A recent YouGov survey found that 57% of British people want to work from home after the pandemic. So, it seems that remote work is here to stay, but what does it mean for the affiliate marketing industry?

Location and talent 

The digital marketing industry has traditionally mainly been London based; however, we have seen a trend towards other hub cities emerging, such as Bristol and Manchester. The speed of this change has dramatically increased as both employees and companies realise the daily office commute is not a necessity.

In the last six months, we’ve recruited 18-people into the EMEA business; 12 of those people live outside of London. A diverse range of backgrounds and skills applying for roles from outside of London can only be a good thing for the industry. 

There is a disadvantage to the workforce being more dispersed. Affiliate marketing was built on relationships and socialisation, dispersion will dilute what has made the industry unique and thriving in the last 25-years, and we will need to work hard to keep this. 

There is a cost to working from home in terms of equipment, fast internet, increased living costs, and the need to have a workspace. Companies need to ensure that there is levelling, and nobody is disadvantaged due to their circumstances, which will be challenging for companies to navigate. 

Better technology

Remote working is only successful if you have robust technology to support communication, processes and collaboration across a large, dispersed team. Since the lockdown, companies have needed to upgrade their technology so people can work effectively from home. In an eCommerce world where country barriers don’t exist, this is a positive development for our industry – being able to communicate effectively with colleagues and clients globally and remotely will support the development of the industry. 

But can technology ever really replace the value of face-to-face contact?  I think back to when times have been tough in my career, or we had been working on a big client pitch or project, working together in a room made it possible to overcome challenges.  Unfortunately, it’s impossible to create that same togetherness via video conferencing. 

What do you need to get right as an employer?

1. Equip all employees with what they need to be successful.  Reimburse for the fast broadband, make sure all employees have access to the best equipment, technology, and tools to do their job. 

2. Have robust processes and structures to monitor performance, clear goals, strategy, and transparency. Everyone should know their role and the part it plays in the broader company vision. 

3. Create social interaction, but don’t make it forced. Use technology like Slack, allow organic affinity groups to develop, create local Hubs where people can interact face-to-face. 

4. Train and coach people to communicate effectively in a remote environment. Don’t expect people to know how to deliver a presentation, create discussion, or present themselves on video. 

Despite the YouGov survey results stating that 57% of British employees want to work from home, I think it’s too early to say what employees will want to do when the pandemic is over. These have been strange times and working from home hasn’t been ‘normal’. 37% of the people surveyed said they wanted to work from home some of the time. Many companies will likely need to manage a hybrid approach, creating many challenges such as managing capacity in offices, to equity across all employees regardless of how they are working. 

In the same survey, 37% of people said they never wanted to work from home, and just 20% said they wanted to work from home full-time. People are hugely diverse, with different lifestyles and needs at various stages of their lives. Companies will need to decide how and if they will offer their workers flexibility. It will likely become a choice of where to work for many employees, rather than how to work. 

If you’d like to find out more about Acceleration Partners and their remote work opportunities visit their website.

The post The Dramatic Acceleration of Remote Work, and the Effect it’s Having on the Performance Marketing Industry appeared first on PerformanceIN.

We often engage with new clients when they are unhappy or feel they have outgrown their current supplier.  One of the issues they run into is that they have long terms left to go on their contracts, sometimes up to 18 months. But are long term contracts bad, or even avoidable?

Why do suppliers request long-term contracts? 

The investment it takes to work with a new client is significant; the cost is often higher than the return for an initial period. Depending on the size of the contract, it could mean employing more people, investing in new technology or services. Companies need to protect themselves and not risk a high upfront investment for a neutral or negative return. 

Many suppliers request rolling contracts or auto-renewal terms. The benefit of this is that you don’t need to get into distracting and lengthy contract discussions every renewal date.  The downside is that if you are not aware of this, you could end up in a longer-term contract than planned. 

Why would a client approve a long-term contract? 

Often contracts are dealt with by procurement, not by the marketing teams using the services.  Last year I attended an enlightening session by someone that had a lengthy career in procurement. They have targets to hit, and quotas to reach like any other part of the business, and signing an improved deal on a 3-year contract might well be part of that.  It’s also positive that an advertiser might want to commit to a long term engagement with a supplier; it shows loyalty, trust and the desire to build a long term partnership. 

There is an alternative view, that if you are doing an excellent job for a client, why do you need a contract term, they won’t want to leave you? 

Contracts are not a problem when things are going well; they only become a problem when things are not going so well, for either advertiser or supplier.  So what’s the answer, how do you create a term length that is acceptable to all parties?

A quote I always remember is “In a good negotiation, both sides are unhappy”, the point being that to build a good relationship, both sides have to make compromises. 

Key areas to consider when approaching contracts

It’s fair for a supplier to ask for a term that protects their business and investment into your programme, it’s also reasonable for advertisers to have protection if things don’t go to plan.  

A few areas to consider for current and future contracts:

• Is there an auto-renewal or rolling contract term? Know the date this triggers from and what conditions are in place after that date (i.e. termination, contract term).
• Be fair in your compromises. You want a supplier that is motivated and able to perform for you.  If one party feels more beat up than the other, it doesn’t bode well for a future relationship. 
• Ensure your pricing is fair, cheap isn’t always best. As a general rule, the more you invest, the better outcome you get. 
• Set service level expectations and KPIs from the start. Everyone is aligned and clear on what the measure of success is. 
• Check your out clause, especially if this is a new service or partner. Make sure you can get out if things are not going as planned, such as an early break clause or failure to deliver the services to an agreed standard or KPIs. 
• Consider the future implications of the contract term.  While it may feel great now, what if that changes, what if your team changes? Think about elements you can weave into the contract to mitigate these issues. 
• Use a long-term commitment to your advantage; ask for a discount on price or additional services. 

Ultimately, the purpose of a contract is to protect businesses and people. Understanding what both parties want from the relationship, what your compromises are and measuring risk are crucial to getting to an agreement which works for everyone. 

The post How to Approach Supplier Contracts in Affiliate Marketing appeared first on PerformanceIN.

With the rapidly changing digital, affiliate and partner marketing environment, the things brands have done to create successful affiliate marketing to date, is not what will grow their programmes now and in the future. Organisations need to be smarter to create better affiliate programmes today and in the future. 

“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games” Babe Ruth

When I first speak with a brand, they generally fall into one of two categories: 1) those that know their affiliate programme could be better but don’t know where to start; and  2) those who believe their programme is good enough as they’ve never been shown anything better. 

But what does a better affiliate marketing programme mean? It can be defined by the following three factors;

1. Higher growth
2. Improved efficiency
3. Increased diversity 

You can achieve these three variables in a number of ways.

Data 

Make quicker, better-informed decisions by having access to the right data, in real-time. Most brands know which affiliates they can use to get sales. But the challenge today is these are often the same affiliates who also drive sales for your competitors. This means that the cost of getting more sales is increasing and brands experience diminishing returns as these affiliates hit their growth ceiling.

A better affiliate programme would spread their sales leverage across a wider range of affiliates, whilst consistently growing the baseline. A better affiliate programme would know which affiliates to approach, and in which order, to improve KPIs such as basket value, specific product sales, return on AdSpend and lifetime value. 

New partners

The affiliate model can be used across any partnership (hence the recent emergence of “Partner Marketing”).  This affiliate model, of paying on performance, is getting exposure across distribution channels where it once was not, such as social media, influencer marketing, podcasts and large media publishers. 

A better affiliate programme would be constantly looking to use the model to leverage new opportunities and work with a range of partners.  

A mistake many affiliate managers make is spending time and resources trying to recruit affiliates that won’t add value or drive significant sales volume. A better programme focuses on the five that will deliver significant volume, rather than the 100 that won’t. These deals may take months to be realized, but they generate significantly more value and greater return on investment. 

Processes and automation

Better affiliate programmes are lean. They ensure the resource is focused on the areas that will drive growth, efficiency or diversity.  Better programmes don’t waste time and effort on things that won’t deliver a return. They use their people wisely, assessing which skills are required to manage each aspect of the programme. Project management, data analysis, strategy, recruitment, and negotiation often need specialists, not a generalist doing their best. Better programmes communicate with partners in a smart way. They use a CRM strategy which helps understand partner’s needs, and which levers can be pulled to achieve specific objectives. 

Finally, better affiliate programmes don’t follow, they lead. If you are using the same technology, speaking to the same partners and offering the same commission and management structure then you are doing exactly the same as your competition. 

Better affiliate programmes offer something unique, they have integrity and fairness. Better affiliate programmes do things differently and breakthrough where your competition can’t

The post What You’ve Done to Get Here, Won’t Get You Where You Need to be Tomorrow appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The biggest deciding factor in moving from an affiliate network to affiliate consultancy was because I felt my role as a network head was becoming untenable. I faced the daily challenge of an increased feeling of a conflict of interest between the company’s short-term demands and what I felt we should be doing for our advertiser and publisher partners to drive better affiliate programmes.

The problem here is a fundamental issue that networks face. Independence and objectivity. A network makes its money based on their publishers’ revenue; this creates conflicts of interest. If a publisher is generating 50% of an advertiser’s affiliate programme revenue, allowing the account manager to hit their targets and keep the client happy, do we really expect the account manager to suggest changes that may affect that, even if it’s the right thing to do?

Here we go, another ex-network person bashing networks for the purposes of promoting their own interests.

Not true in this instance.  I have only admiration and respect for networks and their staff.  It’s a tough role in which you often feel conflicted. I did it for over 11 years, starting as a junior executive and finishing as the managing director of a network, I had experience across all roles in that journey. Networks will continue to do an excellent job in managing and running a wide variety of affiliate programmes and supporting the continued growth of affiliate marketing.

However, there is no hiding from the fact that because of their commercial set-up and position, they cannot always be objective. A consultancy can be, as we are, paid by fee’s, not commission. This means we provide advertisers with an honest and objective assessment of their affiliate marketing and what they can do to make their programme perform better.

“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up” – Chuck Palahniuk

Account management teams are between a rock and a hard place, pressurised by the advertisers, publishers and the businesses they represent to deliver short-term results. They are often so bogged down in the day-to-day that it becomes hard to look at the bigger picture.

This is an easy trap to fall into.  When concentrating on running existing programmes most people tend to look for small optimisations and easy wins. They think tactically, not strategically, focusing on the now and not the future. It’s also very hard to constructively criticise what your own people have already invested their time and effort into. It’s even harder to be honest about their weaknesses.

Our independence as a consultancy means we can do this. We’re able to ask the difficult questions and get unbiased answers, whilst providing additional services like multi-network audits that would be a conflict of interest for others to do. Our only agenda is to build better affiliate programmes for advertisers.  

The post The Importance of being Objective in Today’s Affiliate Landscape appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Helen Southgate, chair of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK’s (IAB UK) Performance Marketing Council, writes an open letter to the affiliate marketing industry.

Dear Affiliate Industry,

I’ve seen a lot of change across the affiliate channel since I started out in 2002, mostly for the good, but I am concerned about what the future holds.

I took a bit of a battering from some in the audience at the IAB Performance Marketing Council Townhall last week. I put myself up for chair so it comes with the territory, and I’m fine with that, but what I am finding much more challenging is a mounting feeling of helplessness the industry at large seems to have.

I understand and sympathise with many of the frustrations, but I don’t have the power or capacity alone to solve all of these issues. There is a growing element of apathy, navel-gazing and damn right self-preservation that is setting into the industry, and it’s ugly.

Publishers complain about advertisers, yet continue to promote and refuse to call them out because they don’t want to harm their relationships;

Networks agree to adhere to best practice and codes of conduct, yet apply these softly when it threatens to negatively affect their revenue from top partners;

Advertisers find ways to avoid paying affiliates commission for what should rightly be attributed to them as they are under pressure to save costs and increase margins and being allowed to do so with little challenge.

Networks feel caught in the middle, publishers feel like nobody is listening, and advertisers are struggling to justify the channel to their bosses.

I attended a meeting yesterday at the IAB UK to discuss the Online Performance Marketing (OPM) Study. It’s a unique piece of research that models the size, growth and diversity of our channel that was on the verge of being made redundant next year until I argued passionately for it to remain.Our industry needs this, but it is becoming near impossible to do because important data is missing from some key stakeholders. If those stakeholders (and you know who you are) don’t want to contribute to something that adds significant value to our industry, then what hope do we have?

We can continue on the path above, worry about our own back gardens and start to see the demise of an industry which we have all worked so hard for. Or we can get together and solve these issues, be clear on what is right and wrong, be firm with those that digress and make sure we continue to grow this industry and our businesses. Above all, we need to demonstrate to the wider digital world why hands down, it’s the best investment channel there is.

This needs everyone to step up, to collaborate and do their part to help grow our channel, which will ultimately be to the benefit of everyone.

Who’s with me?

Helen Southgate

Chair of the IAB Performance Marketing Council

Managing Director EMEA, Acceleration Partners

The post Helen Southgate: An Open Letter to the UK Affiliate Marketing Industry appeared first on PerformanceIN.

I’ll start this article off with a few facts; at the recent IAB Performance Marketing conference, 25% of speakers were women, while at last year’s Performance Marketing Insights conference 20% of speakers were women. On the other hand, 40% of the judging panel for this years’ Performance Marketing Awards were female, suggesting it is not a knowledge or ability gap. So why then, are women so underrepresented when it comes to industry events?  

Having spoken to a number of event organisers about this, they all tell me it isn’t anything to do with women not being chosen. In fact, they all desperately want more women involved – the problem is that not enough women are putting themselves forward to speak at events. 

When asked why they thought this the responses aligned; it was felt that women underpromote themselves, are often more risk-averse than men, and lack the confidence in their abilities to put themselves forward – men, on the other hand, generally, tend to display these characteristics less, they said.

From a personal perspective, I love speaking at events, I get a buzz out of it comparable to racing in a Sportive or achieving a PB lap of Richmond park. Recently, a peer surprised me by commenting that I enjoyed presenting because I “think like a man”.  I do not think like a man, I do not think like a woman, I think like Helen Southgate. If we take the assumption that women need to be more like men or to misrepresent who they are to speak at a conference, then we really are barking up the wrong tree.

On another level, there’s also the danger of implementing a strategy of positive discrimination. As an example, one conference organiser told me how proud they were of a seminar they had coming up soon where 100% of the speakers were female – it’s not hard to imagine the reactions if the same were said of an all-male panel. It goes against everything that equality represents and should not be seen as a positive either.

Where do we go from here?

So, how do we get more women speaking at conferences?  I think the best approach initially is to ask ourselves how we encourage more young women and men to speak at conferences.

We are lucky to work in a diverse industry, and diversity creates debate. If young men and women see people they identify with on stage then they will be inspired to think “I can do that”.  Perhaps solving this is about looking beyond the usual suspects and finding fresh, engaging and creative talent that we can mentor, develop and inspire to be advocates for our industry.

Getting up on stage is daunting, regardless of whether you have experienced it one hundred times, or once, so we need to create a supportive network to help young people develop the confidence to present and to give them the opportunity to do so.

A year ago in our UK office, I introduced a monthly session where everyone must present for five minutes on a topic of their choice. Since then, I’ve seen a huge improvement in people’s confidence and each one of these sessions is different, engaging and it’s clear that some are more comfortable than others in this environment.

Developing isn’t about changing someone it’s about taking their strengths and making them better.  By doing this, you can start to identify those people that may exhibit some of the barriers I mentioned earlier and give additional support and tools to help them overcome them.

In conclusion, I think the best way to encourage more women to present is not to make this a gender issue but to identify where the barriers are and put in the right support, encouragement and opportunities to break through. We should, as an industry, invest more time, focus and resource into encouraging all young women and men, who want to and have the skills to, present at conferences.

But it isn’t just about public speaking, it also develops the skills to be more confident in meetings, and in general life, to speak up when you want to express an opinion.  This can only ever be a good thing for our industry. 

The post Helen Southgate: Why Don’t More Women Speak at Marketing Conferences? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

If you’ve had any dealings within the energy sector you will be well aware of the investigation surrounding it for the last two years.

A cause for examination into current practices was established because of the results of an earlier study, which suggested competition in the energy sector wasn’t working as well as it should for customers. The Competition Markets Authority (CMA) started its investigation in June 2014 and the final report was published in June of this year.  

The document, which you can read here, contains over 30 suggested remedies to certain issues at the energy sector’s door. The overall objective is to free up competition and get providers to innovate again, with this tipped to drive down bills and improve service for customers.

Its contents affect a range of industries, and throughout the two-year review period there have been a number of changes, uncertainties and restrictions on the affiliate sector.  

It brings a welcomed end to what has been a period of much scrutiny, and I believe the outcomes have been mostly positive for the affiliate sector. Publishers promote competition, educate and support consumers in switching, which is ultimately the objective of all parties, including the regulators. Here are my main takeaways from the report:

Discount and cashback no longer restricted

The restriction on discounts, reward points and cashback has been removed. For over a year there was a restriction placed on suppliers which led to a complete ban on cashback. Reports a few months ago indicated that the CMA was recommending Ofgem to remove this restriction and the report confirmed this.

Many stakeholders in the affiliate industry including cashback websites, suppliers, networks and the IAB lobbied hard to get this restriction removed, and it’s good to see success in that regard.  After all, flexibility to discount and use incentives is a positive consumer experience and can only help in getting more consumers to switch and ultimately save money.

Many of us felt this restriction went against everything that the report was meant to achieve, so it’s very positive that the ban has finally been lifted.  Most energy suppliers are now offering discounts, rewards and cashback again, but it’s still early days for this one.

Price comparison finds middleground

Another restriction was imposed on price comparison sites, which has made a significant impact over the last year.  

In January 2015 Ofgem directed price comparison websites to list the “whole of the market” when returning results of available providers, regardless of whether commercial relationships were in place. Whilst I can see there is some sensible reasoning behind this, particularly with regards to energy suppliers outside of the “big six” struggling to get any real reach on price comparison sites, it is also a major problem commercially.  

Price comparison websites have to be funded, otherwise they cease to exist, and that funding comes from advertising and converting consumers to switch.  If there is no need to even strike up a partnership, these sites cannot operate.  

The rule has now been lifted by Ofgem, but the group has communicated that it will not act immediately on the CMA’s recommendation to remove this restriction.

There is however a proposal to implement a second step, which would remove some of the restrictions allowing price comparison to choose how they display certain tariffs.  My advice would be to watch this space to see if the “whole of market” restriction remains or is removed, but I suspect the outcome will be something in between the two.

Use of data

A key finding in the report, and perhaps an area that offers the most opportunity to the affiliate sector on the whole, the CMA found that two in three households are disengaged when it comes to energy and are paying more than consumers who have switched.  It is now a key objective of Ofgem to engage and empower those consumers to switch, and I see the intelligent use of data as the key to unlocking this opportunity.  

Using data to empower consumers with information on their energy consumption and costs will enable them to make better-informed decisions on whether they should look to switch, or perhaps find a different tariff with an existing supplier.  Even small details such as using online billing can help consumers save money and affiliates can play a key part in that education and search.

The government-led rollout of Smart Meters will support this approach and help consumers better understand the benefits of switching and ultimately help them do so. Those companies that can match this data with successful marketing will start to unlock those disengaged energy consumers.  

As aforementioned, the report delivers implications for a number of industries, but it’s fair to say the affiliate sector has, for the most part, benefitted from its release.

Read more from our PI Columnists here. 

The post Helen Southgate: What the Energy Sector’s Reform Means for Affiliate Marketing appeared first on PerformanceIN.

I recently attended an Ad Blocking debate at Ad Week Europe. The statement made there by Alexander Hanff, a formidable figure in the campaign for online privacy, very quickly made the headlines.  

He was referring to the topical ePrivacy Directive. In particular article 5.3, which states: 

“Storing information or gaining access to information already stored in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is allowed on condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of them processing.”

This statement was made with regard to publishers identifying users who had Ad Blocking software installed.  Many well-known large UK publishers do this, for example, the Guardian identifies if you are using Ad Blocking software and asks: “We notice you are using an ad-blocker.  Perhaps you’ll support us another way?”

They are essentially implying that by installing Ad Blocking software the user is “robbing” the Guardian of advertising revenue, which supports their ability to provide free content.  The newspaper politely asks the user to either uninstall the ad blocker, allow ads on the site, or become a paying member.

The Telegraph goes a step further and blocks any content to the user if they have an ad blocker installed. The content is only accessible if the user initiates ads to be shown or becomes a paying member.

According to the ePrivacy Directive, identifying ad blocking software to restrict access or target messaging to users is “illegal” without the users’ prior consent.  Whilst in the UK we have been extremely sceptical about this directive, it is here to stay and will be enforced more stringently over the coming years. 

Impact on affiliate

So what should publishers be doing? Are they right to identify ad blockers and force users into a choice between free and paid content?

My concern for the affiliate industry is that whilst large publishers, such as The Guardian and The Telegraph, arguably have the power to convince users to support the website -either directly or indirectly – the thousands of other smaller websites, including affiliates, do not.  So where does this leave affiliate websites? Ad blocking is growing at a frightening rate, with the IAB’s most recent research estimating some 22% of all online users have them installed. 

Ad blocking came up in a panel I sat on at Affiliate Huddle recently, and I was surprised to see other network heads down-play the concerns over its effect within the affiliate industry.  There is a misconception that this simply affects the display channel; it doesn’t.  It affects affiliate marketing, not just through banner advertising but also native.  Outbrain ads for example (contextual content in native format) are blocked on many publisher sites I have seen by ad blockers.  

Another concern I have is that simply identifying users with ad blocking software and trying to convince them to make different choices is not solving the real issue.  The real problem is advertising formats that consumers do not want – they can often be obtrusive, badly targeted and frankly quite annoying. 

This is the heart of the problem that the industry needs to solve and I think a number of questions need to be asked:

⦁    How do we better regulate the industry and stop bad practice?
⦁    What are acceptable ad formats, and who should define and regulate that?
⦁    How can we better inform consumers about how their data is used for advertising and convince them it is a good thing?
⦁    Is targeted advertising really what consumers want?

The answer?

This seems to be in “acceptable ad formats”.  AdBlock Plus, currently the leader in ad blocking software, has its own acceptable ad format, and whilst I think their policy around “payment for whitelisting” sits uncomfortably with most of us, it’s hard to argue with their guidelines for what is deemed an acceptable ad. 

But whether they are in a position to lead that, I am not convinced.  The IAB has also launched its LEAN principles – a guide for the industry on best practice ad formats. This seems like a sensible direction but it will be complex along the way.  There are also many more questions being raised about transparency and disclosure of commercial relationships when presenting native and in-text ads, which is most prevalent in the affiliate industry. We need to address this head on as an industry and provide best practice and guidance for all publishers, large and small.

There is a lot to debate and discuss and these conversations will continue over the coming months but they don’t sit alone, as it’s all tied into the on-going discussion regarding the ePrivacy Directive, the EU data protection Regulation (GDPR) and new CMA guidelines.  This is an issue that isn’t simply confined to the UK, it’s European and Global and needs to be understood and managed by the digital industry. 

I’ll be leading the debate on ad blocking at PMI Europe in July, and what it means for the future of the affiliate and digital industry across the continent. There’s lots to talk about so I look forward to seeing you there!

The post Helen Southgate: Are Publishers Right to ‘Name and Shame’ Their Ad-Blocking Audiences? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

I was asked could large networks drop voucher or incentive partners in place of bloggers. The answer is simple- no, and why would they want to?  The fundamental success factor of any great marketing campaign is having a diverse mix of marketing channels and within the affiliate channel that includes voucher and incentive affiliates. The problem occurs when you have reliance on one channel, regardless of which channel that is. It’s a little bit like if you eat too many cheeseburgers you get fat, everyone needs a balanced diet, it’s common sense.

I find the current climate of blaming voucher and incentive sites for having too much dominance simply ridiculous. They don’t have control over where the marketing budget is spent, the advertiser and network do. Advertisers may argue that in order to hit their targets they are given little choice, and I sympathise with this; here the blame needs to be directed at the network.   There should be a variety of ways to drive traffic for advertisers from a diverse range of affiliates, using a wide range of tools – both promotional and commission incentives. If you ask your network for a plan of where to spend your budget and they only come up with answers in the incentive sector then you have a problem with your network, not the channel.

The affiliate channel is a wide ranging, rich and diverse network of affiliates which is constantly growing and evolving.  The role of the network is to present to an advertiser the best way to spend budget across this network of affiliates to achieve their set objectives.  Some of that strategy will include incentive sites but it will also contain content sites, bloggers, price comparison, email affiliates and more.  This is why it is such a great channel to work with and anyone just focusing on one area of this channel is making a big mistake.

Let’s not forget that there is a wide range of diversification just within the incentive channel too.  Not every voucher site has the same customer base, not every cashback site has the same strategy.  For example, we recently received a report from Easy Fund Raising, a cashback site that gives the cash back it receives to charities. The report showed how much affilinet had raised via our advertisers for good causes over the last year.  Not only is this a great sales tool for advertisers, it can also form part of a corporate social responsibility strategy and a way of giving something back in an industry which often seems all about making money and sales.

In terms of bloggers, I find this an interesting development in the way it is portrayed in the trade media. Bloggers have been around for years and have always been a fundamental part of the channel, it is where most affiliate sites started out.  There is no doubt that it is a rapidly growing area , helped by the ease of being able to create and market a blog, the popularity it has gained and the way people interact online, not to mention that you can now become rich and famous by blogging. This is an area that will continue to grow, but the biggest bloggers are likely to work outside of the channel so it is the medium-small bloggers that we as an industry need to cater for. There are already plenty of companies out there that just manage bloggers. Affiliate marketing is about managing a diverse range of affiliates and bloggers and incentive sites are just two parts of a much wider reaching network.  As I have said many times, as a channel we need to get better at servicing these types of sites in order to ensure they work within the channel and not outside of it. Better tools, support, payment models and tracking are just some of the ways we can help to ensure this. 

Affiliate marketing in its truest sense is about plugging clients into a wide range of diverse affiliates best suited to achieve their objectives.  By limiting yourself to only one sector of this network you would be limiting your advertisers’ success within the channel.  It’s all about the balanced diet.

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For years affiliate networks and agencies have talked about the vast number of affiliates they have on their network, particularly in the ‘long tail’ or ‘content’ area. However, the 2014 IAB OPM study conducted by PwC found that there are only 12,000 active affiliates in the UK and only 12% of these are content based. Everyone talks about their long tail strategy – but does it actually exist? Advertisers are constantly seeking a more diverse affiliate base with greater reach beyond the top 20 affiliates. So where is this long-tail and how do we go about making it work in the affiliate channel, or is it too late? 

In order to make the long tail work there are a few areas that need to be addressed:

Tools and services

As an industry we have fallen behind in terms of targeting technology through the affiliate channel.  The days of blanket advertising, offers and emails is way behind us and not only advertisers but customers are demanding well-targeted, effective and useful marketing communications.  We need to ensure that affiliates have the tools to do this – simply offering a static banner creative and a text link is not enough.  Affiliates need the tools and technology to effectively monetise their content, away from pure banner and text link advertising into video, creative and written content.  They need a way to identify the right advertising to give to the customer at the right time. Advertisers want to generate quality traffic that will produce sales and affiliates are in a good position to do that.

Communicating effectively

Affiliates need to be treated as customers – meaning you need a good CRM strategy, particularly when it comes to communication. Make your communications interesting, relevant and useful to the affiliate and then they will be read.  In order to do this you need to profile and segment your customers effectively then build a communications strategy – i.e. don’t send a £10-off beauty voucher code to an affiliate you know only sells garden sheds. This needs strategy, time and automation.

Managing affiliates

In order to manage long-tail affiliates you need to be able to manage hundreds, if not thousands of affiliates at scale; 1-2-1 relationships are simply not feasible.  A good platform, automation and a great communication and CRM strategy are a must.

In addition, it is key that you create a level playing field, ensuring the long tail are given the same or similar opportunities as the top affiliates you work with. This means dedicated resource to the long tail and ensuring objectives and targets are made and agreed around the long tail.  It also means having a passionate publisher team with the desire to develop and grow the smaller affiliates, allowing them to feel like an integral part of an advertiser’s programme.

Exploring new payment models

If we continue to only work on a CPA, last-click model, then we have no chance of developing the long tail of affiliates. CPA is, and should still be a core metric of the affiliate channel but it needs to be supported by other payment models that recognise the value of traffic and customers, not just last click wins.  This could be CPM, CPC, hybrids, tenancy… but this has to become part of the channel and insight and data needs to be developed to support a case for differing payment models.

A diverse range of long-tail affiliates

Having a handful of bloggers or Lisa Eldridge-type bloggers is not a long-tail strategy. Bloggers are key to content development and there is a huge opportunity out there particularly in the retail, travel and sports sectors, but this is only a small part of the long tail strategy. 

Long-tail affiliates come in all shapes and sizes from smaller reward sites to price comparison, niche interest areas, hobbies and bloggers. The key to a successful long-tail strategy is diversity. Customers have a diverse set of interests, viewing multiple sites across the web.  Having sophisticated, targeted methods that affiliates can use allows advertisers to gain reach across thousands of affiliate websites where their customers are visiting and hopefully displaying an intent to purchase. The affiliate channel is still unique in its reach and diversity but we need to show advertisers a way to harness that.

A lot of work is still to be done, not just by individual networks and agencies on a small scale but by the industry as a whole, on a large scale.  We need to re-engage with those affiliates that are disengaged and attract new affiliates into the channel.  Not an easy task by any means, but a challenge that we should all look to take on in order for the industry to grow, strive and compete with the rest and best. 

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