What to Expect from Your Performance Marketing Partner in 2025

By Robbie Ashton

2024 has been an explosive year for Performance Marketing. While AI has long been a buzzword, in the last 12 months we’ve seen it spring into life in so many forms you’d need an AI to count them all. With the potential to automate essential and routine tasks, but also to get lost in digital weeds, choosing the right digital marketing partner is more crucial to your business’s growth than ever before. 

Here, we’ll discuss what to look for in a successful marketing partnership, including proactive communication, strategic insights tailored to your unique market, and transparency in reporting. Plus, we’ll highlight how emerging trends and new tools can make a real impact on your bottom line.

Let’s start with some table setting; there are some brilliant basics you should always expect your ideal digital marketing to come with: industry expertise, innovation, and a focus on ROI. All of this is important in empowering your business to adapt and grow, and is what you should expect at a bare minimum. 

 

Onboarding is More Important than Ever

Whether you’ve just put out an RFP, just signed a contract, or are years into your partnership, there’s one thing you need to ask yourself – you’re excited by the incredibly ROI-driven growth your agency has promised you, but have you taken the time to explain to them what return you’re looking for? 

This might sound incredibly obvious, and frankly is, but make sure you’re taking the time to sit down and discuss with your agency what good looks like for you. Crucially, make sure you’re explaining this every step of the way – every pitch should include a Q&A session, every new relationship should start with a brand immersion and onboarding, and every QBR should start with time for you to discuss your business plans, goals, and roadblocks. 

Be wary of any partner that doesn’t make time for this – a true partnership requires time and attention on both sides.

 

Don’t Confuse AI & Automation

As we’ve touched on, AI is currently all the rage, but as with every buzzword, there’s a whole lot of misuse on what this actually means (think back to a few scant years ago when we were talking about Machine Learning). AI may sound impressive, but consider carefully if it’s something you actually need. 

For your routine reporting, it’s highly likely that you’re looking for automation (unless you want your reports to talk back to you – we’re working on that). Consider carefully if AI is something that’s truly going to benefit your business and your bottom line. If the answer is no, it will still work just as well in your bid strategies and algorithms, without needing to be sold to you as an extra.

With that said, do consider the impact Google’s Gemini is going to have on the SERPs, and how you can both protect your brand position and take advantage of this new, arguably most visible window space in the world. 

 

A Long-Term Partner Should Consider Your LTV

Long gone are the days where walking into a meeting and explaining the concept of a funnel would blow everyone’s minds (and speaking of which, consider the alternate models – perhaps a content playground or digital framework visualisation instead). Gone also are the days where you needed to base your decision on the size of a team, especially across PPC and Paid Social. Now, a few dedicated experts can do the job that not-so-many Black Fridays ago would have taken a ten-strong team, manually updating keyword bids every hour. 

Ultimately, with the proper investment and partnership, short term growth is easier than ever before. 

Far from taking our foot of the gas, this now means the onus is on the agency to consider both the wider digital ecosystem, and the lifetime value of customers. Make sure that you’re having the conversations to ensure that this month’s ROI target is feeding into next year’s user acquisition targets. Make sure your PPC teams aren’t bidding on no-competition keywords you organically rank highly for (check out Tug’s Search Uncut tool for more) and make sure your agency is invested in the longevity of your brand through omni-channel growth. 

If you’re a brand interested in talking about your long term digital growth and strategy, contact us today, and follow our socials to keep updated on the latest digital marketing trends and insights.