Notes from Affiliate Summit East - Part II
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Affiliate Summit East 2006 gave merchants the ability spend quality face-time with affiliates, as well as the staff from networks that may power their programs, such as LinkShare, CJ, Performics, and Share-A-Sale. This important process helps solidify relationships and boost camaraderie- essential for a business that is so virtually oriented.
In addition to those priceless connections, Orlando’s agenda gave merchants the chance to answer some of the questions that continue to dominate discussions during weekly affiliate strategy meetings.
The following are the Top 5 Questions I think “Merchants” could have effectively addressed during the show:
1) Are Coupon Site Affiliates Bad? Panel participants in the session “Debate: Benefits and Liabilities of Coupon Affiliates” hashed out the pros and cons of coupons sites. And, as is usually the case, there is not a simple yes/no answer to this question. David Lewis of ThisNext and 77Blue, represented the CON side. He said it best with his assertion that he’s not against all coupon sites, just bad coupon sites. Coupon affiliates, according to David, can be thought of as “value-added pre-sellers.” He suggested that those sites that add real value are most likely asking themselves how what they’re doing benefits their consumers. Kudos to David for encouraging all of us to ask that question, every day.
Merchants and good coupon affiliate sites need to work together to make sure that codes are not expired, and that offers represent the brand appropriately (something that is answered uniquely for each merchant). The idea of using exclusive coupons for specific affiliates was also suggested as a positive approach – and one that we use often.
The bottom line is that there is no one definitive strategy for working with coupon sites. But I can tell you that whatever policies you decide, it is important that you publicize your stance on key issues in MORE than just your T&Cs. That means – telling affiliates in all the touch point areas (Create Links, Join Programs, Splash Pages) how you prefer to work with coupon sites.
2) Should We Have A Corporate Blog? Dave Taylor , Principal at Intuitive Systems, Inc. gave the crowd blogging best-practices during his session on Tuesday. With great humor, and great ideas, Dave’s presentation would lead any savvy merchant to answer this one with a resounding yes. His follow up newsletter summed it up:
“…Your company won't get to realize its long-term marketing and sales goals without coming out of the cellar, without meeting the varied residents of the blogosphere and engaging them in your quest and efforts. Not crassly, not like a stick over someone's head, but subtly, with respect for the existing values and interests. Done right, it can be astonishingly successful and an example of how your time and effort can often be far, far more valuable than any specific monetary investment.” (Blogsmart News, 7/13/06)
3) Should We Be Using RSS Feeds as a Tool for Affiliates? Brent Hill, VP of Business Development of FeedBurner, proposed two scenarios for growth within the intersection of RSS Feeds and Affiliate Marketing. The first is that more merchants will use RSS to communicate offers between merchants and affiliates. The items in the feed will be offers and those items will be rendered by affiliates as advertisements, updated automatically.
Brent also brought up another great scenario in which Merchants (or publishers) will pay affiliates for subscriber acquisition to their feeds. Brent suggested that affiliates will more and more be getting in the business of “audience development” for feeds.
Both very compelling ideas, and answering this one as Merchant X, I’d say that it’s worth the investment to get your tech team on this one.
4) Is there value to Pay-Per-Click affiliates? This is a hot-topic for every merchant I know, and the issue was well-covered in Orlando. Of course, the answer to this one is- yes! Like almost every other topic on this list, the key is to be strategic about how you execute these campaigns. Rob Key from Converseon described the new emerging era in the paid-search / affiliate marketing continuum: “The Era of Shelf Space.” We need to all get beyond the contentious “Taliban Era” (as he puts it). The real value of PPC affiliates lies in a merchant’s ability to maximize real estate on SERPs (search engine result pages). Merchants should be promoting policies that strategically set bid limits on keywords, hand-pick trusted affiliates to work in partnership with, and utilize select content affiliates for “long-tail” keywords (just to name a few).
5) Are there any innovative, new affiliates out there? I hear this a lot from merchants, and I have to say that it is a very depressing question. Would it be fair for affiliates to ask whether there any merchants out there that aren’t asshats?
The answer to this one is yes, and Affiliate Summit proves it. New and exciting affiliates emerge on the scene every day. Let us not forget that the affiliate channel is often the most efficient of all marketing channels. However, that does not mean it runs on auto- pilot. The key place to start is by addressing the fundamental assumptions we have about our partners and making sure not to generalize based on a few bad apples.
For example, I participated in one-off discussions about meme engineering, virtual world creation, emerging digital economies and goods, instant messaging service bots and the imminent post human experience. I would call that innovation- I would call that very forward thinking. The best of breed affiliates move like digital cheetahs hunting on the vast plains of cyberspace. As an agency, we have to keep the same pace. Affiliate marketing is much like a safari- you see some incredible diversity and creative adaptation- but to make it work you cannot view it from the safety of a jeep- you have be able to navigate the complex jungle and avoid the potential pitfalls.
Naturally, these initiatives listed above often require internal resources prioritization. Like affiliates, many merchants just have so much on their plate that sometimes the “wish I had” items get put on the proverbial back burner. The fine line that defines success or failure is about making the investment and embracing the concept of partnership. You must also test, measure, and optimize, and get help if you need it.
Stephanie Agresta is VP, Affiliate Marketing at Commerce360
