How Tech Start-ups can Get Started with Performance Marketing in 4 Steps
Written By: Ajoke Emekene
For many tech start-ups, their first experience with performance marketing often begins with a desperate attempt to rapidly generate leads and acquire users ahead of a big investor pitch typically with the goal to prove to the concerned parties (read potential investors or incubators) that they have achieved some traction. Traction is the key indicator that the start-up is on to something and is on the cusp of a big breakthrough, justifying the need for investment. When this approach is taken to performance marketing, it doesn’t take too long for the founders or marketing professionals to see that just because performance marketing seems easy to implement does not mean that it should be approached haphazardly, as that almost always ends in harvesting poor results.
What should a start-up do when deciding to get started with performance marketing? Here are a few steps to take.
1. Decide on the goals – Every great project cannot be started without being clear on the goals, deciding early on what success would look like is a good way to inspire a sense of purpose in everyone who is working on the project. The goals should follow the SMART framework which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.
2. Craft the Strategy – Crafting a comprehensive strategy for performance marketing that feeds off the main marketing strategy is important. The performance marketing message should be cohesive and should fit into the overall brand story. This is to ensure that people who experience the brand both on and offline if other marketing channels are being used, aren’t left to wonder if the same product is being referred to.
3. Decide on the platforms – While it is possible to leverage all platforms available for performance marketing, it isn’t the wisest thing to do. Apart from the fact that resources are limited and are best directed towards the areas that can have the most impact, Performance marketing channels all have their strengths and specific audiences that frequent those places. It is important to choose the platforms to implement performance marketing campaigns based on strong reasons like where your audience is most likely to be found than anything else.
4. Set up tracking – One thing that is surprisingly overlooked by many tech marketers or founders is setting up the right tracking in order to understand the impact of campaigns and get an indication of what to start, stop or continue. The only way that the data for performance marketing campaigns would make sense to anyone looking to make business decisions would be if the results are attributed the right way. Most performance marketing platforms use last touch attribution and this doesn’t translate well to understanding impact because it’s a method of attribution that only gives the full credit for a result to the last ad that an individual clicked on while ignoring all other elements that may have contributed to it. When setting up tracking and dashboards, it is important to use alternative attribution models like multitouch attribution and the only way to gather this information is if tracking is set up the right way.
Once these four things are all decided on and set up, implementation can begin!
This article was written by Ajoke Emekene, a Performance Marketing Expert passionate about helping tech startups leverage performance marketing for growth. You can contact her via LinkedIn (Ajoke Emekene) or Instagram(@ajokee).
