Hot Tips - Harry Hurst

1. UNDERSTAND THE FIGURES

Understand the figures relating to your online marketing and costs of sale

Affiliate marketing is a scalable and cost effective solution.  In order to achieve the best results all margin and cost of sale should be fully understood and leveraged by those responsible for the management of the programme.  This does not mean that the maximum cost of sale necessarily needs to be paid as commissions and charges but it allows informed decision making when setting commissions and expected return on investment (ROI).

 

2. SET OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

Decide on your objectives and commit to a long-term strategy

The affiliate model is best used as a long term channel.  Once your business objectives have been decided upon (volume of sales, cost of sales, return on investment), these can be put into a long term strategy.  Since the advertising media is not ‘bought’ media, affiliates (AKA publishers) need to trust that placement of your adverts on their sites will generate a return for them.  This trust is built and developed over time so a short-term approach as a rule does not generate the best results.

 

3. COMMUNICATE

Communicate with your agency, network and publishers

The affiliate channel is often described as a ‘virtual sales team’ working on a commission only basis.  As with any sales team, they need to be informed about the objectives and knowledgeable about your products and services in order to effectively sell them.  Good news like increasing conversion rates or a growing average basket value (ABV) is a great way to promote your programme.  Similarly, if there are any issues, your ‘sales team’ should be made aware and communicated to so that they know you are addressing them.

 

4. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS

A business using the affiliate marketing channel may be selling spare bike wheels or online accounting services so the customer base can vary enormously.  This means that the mix of affiliate sites used to promote a product or service will equally vary to reach the target user base.  Being aware who these target customers are and knowing what will appeal to them is a basic but essential part of building a successful programme.  This is equally true whether the programme is managed in house, by an agency or by an affiliate network.

 

5. OPTIMISE YOUR ACTIVITY

Review and optimise your activity regularly

Planning and strategy are essential in starting to build an effective affiliate programme.  However, the effort does not stop there.  Best practice is to constantly review objectives (are they still the right ones/are they being achieved) and judge performance of the affiliate programme.  As with any sales team, rewarding and motivating the best performing and looking for ways to develop underperforming members will, over time, optimise the results being generated by the channel.