10 Things Your Performance Marketing Campaign Shouldn’t Be Doing

Unlocking the benefits of performance marketing services can be a game-changer in reaching and converting customers effectively. Still, it’s essential to approach it with a strategic and well-thought-out plan. In this article, we’ll review ten things your performance marketing campaign should avoid to succeed.

Let’s first understand what is performance-based marketing in digital marketing. Performance-based marketing is digital advertising focused on measurable, specific goals, such as sales or leads. While it can be an effective way to reach and convert customers, there are some things your performance marketing campaigns shouldn’t be doing if you want to be successful.

Here are ten things to avoid:

1. Not having clear goals:

Knowing precisely what you want to achieve with your performance marketing campaign is essential. You need specific, measurable goals to drive sales, generate leads, or increase brand awareness.

Without clear goals, it’s difficult to determine the success of your campaign and make necessary adjustments. Example: If you sell a niche product, you might offer a heavy discount initially. Although it is a good strategy for getting the word out, it might only attract customers that don’t fit your long-term goals.

2. Not targeting the right audience:

For your performance marketing campaign to be successful, you need to target the right audience. This means understanding who your ideal customers are, their interests, and their needs where they spend their time online.

Without proper targeting, you may be wasting your ad spend on people not interested in your product or service. Example: Sometimes, people target the wrong geography or age group. You will waste your ad spend if you target a high-end property space to college students.

3. Not using relevant ad copy and visuals:

Best performance marketing campaigns use ad copy and visuals that are relevant to their target audience and the product or service they’re promoting. If the ad copy and visuals don’t match, your audience’s interest will likely ignore your ads.

Example: If your advertisement is irrelevant to the viewer, they will not even look at it again. Make sure to appeal to your audience through your message or visuals. If you are contextual, you might be able to retain them.

Recommended Read: What’s Your Broken Lead Funnel Costing You?

4. Not testing and optimizing:

Performance marketing is all about testing and optimization. You should constantly test different ad copy, visuals, targeting, and placements to see what works best. Maximize your ad spend and improve the performance of your campaign.

Example: if you have the budget to run an ad campaign for months, always try to use a different copy, messaging, and approach. That will help people understand the novelty of your brand or product. You will also be able to assess what works better for your brand.

5. Not correctly tracking results:

You need to track the right metrics to evaluate your performance marketing digital campaign. Includes clicks, conversions, cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS). Tracking these metrics makes it easier to know what’s working and not.

Example: If you run ads on all platforms and never track the results, you will never know the gaps in your strategy. For example, your Facebook page is doing much better than LinkedIn, yet you have the same budget for both platforms.

6. Not being consistent with branding:

It’s essential to maintain consistency in your branding across all marketing channels, including your performance marketing campaign. Use the same color scheme, fonts, and overall aesthetic in your ads on your website and other marketing materials. Inconsistent branding can be confusing for customers and harm your brand’s credibility.

Example: If a brand posts funny memes on Instagram but appears too severe on Facebook and has a different approach towards LinkedIn followers, your audience will need clarification about your brand identity. Stay consistent, and stay ahead of the game.

7. Not following advertising guidelines:

Each advertising platform has its own set of guidelines that you need to follow to run your ads. If you don’t follow these guidelines, your ads may be disapproved, or your account could be suspended. Make sure you understand and follow the guidelines to avoid any issues.

Example: Facebook has a policy that if you are placing an advertisement on a picture, it should not have more than 20% covered with text. Each platform has its own set of rules and regulations. You can maximize your results by paying attention to these guidelines.

8. Not having a mobile-optimized landing page:

With most internet traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s crucial to have a mobile-optimized landing page for your performance marketing campaign. If your landing page is mobile-friendly, you could retain a significant portion of your potential customers.

Example: If you are a great brand with great products but don’t have a mobile-optimized website, you will most likely lose customers. Even people who don’t have a personal computer have a mobile phone. Make sure to catch your audience where they are.

9. Not retargeting:

Retargeting, also known as remarketing, shows ads to people who have previously visited your website. This can be a powerful way to bring people back to your site and increase conversions. You could miss out on a valuable opportunity if you’re not using retargeting in your performance marketing campaign.

Example: It is a great way to bring back people who left things in the cart and never returned. With an appropriate retargeting strategy, you might be able to get people to convert people into buyers.

10. Not diversifying your traffic sources:

Relying on just one traffic source for your performance marketing campaign can be risky. Your campaign could be better if that source dries up or becomes too expensive. Instead, try to diversify your traffic sources using various platforms and tactics. This will help protect your campaign from any unexpected changes.

Example: Plan to utilize all platforms for their strengths. Make sure to get the message across.

This article highlights ten common mistakes businesses make in their performance marketing along with some campaign examples.

These include not having clear goals, not targeting the right audience, not using relevant ad copy and visuals, not testing and optimizing, not properly tracking results, not being consistent with branding, not following advertising guidelines, not having a mobile-optimized landing page, not using retargeting, and not diversifying traffic sources.

By avoiding these pitfalls, businesses can improve the performance of their campaigns and get the most out of their ad spend. A performance marketing specialist agency can help you with your performance marketing strategy.