Performance marketing is a type of paid digital advertising in which the cost of a campaign is directly tied to how well it performed.
Here’s the gist of how it works: a business or retailer (known as the “advertiser”) will pay a publisher or an affiliate to display their ads. But rather than paying an upfront fee, the price of these paid ad campaigns will depend on their results, like how many impressions the ad received (cost-per-impression), how many users clicked (cost-per-click), or how many leads were generated (cost-per-lead).
Performance marketing is primarily concerned with increasing return on ad spend (ROAS), with branded paid search (i.e. when a user searches company-specific terms) being considered a bottom-of-the-funnel tactic.
But as discussed, growth marketing isn’t limited to a single funnel stage, instead using a series of tactics (beyond paid advertising) to increase their customer base as quickly as possible.