Category: Performance Marketing

  • 3 Essential Steps To Reviewing A Company’s Affiliate Program

    3 Essential Steps To Reviewing A Company’s Affiliate Program

    With the expansion of the internet has come an expansion of so-called “money making” opportunities. Chief among them are affiliate programs, where a producer and an affiliate team up to sell a product or service, and then split the proceeds. But, all affiliate programs are not created equal. Here we take a look at 3 steps you can to take when reviewing an affiliate program provider.

    Test the Product

    If you are going to sell a product, it is a good idea to test the product for yourself. As goes an old anecdote: You wouldn’t want to purchase a Ford from a guy who drives a Toyota. This is because psychologically a person promoting a product, that they would not use themselves, seems disingenuous. This idea doubtlessly gave rise to the famous line “I’m not just the president of the hair club for men, I’m also a member.”

    Test the Company’s Payments

    The primary reason to affiliate with a company is to make a profit. But that profit will do you little good if the company has frequent payroll problems, or likes to find reasons not to pay its affiliates. One of the best ways to test the product and test the company’s payment system is to have a friend or relative purchase the product through your affiliate link or other method. This will not only give you a chance to try the product and become an expert, but it will help you ensure that you get paid for your efforts.

    Test the Communications Platform

    When you call the company, does someone always answer? Do your emails receive a quick response? Do the company’s representatives follow up with you, and do what they say they are going to do? Every affiliate program requires efficient communication in order to function. Test the communications system of your prospective affiliate company before sinking in a large investment while promoting their product or service.

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  • The 80/20 Rule – Applied To Affiliate Marketing

    The 80/20 Rule – Applied To Affiliate Marketing

    By now you have probably heard of the 80/rule, but it bears repeating. Put simply, the rule states that 80 percent of a certain kind of output will be produced by 20 percent of a certain kind of input. This rule has been a guiding principle for the improvement of performance in many areas, from business production to personal development. Though the 80/20 rule is more like a principle than a hard and fast law of nature, its application will usually lead to maximized production and minimized wastes. Here we will take a look at several ways in which the 80/20 rule can be applied to affiliate marketing.

    80 Percent of Production will come from 20 Percent of Your Affiliates

    This point is the most important application of the 80/20 rule, and should be stated right at the outset. The vast majority of production from your affiliate program will come from a relatively small percentage of affiliates. Savvy affiliate program managers study their affiliates which are the most successful and determine what they have in common. These “best practices” can then be shared with the rest of the team. It is also wise to see what top affiliates do differently from one another, so that team members can be informed of the vast variety of ways to be successful.

    80 Percent of Problems will come from 20 Percent of Your Affiliates

    The business of affiliate marketing involves the art of working with people. Due to differences in personality types, goals, cultures, and other factors, you may find that you occasionally come into conflict with your affiliates. Study the sources of these confrontations, excessive questions, debates, and screw-ups, and you will likely find that the vast majority of them come from a small percentage of the team. Whether the offending affiliates are worth the trouble should be judged by their relative profits generated to problems caused.

    80 Percent of Your Response will come from 20 Percent of Your Marketing

    If you are like most businesses you will find that the majority of the response you receive comes from a minority of your marketing methods and ads. Of course, it is a well-known principle in the world of affiliate marketing that marketers should reduce underperforming ads and double down on those which are producing. But sometimes people get caught in the emotional aspects of a particular kind of marketing; maybe such marketing used to produce heavily, or perhaps it is prestigious and reflects well on the business as a whole. Overall, marketing is about producing profits. Underperforming ads and marketing methods should be eliminated and replaced with that which is working now.

    80 Percent of Your Sales will come from 20 Percent of Your Products

    If you have a large number of products or services which you offer, you will probably find that just a few of them account for the vast majority of your sales. Depending on the relative profit margins of the less popular offerings, and how important those customers are to the business as a whole, it may be a good idea to eliminate unpopular items and services altogether. You can then use the time you spent filling those orders to expanding the sales of your most popular offerings.