What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing means reaching people through the internet. It includes search engine optimisation (SEO), social media, content, email and WhatsApp, your website, influencers and online ads. Our digital marketing services cover the full range.
What is performance marketing?
Performance marketing is online advertising where every rupee can be traced to a result: a click, a lead or a sale. It runs mostly on Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn and marketplaces. You set a goal, pay for results or judge spend by them, and move money towards what works. See our performance marketing service.
Is performance marketing the same as digital marketing?
No. Performance marketing is a part of digital marketing. Think of digital marketing as the whole shop and performance marketing as the counter where sales are rung up. You need the counter, but the rest of the shop is what brings people in and makes them trust you.
Which types of digital marketing count as performance marketing?
| Type of digital marketing | Usually performance marketing? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Google search ads | Yes | You pay per click and can track enquiries from each ad |
| Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads with lead forms | Yes | Spend is judged on leads or sales |
| LinkedIn ads for business-to-business (B2B) leads | Yes | Judged on qualified leads from named job titles |
| Marketplace sponsored listings | Yes | Judged on sales from each listing |
| Affiliate and influencer deals paid per sale | Yes | You pay only when a sale happens |
| SEO (search engine optimisation) | No | No charge per click; results build over months |
| Organic social media posts | No | Builds audience and trust rather than tracked sales |
| Content marketing | No | Educates buyers; judged over time |
| Brand video ads bought for reach | Mostly no | Judged on reach and recall, not direct sales |
| Email and WhatsApp to your own list | Partly | Cheap to send, and sales can often be tracked |
How is performance marketing paid for?
- Cost per click (CPC): you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Common on Google search.
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): you pay for every 1,000 times the ad is shown. Common for reach campaigns, but still judged on results in performance work.
- Cost per lead (CPL): you pay, or judge spend, by each enquiry.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): you pay, or judge spend, by each sale or booking. Affiliate deals often work this way.
Ad platforms charge by click or impression; the performance part is how you judge the spend. Agencies may charge a fee on top for planning and running campaigns. Ask for the media cost and the fee separately when you compare quotes.
Can a small business use performance marketing?
Yes, and it's often the easiest place to start. You can begin with a small daily budget on Google or Meta, aimed at your area, and stop or change it any day. The things to get right first are a clear offer, a page or WhatsApp number that makes enquiring easy, and a way to tell which enquiries came from the ads.
When should you choose performance marketing?
- You need enquiries or sales soon, such as for a launch, a season or a sales target.
- People already search for what you sell, so there is demand to capture.
- You can track leads and sales back to ads.
- Your website or landing page can turn clicks into enquiries.
When do you need broader digital marketing?
- Few people know your brand, so ads alone find too few buyers.
- Your cost per lead keeps rising and you want cheaper, steadier enquiries. SEO and content help here.
- Buyers research for weeks before deciding, so they need useful content and proof.
- You want results that don't stop the day the ad budget does.
A worked example: a diagnostics lab
A made-up example. A diagnostics lab in Kolkata wants more test bookings.
| Work | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Google search ads for "blood test near me" and test names | Performance | Bookings within days from people searching now |
| Meta ads for health check packages, with a booking form | Performance | Bookings from people not yet searching |
| Google Business Profile, reviews and local SEO | Digital (organic) | Steady bookings without paying per click |
| Short videos explaining tests and preparation | Digital (content) | Trust, and fewer drop-offs before booking |
| WhatsApp reminders for annual check-ups | Digital (retention) | Repeat bookings at almost no cost |
What it tracks: bookings by source, cost per booking for each ad campaign, and the share of bookings from unpaid channels growing over time.
How is performance marketing measured?
- Cost per lead (CPL): what you pay, on average, for one enquiry.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): what you pay for one sale or booking.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS): sales value for every rupee of ads.
- Lead quality: the share of leads your sales team agrees are real buyers.
None of these numbers can be trusted if tracking is broken. Setting it up properly is analytics and tracking.
Common mistakes
- Calling all digital marketing "performance". Then SEO and content get judged on cost per lead in month one.
- Judging performance only on ROAS. A cheap lead that never buys isn't a good result.
- Sending ads to a weak page. A slow or confusing landing page wastes the budget.
- Stopping everything else. With no brand or content work, ad costs tend to climb.
