Why teams are following all 7 stages of development for performance marketing

This practice is about getting the most out of marketing spend by doing more with each dollar, rather than restricting how much is spent — performance marketing needs some nuance.

Analyzing the seven stages of development reveals where many people practicing performance marketing typically stop and how they can move far beyond and become marketing masters.

Step one: Optimizing for action

At this stage, performance metrics guide marketers in refining approaches and adjusting campaigns to drive immediate actions such as clicks, impressions or opens. By targeting specific lists, audiences, creatives or offers, marketers aim to improve efficiency and maximize results.

However, many marketers stop here, equating performance solely with immediate actions, often reflecting earlier tracking method limitations, when establishing direct connections to outcomes like conversions was difficult. As a result, these surrogate metrics became the default measure of success, but they primarily indicate awareness rather than true performance.

Optimizing for action is an important first step, but true performance marketing requires moving beyond these surface-level indicators to connect actions with meaningful business outcomes.

Step two: Moving from proxy actions to business outcomes

This step is about understanding not just what happened, but what it’s worth. A deeper analysis often reveals that the list or audience driving the most clicks doesn’t necessarily deliver the most revenue or efficiency. For example, one email list might generate more actions, but those actions lead to lower conversions or smaller transaction values. These insights can profoundly affect optimization strategy.

While this assessment is often limited to a single channel, it works to understand the financial contribution of those simple actions, connecting specific outreach efforts to distinct results without considering cross-channel impacts.

Step three: Shifting from immediate results to lifetime value

Once marketers understand the immediate impact through metrics like ROAS, shifting their focus beyond short-term gains is the next step. While immediate results are valuable, optimizing solely for one-time buyers risks leaving long-term opportunities untapped. Performance marketing at this stage builds lasting customer relationships that maximize lifetime revenue and reduce the cost of capturing future spend.

Evaluating the return on marketing investment over a longer timeframe allows marketers to better align value assessments with the extended lifecycle of their customers. This broader perspective ensures campaigns generate quick wins and create sustainable growth by fostering brand loyalty and recurring purchases.

This is the stage where even the most sophisticated marketers often stop, satisfied with their ability to evaluate customer relationships over time.

However, digital marketing campaigns — often constrained by limited insight and control — can lead marketers to slide back to the simpler metrics of stage one. The real transformation comes in the next stage, recognizing that real customer journeys occur across multiple channels and campaigns.

Step four: Evolving from single campaigns to multi-touch journeys

Performance marketing evolves significantly when marketers stop thinking of campaigns as isolated efforts and instead view them as interconnected series of events across multiple touchpoints. Stage four is about managing the sequence of campaigns and understanding how they work together to nurture prospects and drive results over time.

Marketers focus on creating a cohesive plan where each campaign builds on the last, forming a deliberate progression that guides customers through the buying journey. Success isn’t tied to the performance of a single campaign but to the cumulative impact of multiple campaigns working together.

Step five: Moving from siloed channels to omnichannel strategies

Modern marketing spans many channels — no marketer should analyze performance metrics in isolation. Reading results across all channels helps connect the dots for a complete picture of consumer behavior.

This stage builds on the work done in stages two and three, focusing on understanding business outcomes holistically rather than within a single channel. For example, a direct mail campaign might prompt digital engagement immediately, rather than via mail. By taking a cross-channel view, marketers can uncover hidden contributions and gain clarity on how campaigns work together to drive results.

Total revenue is also introduced here — combining results from all relevant channels into a unified measure of success. This allows marketers to identify which channels contribute the most value and where to allocate future resources for maximum impact.

Step six: Incorporating multi-touch attribution

Building on the insights from stage four’s journey management, this stage involves fully integrating all available channels and touchpoints into a unified strategy. The goal is to understand how each element in the marketing mix contributes to customer engagement and business outcomes.

Marketers at this stage face significant challenges, particularly in attribution. MTA becomes essential for assessing the contribution of each channel and touchpoint in a complex, multi-channel environment. Testing various scenarios and observing how different channels interact helps give marketers a clear idea of which combinations deliver the best results.

Step seven: Testing, prospecting and learning

At this last stage, marketers explore untapped markets to identify new audiences and opportunities. Prospecting is about expanding the boundaries of performance marketing to discover high-value segments, refine strategies and build a sustainable pipeline of future customers.

This stage requires a mindset shift: There’s no such thing as waste in prospecting. Non-performing spend isn’t a loss — it’s a critical test budget used to learn which strategies, channels and creative approaches resonate with new audiences. The insights gained from these efforts form the foundation of future growth.

Prospecting success hinges on applying the principles of performance marketing — multivariate testing, attribution modeling and lifetime value analysis — to uncover the best paths for customer acquisition. When marketers continuously optimize the learning process, they expand their reach without over-targeting or sacrificing efficiency.

The future of performance

Some performance marketers zoom in on tightly defined audiences at all costs, however, it’s entirely possible to optimize the learning process and stretch the concept of performance into the wider marketing world.

Marketers who master all seven stages will find that they have highly successful, data-driven campaigns. In an era where every ad dollar is scrutinized, the ability to connect spend with business results and back that up with a constantly-optimized strategy is one that marketers will reap the benefits of for years to come.

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