194 - Exploring the Challenges of Scaling with Performance Marketing with Faisal Siddiqui

Are you in the league of those who believe performance marketing is the answer for scaling Performance? In today's episode, we demystify this notion by breaking down why you can't scale profitability using performance marketing alone. Our subject matter expert today is Faissel Sadiki.

Faissel's career journey into marketing: He started off in the fine arts industry by working as an artist. He later ventured into branding, landing an intern position with a UK branding agency. He would then move back to his native country Canada to start his own business. He believes that Canada presents a unique environment for business in the sense that branding and advertising are done in-house at the same agency. As a result, there is no separate discipline for brand strategy, and brand identity has not yet developed into stand-alone specializations, unlike in the UK or US.

Convergence of branding and advertising: Our subject matter expert argues that branding and advertising defer because of the skill sets required. Typically, the scope of branding is relatively broader, which translates that brand strategists often think long-term, unlike the short-term perspective of advertising. For instance, branding would target performance marketing over 5 years to help scale profitability in the long term. However, he decries the limitation of branding strategists to condense a message into a compelling ad with a clear proposition that would stimulate a call to action. On the other hand, advertising strategists have a superior capability of devising an effective message to stimulate the desired customer behavior change. Generally, Faissel explains that the skill sets of the two disciplines are different and only sometimes converge. He recommends that organizations encourage cooperation between branding and advertising departments to scale growth through performance marketing.

Limitations of performance marketing in sustainable growth: Faissel explains that funneling all your marketing budgets at the point of purchase limits profitability. He argues that performance marketing serves smaller companies with a small marketing budget. Given that performance marketing relies on an auction-based bidding model that leverages keywords, the company's message only enjoys the visibility of the target audience intending to purchase. These only account for a small percentage of the potential clientele while missing out on the bulk of customers who are outside the category. Also, it is expensive to compete at the point of purchase because it requires a number of tries to make a hit. Furthermore, our subject matter expert frowns at the tendency of performance marketing to utilize only a single message or lead magnet that does not often appeal to the greater pool of customers that are outside the category.

Performance according to industry or product/service: Faissel agrees that the effectiveness of performance marketing depends on the type of industry or product/service. In the insurance industry, for instance, a customer does not spend time evaluating the brands but rather go for strong trusted brands. (Brand marketing serves effective heuristics that help the consumer to make really quick decisions).

Time codes

• (0:35) Faisal's career journey into marketing
• (04:20) Convergence of branding and advertising
• (08:18) Limitations of performance marketing in sustainable growth

• (13:49) Performance according to industry or product/service
• (13:37) Initial communication with a new branding client
• (23:51) Faisal's contact information
• (24:18) Faisal choice of brand ambassador