Performance marketing agency · Australia
The performance marketing agency that answers to revenue.
We are a strategy-led performance marketing team for Australian businesses. We map your market and your numbers first, then run paid media, SEO and conversion as one plan, reported against the leads and sales that reach your bank account.
Founded 2015 · Led by Alex Frew · Month to month, no lock-in
$132,746 in tracked revenue from $14,028 of ad spend for a packaging ecommerce store in the first half of 2026. Verified from live account data.
What does a performance marketing agency do?
A performance marketing agency plans, runs and optimises paid and organic channels against measurable business outcomes (leads, sales, cost per acquisition and return on ad spend) instead of reach or activity. At 3P Digital that means Google Ads, Meta and LinkedIn campaigns, SEO and AI search, and conversion rate optimisation run by one senior team, tracked from click to revenue on a live dashboard, and priced month to month with no lock-in.
Performance marketing, defined
What performance marketing actually means.
Performance marketing is marketing you can measure all the way to a commercial result. Every campaign has a number it answers to, usually cost per lead, cost per acquisition or return on ad spend. Budget moves toward whatever beats that number and away from whatever does not.
In practice it covers the channels where spend and outcome can be tracked: paid search on Google, paid social on Meta and LinkedIn, SEO and AI search, and the landing pages and funnels that turn those clicks into enquiries. It only works when tracking is right, which is why we start every engagement by checking what your accounts are actually optimising toward.
Performance marketing vs brand marketing
Brand marketing builds memory and demand over years, measured in awareness and share of search. Performance marketing captures and converts demand now, measured in leads and revenue. Good plans fund both; a performance agency is judged on the second.
Performance marketing vs pay-for-performance
Performance marketing describes how the work is measured. Pay-for-performance describes how the agency is paid: a share of the result instead of, or on top of, a fee. We offer both.
How our pay-for-performance model worksPerformance marketing vs affiliate marketing
Affiliate programs pay publishers a commission per sale. That is one performance channel. For most service businesses it is not the first one we would open.
Why work with us
A performance marketing agency built for how marketing works now.
Most agencies sell channels and report on activity. We start with strategy, price the execution for the AI era, and tie everything back to the numbers that matter.
Strategy before channels
Every engagement runs through Profile, Plan, Perform. We work out what a lead is worth and where the margin sits before we spend a dollar, so the campaigns point at revenue, not activity.
Execution priced for the AI era
AI made production faster, so we passed the saving on. You get senior strategy and modern delivery without paying for a bloated agency team.
Reported against leads and revenue
A live dashboard, open 24/7. You see leads, pipeline and revenue against spend, not a deck of impressions and clicks that never reaches the bank.
How we work
Profile. Plan. Perform.
Strategy before tactics, every time. It is the difference between marketing that looks busy and marketing that grows revenue. Read more about the 3P Framework.
Profile
We map your market, buyers and unit economics: what a lead is worth, what a customer is worth, and which channels can move either at a profit.
Plan
A focused plan with a target for every channel, a baseline to measure against, and the tracking needed to prove it. We sequence the work so it compounds.
Perform
We launch, test creative, move budget toward what beats target, and report it plainly each month so you always know what is working and why.
Channels we run
One team across every channel that moves revenue.
We pick the channels that fit your economics, run them together so they compound, and report the result as one number instead of six separate invoices.
Google Ads and Performance Max
Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns managed to cost per lead and return on ad spend.
- Conversion tracking done properly
- Search term and negative keyword hygiene
- Bidding tied to real sales data
Meta and LinkedIn ads
Paid social that finds new buyers and brings warm ones back, with creative tested every week.
- Prospecting and retargeting
- Weekly creative testing
- Lead forms wired into your CRM
SEO and AI search
Organic visibility on Google and the AI answer engines, built around what buyers search for.
- Technical, on-page and content
- Authority and link building
- Local and Google Business Profile
Conversion rate optimisation
More enquiries from the traffic you already pay for, by fixing the leaks between click and conversion.
- Landing page and funnel review
- Tests aimed at real lift
- Offer, form and message tuning
Content marketing
Content that answers buyer questions, earns links and citations, and feeds your paid and organic channels.
- Topic planning around buyer intent
- Expert-led articles and guides
- Content built for AI citations
Analytics and attribution
One view of performance from first click to closed revenue, so budget decisions rest on data.
- GA4 and server-side tracking
- Lead and revenue attribution
- Live performance dashboard
The numbers we manage to
Performance marketing KPIs, and when each one matters.
Every channel answers to one of these. We agree which during Plan, set the baseline, and keep it on your dashboard. For benchmarks by industry, see our performance marketing KPIs and benchmarks.
| Metric | What it tells you | When we use it |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per lead (CPL) | What one enquiry costs across all spend. | Lead generation and service businesses. |
| Cost per acquisition (CPA) | What one paying customer costs. | When lead quality varies and sales data is connected. |
| Return on ad spend (ROAS) | Revenue returned per dollar of ad spend. | Ecommerce and any business with tracked online sales. |
| Marketing efficiency ratio (MER) | Total revenue divided by total marketing spend. | Multi-channel accounts where platform attribution overlaps. |
| Lead-to-sale rate | The share of leads that become customers. | Every account. Cheap leads that never close are expensive. |
| Lifetime value to CAC | What a customer is worth over time against what they cost to win. | Subscriptions, repeat purchase and high-value services. |
Pricing
How we price performance marketing.
Two ways to work with us. Ad spend is always separate and paid directly to Google, Meta or LinkedIn.
Pick the channels you need.
SEO from $800 a month, paid media from $500 a month plus ad spend, organic social from $1,200 a month. Month to month, no lock-in.
See the full service breakdownOne fee, tied to your growth.
One flat fee covers everything we do that helps you grow: ads, SEO, content, site and tracking. After the three-month build it is ten percent of monthly revenue above your baseline, or $2,000, whichever is higher. Best suited to businesses doing roughly $30,000 a month or more, or any online store with tracked sales.
How the partnership worksWant more of the fee tied to results? Read how our pay-for-performance digital marketing model works, or model your own numbers with the marketing ROI calculator.
Proof it works
Real outcomes for Australian businesses.
$132,746 in tracked revenue from $14,028 of ad spend across the first half of 2026, with every month at 7x or better.
Enquiries lifted from 32 to 74 a month on the same budget, with cost per enquiry down 54% ($30.40 to $14.08).
200 to 540 organic visits a month in six months of expert-led content, alongside 44% more ad clicks on an unchanged budget.
"Their performance-based retainer model meant we could scale confidently, knowing their compensation was directly tied to measurable results. We've seen a 143% increase in qualified leads."
Figures pulled from live account data (Google Ads API, Search Console, GA4), last verified July 2026. Clients shown by sector.
The difference
Performance marketing agency vs traditional agency.
| Performance marketing agency | Traditional retainer agency | |
|---|---|---|
| What they answer to | Leads, sales, CPA and ROAS agreed up front | Hours, deliverables and activity |
| Reporting | Live dashboard tied to revenue | Monthly PDF of impressions and clicks |
| Strategy | Built around your unit economics | Channel-first, often templated |
| Budget | Moves weekly toward what beats target | Set at the start and rarely revisited |
| Contract | Month to month | Six to twelve month lock-ins are common |
| Data ownership | Accounts and tracking in your name | Often held by the agency |
A deeper breakdown of the two models is in performance marketing vs the retainer model.
Buyer's checklist
How to choose a performance marketing agency.
Six questions to ask any agency before you sign, including us.
What number will you be accountable to?
If the answer is impressions, clicks or brand awareness, it is not a performance engagement. Expect a named metric such as cost per lead or ROAS, and a baseline agreed before work starts.
Who owns the ad accounts and the data?
You should. Ad accounts, pixels, analytics and dashboards set up in your business's name, with the agency added as a partner, so the history stays with you.
How will conversions be tracked?
A common reason accounts underperform is optimising to the wrong conversion, such as page views or button clicks instead of qualified enquiries. Ask how leads or sales will be tracked through to your CRM or store.
Who actually runs the account?
Ask to meet the person doing the work, not only the person selling it, and ask how many accounts they manage.
What does the contract look like?
Long lock-ins protect the agency. Month to month keeps it earning your business, and tells you it expects to deliver.
What will reporting look like?
Look for a live dashboard and plain-English reviews tied to revenue. A 40-page report full of reach and engagement is a warning sign.
Where we work
Performance marketing across Australia.
Our team is based in South East Queensland and works with businesses across Australia, including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. The work runs on shared dashboards and regular video reviews, so location is rarely a barrier.
Further reading
More on performance marketing.
- Performance marketing vs the retainer model
- Performance marketing KPIs and benchmarks
- Performance marketing statistics for Australia
- How performance-based pricing models work
- The case for pay-per-performance marketing in Australia
- A guide to performance-based digital marketing
- 3P Digital vs traditional agencies
- Marketing ROI calculator
Performance marketing, answered
Straight answers on what we do, how we price it and how we work.
It plans, runs and optimises marketing against a measurable commercial result, usually cost per lead, cost per acquisition or return on ad spend. The work covers paid search, paid social, SEO and conversion rate optimisation, with tracking that connects spend to leads and sales. At 3P Digital one senior team runs all of it as a single plan and reports it against revenue.
Agencies charge a monthly management fee, a percentage of ad spend, a share of results, or a mix. At 3P Digital individual services start at $800 a month for SEO and $500 a month plus ad spend for paid media, all month to month. Our growth partnership is ten percent of monthly revenue above your baseline or $2,000, whichever is higher. Ad spend is paid directly to Google or Meta.
No. Performance marketing is about how the work is measured: against leads, sales and return on spend. Pay-for-performance is about how the agency is paid: partly or wholly from the results it produces. 3P Digital offers both, and our pay-for-performance page explains how that model works.
It depends on the channel. Paid media can produce leads within weeks once tracking and targeting are right. SEO builds more slowly, and most clients see measurable movement within about 90 days, with gains compounding from there. We agree targets up front and report against them so you are never guessing.
The ones tied to money: cost per lead, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, marketing efficiency ratio, lead-to-sale rate and customer lifetime value against acquisition cost. We agree which one each channel answers to during the Plan stage, and it stays on your dashboard from then on.
Google Ads including Performance Max, Meta and LinkedIn ads, SEO and AI search, conversion rate optimisation, content, organic social, and analytics and attribution. We do not push every channel on every client. During Profile and Plan we pick the ones that fit your economics.
Yes. We work inside ad accounts, analytics and tracking set up in your business's name, with 3P Digital added as a partner or manager. Your account history and data stay with your business.
No. Individual services are month to month. The growth partnership starts with a three-month build, then either side can end it with 30 days notice, with no exit fee.
Yes. Our team is based in South East Queensland and works with businesses across Australia, including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. The work runs on shared dashboards and regular video reviews, so location is rarely a barrier.
Reviewed by
Alex Frew
Founder, 3P Digital
Performance marketing at 3P is led by Alex Frew. He served on the Google CEO Advisory Board from 2019 to 2020 and led a group that ran 83 Google BETA programs, 80% of which went on to be adopted globally. Earlier in his career he helped scale CSG from $5M to $330M through its ASX listing.
More about Alex- Google CEO Advisory Board, 2019 to 2020
- Led 83 Google BETA programs, 80% adopted globally
- Scaled CSG from $5M to $330M to ASX listing
- 10+ years in digital marketing
Ready to grow on outcomes, not activity?
Book a free strategy session. We will map where the growth is and the fastest path to it. No obligation, no jargon.