Sunday, 15 January 2012

Performance Marketing In A Nutshell

On the subject of conducting business and advertising on the web, there are a confusing number of methods, models, and tactics. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, banner ads, video ads, pop ups, affiliate marketing – it really is hard to make any kind of sense of it all.
If you’re unfamiliar with the world e-tail and you’ve got services or products which you are seeking to sell online, it can be hard to discern your best course of action. Doing nothing and merely hoping for the best isn’t a realistic option if your competitors are doing anything above and beyond merely hoping for the best. At the same time, you don’t want to simply attempt to match competitors move for move without properly assessing the available options. You want to reach as many potential customers as possible and get the best conceivable return on investment for your marketing dollar.
Possibly you should contemplate performance marketing.
## I’m not familiar with that term. What is that?
Performance marketing, also known as affiliate marketing, is often likened to having an extended sales force. The participating sites are paid a commission on sales that result from the traffic they direct to your site.
## Well that certainly sounds interesting. How does it work?
In a nutshell there are two parties. You are the advertiser, the person with the product or service you want to sell. You set up an agreement with other sites, known in this context as publishers, to carry ads which will direct traffic to your site. The links in the ads can track the traffic back to its source so that the appropriate publisher can get the commission for a given sale.
## Exactly how is this any different from the majority of web adverts?

Performance marketing is fundamentally different from traditional web adverts. Traditionally, the advertiser pays the publisher based either on how many impressions an ad gets (which is to say how many times it is shown) or how many clicks the ad receives. The problem is that neither of these models guarantees sales on the advertiser’s site. All the ‘risk’ is shouldered by the advertiser, and the publisher collects his revenue regardless. Ads which are set up through an affiliate programme are different. Both the ‘risk’ and the reward are shared between publisher and advertiser. A publisher only has so much valuable real estate on his site, so if he is to generate income from it, by way of an affiliate link, it is in his best interest to try to direct the most pertinent motivated traffic through his link as possible. Better traffic from the publisher means better sales for the advertiser and better commissions.
## But why would a publisher decide to bear some of the risk if standard advertising models are virtually risk free?
That’s easily answered. The earnings from a healthy affiliate partnership is significantly higher than through traditional advertising paradigms. With the shared risk comes a potential for more significant rewards.
If you are interested in finding out more about performance marketing, you should go online and search for a good affiliate agency. Agencies help set up and manage affiliate programmes, and are a terrific way to find good potential affiliate partnerships. Whether you are a potential advertiser looking to broaden your sales force or a publisher looking to generate some revenue for your site, a talented Affiliate Marketing Agency can help.
7thingsmedia is a young, award-winning, entrepreneurial Online Marketing Company (UK) that employs some of the top Online Marketing Managers in the UK – 7thingsmedia.com

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