One of the great promises of digital advertising is that it by nature provides measurable accountability – i.e. since people can click on ads, you can track whether your ads ‘work.’

Because of this, a massive industry has been built up over the past few decades colored by a wide range of networks and ad tech companies claiming to be able to deliver ad campaigns that drive people to take action. Typically, these ‘cost per action’ (CPA) businesses focus on delivering a certain number of clicks or sales for a set price. If you just spend enough dollars, you’ll move more products.

If only marketing was so simple.

Given digital media’s bent toward direct response tactics, we sometimes brush past the fact that there are all kinds of advertisers with a wide range of needs and KPIs. While there is certainly a place for CPA experts, to best serve the modern digital marketing landscape, companies need to offer what we call a CPA-to-Z Advertising approach – or risk wasting ad dollars, and maybe even doing harm to their brand.

In my view, a CPA-to-Z approach encompasses a far more flexible means of executing ad campaigns. Because in digital marketing, an ‘action’ may consist of generating leads, driving engagement, leading a customer through a long purchase cycle, or simply building brand awareness.

The most effective partners are the one who can service any level of need with expertise, and can deliver campaigns via all types of media.

How to build a CPA-to-Z infrastructure

As with addressing most business challenges, it starts with talent. To truly be able to serve marketers across the spectrum, companies need versatile teams. They need individuals who are able to interpret strategies ranging from classic brand building to pure ecommerce, and everything in between.

To ensure that these versatile teams succeed, CPA-to-Z firms also need to build in flexibility from a data science and technology perspective. This will allow for teams to evaluate and optimize plans featuring a wide range of tactics.

To that end, a truly multifaceted partner needs to have the ability, experience and knowhow to purchase media on any type of platform or publisher. That includes the capability to work toward a variety of KPIs, using a multitude of different pricing models. In other words, you need to be able to make money in a number of different ways, to help clients succeed in a host of different categories.

Of course, in today’s market, ad vendors must be investing in AI tools – and the leading edge technology firms should be going further by developing specialized products for advertisers of all stripes. Because overall, CPA-to-Z advertising should features smart media buying strategy on top of advanced machine learning and bidding engines – all tailored to an individual brands’ goals

The dangers of compromising

It’s natural to ask, what happens if I don’t employ a CPA-to-Z strategy?

Based on our experience, given the cluttered landscape of CPA-specialist firms, marketers often find themselves getting services pushed on them that don’t match their needs. This is particularly true for brands that aren’t served well by driving click volume, or whose products don’t lend themselves to being purchased online.

Naturally, when marketers and ad tech partners aren’t aligned on overall goals, the incentives employed toward arriving at those goals are often mismatched as well. This can lead to all sorts of poor execution, as well as performance reports that don’t deliver any meaningful insights for a particular brand.

Beyond simply not delivering on a brand’s needs, pure CPA vendors are often limited to buying  only certain types of media vehicles. This likely means that brands end up missing out on significant, potentially lucrative audiences. The last thing a marketer wants is to cap its total addressable market by selecting the wrong vendor.

Benefits from A to Z

A true CPA-to-Z marketing vendor should utilize a data science approach, ideally one that is backed by best in breed technology for all types of campaigns. They should boast of expertise in all types of media and purchasing models as well as experience in multiple disciplines

When partnering with the right technology vendor – one that has embraced this kind of A to Z structure – on a base level, marketers can expect to have campaigns executed in a fashion that matches their goals and strategy.

Even better, brands should be able to maintain optionality, as market conditions, competition and even product offerings can change – sometimes on a dime. Rather than having to seek out new partners or to shoehorn ill-fitting tactics into a plan, marketers will be able to tap into a partner’s vast array of offerings.

The deeper these relationships become over time, the two parties should be able to develop specialized processes and plans together, and toggle between a range of ‘action’ goals seamlessly as needed.

Because most brands are dynamic in nature, and their needs are constantly changing. In fact, many large organizations may need to implement multiple CPA strategies concurrently. Therefore, a partner that is highly skilled in all such areas and valuable is essential.

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