An Affiliate Is For Life Not Just For Christmas
Every good Affiliate Manager will always remind retailers (merchants) that an affiliate/publisher is a person or entity which requires cultivation over a period and sustained support throughout the year. It is tempting at this important trading time of year, for retailers to hit that short tail for all it is worth and some savvy affiliates know this. Out come all the placement offers and competition incentives for retailers to be listed that magical position one spot above their competitor and fair play to the affiliates with the clout to pull that off. It is a form of brand awareness after all.
However the short sighted rush to gain top position on a prominent affiliate site is often at the expense of the long tail affiliate and this is where many retailers make the biggest mistake of all. For smaller affiliates may not always be small and if you ignore their long tail potential, then when they are somewhat bigger affiliates, they may not be so inclined to afford you the prominence that you seek.
Now I grant you it is imperative in these recessionary times, to make every possible use of all potential marketing channels. With liquidity squeezed, retailers do expect value for money and affiliates could certainly do more to evolve and modernise. Adapting to the ever changing face of Affiliate Marketing shall determine whether an affiliate shall succeed or remain on the sidelines.
What is clear however is that many affiliates understand far more about marketing than the advertisers they market for. It behooves the advertiser to take note as many success stories in marketing have come from the hands and hard and diligent work of the affiliate.
Not every retailer fully understands the imperative of conversion. It’s all very well for an affiliate/publisher to drive traffic to a retailers website but if the customer experience is less than satisfying, that affiliate would have been better off delivering their traffic to retailers with a greater understanding of customer care.
I have been very fortunate in the past to have had the vast majority of retailers that I represented as an Affiliate Manager, understand just how important that customer journey was. Customer retention or the lack of it will make or break a merchant and merchants only have themselves to blame if affiliates then turn to competitors which do convert. Ease of navigation, the right customer driven offers and a simple checkout process is surely just three of the most important aspects of customer presentation that every retailer should adhere.
What particularly occasionally causes me angst is the complete lack of understanding as to what an affiliate is. Now generally it is merely a simple case of educating the retailer, but some retailers just do not get it. Thankfully they are a minority. Those that do understand are a dream to work with. Those that just consider an affiliate to be a poorly paid milk cow generally perform badly in affiliate marketing. Those that are prepared to pull out the stops and work with rather than against their affiliates; the companies who embrace affiliates as a valued additional marketing channel, they are the ones who succeed.
Affiliate Marketing is a multi Billion Pound industry and when integrated to work with other marketing streams, can be a rewarding sector for any retailer. New marketing channels such as Mobile Marketing are designed to enhance that customer experience and affiliates will play a very important role in their expansion and usage.
This Christmas my wish to Santa is that every retailer demonstrates their commitment to affiliates and what affiliates can bring to their business and not just consider them as an irritating aspect of global marketing.
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