Affiliate marketing, using online publishers to promote your brand on a pay per performance basis, has reached a level of maturity. But how can you make the most out of this lucrative channel? Alex Lockett, senior affiliate marketing consultant at Stream:20, offers 20 key tips for affiliate marketers…
1) Have a clear objective of what you want your affiliate program to achieve
2) Check out your competition: Who’s operating in your industry? If there’s a lot of competition you’ll need to differentiate your program, if there isn’t any you may need to create the market from scratch.
3) Recruitment is key – the surefire way to drive significant growth (whether launching a program or growing an existing program) is by bringing in relevant new traffic sources. Research new partners and introduce new affiliates to your program. These could be both new and reactivated partners. The aim is to build a broad and diverse affiliate base, reduce reliance on particular partners and or site types. This reduces the impact that may result following industry regulations etc.
4) Segment and tier the affiliate base, devise a communication and management plan for each tier. Remember that the mid and long tail can be just as important as the key 20%. With the right tools and assistance these segments can provide incremental uplift in sales.
5) Take care to select the best network, consider their experience in your sector, local market knowledge. This is especially relevant if you’re working on an international program.
6) Integrate your product into key partner sites – affiliates that have built strong brands can drive greater conversions by offering you’re products within their site. Audit your top partners – treat your key affiliates like a media spend, optimise to make sure you’re products are placed in the highest converting areas.
7) Speak to key affiliates and understand how they work and what they need from you to help promote your offers. A strong relationship is key to getting the most out of your affiliate base.
8) Decide on a structured rate plan: Your rate card needs to offer a fair price to affiliates without eating into your profit margin, remember it’s a lot easier to raise rates at a later date than to cut them whilst maintaining activity. And ensure you have a competitive offering
9) Network fees – weigh up the size and revenue expectations of the program against account management fees. A basic support level may best serve your needs. Be clear on your terms and conditions especially around PPC and Loyalty affiliate traffic
10) Also work with your network to assign targets. This is a great way to set expectations and a basis on which to track and reward performance. Whoever your affiliate network is it is unlikely they will have exactly the same goals as you. Regardless of the service level agreement you have with your network, monthly targets should be set to make sure the network offers support in the right places.
11) Incentivise affiliate growth. This can be done through a tiered commission structure or a seasonal incentive plan based around calendar events or typical sales peaks and troughs
12) Affiliates need incentives to push your program over others and should be rewarded for good performance
13) Regular communication with networks and affiliates is essential. Use regular newsletters, pick up the phone, check the message boards and set up face to face meetings
14) It is really important to take opportunities to attend industry events as a great way to engage potential associates and educate on your program
15) Optimisation – work with affiliates to identify successes and areas that could offer opportunity for improvement.
16) Testing- affiliates can often be leaders in new technologies and new trends within the market therefore advertisers can make use of this knowledge to test their own expansion into new areas.
17) Ensure your creative has a strong and clear call to action. Provide a full suite of banners and email creative and update your creative to prevent becoming stagnant – this also provides a reason to update and reach out to affiliates
18) Ensure you have a sufficient infrastructure to support affiliate queries and questions
19) Make sure your site is ready to receive the influx of traffic
20) Don’t forget about offline activity – telephone tracking and bonus code tracking allow for promotion outside of the online channels, word of mouth has a big place in affiliate marketing.
By Alex Lockett
Senior Affiliate Marketing Consultant
Stream:20
www.stream20.com
