• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, April 30, 2018

Too many marketers still do not completely understand how to use performance marketing to its full potential through programmatic channels, according to "Performance Marketing Actually Performs," a study released by programmatic platform MediaAlpha.

The survey, commissioned by Forrester Consulting to evaluate the current state of performance marketing, identified a major knowledge gap among marketers.

In fact, 30% of marketers surveyed said they weren’t even aware they could buy performance marketing programmatically. Some 27% said they don’t understand the benefits, and 21% said they don’t know enough about how performance marketing channels work to pursue a programmatic approach.

Barriers to entry vary. Some 38% of marketers are concerned that the technology required is too expensive, 37% said performance marketing is not an important enough channel to buy programmatically, 34% are concerned the technology would be too difficult to integrate into other marketing systems, and 32% said their performance marketing channel partners don’t allow or support programmatic technologies.

The study also found 31% of marketers noting they lacked the skills to manage a performance marketing channel, while 30% do not have the search buy-in of senior decision marketers at their company.

Still, 64% of marketers said they want to ensure full transparency into the sources they work with when buying performance marketing. And 63% of firms said it was either very important or critical they can monitor and optimize campaigns themselves, rather than rely on an ad network to do it for them.

More than half of the marketers that take a data-driven programmatic approach to performance marketing reported experiencing better performance against key performance indicators, the ability to deliver more relevant experiences for customers, and an increase in return on investment. Still they expect more control on bidding, audiences, and placements.

The study also found performance marketing initiatives average 23% of digital budgets among the companies using the strategy. Marketers using the strategy are 24 percentage points more likely to say they are confident their marketing programs are achieving their goals.