Glossary

Performance marketing is an online marketing approach. It aims to trigger measurable reactions from recipients. A reaction can be, for example, a click on the website or a product purchase.

Origin of performance marketing

Although the term "performance marketing" has only been used since around 2008, there were already many online marketing measures in place to generate measurable responses.

One of the first examples is probably the US online music shop CDNOW in 1994: it gave website operators a share of the sales generated by advertising on their pages.

What are the advantages of performance marketing?

When people's reactions are recorded using real-time analyses, the success of a campaign can be evaluated quickly. Key figures such as ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend), CTR (Click Through Rate) or CVR (Conversion Rate) are used for this purpose.

In addition, different parts of a campaign can be viewed and optimised separately. The costs are transparent and can be flexibly adjusted to the budget.

Overall, performance marketing enables continuous improvement of the marketing strategy.

Areas of application for performance marketing - an overview

The principle of performance marketing is used in various digital channels, for example

• in social media marketing
• in search engine advertising (SEA)
• in search engine optimisation (SEO)
• in affiliate marketing

Its versatility enables companies to spread and measure their brand messages across different platforms. In this way, the efficiency of each individual campaign can be closely monitored.

How are performance marketing and performance branding connected?

Both approaches use extensive data analyses to make well-founded decisions:

• Performance marketing uses data to measure and optimise the success of online campaigns.
• Performance branding takes a holistic view: it not only analyses marketing activities, but also the entire brand perception.

Overall, companies benefit from the intelligent integration of both approaches: Performance branding provides the foundations for managing a strong brand. The findings from this flow into the development of campaigns, among other things, which in turn are analysed with the help of performance marketing.

This means that marketing activities should not be viewed as isolated campaigns, but as part of the overall brand experience that inspires customers to take action.

From a brand strategy perspective, performance marketing is therefore not just a tool for greater efficiency and short-term sales growth. It is also a key component in strengthening a brand in the long term and giving it meaning.

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