the presence of affiliate marketing

&

The Presence of

Affiliate Marketing

WhatRunsWhere.com & The Search Monitor

The Presence of Affiliate Marketing

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

$1,657 $1,841 $1,941

$2,150

$2,533

$2,989

$3,473

$4,012





Earlier this year, Forrester estimated the affiliate

marketing industry would grow to

$4.5 billionby 2016

General Stats from Black Friday

$12.5 Billion

Total brick & mortar sales on

Thanksgiving & Black Friday

Up 2.3% from 2012

$2.29 Billion

Total online sales on

Cyber Monday

Up 16% from 2012

40%

Percentage of retail web traffic

from mobile devices

Up 34% from 2012


Affiliate Reach on Search: Top 5

Verticals


10%7.4%

7.3%

Apparel Home & Garden

Hobbies & Leisure

Sports & Fitness

Beauty

7%

Footwear: 24%

% of Advertisers that are Affiliates

Scale Models:

15%

Perfume: 11%

7.5%


Affiliate Adherence to Merchant

Rules

34%38%

10%

18%

LowComplies

MediumTM Bids

HighDirect Links

ExtremeDirect Links +

TM Bids

% of Affiliates

72% Comply




Top Affiliate Marketing Niches ...

• Health & Wellness

• Diet

• Education

• Auto Insurance

• Online Games

• Dating




Top Display Networks ...

Finding Success

with Affiliate

Marketing

as a Merchant

&

Q: Why are more and

more Merchants starting

Affiliate Programs?

• Pay only for performance You only need pay them if they make a profit for you

• Consumer that shop via affiliate links spend an average of $7 more than the aver age shopper

• Online shopping through affiliate referrals are 43% more likely to convert that average


Merchants on average see 23% of

total online sales coming from the

affiliate channel.


Walmart vs. Target PPC Spending

Who Had the Better Strategy… • Walmart who front loaded PPC, then relied on organic?• Target who conserved budget, then pushed hard?

What Happened to Target in September? Mistake or intentional after big spending for back to school?


Super Affiliate Strategy

Own the Page. Control the Market

Affiliates

Merchant Maintains Top Rank

Achieved Using Rank Rules

Monitoring


Case Study:


WhatRunsWhere.com & The Search MonitorWhatRunsWhere.com & The Search Monitor

Top Affiliate Marketing Strategies

Affiliate

Content

Email

SEO

Blog

Display

Review

PPC

Social

Network

Shopping

Incentive


Top Affiliate Marketing Strategies

• Know Your Audience

• Pick a Unique Niche

• Spy on Your Competition

Understanding

Affiliate Marketing’s

Competitive

Landscape

&

Affiliate Marketing’s Competitive

Landscape

As affiliate marketing has caught

on over the years it has quickly

become a very competitive

market.

Just like in any other industry

affiliate marketers must assess

their competition...



Information That Matters:

Search Ads

Learn. Protect & Defend.

Partners Affiliates Resellers

• Cohesive Strategies that Work

Together

Rank, Messaging, PLA vs. PPC

• Avoid Channel Conflict

direct linking, offer codes

• Reputation Management

expired offers, offer wording, landing

page copy

Competitors’ Partners

• Winning Ad Copy

Offers, Us vs. Them

Comparisons

• Partner, Affiliate, Reseller

Strategies

impression share & rank on

keywords, on TMs

Who is beating you on your own

best terms?

Top 5 Questions Every

Affiliate Marketer Must

Know About Their

Competition



1

Who am I competing with on the

display networks for my target

niche?


2

What are my competitors top

performing display ads?


3

What ad networks are my

competitors using?


4

Where are my competitors placing

their ads?


5

How can I make my display ads

more click-worthy than my

competitors?

How Affiliate Marketers are

Using Search & Display

Advertising to Boost the

Sales of Merchants

&


Popular Offers – Black Friday

TIPMonitor Competitive

Offers. Ask Merchants for Compelling and

Unique Promos!

Product Listing Ads

% of KWDS w/PLA’s


TIPMerchant Own PLA. Affiliate

Own PPC!

Ad Extensions


TIPBe Unique! Don’t forget

phone numbers and other ad extensions.

Percentage of ads displaying a phone number.

0.11%

Affiliate Marketers and Display

Advertising


Affiliates use display advertising to

promote the products of merchants.

In turn, they gain commissions

based on sales

Affiliate Marketers and Display

Advertising

• Fairly simple method to learn

• Can be relatively inexpensive

• Plenty of sources to gain data

and market research

• Many affiliates have found

great success using display

advertising


How Merchants Can

Ensure Affiliates Optimize

Ad Campaigns on Their

Behalf

&

Successful Affiliate Programs can

account for up to 30% of

Online Sales


But, the question is:

How can online merchants create

a successful affiliate program?


1 Create an Affiliate Program that

attracts strong members

• Have a Strong Commission Structure

The harder your product is to sell, the

higher a merchant’s commission must be.

• Reward Success

The higher the sales, the higher the

commission rates.


2 Strong Affiliate Software or Manager

• Platforms like HasOffers and Cake can

help merchants to track the success of

registered affiliates

• It also gives affiliates access to real time

reporting with tracking


3 Strong Affiliate Software or Manager

• Likewise, merchants can hire an affiliate

manager to look after an affiliate program

• Hiring an affiliate manager is a great way

for merchants to keep track of affiliates

and lead them to success


4 Keep Affiliates Informed

• Blogging

Using a blog, merchants can share tips

and updates to increase the success of

affiliates.

• Email Marketing

This helps merchants to stay top of mind

and connected to affiliates by directly

engaging.
