Starting your first performance marketing campaign can seem like solving a complex puzzle.

No worries, though!

I’m here to turn that confusion into clarity with some straightforward steps to get you started.

Understanding Performance Marketing

At its core, performance marketing is all about measurable results. Whether it's clicks, leads, or sales, you only pay when specific actions are achieved.

1. Define Your Goals

Start by pinpointing what you want to achieve. 

Are you looking to boost website traffic, increase sales, or gather more leads? 

Setting clear goals helps you measure success and gives direction to your campaign.

2. Choose the Right Channels

Not all channels are created equal, especially when it comes to where your target audience is active. 

Make sure you do the research into your target audience and pick the right channels. 

You DO NOT have to be on all channels at one time. Pick the ones that are right for your brand and go from there.

3. Set...

When I first got started in marketing and was asked to put together a marketing budget for the first time, I didn’t know where to begin. How much should I spend? Where should I spend it? Will I ask for too much or too little?

Putting together a marketing budget doesn't have to be hard. Whether you're a startup owner or a marketer, knowing where to allocate your funds and how much to allocate can significantly impact the growth of your business.

Forecasting your marketing budget isn't just about crunching numbers. It's about aligning your financial resources with your strategic goals to maximize impact.

Today I break down seven tactics for forecasting your marketing budget, offering actionable steps to implement immediately.

1. Setting up your initial marketing budget - If you have no historical data to go off of, start here.

If you're new to budgeting or don’t have historical data to go off of, start here. This would be a common situation for startups or businesses that...

Scaling your business requires a smart strategy and precise action. Knowing when to scale versus when to focus on growth is critical. Let's get straight to the point with immediate steps you need to implement to effectively scale your business today.

1. Decide: scale or grow? Don't just grow blindly; decide strategically based on clear indicators. Is your demand consistent and your infrastructure solid? It's time to scale. If you need more market reach or product diversity, focus on growth. Not every business is ready to scale.

Let’s define the two a bit more:

Growth refers to increasing your business's size or revenue in a linear fashion. Increases in resources leads directly to increases in output. It involves expanding all aspects of the business at roughly the same rate. This means if you want to double your revenue, you will also double your spending on resources such as manpower, manufacturing, and marketing. Growth focuses on broadening reach and capacity,...

I was chatting with a marketer friend the other day and he said to me “Who has time to actually build out the funnel and create personas?”

This got me thinking about what marketers are up against today. We're all living in a fast-paced world that's always changing, and often, marketers are faced with unrealistic expectations about what 'marketing' can and should do for a business. Targets are often far out of reach which causes burn out and frustration amongst teams. We don’t have a magic wand we can wave to magically change the business… unfortunately.

This also got me thinking about my background as a marketer, and call me old school, but I love doing the work. I enjoy discovering the emotional connection between a brand and their customers.

If you can grow your brand through emotional connection - values and relationships - rather than just continuously asking for money, you will win. But we need to do the work first. We cannot completely discount the...

Last week I spoke about how to Master Digital Transformation. 

But what comes next? How do you take your brand to the next level through cultivating a community of loyal customers? How do you create experiences that your customers want to be a part of time and time again? 

In today's highly competitive business world, creating a stand-out brand is a non-negotiable. Standing out isn't just about being better; it's about being boldly different. 

As a founder, CEO, marketer, entrepreneur, etc.. your mission is to shape a brand that connects deeply with your customers and distinguishes you from the crowd. 

Remember, in the race for brand recognition, the boldest moves often lead to the biggest gains.

Here are ten moves to transform your brand into an unforgettable journey: 

1) Trust and Loyalty: Consumers crave authenticity. Go beyond the norm by opening up aspects of your business that others keep closed. Share your challenges, failures, and lessons...

The digital age is not coming; it's here. Are you falling behind or are you leading the way?

In today's fast-paced environment, there is a relentless demand for innovation. The market is making it more and more difficult for us to keep up. But keeping up is not enough. We need to lead the way.

This issue of "ReThink Growth" guides you through the complexities of digital transformation. I offer you 7 clear action items that push beyond the ordinary, towards exceptional helping you make better decisions about your business.

Drawing from my 16-year career as a marketing executive, spanning scrappy start-ups to global giants, these strategies are distilled from my real-world experiences. I've put each one to the test, refining them through successes and failures. 

At the core of every tactic? A universal drive towards growth.

7 Strategies for Exceptional Digital Transformation:

Embrace a Culture of Innovation: Encourage a mindset that views challenges...