Move over, full-funnel marketing: As performance marketing shows its value in yielding fast, efficient, and cost-effective results, marketers are shifting priorities. There’s still a place, and probably always will be, for solid top- and middle-of-the-funnel organic content. But if you want the fast lane to conversions, learn how to scale your performance marketing by focusing on buyers in the consideration and action (that is, performance) stages of the journey.
“Upper funnel marketing is not that effective,” confirms Eyal Shnaides, growth marketing director at Taboola. “Performance marketing is much more trackable and to-the-point.”
Once you’ve dialed in the right content, audience, and platform, it’s time to scale rapidly to increase the revenue your campaigns bring in.
Use These 7 Strategies to Drive Your Performance at Scale
1. Define Your Objectives
Before embarking on any campaign, define how you will measure success. Is the goal to boost website traffic? Collect email addresses? App downloads? Sales?
Ultimately, any performance marketing campaign should lead to sales, but it may not always be a direct route. Knowing how you want to achieve that objective can help you craft a roadmap to getting there. After all, performance marketing can substantially shorten the sales funnel, but it doesn’t eliminate it.
2. Measure Results
Measure results based on how much it costs to achieve your objective, such as cost-per-click, cost-per-sale, or cost-per-lead. “Spend, cost-per, and the actual amount of conversions you have: These are the most important metrics that any performance marketer needs to start their day with,” says Shnaides. “Cost-per is the most important part.”
3. Recognize and Account for Discrepancies in the Data
Although it’s much easier to track the results of performance marketing compared to full-funnel marketing efforts, Shnaides points out that you may see discrepancies in your data. For instance, if someone sees an ad on Facebook but then searches Google for that product, both platforms will take ownership of that lead. “It’s basically double counting,” says Shnaides.
For the most accurate data, rely on a CRM to track your leads. Supplement it with sources like Google Analytics and web visitor tracking software like Warmly to qualify leads. Plug-ins like Microsoft Clarity provide extensive, real-time data, including heatmaps, average time-on-site, and the number of visitors. All of this data combined can help you understand who you’re attracting with your performance marketing campaigns, and what they are doing when they reach your site.
4. Choose the Right Platforms for Your Campaigns
Once you have your goals set, with tracking systems and analytics in place, focus on finding your customers where they normally hang out. “Google and Facebook are the top two channels, no questions asked,” says Shnaides. Beyond that, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, and others are all in a race for third.
Shnaides emphasizes the benefits of going beyond search and social — channels which can quickly be exhausted. Consider marketing on the open web through a platform like realize:, which targets high-intent users on a variety of platforms. “realize: gets to users on the open web, so the inventory of potential users is very wide,” he says.
Unlock measurable outcomes with realize:, the performance platform built for advertisers seeking to scale beyond Search and Social.
5. Leverage the Best Creative for Every Stage of the Sales Funnel
Performance marketing should focus on the “consideration” and “action” stages of the buyer’s journey. You want to ensure your campaigns speak to people’s needs, since it’s not easy to stop the endless scroll on social media. Make your message clear — you understand the potential customer’s problem, and are providing a solution — and the next steps easy to understand.
Beyond trying to capture attention amidst a sea of Facebook reels, consider other creative across other platforms. Choose high-visibility options such as carousel slide shows, vertical ads, and display ads. Continuously test and modify to see which types of content appeal to your audience.
6. Scale Vertically on the Same Platforms to the Same Audiences
If you succeed in capturing your audience’s attention, you’ll reach a point where the campaign is working. That means your cost-per goal is at the benchmark you set and you’re reaching your target for conversions. Once you’ve achieved these benchmarks with your test budget, it’s time to add more money to the campaign. “You need to add budget, but make sure you keep your effectiveness,” adds Shnaides.
7. Scale Horizontally to Reach Broader Audiences
When you increase the budget on a successful campaign, it should lead to more conversions with the same ROI, but that doesn’t always happen. Maybe the campaign isn’t resonating anymore, or maybe, you’ve simply saturated the market on a specific platform.
That’s when it’s time to scale horizontally, moving to multiple platforms to reach a new customer base. To scale performance marketing, make sure you’re visible on Google search, as well as on the mid-funnel platforms, and finally, a click away when the customer is ready to buy. “It’s very rare to have a funnel so short that people are going to watch one ad, click the ad, and move straight to purchasing,” warns Shnaides.
Key Takeaways
Performance marketing yields faster, more direct results than other forms of advertising. The results are easy to track, which makes it easier to scale. To scale vertically, do more of what’s working — aim for higher conversion rates with current audiences. To scale horizontally, explore new audiences. “When you’re going to a new platform, you don’t know where the ceiling is,” says Shnaides. “When you don’t know what’s going to happen, there is the possibility of something really, really good happening!”
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How is performance marketing measured?
Businesses can measure performance marketing through metrics like cost-per-leads, cost-per-click, and conversions.
What is scaling in marketing?
Scaling in performance marketing means reaching a broader audience and achieving satisfactory results, so you’re spending more money and achieving the same, or better, ROI as you did with a smaller budget.
What are the biggest challenges advertisers face with scaling performance results?
Scaling performance marketing results isn’t an exact science. Marketers have to contend with challenges that include market saturation, production of quality content to scale, and inconsistent or fragmented data and analytics.
