Performance Marketing.

Performance marketing differs from traditional advertising mainly in the question asked at the outset. An image campaign asks: how many people see us? Performance marketing asks: what does an enquiry or a purchase cost us, and how much does it bring in? Typical channels are search ads in Google Ads, Shopping ads, social ads, retargeting and affiliate programmes.

The most important metrics are cost per lead (CPL), cost per acquisition (CPA), ROAS and the conversion rate of the landing page. All of them assume that the result is actually measured. Without conversion tracking, performance marketing is just a name.

An example: an online shop for bicycle accessories spends CHF 2,000 a month on advertising. The analysis shows that Shopping ads bring in CHF 9,000 in revenue and Instagram ads CHF 1,500. Instead of treating both channels the same, budget is shifted step by step towards Shopping, and Instagram is cut back to retargeting shoppers who abandoned their basket. That is the core of performance marketing: measure continuously and reallocate. (Worked example, not a client case.)

The limit is reached where only what is easy to count gets counted. Anyone who looks exclusively at the last click underestimates channels that work early in the decision, such as a guide article or a video. A sensible attribution model and a look at the total number of enquiries help you avoid simply scaling up the cheapest channel.