• Best CPA Networks
  • Best Cost-Per-Sale Affiliate Networks
  • Best Pay-Per-Call Networks
  • mThink Digital
  • Thought Leadership
    • White Papers
  • About
    • Content Marketing
    • Content Strategy
      • Web Content
      • Social Media Strategy
      • Webinars & Video
      • Thought Leadership
    • Performance Marketing
    • Portfolio
      • Revenue Performance
      • Accenture
      • Microsoft
      • Java Detour
      • Our Process
    • Contact Us

mThink

Blue Book Logo

BlueBook Logo

The Trusted Name in Performance Marketing

ROS Leaderboard

  • Home
  • Blue Book
    • About Blue Book
    • Blue Ribbon Panel
    • Interviews
    • Research Methodology
    • Back Issues
    • Advertising
      • Website Creative Specifications
      • Newsletter Creative Specifications
  • Best CPA Networks
  • Best Cost-Per-Sale Affiliate Networks
  • Best Pay-Per-Call Networks
  • Best European CPA Networks
  • Best CPA Networks for Affiliates
  • Best CPA Networks for Advertisers

A Sideways Look At Performance Marketing

September 1, 2016 by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book

Performance MarketingThe Blue Book Top 20 rankings were launched almost eight years ago to promote profesessionalism in the performance marketing industry. mThink’s roots lie in enterprise-level marketing for companies in the Global 2000, and it seemed clear to us that the performance marketing industry was simply not thinking big enough.

We believed then, and still believe now, that affiliate marketing should be part of the core marketing solution set for every large enterprise and agency.

As a result, we stay connected to what is going on in that world, and today a new “Performance Marketing” company contacted us: Merkle. You may never have heard of them, but they are part of Dentsu Aegis Network, a billion dollar subsidiary of Dentsu, the Japan-based mega-agency.

The thing is, they call themselves a performance marketing company but they don’t do affiliate marketing. Instead, they take a larger view of what performance marketing means:

“Merkle helps brands transform their marketing organization using data, analytics, and technology to create meaningful, personalized customer experiences that deliver competitive advantage.”

For Merkle performance marketing means collecting data and using it to make meaningful changes in the business performance of their advertiser clients. They take a holistic view of the business, the competition and how to win. Take a look at the attached graphic to get a feel for just how deep they go.

Why should this be of interest to an affiliate marketer? Because too often we only look to the next sale, the next campaign, the next product. Real performance marketers lift their heads to the horizon and see the bigger picture. That’s what the best CPA and CPS networks do, and the best merchant and the best publishers. But what Merkle’s example shows us is that our industry practices and processes can be made deeper and wider. They should be integrated into the mass of marketing technology solutions that large companies now use, and be able to leverage the huge amounts of data that such companies now possess about their key audiences.

Here’s a quick self-test: do you know what a DMP is? Do you know what programmatic is? Do you know the difference between first-party and third-party data?

If any of your answers were “no”, take it as a sign that you may not be keeping up with how this industry is going to be affected by big data.

You can take a look at Merkle’s website here.

Related posts:

  1. Five Essential Questions To Ask Your Network Advertisers choosing a new network partner have to take a...
  2. The 4 Biggest Internet Trends Affecting Affiliate Marketing Trends Affecting Affiliate Marketing Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker is...
  3. In Defense of Networks One thing that becomes obvious as you look through the...
  4. Jackie Bates on Affiliate MarTech Opportunities Hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised by AdTech...

Filed Under: Blue Book, Featured, Revenue Tagged With: affiliate marketing, performance marketing

Search

ROS Col 2 Top

ROS Col 2 Mid

ROS Col 2 Low

Subscribe to our newsletter!

* indicates required

ROS Col 2 – 4 Misc

ROS Col 2 – 5 Misc

ROS Col 2 – 6 Misc

Recent Posts

  • 2023: Challenges, Opportunities & Predictions
  • Top 4 Best Practices For Consumer Finance Campaigns
  • Four Moments That Changed Performance Marketing Forever
  • New additions, improvements, and added perks from your favorite CPA network
  • Your Top 5 Affiliate Marketing Questions Answered
  • 5 strategies to create better content
  • FCC Says Ringless Voicemails Require Prior Consent
  • Top 5 Free Methods to Increase Affiliate Traffic
  •  3 Top Lead Generation Best Practices To Scale Your Business
  • Automation, Conversions, Profitability, Oh My – Breaking Affiliate Campaign Roadblocks
  • 5 tips for a better brand image
  • How Mac of All Trades Found Multi-Channel Success
  • Winning In A Changing World: An Interview with Taras Kiseliuk, CEO of ClickDealer
  • Survey: What Consumers Want from Financial Services Providers
  • The influencer marketing era: what does the future of web marketing hold?

About mThink

mThink is a specialist digital marketing company based in San Francisco. We focus on media buying, Facebook marketing, direct response, social and mobile. In addition mThink produces the annual Blue Book Rankings of major performance marketing networks. Read More »

Baseboard

Copyright ©2023 · mThink. All rights reserved.
3053 Fillmore Street, Suite 325 | (415) 787-0250
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy