By Darren Gilbert

This means two things for your online business. One: you don’t have to concern yourself with impressions. That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth something – they are – but why should you have to pay for exposure? After all, what is an impression other than someone seeing your product? How is that going to put bread on your table? The short answer is, it’s not. The second point is you only pay when you make a sale.

In other words, you are quite literally paying for your performance. Nothing more. Nothing less. “That’s the beauty of performance marketing,” argues Daniel Gross, CEO of AdMarula, a specialist performance marketing network. “It’s smart marketing.” However, as much as this is the case, it faces a hurdle: in South Africa, performance marketing as a strategy is not as well-known as it should be.

That is not for a lack of trying. “Advertisers and media buyers are used to and comfortable with CPM and CPC,” says Gross. “To change that isn’t quick or easy, even when the commercial advantages are clear.” However, when you read up on what performance marketing entails, it’s difficult to ignore. Instead of the well-known CPMs and CPCs, we’re are talking about cost per leads and cost per acquisitions, both of which deliver tangible business results.

“Let’s say for argument’s sake I can purchase 1 million impressions for R150 CPI,” says Gross. “So R150 per 1000 ad views. And I play with the thought that on average, I’ll get a 0.15% click through rate. That means I drive 1500 clicks per million views, which would cost me R150 000.” Even if you are an eCommerce business with a fantastic product and 1 in 20 click-throughs convert to a purchase, you will be spending more than you should.

Gross explains: “If I sell 75 baskets worth of goods and I play with the idea that each basket costs R1000, it means I have sold R75 000 worth of goods with an investment of R150 000.” It’s not a figure that should please you if you’re looking after the marketing spend. Unfortunately, it’s also not one that you can control. Now compare that to a performance marketing channel.

“I can go to a company such as AdMarula and I say I am willing to part with 15% commission on every basket that they sell,” says Gross. “Same math as before; 75 baskets at R1000.” That means that for every R1000, I’ll give away R150 in commission. “It’s R11 250 cost for you to sell R75 000 word of goods.” And then on top of that, you get free clicks and impressions.

Add to this the fact that all the risk lies squarely with AdMarula and it’s a no-brainer. “Our clients – be they direct or via an agency – advertise their brand via a network of pre-approved publishers and only pay when the campaign performs,” explains Gross. “This eliminates their risk, but conversely increases ours.” It also means that AdMarula is invested in your business. If their campaigns don’t work, they don’t make money.

And AdMarula has the numbers to back up the success of performance marketing. For example, since coming on board, Spree.co.za has seen an average in month-on-month sales generated via their channel of 148%, with 125% growth in new customers.

“Ultimately, it’s all about conversions,” says Gross. “It’s about driving up performance and helping the consumer to make a purchasing decision.”

That is what counts. Marketing isn’t the art that it was in the past. Today marketing is a science and people want to see results. They want to see the numbers that justify their spend. And that is what they can get with performance marketing. It isn’t a shot in the dark. Instead, it’s strategic and aligned with your business’ objectives. But most of all, it’s about putting you in control.

For more information on AdMarula, visit
www.admarula.com.