Unfortunately, a large percentage of so-called Performance Marketers in the market aren't actually Performance Marketers; they're just Media Buyers.
Just because you know how to create ads and achieve results doesn't make you a Performance Marketer. It's much more than that. A Performance Marketer's job isn't just about advertising; it's about working on the product, the funnel, UX, CRM, and retention.
In short, to be a Performance Marketer, you need to know how to do at least six things alongside Media Buying:
Data and Tracking
You need to understand tracking correctly.
How do you connect data to the website server-side or via MMP? How do you identify the most important events to measure? How do you calculate conversions correctly? What does a drop in the funnel mean, and where does the bottleneck come from? You need to monitor all of this using more advanced tools like Mixpanel and Amplitude.
Funnel & Customer Journey
You need to understand The Growth Funnel and Customer Journey
From the moment they see the ad until they buy, what content should be placed at each stage, which ads target awareness, which ones sell, and which ones are used for retargeting. How do you monitor all of this using clear KPIs?
Offers & Messaging
You need to know how to create a compelling offer that aligns with your target audience.
You need to understand the difference between a Feature, a Benefit, and an Outcome. You also need to be able to experiment with multiple messages and determine the angles and formats.
CRM & Automation
Here, CRM isn't just about sales.
It refers to WhatsApp, SMS, and push notifications. How do you manage them and link them to your results? How do you use tools like Moengage? How do you understand when to contact users, what to say, and which triggers to use? How do you build automated flows to bring users back and complete the funnel, instead of sending random messages? And that's it...
Retention
You need to understand how, why, and when users will return.
How to work on onboarding, activation, and repeat purchases. How to use Ads and CRM to get users to come back and buy from you again.
Optimization
Here, I'm not talking about optimizing CPC, CTR, ROAS, and CPA.
I'm talking about LTV, Payback Period, and Cohort Performance. How to define and improve these metrics, and how to look at the results of the entire business, not just the ad results.
So, if you understand these six metrics and have experience with them, then you're a true Performance Marketer. Otherwise, you're just a good Media Buyer, not a Performance Marketer.
