Pay Others For Results
Affiliate marketing campaigns allow e-commerce or lead generation websites (‘the advertiser’) to generate cost-effective traffic and sales from adverts or text links placed on third-party websites (often referred to as ‘the publisher’ or affiliate). Payment for new leads or sales created is made on a performance basis, usually by the advertiser paying the affiliate for visits generated by the adverts and/or new leads or sales produced.
A successful affiliate marketing campaign can provide considerable benefits for an advertiser, such as:
- you only pay for performance
- the publisher takes responsibility for setting up and running adverts
- spending can easily be controlled and monitored, leading to a high level of accountability
- promotions and branding can be integrated with other marketing activities.
How it works
Most affiliate programmes are run through affiliate managers. These companies provide management services that help to bring suitable advertisers and affiliates together. They also track the traffic generated, handle payments and control the campaigns online, in return for an initial setup charge, a monthly management fee and a small commission on each affiliate payment.
Larger, well-established online companies can often find success from affiliate programs, with publishers often preferring the better revenue/administration ratio and strong brand association they can offer. However, smaller websites can also find affiliate marketing campaigns highly cost-effective. Financial services, retail and other B2C websites tend to gain the most from affiliate marketing, due to their ability to provide special offers to web users clicking on their adverts. There are also a large number of B2C ‘shopping portals’ that will publish affiliate advertisements.
Issues to consider with affiliate programmes
A successful affiliate programme requires intensive management. One issue lies in attracting high quality publishers who can generate good traffic for you, so fostering a close relationship with your best publishers and providing them with incentives is a key to success – publishers can lose interest quickly if they do not initially see good results.
Before embarking on an affiliate marketing campaign, consider the following:
- is affiliate marketing right for your business?
- what type of website would you consider as a partner site?
- do you want to run the affiliate program directly or through an agency?
- what margins are you prepared to pay for new leads or sales?
- what is the lifetime value of a new client?
How Web Marketing Workshop can help
We can advise you on the suitability of an affiliate program for your business and then, if you decide to proceed, we can set up and manage a campaign for you, including:
- reviewing the suitability of affiliate marketing for your particular market and comparing this against other forms of online promotion
- setting up the affiliate campaign, developing advertising copy and building a publisher base
- managing advertising, promotions, publishers and budgets and providing regular reports on the success of the campaign.
If you would like to find out more about affiliate marketing online, please contact us now, or you can request our FREE marketing assessment to discover what other online marketing opportunities may exist for your site.