• by August 24, 2006

What is performance marketing? 

Just a sexy new label for direct marketing and a raft of related sub-disciplines? It might well be. But the tactics and strategies of this growing marketing discipline are becoming part and parcel of many digital media and marketing strategies.

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 Steve Smith points out, it’s getting harder for marketers to finesse the response they want, let alone any response. Consumers are tired of being cornered. They must offer their permission.

Lynn Russo explores the seismic changes at the agency level, where “traditional” direct marketing shops are merging with or acquiring digital/direct capabilities, technologies, and talent. An agency that merely specializes in making direct-response TV spots may not cut it anymore; DRTV strategies must loop back to the Web, lead generation formulas, co-registration, affiliate marketing, and other niche-oriented but significant tools in the performance marketing arsenal. Integration seems key, and more marketers, not to mention agencies, will need to sharpen their skills in this dynamic area. As Sharpe Partners’ CEO Kathy Sharpe puts it: “It’s a whole new dance.” To be sure. The issue also features a cross-media case study on Agency.com’s cheeky campaign for British Airways.

We hope to see you at the OMMA Conference & Expo in New York Sept. 25-26, where we’ll honor MediaPost’s Online All Stars and hand out the OMMA Awards. For more information, go to www.mediapost.com.