Performance Marketing: Channels and Metrics

Direct Answer: Performance Marketing at a Glance Performance marketing is a model where advertisers pay only when a defined, measurable action occurs, a click, a lead, a sale, or an install. Every channel and budget decision is anchored to a trackable outcome. Core channels include paid search, paid social (direct response), affiliate marketing, and programmatic advertising. According to Forrester Research , performance-based models now account for the majority of digital ad spend globally. If you cannot measure the result, it is not performance marketing. Performance marketing is one of those terms that gets used constantly but rarely defined precisely. Agencies pitch it as a service. Platforms brand everything "performance." Job postings list it as a skill. But the definition underneath all that noise is specific and useful. Performance marketing is a model where advertisers pay only when a defined, measurable action occurs, a click, a lead, a sale, or an install. Every channel, ever