With today's competitive online market, performance marketing has emerged as a pillar for business expansion. Unlike old methods of marketing, which mostly depend on guesswork or brand recognition, performance marketing is all about measurable outcomes, clicks, leads, or conversions. While most businesses utilize the most used platforms such as Google Ads and Facebook, there are some strong but underrated channels that go under the radar, and particularly medium-sized businesses do not know about them.
This blog delves into what performance marketing is, typical channels that businesses utilize, and five underrated performance marketing platforms that are ready to be discovered.
Performance marketing is one of those kinds of digital marketing in which advertisers will pay only when a particular action has been taken.
It may be a click, lead, sale, or some other measurable conversion.
It is frequently driven by ROI and performance metrics, so it is best suited to companies that desire accountability and transparent metrics for their advertising expenditure.
As opposed to older marketing models that are based on impressions and reach, performance marketing is intended to generate direct, measurable results.
It's typically equated with digital ad channels such as:
The main difference is measurability and accountability.
If a campaign isn't yielding results, it's simple to change direction and redirect the budget to something better.
This flexibility and performance-driven approach are why more businesses are not only relying on mainstream digital platforms but also exploring alternative marketing channels that may offer better ROI.
The majority of medium-sized companies are already utilizing or at least aware of the following alternative marketing channels:
Though these trending platforms should be the focus, depending on them exclusively means businesses miss out on new or niche channels that could provide higher ROI at a lower price.
Medium-sized companies usually find themselves in a special situation, they've moved past the DIY grind of tiny startups but don't have the same budget flexibility as big corporations.
This means channel efficiency and marketing ROI are extremely critical.
Dependence on a handful of mainstream platforms can:
Expanding into underrated performance marketing platforms can open up new segments of audiences, enhance ROI, and lower customer acquisition costs.
Let's explore five underrated performance marketing platforms but incredibly powerful performance marketing channels that need more spotlight from medium-sized companies.
Reddit is not necessarily the first platform to think about for performance marketing, yet it's one of the most targeted and active audiences on the web.
With more than 100,000 active communities (subreddits), companies can target niche audiences with accuracy.
And stands as one of the best alternative marketing channels.
Tech hardware, gaming, SaaS, health, and specialty consumer products
Pinterest isn't just a site for recipe and DIY inspiration, it's a shopping search engine.
Approximately 80% of weekly Pinners have found a new product or brand on Pinterest.
Any Performance marketing company would also consider its potential.
Lifestyle brands, DTC products, wedding services, home improvement
Quora is again one of the underrated performance marketing platforms.
A Q&A site with millions of engaged users looking for answers and advice.
Quora Ads enable advertisers to place ads alongside high-intent questions, so it's a strong contextual targeting platform.
Education, SaaS, B2B services, professional services
Podcast networking is one of the alternative marketing channels.
Podcast listening increases, sites such as Spotify, Acast, and Podbean increasingly provide programmatic audio advertising, allowing marketers to purchase ads across networks of podcasts by audience demographics and behavior.
Finance, tech, wellness, productivity apps, subscription-based services
Platforms such as Outbrain, Taboola, and Revcontent enable advertisers to place native ads on premium media sites.
These are not banner ads in the classical sense, they're content-formatted placements that look and feel like editorial content.
They’re also one of the underrated performance marketing platforms.
High-content products, lead magnets, subscription-based products, affiliate products
Entering into new marketing channels, leaving existing alternative marketing channels might seem daunting, but you can reduce waste and increase your chances of success with a systematic approach:
Medium-sized companies stand to gain much from venturing outside the normal suspects for performance marketing.
Although Google and Facebook may provide scale, overlooked channels tend to provide efficiency, engagement, and exclusive access to audiences.
By diversifying your performance marketing inventory with sites such as Reddit, Pinterest, Quora, podcasting, and native advertising, you create new avenues for customer acquisition, usually less expensively and with less competition.
In the world of digital marketing, what’s less crowded is often more profitable.
The key is to test, optimize, and measure continuously.
If you’re looking to test these hidden channels but don’t know where to start, consider working with an agency or consultant who specializes in cross-channel performance marketing.
A small investment in expertise can lead to major gains in ROI and market reach.
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