance marketing” is no longer an exhaustive term. New self-publishing tools and social media practices have opened up the rapidly growing industry of Influencer Marketing.
Traditional publishers’ platforms have expanded to reach almost every person around the globe. Many companies are pushing their business into these new areas because social networks are growing rapidly and the so-called Influencers are gaining more and more market power.
Even without owning a specific channel, many companies are investing in placements on social media. The term paid social is also established in the area of performance marketing and companies realize great ROI with such paid placements.
These new platforms and business models bring new ways of tracking and evaluating your business decisions. Additional contribution models have also taken center stage as the industry moves past the typical commission-per-sale. Beginning with customized coupon codes, referrals, commission-per-lead, clicks or impressions, performance marketing has created various multi-touch-attribution models to support your expanding business on various devices.
This should offer a strong sense of how vast these opportunities are – because today there is a long list of marketers in the digital landscape:
Classic websites with content, forums, news sites: This includes single websites from private persons, media or large industry-related forums that generate millions of visitors per month.
Review and comparison websites: A majority of consumers compare products and read reviews before they buy. Luckily, today you can find reviews and comparisons for almost any product on consumer sites, private blogs and through media channels, among other avenues.
Influencer, authors, profile leaders: The term “Influencer” has certainly become a trending topic in recent years. Suddenly, every person has the chance to start a business as soon as they hit a significant amount of followers or subscribers. The typical platforms of influencers are social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. One individual is able to reach millions very quickly. This is the perfect opportunity to get the right product in front of the right audience with the right message. And the chances that the audience believes in the message are much higher since they are voluntarily committed to the channel.
Apps: By 2020 there will be 6.1 billion smartphone users around the world. Based on that number, imagine how many apps are available for these devices. In our industry, this includes anything from comparison apps for comparison websites to payback apps from large retail stores offering you special discounts on various products. App usage and the need for partnerships in this space shows no sign of stopping.
Paid advertising: This is already an extremely common method to better focus your efforts on your target audience, including social media display ads, contextual ads, and pay-per-click.
Webinars or E-learning: An endless number of workshops, webinars and other courses are offered online. Driven by a strategic partnership, taking advantage of these types of programs can generate a good commission.
Keystone
The industry has learned, improved and expanded, and the value of performance marketing is no longer a debatable topic. It’s a must-have for every company as an additional revenue channel, where opportunities are endless.
To learn more about the cleverbridge performance marketing platform, click here, or contact our sales team today.
Jannis Jörger is a performance marketing associate at cleverbridge.
Kyle Shamorian is the content marketer for cleverbridge.
