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.