Who is keeping an eye on your brand trademark terms in paid search?
Brand trademark terms are proven click-drivers, so you can bet other advertisers are looking for ways to use them. And they won’t be kind enough to ask your permission.
Ad hijacking is when an affiliate runs ads that look identical to the brand’s ads. Tricking unsuspecting users into clicking on their ad instead of the brand’s ads.
A “rogue” or non-compliant affiliate can drive thousands of dollars of revenue from ad hijacking in a few hours. An affiliate earns commission on these purchases, which means they are stealing money in the form of unearned commissions.
If you’re not on a 24/7 look-out for trademark violations, you might be paying to drive sales for other businesses.
It has become much easier to protect your brand name from hijacking, thanks to enhanced agreements, better technology, proper screening of affiliates and vastly improved affiliate program management.
Here are three things you can start doing now to identify and prevent affiliate ad hijacking:
Update Affiliate Agreements
The first line of defense against ad hijackers is to update affiliate agreements. Agreements need to outline what your brand trademark plus policies are and clearly state the consequences for violating these terms.
Once you have updated your affiliate agreements be sure to communicate with your affiliates announcing the changes.
Specify a due date to bring affiliate’s promotional efforts in compliance to updated terms. When the date has passed, enforce the new branding terms rigorously.
Technology
In the past, affiliate managers had to monitor ad hijacking manually, now there are services like BrandVerity that enables advertisers to monitor paid search results to ensure affiliate partners are adhering to terms and conditions.
Automating this process is important because in a turbulent economy you need to conserve costs and increase ROAS. This can be within your SEM, SEO, email campaigns or affiliate program. BrandVerity allows you to monitor your paid search efforts in a cost effective way with a daily report.
Affiliates who hijack ads don’t want to be discovered by the brand. They tend to use things like geotargeting to avoid detection, making it almost impossible to detect and stop them.
Brandverity is a great partner of ours and the individuals there are wonderful to work with. We have found value in BrandVerity in three ways:
- Saves time: Greater ROAS.
- Prevents ad hijacking: affiliates can hijack ads to look like they are coming from your client, and they aren’t. Brand Verity can tell when this is happening.
- Duplicate work is eliminated: you don’t have to check through multiple devices and browsers.
Affiliate Program Management
Partner with an affiliate program management team, they are able to automate a process for addressing fraudulent activity.
An affiliate program manager has the ability to go back and reverse compensation to a partner when it’s been determined that their commissions were unwarranted.
Experience affiliate program management agencies are highly skilled at spotting affiliates who have the potential to participate in unethical practices like ad hijacking. Proper screening of affiliates will help reduce the chances.
Get help implementing affiliate strategies that help increase ROAS by scheduling a call.
Video: Increase ROAS by Preventing Ad Hijacking.
Transcript of “Increase ROAS by Preventing Ad Hijacking” video:
Hi everyone, Jamie Birch here with JEBCommerce. I am coming at you today with another tip to set up your affiliate program for success.
First, I know there are still a lot of people struggling right now. If you need anything, set up time with me at calendly.com/jamiebirch. I am happy to help anyone, whether you are a displaced worker or need help with affiliate marketing. I will do the best I can to help!
We have been talking over the past couple weeks about innovations you can use to grow, increase ROAS, decrease costs and better navigate our situation. I have another vendor to help you do that: Brand Verity. They allow us to monitor paid search results to ensure our affiliate partners are adhering to our terms and conditions. In the past, we had to monitor this ourselves. There are great affiliates who you never have to worry about, but there is often bad behavior you need to be prepared to monitor. Previously, when conducting this process ourselves, there was a limit to what you could. An affiliate once knew who I was and knew when I traveled and where. They geotargeted ads against terms & conditions to pop up at night or in locations that I wasn’t.
Brand Verity automates this monitoring process. This is important because you want to conserve your costs right now. In turbulent times, you want to be sure every dollar is spent efficiently. This can be within your SEM, SEO, email campaigns or affiliate program. Brand Verity allows you to monitor your paid search efforts in a cost effective way with a daily report.
The JEB team has found value in Brand Verity in three ways. #1 – It saves time. #2 – It prevents ad hijacking. Affiliates can hijack ads to look like they are coming from your client, and they aren’t. Brand Verity can tell when this is happening. #3 – You don’t have to check through multiple devices and browsers. Duplicate work is eliminated.
This is also great for affiliates who follow the rules, as they like to know you are monitoring others. Keeping and building trust with your affiliate partners is vital right now! We use Brand Verity with every client and it’s a great tool to ensure everyone is on the same playing field. This service will save you money and time. You can use this extra time to build revenue, experiment and optimize!
Brand Verity has been a great partner of ours and the individuals there are wonderful to work with. You can reach out them directly, or if you want to talk to me about Brand Verity, email gethelp@jebcommerce.com or set up a meeting with me at calendly.com/jamiebirch.
I hope you this video finds you well! I hope you are navigating this turbulent time with ease and confidence. Don’t hesitate to reach out!
