SUCCESSFUL METHODS FOR AFFILIATE RECRUITMENT a publication by
Authors Written by Sarah Bundy, Founder & CEO of All Inclusive Marketing, is an award winning leader in the performance marketing space. Sarah drives the vision and direction of AIM and actively contributes to the advancement of the performance marketing industry through education, training, effective leadership and strategic planning. @svbundy Sarah teaches at The School of Internet Marketing and the Online Marketing Institute, speaks at industry shows such as Online Marketing Summit, Affiliate Summit and Performance Marketing Insights and writes for periodicals such as Small Business Trends, ReveNews, and FeedFront Magazine. Strategy & Design by Julia Stanescu, who drives Business Strategy & Development at All Inclusive Marketing. Julia s passion lies in identifying companies needs and challenges to create smart solutions that achieve desired results. Julia identified a gap that many businesses have: affiliate programs that struggle with their affiliate recruitment process. This need often comes from limited time, resources, connections or expertise. This ebook was created to help address those needs and bring to live more active, successful affiliate marketing programs. @juliastanescu 2
Foreword Is this ebook useful for me or my business? This guide is designed to help affiliate and marketing managers discover best practices and strategies used by global leaders in the performance marketing industry. The resources and strategies inside will help expedite your affiliate recruitment process to help drive faster sales, leads and desired results. When done effectively, affiliate marketing can produce mass brand exposure, more engaged customers and higher profits for your business s bottom line. Intermediate Level 3
Contents In this ebook you ll explore How to find Affiliates that are right for you / p. 05 9 strategies successful affiliate managers use to find targeted Affiliates /p. 07 Using the power of the tools to speed-up your affiliate recruitment process /p. 08 How to select key affiliates that will make your program successful /p.11 Interview - Why Flight Centre uses Affiliate Marketing? /p. 20 How businesses leverage AIM s Tool Suite for faster results /p. 24 Key takeaways /p. 29 4
Chapter 1 How to find affiliates that are right for you
Chapter 1 How to find influential affiliates that are right for you Even though affiliate recruitment seems a very time consuming task and implies long term effort in order to obtain great results and drive higher sales, there are always solutions that may simplify a lot your work and speed up your process. That s why using the best strategies and channels to recruit potential partners will help you engage targeted affiliates faster and more effectively. for your business. When launching an affiliate recruiting plan, outline your specific marketing need and your target end consumer, so that you have a solid definition of what type of affiliate to pursue, and what their audience demographic should be. This is where targeted affiliate recruitment comes into play. An affiliate that caters to the wrong target audience will not be a boom for your business; furthermore, your business reputation can and will be tied to theirs. Following are some successful strategies that will help you find the right affiliates to match your specific needs. 6
Chapter 1 9 Strategies Successful Affiliate Managers Use to Find Targeted Affiliates 1. Organic Search 2. Social Media 3. PPC Campaigns Optimize program landing pages and resource centres for specific keywords searched by affiliates. When your website s pages rank well, targeted affiliates will find you. Using keywords and #Hashtags in Twitter s search box can lead you to possible partners. You can also use Social Ads to target affiliates. Run a PPC campaign with brand or product keywords plus the term Affiliate Program or Affiliate Programs to drive targeted affiliates to your sign up page. 4. Affiliate Directories Listing your program in affiliate program directories with lots of detail, which also rank well in Google for desired search terms. 5. Affiliate Links in Footer An affiliates hyperlink in your website s footer is mandatory to drive affiliates to your program sign up page. 6. ReMarketing Ads Use site or search retargeting campaigns to drive interested affiliates back to your sign up page. 7. Network Announcements Get additional program placements within your affiliate network so relevant affiliates see you each time they log in. Additional partners such as GoldenCAN and PopShops can also be great places to ask affiliates to join your program. 8. Competitor Back-links Using the link domain command in Google, back-linking tools or specific affiliate recruitment tools can help identify who your competitors top performance affiliates are so you can work with them too - or instead. 7 9. Forum Announcements Popular affiliate forums such as ABestWeb, A4U and Affiliate Summit Forum have many opportunities for additional exposure to affiliates who may be looking for products just like yours.
Chapter 2 Using the power of tools to speed-up the affiliate recruitment process
Chapter 2 Using the power of tools to speed-up the affiliate recruitment process Targeted affiliate recruitment will save you time and money. However, finding the right affiliates is a time consuming task. Time spent on forums, answering questions, following back-links, and going to trade shows all cut into the time you have to run your business. Another strategy is to use the right tools. This means that instead of wading through hundreds, if not thousands, of possible affiliates resources, you can use the power of affiliate recruitment tools to speedup the process and find the ones that match your business right away. This will reduce your time spent on research and improve your recruiting process by expediting prospective partners searches, turning out results based on keyword or brand terms specific to your needs. 9
Chapter 2 Using the power of tools to speed-up the affiliate recruitment process Tools are sometimes available through specialized performance marketing agencies that might not otherwise be available to you, and outsourcing has become an option in many areas in today s business environment. Some tools that might be useful for you are AffiliateRecruitment.com, Linkdex.com, internal network tools (Commission Junction, Linkshare, etc.), Webmaster Tools (SEO Backlinks) or All Inclusive Marketing s Tool Suite which allows you to: o Identify and Engage with Top Social Influencers Globally o Identify and Engage with Competitors Top Performing Affiliates o Identify and Engage with High Potential Affiliates o Provide Deep Analytics and Powerfully Interpreted Data 10
Chapter 3 How to select key affiliates that will make your affiliate program successful
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program As an affiliate manager, how many times have you asked yourself: What are the different types of affiliates and groups I need to be successful in my program? Although there is no standard answer since many businesses have their own definition and breakdown of affiliate groups, here are 17 key affiliate types that many successful businesses use for smart affiliate program management. 1. Search Affiliates (PPC) These are affiliates who use use pay per click efforts to drive the bulk of their sites. They may have their own landing pages which include affiliate links or perhaps direct link to the merchant site using their affiliate link as a redirect. Regardless, they pay for traffic to go where they need it to based on a click. 2. Content Affiliates (SEO) Content affiliates create original content on static sites, such as About.com or Top10Review type sites, then use their SEO experience to drive traffic through natural search results. These can be extremely useful for article type exposure, niche sites, review sites and second and third tier search engines, not to mention international search engine rankings. 12
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 3. Bloggers (community, personal opinions) Affiliate program managers work extremely hard to find and build relationships with influential bloggers because of their ability to suede buying behavior with their large audiences and loyal fan base. They have dynamic opinion pieces that fall into just about any vertical or niche, rank highly in search results, often have double opt in followers and are extremely social savvy. Bloggers will continue to thrive and grow as affiliate marketers for years to come and are becoming increasingly more essential to true customer acquisition. 4. Social Affiliates (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) We ve separated social affiliates from bloggers because some affiliates don t blog but do use Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest instead to promote affiliate links and drive traffic to merchant sites. In these cases, as an affiliate manager, you may tag someone as both social and blogger if they do both. 5. Email Marketers Email marketing affiliates are generally stronger in the CPA / Lead Generation arena, but not always. Coupon and loyalty sites, for example, often have opt in mailing lists of several hundred thousand subscribers who are waiting on that next big deal or great piece of shopping advice. Anyone who uses email marketing as their primary driver of sales can go into this category. 13
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 6. Coupon / Daily Deal Sites Sites like BradsDeals.com and Savings.com are examples of coupon and daily deal site. They often have large followings, millions of visitors per month and turn over millions of products for merchants regularly. These are the sites that feature coupon codes for free shipping, $10 off and high discount products. 7. Loyalty Sites Loyalty sites are similar to coupon sites yet they subscribe members who earn points, cash back or are able to select a charity to donate to during their checkout. Although there are some good loyalty sites, affiliate managers must be cautious in working with sites that use toolbars and other technologies that drive traffic away from the merchant site to earn commission on completed sales. 8. Offline (TV, Print, Radio) This is an often overlooked category of affiliates, yet extremely powerful when the right partners are found. TV, print, radio, and even word of mouth opportunities can be extremely lucrative for affiliate programs when exclusive landing page tracking, coupon codes and phone number are used to reward sales. 14
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 9. Podcasters An area that s been growing over the last year are affiliates who are using Podcasting to drive sales through their podcast series (offline approach) or through their show landing pages which feature affiliate links. This is an area that will continue to grow, especially with the introduction of PodCasting tools like Spreaker.com. 10. Merchant / Joint Venture Another overlooked affiliate group are the merchants and join venture partners themselves. This works when a merchant offers affiliate links on their confirmation page or in emails to their consumers, or when affiliate program managers offer to promote non-competing yet complimentary products within their network. 11. Video (You Tubers) YouTubers can link affiliate links from their YouTube Channels using direct links, links to monetized landing pages or redirects with their affiliate ID attached. Their strategy is to create videos that drive targeted traffic to those pages particular pages for earnings. It s difficult these days to make money as a YouTuber strictly, but when combined with affiliate marketing opportunities, it can become extremely profitable. 15
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 12. DataFeed Affiliates This group of affiliates uses product datafeeds to create content on their sites. Some affiliates will manipulate the core datafeed files themselves, and others will use tools such as Popshops or Datafeedr to help. The reason these are listed separately from Shopping Comparison Engines is because some affiliates will not use datafeeds for price comparisons but rather niche product listings while others have content sites or blogs they support purchasing behavior with using product feeds. 13. SCE (Shopping Comparison Engines) TheFind.com is probably one of the most well known SCE affiliates out here, though Google is now getting more active with performance marketing as well. Some invitation only merchants have been able to stay listed on a performance model within Google s Shopping Engine (also known as Froogle.com). These types of affiliates are exactly how they sound shopping comparison engines with every product you could possibly imagine where customers can go to compare price, customer ratings and suppliers of the same product. 16
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 14. Mobile The mobile affiliate segment is continuing to grow (good news) though it s still not as strong as some other channels. A company called JunoWallet for example was one of the first pioneering mobile affiliates in the space (who have now changed their payment model). However when they first started doing this, they created an app where people could sign up for free gift cards which they could download and redeem in store or online. The gift cards worked similarly to a coupon code, however instead of a code, it would actually say $10 Gift Card and JunoWallet would use their own tracking platform to report on downloads and redemption. This is an example of how affiliates could use mobile apps, or PPC or storefronts to drive traffic and be rewarded on a performance base. 15. Sub Networks Sub networks are partners that have other affiliates that work under them. The merchant doesn t know who the sub network s affiliates are or how they are driving sales because all credit goes to the sub network who pays out however way they please. Examples of sub networks are skimlinks and viglink. 17
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 16. Technologies Some people will categories this as other and that s OK too. The idea is these affiliates use technologies and service offerings they create and rather than charging for it upfront, they bill based on completed actions. An example of this is a company called VEInteractive. They provide shopping cart abandonment solutions on a performance base. For example, if a customer is half way through the checkout and does not compete their sale, VEInteractive will re-target that dropout to drive them back to complete the order. Then once they do, VEInteractive would earn commission on the sale. But, wouldn t this get expensive after a while and be worth investing in your own shopping card abandonment options?. Yes. But for some companies who lack the short term development budget, the expertise, the time or a flexible shopping cart platform, this might be a good solution. 18
Chapter 3 17 key affiliate types to help you have a successful affiliate program 17. International (Canada, Brazil, China, France, Mexico, etc) It s important to tag these partners separately to know who can be reached when targeting buyers in specific geographic locations, because currencies, payment methods, languages and buying habits will differ. When it comes to international affiliates (which we define by reaching targeted traffic outside of the main target geographic region) we generally tag them as International or the country in which they reside or can reach audiences in. You are encouraged to use as many or few affiliate types as needed. the goal of grouping is to communicate more relevant information, marketing tips and strategies specific to their needs, which will ultimately produce higher affiliate satisfaction, more active affiliates and increased sales. 19
Chapter 4 Interview - Why Flight Centre uses Affiliate Marketing?
Flight Centre - Interview Why Flight Centre uses Affiliate Marketing as part of their online strategy The travel industry has come to rely on affiliates for a very good reason. According to Forrester Research, 57% of online consumers are more likely to book travel when they see advertisements on blogs or other websites rather than the company s own site. For the consumer, it is an indication that the travel company has credibility. In addition, 48% of consumers find ads on 3rd party websites more valuable. With this in mind, it is imperative that the travel industry employs successful methods for affiliate recruitment. With the help of All Inclusive Marketing, Flight Centre Canada started to leverage affiliate marketing at the beginning of 2013 to help increase sales and leads into their physical stores and into their call centers. 21
Flight Centre - Interview Following is an interview with Phil Penneway, Online Marketing Manager with Flight Centre, on why they use affiliate marketing as part of their marketing mix. Why did you choose affiliate marketing as part of your online marketing strategy in order to grow your business? Phil Penneway Online Marketing Manager The affiliate channel is based on a performance marketing model, which means we only pay for qualified leads. Since we re paying on completed leads, we aren t risking our ad spend on impressions or clicks that might not convert. Affiliate marketing is a cost-effective way for us to acquire customers. What affiliate marketing strategies do you use in order to grow your program and drive more sales? We use AIM s Tool to identify top influencers in key product areas across online sites and social media channels. Because of this targeted recruiting effort, we re able to onboard affiliates with deep content and relevant audiences. This in turn also drives quality traffic and sales. 22
Flight Centre - Interview What results are you hoping to achieve this year by using affiliate marketing? We re looking to tap into a larger potential audience and drive more foot and phone traffic through our door. How do you see affiliate marketing impacting the travel industry? FlightCentre.ca is unique in that we offer our customers the choice of dealing with a travel agent directly or booking travel without agent assistance via FlightCentre.ca. Currently, we are tracking all online enquiries, but soon we anticipate adding the ability to track and commission phone leads as well. Being able to track referrals from multiple sources is well-suited for the travel industry. Phil Penneway, Online Marketing Manager 23
How businesses leverage AIM s tool suite for faster results and smarter affiliate recruitment A snapshot into the All Inclusive Marketing s Tool Suite
Introducing All Inclusive Marketing s Tool Suite Find targeted affiliates and influential bloggers that reach your ideal audience in real-time We develop top-of-the-line affiliate recruitment strategies and management programs using the power of AIM s Tool Suite. With it, we can cross check prospective content writers, identify who competitors are working with and even see who is discussing your brand as it happens. In addition, as your affiliate network grows, we can optimize & speed-up activation rates simply by leveraging this tool. By using the AIM Tool Suite, we can instantly search keywords and find relevant blogs, news, articles, videos, images and any other popular content type across the major social networks globally. We can instantly identify the most influential content marketers in strategic verticals for you to engage with who will help grow your business. 25
Introducing All Inclusive Marketing s Tool Suite Instantly find mentions from people that speak about your competitors so that you can target them By using the power of our tools we can see in depth analysis. This example shows there were 1.9 million mentions on Twitter about: travel, adventure, travel, backpacking, cruise, hotels, tours, vacation. In just one week 7.9K of the mentions were shown on blogs and 6.8k mentions were on forums and comments on blogs. What does this mean for your business? You might have missed 90% or more of your chances to connect with targeted bloggers and prospective partners while the topic was relevant. Having the right tools can maximize exposure and recruitment opportunities by 4000% simply by being in the right place at the right time. By utilizing AIM s Tool Suite you won t miss a thing! 26
Introducing All Inclusive Marketing s Tool Suite Instantly find leads and real people that are searching for your products/services on the spot There are hundreds, if not thousands of engagement opportunities in the social space with bloggers, affiliates and prospective customers that you probably miss each day. AIM s Tool Suite notifies you when people mention your competitors, or when they mention keywords relevant to your business, so you can ask questions and connect with them to bring business through your door. Having a better understanding of your prospective clients and partners, what they care about, what engages them, and how influential they are, can directly influence your bottom line. Everything can be tracked to help speed up your affiliate recruitment process & drive more leads and sales. 27
Introducing All Inclusive Marketing s Tool Suite Find bloggers in your industry based on geographic location and engage with them in real time Using our Tool Suite allows you to identify the number of average daily impressions for your targeted keywords, which identifies where your best opportunities lie. This example shows a total of 167 million average daily impressions for a group of travel related keywords, which shows the vast potential of this particular set of phrases. Filter People by Geographic Location AIM s Tool Suite can also show the geographical distribution of people that talk about keywords that are relevant for your business. This makes your affiliate recruitment task easier because you can target and filter groups immediately according to their location. 28
Takeaways a publication by
Takeaways Key Takeaways from this ebook: Diversify your Affiliate Portfolio to Grow Your Program Faster Partner with Industry Affiliates and Influential Bloggers Select and Organize Your Affiliates in Groups Use Tools to Speed-Up Your Recruitment & Engagement Process Use Smart and Effective Partnerships Recruitment Strategies 30
Get AIM s Affiliate and Social Recruitment Tool Suite Fight the noise, speed-up your affiliate recruitment process and drive real ROI to your business AIM s Tool Suite comes with a helpful hand, to help you find bloggers & affiliates that matter most for your business. AIM s Tool Suite will allow you to monitor and respond to every social interaction in real time. Filter and engage with the best affiliates or bloggers you need to help you grow your business right away. See AIM s Tool Suite in Action Click Here to Request a Free Demo 31
Driving Performance Marketing All Inclusive Marketing is a full service digital marketing agency delivering strategic experience driven results. We ve been driving performance marketing since 2009 through Innovation, Leadership, and Ethical Business Practices. www.allinclusivemarketing.com AIM s award winning experts help businesses around the world increase profitable sales and exposure through strategic digital marketing. AIM s goal is, and will forever be, to Delight, Innovate, Grow and Give Back. 32