• by February 22, 2007

It seems like performance marketing ought to be like performance art - a little interpretative dance, some singing, maybe some call and response. Okay, maybe not. But performance marketing certainly sounds like something that involves a lot of orchestration, finesse, and a certain amount of heavy lifting.

What has become known as performance marketing appears to be an odd assemblage of Web-based tactics and strategies for coaxing ROI from marketing programs. But it's not only about ROI. When OMMA first took up performance marketing in the September 2006 issue, we learned that is has something to do with lead generation, affiliate marketing, behavioral targeting, and co-registration. Integration seems key, and more marketers, not to mention agencies, are sharpening their skills in this dynamic area.

This month, we explore how tactics and strategies of this growing marketing discipline are becoming part and parcel of digital media and marketing programs and how all of these elements work in concert with one another. OMMA explores the art and science of performance marketing as a response to an increasingly fragmented mediaverse, in which consumer-generated and consumer-controlled media grow more pervasive by the day.

How do marketers plan to initiate a sustained dialogue with consumers? Performance-marketing experts are trying to figure it out, tweaking and adjusting their pitches, targeting, and personalizing them. As Lynn Russo Whylly points out, it's not enough to merely generate leads, marketers need to keep them and monetize them. And how do marketers do this when consumers are increasingly pushing them away?

We're in Hollywood later this month (March 19-20) for OMMA Hollywood. Join us! For more information, go to: www.omma-expo.com.