What is Affiliate Marketing’s Brand?

cookie.jpgJim Kukral, publisher of ReveNews and operator of BlogKits, has submitted a short but intriguing piece on MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

The main question he poses has reverberations that continue to expand like a rock thrown in a pond if you consider the essence of what he’s asking.

Here’s his question:

What is affiliate marketing’s brand? When you think of it, what comes to mind?

I should also point out that this is a good exercise for any marketer to put to use. I think what you’ll find, as I have in other areas, is that what your customer and/or the rest of the world thinks, is drastically different than what you think.

As you begin to form an answer in your head, remember that the audience of MarketingProfs is different than ReveNews or this blog. He’s asking this question to individuals who stand outside of affiliate marketing in general, but who also are deeply entrenched in other online marketing platforms.

Why be concerned over the definition of affiliate marketing’s brand? Why do some of us use the moniker affiliate marketing while others of us shun that term, but continue, in practice, to be associated with affiliate marketing?

For insight into this answer, I think back (as I often do) to an episode of ze Frank’s The Show where he launches into a brilliant tirade of why John Mark Carr would want to associate himself with Jon Benet Ramsey (it was August and that was the only news, remember).

Like Jim’s rock in the pond, Frank’s observations also expand outwards from his three minute video and have implications for the brand that many of us associate ourselves with: affiliate marketing.

ze Frank’s comments go along these lines:

“What the hell do you mean by brand?

Brand is an emotional aftertaste that is conjured up by, but not necessarily dependent on, a series of experiences.

Everything has an aftertaste, and everything is a brand.”

Nothing earth shattering there, unless you like to limit the definition of brand. Frank nails it on the head by saying that everything is a brand and has an emotional aftertaste, however… including affiliate marketing.

If everything is a brand (including affiliate marketing) why associate with a particular brand? Why seek out these types of definitions as Jim is aiming to do? Frank gives more insight:

“Right now platforms are fracturing. There are fewer specific places that have access to a large market share and it’s getting harder to speak to lots of people.

But the shared emotional aftertaste of brand is platform independent.

If you leverage those aftertastes, people pay attention regardless of where they are.”

So, I don’t have an answer for Jim’s question. But I do hope he finds one. There are such a wide variety of emotional aftertastes experienced within (and without) the realm of affiliate marketing, that to figure this out will require more than a few minutes of pondering.

Great question, Jim.

Visit the links below for more information and please do watch the episode of The Show…

Sources:

Jim’s Marketing Prof Daily Fix Article

ze Frank’s Video Post on Brands

A Modest Proposal: Homework Assignment for Readers (Due Friday)

modest.JPGI have a proposal for anyone interested…

I want to bring together a number of different insights into a specific question brought up over and over on the Molander/Ms. X podcast and in the debate raging in the comments below. It’s a question that I’ve been pondering for about three years since I was there at the launch of AdDrive (a CPA network) and have worked on but never come up with a satisfactory answer.

If you’d like to see and respond to the question, email me (sam@costpernews.com) and I’ll send it to you. The catch is that I want a response from you by this Friday. That’s not a lot of time, but the iron is hot, and we all need a good homework assignment. You should email me your response back as soon as possible (at the latest by Friday at noon est).

On Friday at noon est, I’ll post all the responses (with links to your respective programs and your pic if you’d like) at once in an amalgamated post. I’ll post your answer in full and respond to them as a whole and then to each of them individually with my own insights.

I’d like to get at least 10 of you to do this homework assignment. So, if you’re interested in my question and promise to respond by Friday noon, send me an email and I’ll get the question (and a copy of these instructions) over to you immediately.

Looking forward to a good debate.

CostPerNews Special: Are CJ and Linkshare Worth Their Salt?

If you have attended any of the adtech’s or Affiliate Summit or the DMA’s over the past four years, you have certainly witnessed the proliferation and explosion of CPA networks in the online marketing industry.

Where did they come from? Why are they here? Should you as a merchant, affiliate manager or program director be working with them? These are important and serious questions with long reaching implications for your company’s bottom line and the future of your service, program or even job.

In hopes of shedding some light on the relationship of CPA Networks to more traditional large affiliate networks from a different point of view, I asked Thoughtshapers.com’s Jeff Molander to do an interview with an industry veteran who has worked inside of a merchant affiliate program, with CJ, Linkshare, BeFree, DirectTrack and with various CPA affiliate networks. What results in this ten minute podcast is full of value and a must listen.

In this special edition podcast, Jeff interviews Ms. X, a veteran affiliate manager who suggests that traditional affiliate networks are under fire by “CPA (cost per action) networks” that are more nimble, flexible and offer what advertisers really want — leads or sales without the work. Jeff decided to protect her identity due to her current work situation and place within the industry. It would be preferable to have someone able to speak without the voice mod or hidden identity, but in this situation, the content more than makes up for the identity protection. Plus, the insights she provides is worth the protection.

In effect, the main question addressed is: “Are affiliate networks like Linkshare and Valueclick’s Commission Junction worth their salt?”

[EDIT 7:00pm Wed Nov 15]:

Upon the suggestion of Jim Kukral, I’ve installed a plugin whereby you can be notified of followup comments via email. You can also subscribe to the comment thread without commenting, but don’t lurk too long (please).

If you’ve already posted, you have to logout and then log back in to Wordress to see the subscribe option (below the comment box). This works for all comments in the past and going forward.

Happy commenting and email me with any questions.

[/EDIT]

Listen to hear raw perspectives from a veteran voice (approx 10 minutes)…

COSTPERNEWS PODCAST: ARE CJ AND LINKSHARE WORTH THEIR SALT? (mp3)

http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=P7014bf789a5011610c79b41947311fcdZVB5RVREYmV8&buffer=5&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&brand=1&player=ap21

End of Co-Registration Craze in CPA Marketing?

coreg.gifDo a search for “co registration.”

It can be a scary thing. Consumers have complained voraciously. As Wayne Porter and the brilliant Jan Hertsens point out, there are also serious security concerns over these types of offers.

Nevertheless, companies have made millions on co registrations in the CPA network space. Not only that, but new firms are popping up every day attempting to monetize the reg path and make use of the path that users take to confirm purchases or prize sign ups. Is it worth it? Has the coreg market met its plateau of revenue?

Registration path offers (co-regs) have had a storied history in our industry. The platform has suffered from a lack of real time reporting, a lack of real time validation and a lack of transparency. What was once primarily a broker driven market eventually received enough traction to hit the big networks, portals and merchant offers. In addition, the data points gathered are now greatly enhanced to full lead forms that mimic the advertisers’ web sites, which gives rise to even more concerns over brand recognition and recovery.

The simple “yes/no” opt-in platform has morphed into a very lucrative model. The leads produced in the co-reg model are now held to be of higher quality than other channels such as email, banner or pop (in many circles). Whereas many advertising networks kept registration path offers separate from their email counterparts, many advertisers and publishers are re-examining the co-reg and finding it a very successful model. But, the hotness of 2004 is beginning to wear thin with consumers and advertisers (lead quality lagging). Is the platform still valid for CPA networks and affiliate marketing?

The UK blog One Little Duck (Ze Frank homage?) makes a very good post about this issue. Jason there includes four examples of issues that he has with coregs within the scope of affiliate marketing

As an affiliate we promote Co-Reg competitions from a number of networks, but I have to admit to being increasingly concerned about the quality and standard of the merchants involved in this sector. Furthermore, comments from our userbase indicate quite strongly that they are far from impressed by the quality of the competitions and this has led to less promotion and diminishing revenue.

Check out his four examples. He’s on to something and this is an area of the online marketing galaxy which needs to find exposure and spotlight. Coregs are and can continue to be a profitable revenue stream for new and existing CPA companies which sale leads, but the consumers have to find trust within this platform to make it work in the long term.

Internet Ad Potential Underestimated (by Analysts and CPA Marketers)

The rapid rise of the online ad industry in the past decade has been widely discussed and hyped in a media environment where offline spending is decreasing while online spends (and ROI) continue to grow.  According to Terry Semel, CEO of Yahoo, the valuation that most analysts have placed on the internet ad industry for 2007 are underestimated…

The growth potential of Internet advertising has been underestimated because the predictions did not include advertising on video, social media or mobiles.”

Video as you all know will become a major factor on the Internet.  It will be everpresent throughout the Internet and it will find its proper way to advertise.

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So whether it’s mobile or whether it’s video or whether it’s more and more community (social networking sites), these factors have not gone into those numbers, so we think the actual growth potential of advertising online is really being understated.”

Google has already recognized and cannonized this insight in the purchase of such properties as YouTube and JotSpot (wiki platform).  Yahoo seemed to be recognizing and acting on this trend last year with the purchase of Flickr and del.icio.us.  However, Google seems to be much more adept and willing to make the moves necessary to capitalize on the emergence of social media.

Farther down the food chain, networks in the affiliate, CPA and partnership marketing space have not moved as fast (or at all) to secure their footing in the emerging social media opportunities present.  CPA marketing has an incredible potential to make relevant ads useful and profitable to individuals and consumers.

Will 2007 bring the first toe-dippings of CPA networks into the social media pool?

The Future of CPA Networks?

alladspace.jpg

Today brings the launch of another partnership marketing network, AllAdSpace.com. However, this network is putting a twist on the common notions of what being a network means. As more of these networks launch, what sorts of implications do their hybrid way of doing marketing online have for more traditional affiliate and CPA networks?

AllAdSpace’s hook is that it is free for both webmasters and advertisers. So, webmasters and site owners are able to sell ad space by listing it for free, and advertisers are able to search and browse listings of ad space, also for free. Unlike other online ad marketplaces and auction services, AllAdSpace.com charges no fees to ad buyers or sellers, and doesn’t take a percentage cut of any sales made.

According to the site, the network was conceived as a response to the online marketing industry’s lack of a completely free ad marketplace where site owners can sell ad space without having to pay a fee or give up a percentage of the sale.

The founder, Joseph Messina writes:

“No one should have to settle for only a percentage of their ad revenue. The future of buying and selling ad space online is definitely heading in a new direction, and AllAdSpace.com is proud to be taking the initiative to lead in this revolutionary idea.”

Essentially, these networks eliminate the middle-person in the publisher/network relationship. Just as importantly, this platform also eliminates the tracking, paperwork and bandwidth issues that can plague CPA networks which grow too fast or which are not equipped with adequate resources.

The real question is about the publishers. Will publishers see an opportunity for transparency and full reclamation of their generated commissions, or will they see these platforms as lacking essential protections in terms of reporting, payout dates and insertion orders. The publisher must decide if it is worth the 10-30% margins that most networks take to provide these services.

For all of their problems, networks do bridge the vast expanse which exists between most advertisers and publishers. For that reason, I don’t see these platforms cutting into the margins of CJ or Linkshare who rely on larger merchants and relative anonymity of relationship within the publisher base. The smaller CPA networks, however, should pay attention.

Q & A with Riya / Like.com’s Marketing Director Beth Kirsch

new-riya-logo.giflogo-like.gif

Affiliate (or partnership-based) online advertising can and must change dramatically in how it is executed. We are truly in the junior leagues with “affiliate marketing” and “shopping comparison” in terms of cost and delivery structure. There are too many limitations. There are tectonic shifts occurring, today, beneath our feet and driven by advertisers.

Specifically, systems flexibility will drive change. Are you a vendor to advertisers who doesn’t provide flexible delivery and payment options for advertisers? You will lose.

Once the inflection point is reached certain vendors will win and others will lose. Innovative shopping solutions — either search-based (Like.com, Jellyfish.com) or relationship based (FatWallet, CouponMountain) — stand to benefit but only those who achieve adoption in critical mass for their market segment.

bethkirsch.gifLike.com has made an interesting move in search-based shopping solutions for advertisers and consumers (I use that word because the individuals using Like.com are, in all likelihood, seeking to consume something). I chatted with Beth Kirsch, the Marketing Director at Riya/Like.com (and ReveNews blogger) about her thoughts on the future of partnership marketing and Like.com’s goals at helping to shape that future…

What parts of your previous experience with affiliate and performance marketing help you the most in your role at Riya/Like.com?

Riya has two teams that are in charge of revenue generation: the biz dev team and the marketing team. My role at Riya is running the marketing team and I’m not managing relationships at all since that is handled by Biz Dev. Riya hired me for two reasons. First, I understand the blogosphere and second, my experience on the advertiser side generating traffic as well as developing and optimizing campaigns and websites. I think a focus on ROI driven advertising helps me everyday at work and is clearly derived from my affiliate and performance marketing background.

Also, as we all know, the affiliate business model is a challenging business model. From my first day on the job, I was thinking about ways to overcome those challenges because I have a performance marketing background. Let me provide two examples: (1) I’m thinking about reasons to give the consumer to buy though us in the first place; and (2) I’m particularly concerned with retention, in other words, a reason for consumers to come back and buy though us again and again. Watching affiliates and other marketers develop solutions to these issues over the years clearly has helped.

What is interesting is in my interview with Riya, I did not mention affiliate marketing once. I just interviewed as a marketer than happened to blog. My affiliate marketing background is just an added perk for them, but it clearly helps.

In your latest series of posts on ReveNews, you write: “I thought transitioning to a smaller company than Audible and LowerMyBills.com would be fun, smooth and simple. I figured I know how to open up channels and grow them, how hard can this be?” How does the new aspect of Like.com further complicate or simplify that paradigm?

We have been working on Like.com for a while and kept it in stealth mode for PR purposes. When I wrote that statement, I knew about the release, so nothing changed that much in that perspective. What does feel different about the launch are the expectations from everyone. My colleagues in research and engineering are looking at me and my partner in biz dev waiting for us to monetize their product. I also feel the eyes of affiliate marketing community looking at me too wondering if I can pull this off. This is my first time leading the marketing strategy and a department, so the pressure is on. I tend to like working under pressure, so I welcome the challenge. But I expect it to be hard and that I will stumble a little along the way.

In that same post on ReveNews, you write that: “When I got to Riya I realized that search was important and we needed to win at the search game which to me means the need for a serious bid management tool.” You thought this was an important insight but later your CEO, Munjal Shah, helped you to realize some new insights into the growth of your company. In retrospect, what advice would you give merchants or affiliates in regards to the importance of search in growing a site, program or company?

I still think search is an important channel for the company, we just staffed it differently that I thought we would. As for advice, that is a hard one, search is different for companies at different points in their growth cycle. I do believe that search will become even more important over time though and we all need to understand it as well as we can as marketers. I think it’s important to career success if you are interested in online advertising.

How do you answer critics about the celebrity/bling nature of Like.com (given Riya’s original mission of a facial recognition search platform)?

I’ve heard one person doing this and I’d call it link baiting. 😉 More seriously, we took money from investors and it’s our job to give them a return on their investment. Companies change business models all the time. Here is a blog entry by Peter Rip, one of our board members about the change in biz model called “the Riya Pivot.” I think this talks about the change in biz model very well and the reason why.

As an experienced affiliate marketer, what implications do you see for the future of the industry in terms of what is going on with Like.com?

Riya has been very fortunate to be embraced by the Web 2.0 community. I think there is a lot of synergy between Web 2.0 and affiliate marketing. First there are affiliates that are using Web 2.0 tactics. Scott Jangro has Costumzee and Vinny Lingham has Synthasite. Both have been featured in TechCrunch, the bible of Web 2.0. To me affiliates will embrace Web 2.0 because affiliate marketers are the first to adapt to new technology.

Second, As Web 2.0 companies learn how to monetize their product, I think they might turn to affiliate and performance marketing. Riya did, ThisNext has and so have others. This in combined with the release of CJ’s long awaited web services might lead to interesting affiliate business models. It will be fun to watch. I can’t wait to see what people come up with.

Mobile Marketing Making an Impact on Affiliates?

phone_thumb.gifI’ve spent a small amount of time working with marketers devoted solely to the mobile side of things, and to be sure the space has taken off in the past 18 months.  The United States does seem to behind Europe and Asia both in terms of mobile technologies and mobile ad serving (large use of mobile internet, or WAP, in Europe is just one example).

As these technologies continue to drop in price here in the States and users continue to demand more features pertaining to quick internet access, expect this sphere of marketing to explode.

The implications of mobile marketing for affiliate (or partnership) marketers are particularly enticing (delivery of relevant content, ads or messages to interested individuals on a cheap but effective platform).  Will Google get involved in this area as well?

This is from the mobile technology blog MobHappy…

Without being too trite, I think we can say that the future for mobile advertising is already here, despite not being on many marketers’ radars yet. Hundreds of millions of ads are already being run, click-through rates are much higher than online (8% is still not unusual, though 5% is more common) and millions of dollars of revenue are being generated through the channel.

CostPerNews Widget Now Available

Links are dead (more on that soon).

I’ve been promoting widgets as a promising platform for the future of affiliate marketing. So, I decided to construct a widget for Cost Per News that you can place on web pages or your desktop. Updates and podcasts that are added here will automatically be updated on your widget, so it will save you a little time if you’re a regular visitor.

Here is the file:
costpernews_widget.htm

Let me know if you have any suggestions or usage questions.