Performance-based advertising (AKA performance-based marketing or “the performance channel”) provides a solution for brands seeking an effective, low-risk alternative to audience-based advertising and marketing. Because the publisher/affiliate/partner is only paid when a particular goal is reached, the brand can be confident that its advertising budget is well spent.
I wanted to catch up with Erin Cigich — CEO of Perform[cb], a Sarasota, FL-based performance-based marketing agency that’s growing rapidly and has won many agency awards since its founding in 2002 — to get a sense of how performance-based marketing (Erin terms it “Outcome-Based Marketing”) is evolving, especially as cookies — a mechanism upon which much performance-based marketing has traditionally relied — are disappearing from the digital marketing ecosystem.
We touch on many topics in our discussion, including misconceptions that many marketers have with respect to performance-based marketing and we talk in depth about how and why so many performance-based marketers are profitably spending a lot of money “under the radar” on YouTube and other social channels using VSLs (Video Sales Letters). (I follow one of these mysterious VSLs down the digital rabbit hole elsewhere on the eMA site). We trade notes on the important role that urgency plays in performance marketing — whether conveyed via e-mail, SMS, or social media, and discuss the sometimes irrational reticence that many marketers have with regard to using coupon codes — a particularly powerful method for acquiring customers at low cost. We dive deep into best practices for using of urgency in performance-based marketing copy, and we discuss particular industry segments that are currently increasing their performance-based advertising spend.
I also wanted to know what Erin foresees for the channel in 2023. “The big piece that has me excited is the opportunity that I think outcome-based marketing has to serve brands in a recessionary environment,” said Erin. “Everyone has to think smarter about their marketing dollars right now, and I know, having lived through this several times that in performance-marketing, outcome-based marketing, partnership/affiliate — whatever you want to call it — we are guaranteeing results. So I think we can step up to the plate in a more meaningful way for brands and help them grow and help them weather the storm, whatever the recession brings for everybody.”
P.S. Some of you may not be aware but the prior name of Perform[cb] was Clickbooth. They rebranded in February 2020. In addition to Clickbooth, Perform[cb] actually acquired Ignite OPM and Adperio – two leaders in the mobile/performance agency space.
