Effective Performance Marketing – with Sofia Benjelloun

For those who don’t recognize the term, performance marketing is a model where advertisers pay partners only when the desired action happens. These actions include cost per click, cost per action, and cost per lead.

It’s a way of boosting a company’s brand awareness while developing sales. This is achieved by partnering with partners (also referred to as publishers or affiliates) and engaging in mutually beneficial relationships.

Sofia studied at the prestigious King’s College London, attaining a Business Management BSc. That drove her to forward her education at the Paris Dauphine University, where she earned her master’s qualification.

Since leaving university, her journey through the ranks of the digital marketing industry has provided the wealth of experience she needed to become an expert in her field – performance marketing.

What is Partner marketing?

Many use the terms affiliate marketing and partner marketing interchangeably, however, partner marketing is so much more. Both partner marketing and affiliate marketing are forms of performance marketing.

In fact, it became an industry standard to refer to the more traditional partnerships as affiliate partnerships. Traditional affiliates tend to be last-click contributors—for example, coupon and loyalty sites. While when we speak of partners in the partner marketing model, they can lie anywhere along the funnel. Collaborations based on the Partner marketing model focus on generating quantifiable brand value. The partner marketing model emphasizes the importance of developing meaningful, transparent, quality and lasting relationships between advertisers and partners. Where advertisers will actively listen to partner ideas to grow their business.  

You can have thousands of partners or affiliates, but if they’re not the right fit, or can’t deliver what you need, then they can’t create the ROI your company needs.

That’s where Sofia excels. She has all the experience and tools to be able to source, select and onboard the most suitable partners based on your overall marketing strategy. It’s how she instigates the figures every business wants to see—creating true value and outstanding results.

Why is partner marketing the model of the future?

Partner marketing encourages collaborations based on transparency, communication and consistency. The relationship needs to be mutually beneficial, and this is why she believes the model will continue to thrive in the future. In the parent marketing model, both the advertiser and the brand greatly value the relationship, reinforcing their commitment to each other. 

Moreover, partner marketing increases the brand’s advertising channels without a significant increase in their marketing budget.

Partner marketing, when done right, can be extremely effective, as by collaborating with several partners, the brand receives credibility with several customers and connects the brand with different cultivated audiences.

Partner marketing collaborations also encourage brands and partners to work together in harmony, and this is possible today more than ever, thanks to the recent development in the technology behind SAAS platforms. The technological advancements of SAAS platforms allow advertisers to compensate their partners fairly for each of their marketing efforts.

If you want to see an example of a business that’s thriving on performance partnerships, you only have to look to Amazon. Possibly, the biggest online retailer in the business, Amazon has their own affiliate network, allowing sign-ups to earn generous commissions, providing more sales through their partners’ tills, and in turn, boosting their profits and growing their empire.

Driving new performance partnership opportunities

It all sounds simple, but to apply partner marketing efficiently, to get the most out of this framework, it takes hard work and savoir-faire.

Picking the right partners, creating the right relationships, and providing the right rewards, is a craft that takes time to learn.

Whether you’re a corporation or a start-up looking to hit the ground running, getting your marketing channels right is big business, and requires the right tools—and people—for the job.

“I love marketing and the challenges it brings,” says Sofia. “Putting the right players together is an area where I’ve invested a lot of myself, so I’ve learned to recognise which matches are going to work well, and which won’t.”

She explains to me how she identifies the right relationships for her clients, and where she finds such appropriate partners.

According to her “the most important is to keep an open mind when looking for new partners.” The most successful partnerships are often very unique and unexpected.

For example, the rise of partnerships with online banks and finance providers, such as Revolut, is one of the latest trends. Advertisers are increasingly partnering with online banks like Revolut, where the online bank will feature the advertiser on their rewards pages and offer cashback to the customer every time a purchase is made.

Performance marketing partnerships—knowing your best partners

Sofia is engaging and energetic as she explains the importance of choosing the best partners for each business.

“Choosing the right partners is imperative for any businesses hoping to take advantage of performance marketing. Too many people hold a negative view of partner marketing due to out-dated knowledge based around dated affiliate marketing methods. Yet, partner marketing is more relevant today than ever. It significantly boosts brand awareness and generates a high ROI. That said; it does need to be steered carefully.”

Sofia works within an array of networks, linking businesses to their prime performers. She tells me the ins and outs of working with influencers, product reviewers, loyalty and content partners.

Data, data, data

As every marketer knows, you won’t get anywhere with a hit-and-hope strategy. Data drives results. When it comes to partner marketing, you have access to very specific data, allowing you to measure the performance of every partnership. It shows you where you need to optimise relationships, and which partners are responsible for the best results.

“Each brand needs to see where their traffic is coming from and how much revenue they create. Only with that information can you tweak your systems—boosting the best, and dropping any dead weight. Monitoring your partnerships is a must. Helping underperformers do better is one way to boost performance. The other is to make sure you’ve got all of the fine details covered at your end of the funnel.”

Stay informed on the latest partner marketing trends

If you’re interested in how partner marketing works and the views of a specialist, it’s worth keeping up-to-date with the latest practices and trends; and that’s precisely why she created her blog SOSOLLE.

Her passion for her industry shines through. The information is easy to swallow, providing simple instruction into techniques and programs, and food for thought into areas you might choose to pursue.

If you’re looking into ways to develop your digital marketing means and methods, it’s well worth a click.