Performance marketing for enquiries that pay salaries.

Performance marketing is online advertising aimed at measurable results such as enquiries or purchases and continuously steered by those figures. Unlike classic advertising, you see for every campaign what it cost and what it delivered. Depending on the platform, you pay per impression or per click, and the budget moves to the ads that deliver results. The prerequisite is conversion tracking that reports results back to the platforms, because without that feedback Meta and Google optimise their delivery for clicks instead of paying customers.

Performance marketing covers every channel whose result can be measured per euro, above all Meta ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and affiliate marketing. Some also count email marketing and search engine optimisation, because their contribution can be measured too. Maze & Friends runs campaigns on Meta and Google and connects them with in-house creatives and clean tracking. Which channel suits you depends on whether your customers are already searching or first need to become aware of you.

A performance marketing agency plans, produces and runs paid campaigns so that they generate measurable enquiries or sales. That includes campaign structure, audiences, creatives, conversion tracking, budget management and reporting. At Maze & Friends from Vienna, creative and campaign management come from one team, for campaigns in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and other markets. Ad accounts, data and audiences run in your name. Reporting is based on results such as cost per enquiry or revenue. Reach is a means, not a result.

A good performance marketing agency reports on enquiries, sales and cost per result rather than reach and clicks. Check whether the ad accounts run in your name and whether you have full access at all times. Ask who produces the creatives and who will actually manage your account after the initial call. A reputable agency checks the tracking before any budget flows and tells you when ads aren’t the right lever right now. Guaranteed ROAS figures or fixed costs per enquiry are a warning sign, because nobody can promise them.

Performance marketing involves two costs: the ad budget, which goes directly to Meta or Google, and the fee for strategy, creatives and management. The fee depends on the number of channels, the need for new creatives and whether tracking and landing pages already exist or still have to be built. Ongoing support starts with a three-month minimum term and is then cancellable monthly. After the initial call, you get a fixed-price quote with no hidden items.

Your ad budget should be large enough for the platform to collect enough results to improve its delivery. As a guideline, Meta cites around 50 optimisation events per ad set within seven days before the learning phase ends. For expensive results such as B2B enquiries, it can therefore make sense to optimise for an earlier step first. A small budget belongs in one campaign with a clear goal; spread across many, it fizzles out. In the initial call, we work backwards from your goal and tell you whether it is achievable with your budget.

Advertising on Facebook and Instagram costs as much as you set as your budget; Meta distributes it across impressions and clicks in an auction. What you pay per thousand impressions or per click depends on the audience, competition, season and quality of your ad. Prices usually rise before Christmas, when many retailers advertise at the same time. What ultimately matters is what an enquiry or a purchase costs and what a new customer is worth to you. Strong creatives lower those costs, because Meta favours relevant ads.

Meta ads are paid adverts on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network, which you manage centrally in Meta’s Ads Manager. You set the goal, audience, budget and visuals, and Meta runs the ads in the feed, in Stories and in Reels. The strength of Meta ads lies in creating demand: people see your offer before they search for it. For Meta to optimise for enquiries or purchases, you need the Meta pixel and the Conversions API. People who already know your website can be shown a different message from people meeting you for the first time.

Google Ads fit when people are already actively searching for your service; Meta ads fit when you first need to create demand. On Google, you capture existing demand at the moment of search. On Facebook and Instagram, you generate it with images, videos and messages, including among people who don’t know you yet. Many companies need both: Meta for reach and retargeting, Google for searches with buying intent. Search volume, audience and your existing data show the right balance.

Google Ads are worth it when enough people actively search for your service and a new customer is worth more than acquiring them through clicks costs. An analysis before launch shows whether that is the case: how often people search and what a click costs in your industry. Since Google started showing AI summaries for many questions, fewer people click on purely informational searches, while ads remain visible for searches with purchase intent. We start with search terms that show purchase intent. In small niches with few searches, Meta is often the better route.

Performance marketing delivers first data right after launch, but reliable statements about cost per enquiry need a learning phase and enough results. How long that takes depends mainly on the budget and the number of conversions: a few enquiries a month provide fewer signals than many purchases a day. During the learning phase, we only change what is really necessary, because every major change restarts it. That is why we look at trends over several weeks; individual days say little.

Conversion tracking matters because Meta and Google optimise their delivery for the results you report back to them. If the tracking counts enquiries twice, the algorithm learns from false successes. If conversions go missing because of ad blockers or declined consent, a good campaign looks worse than it is. That is why we check the tracking before any budget flows and add server-side feedback via Meta’s Conversions API where needed. Advertising without clean measurement is expensive guesswork.

ROAS stands for return on ad spend and shows how much revenue each euro of ad spend brings in. If one euro of ad budget brings four euros of revenue, the ROAS is 4. There is no universally good value; your margin decides. The threshold at which advertising pays for itself is one divided by the margin: with a 40 per cent margin, you need a ROAS of 2.5 to cover the advertising costs. For B2B enquiries, the cost per qualified enquiry is usually the better KPI.

Performance marketing pays off for companies with a measurable goal, such as a sale, enquiry or registration, and an offer that convinces online. Online shops calculate in revenue: for Canal Toys, the work resulted in a ROAS of 3× within one year, calculated across all activities. Event organisers and education providers plan backwards from a deadline, as Aviation Academy Austria did with a brand film and ads. B2B service firms measure by qualified enquiries. If the offer is unclear or the website loses its visitors, we start there.

We measure a campaign’s success with marketing KPIs such as cost per result, meaning per enquiry, registration or purchase, and for online shops by ROAS. Click-through rate and reach are early indicators, not results. In B2B, what also counts is how many enquiries your sales team rates as qualified. Every month you get a report with spend, results, cost per result and the next tests. If the ad platform and GA4 show different figures, we name the discrepancy openly. The prettiest number is rarely the right one.

We create your ads ourselves: videos, reels, static visuals and ad copy, from our own shoots or your existing material. Because creative and campaign management sit with one team, we see in the figures which visual works and produce more of it. For the online shop kiwiz, we made a series of commercials in reel format that served as the basis for A/B tests. Material from a brand film or event shoot that we plan as advertising from the start works particularly well. You approve every visual.

In B2B, performance marketing usually aims at a qualified enquiry, a download or a meeting rather than an instant purchase. Because buying decisions take longer and several people are involved, we combine reach with content that builds trust, such as expert articles, client testimonials or insights into projects. People who have seen it are retargeted specifically. For the Vienna Region, the business location agency for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, Meta ads run that are continuously optimised for leads. Success is measured by enquiries and sales conversations.

Working together on performance marketing starts with a strategy call and a check of ad accounts and tracking before any budget flows. Then audiences, messages and campaign structure are set down in writing, and we produce the creatives to match. Only what you approve goes live. During the learning phase we deliberately hold back; afterwards we shift budget to the ads that deliver results, replace worn-out visuals and test new messages against the previous winners. Every month, the report shows you what the budget delivered and what we will test next.

Yes, you can run ads on Facebook and Instagram yourself in Ads Manager; to start, an ad account, a payment method and a Facebook page are enough. The “Boost post” button is quick but only offers simple goals and little control. For measurable results, you need a clean pixel with the Conversions API, a clear campaign structure and a steady supply of new visuals. An agency pays off when you lack the time or experience, or when the budget is large enough that mistakes become expensive. Even then, the ad account stays in your name.

Ad accounts, campaigns, audiences and data stay with you, because they run in your name from the start. We work with access you grant and can withdraw at any time. Learned audiences and campaign history aren’t lost if you carry on yourself or switch agencies. Ongoing support starts with a three-month minimum term, because campaigns need time to learn, and is then cancellable monthly.