There Is No Autopilot For Successful Affiliate Marketing
By Mark Romanelli
Direct Response Technologies, Inc.
For merchants
considering building an affiliate program, there is a basic
principle to remember - there is no autopilot for
success in affiliate marketing.
As a provider
of an affiliate software solution for website merchants, I
often receive calls from organizations that are considering
starting an affiliate partner program. The common question
among most of these organizations goes something like: “how
much time will this take me to set up and run?” I
understand why this is a concern, however, this is typically
the wrong thing to focus on if your goal is to run a
successful affiliate program.
The idea that
a successful affiliate program can run on autopilot is a
misconception that extends from the late 1990’s when
affiliate programs were just beginning to gain popularity.
At that time, merchants were able to enjoy a steady flow of
sales without having to do much in the way of program
management. Competition to gain new affiliates was fairly
low, affiliate fraud was not a major issue, and other issues
like Spam and Spyware were not a factor.
Even today,
there is still a wealth of content on the web that makes
affiliate programs sound very easy to implement and be
successful at. Run a search on “Starting an affiliate
program” and read through some of the results. A number of
the articles actually say - affiliate programs are truly a
get rich quick solution! Just put a link on your site that
says ‘Affiliate Program’ and watch the cash roll-in. If
your website is BestBuy.com the above statement may be true,
but for most online merchants, it just won’t happen that
way.
You need to
approach an affiliate program as if it is your online sales
force. If your company is well known and has a distinct and
recognizable brand, you will attract a lot of sales people
(affiliates). You will not only receive a lot of interest,
but also larger and more productive affiliates. On the flip
side, if you are a start-up business or not well known, you
will have some work to do. In either case, an affiliate
program needs to be managed just as an in-house sales force
does.
The
following are five rules to developing successful affiliate
relationships:
Recruit the Best –
This is obviously a lot easier said than done. Every
company wants only the best people working for them. This
same philosophy should carry over to your affiliate program
as well. Don’t assume that because you have 2-dozen
affiliates sign up everyday that your program is well on its
way. When you post a job, I’m sure that you get many
interested people, but typically very few truly qualified
candidates. The best affiliates often aren’t the ones
beating down your door. They tend to be a little harder to
find. Your challenge is to find them and sell them on the
benefits of working with your company.
Hire Slow…Fire Fast –
In the book “How to Become a Great Boss” by Jeffrey Fox,
there is a chapter dedicated to acquiring and maintaining
the right employees by hiring employees slowly, but letting
them go fast if things aren’t working out. Affiliate
Managers take the same approach when accepting and managing
affiliates. Take the time to review every affiliate
application. Look for inconsistencies just as if you were
reviewing a candidate’s resume. The extra time spent
upfront will save you considerable time down the road. If
you accept an affiliate and see they are not working out, or
may be a danger to your brand, inactivate them immediately.
Talk to Your Sales People
– What would happen if you never communicated with your
employees? No emails, no phone calls, or even the quick
‘hello’. The chances are pretty high that employee morale
would be horrible and eventually they would leave. The same
thing holds true with your affiliates. You need to
communicate with them. It is your responsibility to keep
them apprised of what is happening in your business. Weekly
or monthly newsletters are a great tool for accomplishing
this. Of course top performers should be recognized and
receive extra attention.
Incentives and Bonuses –
No sales person wants to work for a company where they
will never be eligible to earn a performance bonus or
participate in an incentive plan. Sales contests work. If
you are treating your affiliates like sales people, you need
to implement programs to recognize and reward performance.
Remember, incentives and bonuses do not automatically mean
cash. Many affiliate managers provide fun products for
their top performers such as iPod’s, XM Satellite devices or
gift cards.
PAY ON TIME – There
are no exceptions to this rule. How many employees are going
to stick with you if they aren’t getting paid on time?
Treat your affiliates the same way. Some of your affiliates
rely on their commission checks as a primary source of
income. If you fail to pay them when commissions are due,
not only will they leave, they will make sure that others in
the industry are aware of the way that they were treated by
you.
Many
successful affiliate programs have recognized and embraced
these rules and have began to work directly with their
affiliates to improve business relationships. There has
also been a merchant trend of reducing the size of their
program so they can better work with their top partners.
Some of the more profitable and successful affiliate
programs have less than 100 affiliates, which makes it
easier to manage, and enables affiliate mangers to
strengthen existing relationships.
Doing
absolutely nothing to manage your affiliate channel is like
driving a car without your hands on the steering wheel; you
may stay on the road for a short while, but a disaster
awaits as soon as you reach a bend in the road. Regardless
of the size of your company, if you want your affiliate
program to be successful, someone needs to regularly manage
that sales channel. If you cannot properly handle this task
with your current staff, you need to either hire a person to
focus on this task or contract with an experienced affiliate
manager.
By Mark Romanelli
Direct Response Technologies, Inc.
