Marketing channel fundamentals remain as important as ever, especially in affiliate
It seems that the ever-important 4th quarter is expanding each and every year. The start of this season is no longer confined to the day after Thanksgiving. Its importance continues to grow. Success during this period is vital to your annual goals, and given the uncertainty in the economy, having all your ducks in a row for this potential windfall is an imperative.
Marketing channel fundamentals remain as important as ever, especially in affiliate. So, what can you do now to ensure that your affiliate and partner marketing channel is ready for success in Q4?
Below is a brief outline of 10 things you can do now to make sure you don’t miss a thing this year.
- Identify top performers
- Assemble marketing assets
- Schedule face time
- Optimize creative
- Review product performance
- Recruit new affiliates
- Ready exclusive offers
- Increase commissions
- Prepare placement budgets
- Connect with current affiliates
1. Identify top performers
Review previous performance to develop your list of top partners (need a bigger or better list? Check out our article on How to Find Super Affiliates). When we talk about future planning, we talk first of low hanging fruit. This list of your top partners is just that, easy pickin’. These are partners that performed for you in the past and most likely you can count on to provide those same results in the future. This is your first list of partners to reach out to and discuss their plans, what they need, and how you can work together. It’s time to see what they can do going forward.
2. Assemble marketing assets
Collect and aggregate your marketing materials and promotional calendar for the entire quarter. When you have discussions with affiliates, you are going to want to have a clear idea of what your organization is going to be doing and offering consumers throughout this period. This will help you focus your efforts around days most likely to produce for your channel.
3. Schedule face time
Build a communication plan, then arrange and coordinate your meetings. In order to succeed, you need successful partnerships. In order to have successful partnerships, you need relationships. And relationships aren’t created in email or text messages. Using Zoom, phone calls or other means, reach out to your partners and schedule meet-and-greets to get to know them better, understand the opportunities you both can take advantage of and get some exposure scheduled on your calendar.
4. Optimize creative
Optimize your creative and create your communication calendar. You need text links and banners that coincide with your marketing calendar. Then you need to coordinate communication with affiliates about these offerings. Utilize the networks’ and platforms’ ability to schedule creative in advance to be released at a later date and use your calendar and/or task manager to schedule out communication to your partners.
5. Review product performance
Review last year’s top product performance, compare to this year’s and expectations for the upcoming quarter, then develop a plan to highlight those top sellers to your affiliates. You should be creating text links for these as well as highlighting them in your data feeds and all affiliate communications.
6. Recruit new affiliates
Recruit new affiliates. If you don’t have a large network of affiliates and publishers that you have built up over decades, like the team at JEBCommerce has, you need to utilize the networks’ and platforms’ recruitment tools to find new affiliates in your program.
Even with the right tools, recruiting can be a time-consuming challenge. Need a hand? Our Accelerator service plan was designed to help brands like yours build a productive affiliate roster and much more.
7. Ready exclusive offers
Use exclusive offer and vanity codes to increase exposure. Many affiliates, not just coupon sites, will only feature your brand during this time if you have compelling deals and deals exclusive to them. Don’t discount these when making your plans. In softer economic moments, coupons and discounts become foundational as many customers just won’t buy without a deal.
8. Increase commissions
Increase commission rates for added exposure. In your conversations with affiliates from steps 1-8, be open, and offer an increased compensation for added exposure. It’s a negotiation. Know the top line offer you can get away with and don’t be afraid to offer more to receive more.
9. Prepare placement budgets
This is a common time of year to expect affiliates to start offering premium exposure for brands, like gift guides, reviews, “best-of” articles, homepage placements, or newsletter inclusions that will all come with a paid budget and corresponding media kit. Take some time during Q3 to secure these media kits and have discussions with your affiliates on past performance to identify where your brand may see the highest return on investment. Without any paid budget in Q4, you’ll likely see the most premium placements going to your competitors.
10. Connect with current affiliates
Speak with as many affiliate partners as possible. Now. Affiliate marketing is unlike any other digital marketing channel. It is based on relationships. Relationships are based on track record and trust.
Speak with as many affiliate partners as possible. Now. Affiliate marketing is unlike any other digital marketing channel. It is based on relationships. Relationships are based on track record and trust. It is impossible to build those without conversations. The more you are talking to affiliates, the more successful you will be. Get to know them and speak to them as often as you can.
Success this year is achievable, despite economic uncertainties. It is times like these that fundamentals really come into play and highlight the potential of the affiliate channel. While the steps above are not complicated, they may be difficult to complete. If you need help preparing for Q4, contact us today at gethelp@jebcommerce.com or schedule time to discuss your needs with us.
