Top 3 Performance Marketing Channels You Need to Use

by Frankie Karrer

7 Min Read

In marketing, you’re looking for an edge over the competition and a meaningful way to reach more consumers. Technology makes it easier to seek out customers directly and intimately, but the ubiquity of video and streaming services can also mean it is hard to compete with distractions. When you do find an innovative way to break through, it can get pricey.

That’s where utilizing the best performance marketing channels can provide a real solution.

What Is a Performance Marketing Channel?

A performance marketing channel is a platform or medium through which advertisers run campaigns that are measured and optimized based on specific actions, such as clicks, leads, or sales. By focusing on direct, trackable marketing metrics, performance marketing channels ensure that marketing efforts are efficient and ROI-driven.

Benefits of Performance Marketing

Performance marketing is designed to maximize efficiency, optimize ad spend, and drive measurable results. Here are five key advantages that make a performance marketing strategy so powerful:

Pay-For-Performance Model – Advertisers only pay for actual outcomes, such as clicks, conversions, or leads, ensuring every dollar spent contributes to measurable success.
Advanced Audience Targeting – Campaigns can be highly customized using demographic, behavioral, and intent-based data, improving engagement and conversion rates.
Real-Time Optimization – Performance marketing allows for instant adjustments based on data insights, ensuring campaigns continuously improve over time.
Scalable Campaigns – High-performing campaigns can be easily expanded, helping businesses capitalize on what’s working and scale their success.
Clear ROI Measurement – With detailed tracking and attribution, advertisers gain full visibility into campaign performance, making it easier to refine strategy and maximize return.

Performance marketing is a data-driven, results-focused approach that helps brands cut through the noise and connect with the right audience at the right time.

Now, let’s discuss the top performance marketing channels.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) involves using paid advertisements on social media platforms to target specific audience segments based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This type of performance marketing allows for precise targeting and real-time engagement, making it an effective way to drive conversions and increase brand awareness.

Facebook and Instagram Ads: Use Meta’s extensive targeting options to reach specific audiences across both Facebook and Instagram platforms, enhancing engagement and conversions.
LinkedIn Ads: Target professionals and businesses with tailored ads based on job titles, industries, and company sizes, ideal for B2B performance marketing.
X Ads (formerly Twitter Ads): Leverage real-time engagement and trending topics to reach a broad audience with promoted tweets and accounts.
Pinterest Ads: Promote your products and services through visually appealing pins that capture users’ interests and drive traffic to your site.
TikTok Ads: Utilize short, engaging video ads to capture the attention of a younger, highly interactive audience on one of the fastest-growing social media platforms.

2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) uses paid search ads to appear in search engine results, targeting users actively looking for related keywords. This performance marketing strategy drives highly relevant traffic to websites, increasing the chances of conversions from users who are already interested in the advertised products or services.

Google Ads: Reach a vast audience by displaying ads in Google search results and across its extensive network of partner websites and apps.
Microsoft Ads: Advertise on Bing and its partner networks, targeting users who use Microsoft’s search engine and services.
Amazon Advertising: Promote products directly on Amazon’s platform, reaching customers who are ready to purchase.
Yahoo Advertising: Display ads on Yahoo search results and its network of partner sites, targeting a diverse audience across various demographics.

3. Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising automates the ad-buying process in real-time, using advanced algorithms and audience data to deliver highly targeted ads. This performance-driven approach ensures that ads appear in front of the right viewers, at the right time, across multiple digital channels for maximum impact.

Over-The-Top (OTT) Advertising

OTT advertising reaches viewers who stream content on platforms like Hulu and Netflix, allowing brands to engage audiences outside of traditional cable and satellite TV. With cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) and cost-per-completed-view (CPCV) models, advertisers only pay for high-quality, viewable impressions.

Connected TV (CTV) Advertising

CTV advertising places non-skippable, high-impact ads on smart TVs and streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire Stick. By leveraging premium, full-screen placements, brands can ensure their message is seen in a distraction-free, living room environment.

Learn more about OTT vs CTV.

Display Advertising

Display advertising serves banner, rich media, and video ads across websites and mobile apps, targeting users based on behavior, interests, and demographics. Using CPC, CPM, and CPA models, advertisers can drive traffic, generate leads, and optimize campaigns for better engagement.

Other Marketing Channels to Consider

The types of marketing below can sometimes be confused with performance marketing channels, but they are not the same. However, when these strategies are integrated with broader marketing initiatives, you can amplify your message.

1. Content Marketing

Content marketing focuses on creating valuable, informative, and engaging content to attract and nurture potential customers. While it doesn’t follow a pay-for-performance model, it plays a crucial role in building brand authority, improving SEO, and driving long-term audience engagement.

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing delivers targeted messages directly to a subscriber’s inbox, making it a powerful tool for lead nurturing and customer retention. Unlike performance marketing, results are not always immediate, but a well-crafted email strategy can drive long-term conversions and customer loyalty.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of optimizing website content to improve organic search rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find your brand. While it’s not a paid performance channel, it works alongside PPC and content marketing to increase visibility and drive high-intent traffic.

Native advertising seamlessly integrates sponsored content into a platform’s organic feed, making ads feel less intrusive. Unlike performance marketing, which is strictly results-driven, native ads focus on brand awareness and engagement while blending in with user-generated content.

5. Partnership Marketing

Partnership marketing involves two or more businesses or entities teaming up to increase their reach and impact. As an example, sometimes a brand has a niche product or expertise, and a smaller audience to which they can get their message out. Through partnership marketing, they can borrow the gravitas of a more well-known brand. The crucial thing to guarantee success is to ensure your goals are aligned.

Affiliate Marketing

In affiliate marketing, one site links to another (typically a shopping website) and earns a percentage of the sales that result from that click. For example, shopping recommendation sites like NYMag.com’s Strategist offer a roundup of the best products in many categories, then link to Amazon and specific business sites, earning a commission from those sales.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing involves using social media or celebrity influencers with large numbers of followers to expand your marketing’s reach. After all, it’s undeniable that these figures play a significant role in making products and services appealing to their millions of followers, acting as a stamp of approval.

Performance Marketing Starts With CTV

Want to get the most out of your performance marketing strategy? MNTN’s platform makes CTV one of the most effective performance channels, combining precise audience targeting, real-time optimization, and measurable attribution. It’s performance marketing built for the modern streaming era—no wasted spend, just real results.

Here’s what you get with MNTN Performance TV:

MNTN Matched – AI-powered targeting ensures your ads reach high-intent audiences at the right time.
Premium CTV Inventory – Run your streaming ads on top streaming networks, securing high-quality placements with engaged viewers.
Verified Visits™ Attribution – Connects ad impressions to site visits and conversions, providing clear, measurable performance insights.
Automated Optimization – AI continuously refines your campaigns, maximizing efficiency and eliminating wasted spend.
Reporting Suite – Access real-time performance metrics to track engagement, optimize campaigns, and prove ROI.

Make CTV your next top-performing marketing channel—sign up today to get started with MNTN’s self-serve software.

Performance Marketing Channels: Final Thoughts

Performance marketing channels can be a powerful tool to make sure you are reaching your audience in a measurable and effective way. And by advertising on a channel like Connected TV, which combines the best of digital advertising and the best of TV advertising, you can ensure your brand achieves its marketing goals.