SpeedieConsulting

What is an Affiliate Program?

According to WikiPedia , Affiliate Marketing is a widespread method of promoting a website, in which an affiliate is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer provided through his efforts. It is a modern variation of the practice of paying finder’s-fees to individuals who introduce new clients to a business. Compensation may be made based on a certain value for each visit (Pay-per-click), registrant (Pay-per-lead), or a commission for each customer or sale (Pay-per-Sale).

In essence, it is a tool to manage a remote commission based sales force that is recruited online.

Why should I use an Affiliate Program?

There are many reasons why a company chooses to run affiliate marketing campaigns. Here are a few of my favourites

It is a Low Cost Option
Affiliate Marketing is relatively low cost to start if you already have e-commerce store. Some Shopping Carts will already have affiliate programs built in or as upgrades. This software will then manage all sales tracking, affiliate signups and much, much more….

Low Risk Option
Depending on what your commission payment model is, Affiliate Marketing removes the risk in paid offline advertising as you are only paying the affiliate when the sales has been made.

Acquire a Large Multi-Skilled Sales Force
If you join a large affiliate network to use as your affiliate management program, you will have access to a ready made Army of Affiliates. Some of these networks have over 100,000 affiliates. Imagine these all working to promote your products. I have mentioned that these people are also skilled. Affiliate marketers are some of the smartest people around and know all the best ways to promote a product online. They will also have diverse skills, some will have huge Lists to mail offers too, others will be Pay Per Click (PPC) experts, others still SEO experts. An affiliate program allows you to tap into that market.

Free Branding Exercise
Having your banners, text links, product logos etc all over these affiliate sites, you are getting your business some great free exposure and this should not be overlooked. While you should benefit from this do not exploit your affiliates. Do not add direct urls or phone numbers to your banners. This will cause lots of affiliates to leave your program and also give you a bad name in the industry.

Can develop your Product and Services into International Sales
Your affiliate program can truly turn your local business into an international sales machine very quickly. Larger affiliate networks have affiliates around the world and not just English speaking parts. An affiliate program will also be able to soft launch your product into Asia, or into Europe.

Affiliate Program Setup Options

Once you have made the first decision to run an Affiliate Marketing Campaign you need to decide whether to run it in-house or outsource it. There are several benefits for doing both.

In-House Affiliate Program Management

Advantages

• Tight control over approval of affiliates
• Tight control over Brand
• Control your affiliate base
• No cost for running affiliate program (No Overrides to Network Partners)
• Can create Second tier program

Disadvantages

• Time consuming
• Need to spend time recruiting affiliates
• Slower start to build Sales
• Skills needed in house
• Payments need to be managed in house

Outsourced Affiliate Program Management

Advantages

• Large Affiliate Sales force already built. Your product is advertised to them and they can join your program.
• Using a ready made network service adds credibility.
• All tracking and software is provided by third party.
• It is quick to implement a program.
• No skills needed in house.
• Single Payment to Network provider then they pay affiliates

Disadvantages

• Costs more (Sign up fees, monthly network fees and Override fees in some cases)
• No direct control over affiliates
• No direct contact with affiliates (Normally done via Network and in some cases with Costs)
• If Network shuts down you have lost your affiliate network

How we can help?

We can help you to try and grow your business and create a virtual workforce by:

• showing you the right way to set up a program for your business;
• helping manage an existing program;
• recruiting finance affiliates and insurance affiliates.