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Affiliation

Par admin - — Dernière modification 22/07/2010 20:36

Affiliate Marketing in broad terms is the business relationship between an advertiser (online merchant) and a publisher (also called affiliate). Performance-based Affiliate Marketing was made possible online because, unlike offline advertising it is possible to keep track of the customer journey through the various pages and links they visit or click on. This is done of course in total respect of the users' privacy as it is essentially sessions, IP addresses or cookies that are tracked, and no private details are ever available to affiliates. In essence, affiliates carry the merchant's advertising (banners, text links, videos, or even products...) for free and gets paid on the actual performance those links generate for the advertiser. The performance is usually measured in terms of sales or leads, but can also be measured in terms of qualified traffic. However, this performance-based marketing scheme is usually not rewarding affiliates in terms of number of impressions generated.

Affiliate marketing is the latest trend in online partnerships.

What is affiliate marketing ?

Affiliate Marketing in broad terms is the business relationship between an advertiser (online merchant) and a publisher (also called affiliate). Performance-based Affiliate Marketing was made possible online because, unlike offline advertising it is possible to keep track of the customer journey through the various pages and links they visit or click on. This is done of course in total respect of the users' privacy as it is essentially sessions, IP addresses or cookies that are tracked, and no private details are ever available to affiliates.

affiliation principe

In essence, affiliates carry the merchant's advertising (banners, text links, videos, or even products...) for free and gets paid on the actual performance those links generate for the advertiser.

The performance is usually measured in terms of sales or leads, but can also be measured in terms of qualified traffic. However, this performance-based marketing scheme is usually not rewarding affiliates in terms of number of impressions generated.

Why should I run an affiliate programme ?

Running an affiliate programme is very similar to having your own online sales force which you only ever pay on results (actual sales or approved leads). If your site converts well and the commissions you offer are competitive, you will most certainly end up with a large number of quality affiliate websites promoting your site and products in the likes of price-comparison sites, blogs, content sites etc. hich you will only pay on actual performance. In other words, aside from the fixed costs of joining an affiliate network, setting up the programme and sometimes agency management fees, you only ever pay for sales making the financial risk minimal.

affiliation sales

F.A.Q.

Why should I use an affiliate network ?

Affiliate networks offer various services as well as access to an existing network of affiliates.

  • they provide tracking technology, which is constantly updated and improved
  • they already have vast numbers of affiliates subscribed to their networks
  • they centralise payments and invoicing for all parties
  • they constitute a trusted third party between affiliates and merchants

How can I choose the best affiliate network for my site ?

Choosing the right partner is essential to the success of your affiliate programme.

Affiliate networks can be differentiated in several areas :

  • relationship with the affiliates and recognition
  • international presence
  • tracking and linking technologies
  • transparency

In the UK Kaizen Marketing Group primarily works with the likes of Affiliate Window, Webgains, Trade Doubler, Commission Junction, Zanox, Linkshare.

Who are the affiliates ?

There are various types of affiliate sites, which can be put in either one of these  categories :

  • price comparison sites
  • emailers (database affiliates)
  • cash-back sites
  • voucher/promo code sites
  • keyworders (SEM affiliates)
  • forums & blogs
  • content sites (specific content like tourist information or review sites...)
  • news sites (newspapers...)

 In order for your affiliate programme to perform it is vital to setup a relevant strategy before launching on any network. Some of the affiliates may interfere with your existing online partnerships and in fact undermine the performance you are achieving through other media. You also need to make your affiliate programme competitive and manage it properly in order to drive interest and recruit top-end affliates and publishers.

What Kaizen Marketing Group can offer you ?

Our team of affiliate programme managers can help you in both effectively setting up an affiliate programme and maximising its performance :

  • Pre-launch consultancy : audit, SWOT analysis, market study & benchmarking, technical requirements, budget, objectives...
  • Partnership proposal : we can negotiate with the affiliate networks on your behalf and obtain the best deal for your website.
  • Implementation : we can help you set your affiliate programme up both from a technical stand point (tracking code, banner upload, product datafeed mapping...) and in terms of affiliate contracts and T&C's.
  • Affiliate programme launch : affiliate recruitment and application screening, affiliate programme management, affiliate incentives... growing your affiliate programme: through affiliate management, affiliate incentives, competitions, newsletters and direct contact we will do our best to take your programme to the next level, both within your market and internationally. The bottom line is that we too are paid on performance!
  • Detailed reporting : your affiliate manager will send you detailed monthly performance reports as well as an action plan for the following month.
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