Learn how to create an affiliate program that drives sales for you. Slides from Affiliate Marketing 101, a class taught by Dan Marques covering the fundamentals of affiliate lead gen, including affiliate networks, search engine marketing, recruiting affiliates, and more.

1. Affiliate Marketing 101
DAN MARQUES
@dmarques1

2. agenda
Get
to
Know
Each
Other
What
is
Affiliate
Marke/ng?
Pre-­‐Launch
–
How
big
can
it
be?
Where
do
I
start?
Launch
–
Process,
Best
Prac?ces
Grow
–
90/10,
Recrui?ng,
PiEalls
to
Avoid
Beyond
the
Network
Free
GiM!
Next
Steps

3. about
me

4. about
me

5. tell
me
about
you!
Who
are
you?
(Name)
Where
are
you
from?
(Company
&
Role)
Why
are
you
here?
What
are
you
hoping
to
learn?

6. Live
Case
Study!
Lets
use
one
of
your
businesses
Use
throughout
this
presenta/on
Develop
your
“Go
to
Market”
Affiliate
Plan
Any
volunteers?

7. Affiliate
Marke8ng
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
SEO
PPC
Social
Content
Email
Display
Inbound
Feeds

8. Affiliate
Marke8ng
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
Content
$ $ $
PPC
Feeds CouponSEO Loyalty

9. Affiliate
Marke8ng
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
Content
$ $ $
PPC
Feeds CouponSEO Loyalty
Pay
for
Performance

10. Industry
$2-­‐4
Billion
industry
5-­‐15%
of
eCommerce
site
sales
200,000+
affiliate
“publishers”
5,000+
merchants

11. Pros
&
Cons
Pros:
-­‐ Pay
for
Performance
-­‐ Quick
&
Easy
to
Launch
-­‐ Build
your
online
exposure
-­‐ Easy
to
Measure
ROI
Cons:
-­‐ Time
to
maintain
&
manage
-­‐ Fraud
Risks
-­‐ Nega8ve
Brand
Risk
-­‐ Unsure
as
to
how
being
promoted

12. Which
Network?
Low
Cost
of
Entry
High
Cost
of
Entry
Large
&
Diverse
Publisher
Base
Smaller
&
Niche
Publisher
Base
In-­‐House:
Info
Products:

13. Key
Pre-­‐Launch
Decisions
Management?
(Self,
Network,
OPM)
Payout
&
Amount
(CPA,
CPC,
CPL,
%
Sales)
Affiliate
Agreement
/
Policies
-­‐ Acceptance
Policy
(Auto
v.
Manual?
Types
of
Publishers?)
-­‐ Search
&
TM
Policy
-­‐ Adware
/
Spyware/
CAN-­‐SPAM
Compliance
-­‐ Loyalty
/
Incen8vized
Policy
-­‐ Plain
English,
Easy
to
Understand
-­‐ Cookie
Length
/
Acribu8on
Methodology
Sign
up
for
an
affiliate
account
to
“gain
inspira8on”

14. Protect
Your
Brand
in
Search

15. Protect
Your
Brand
in
Search

16. Launch
Checklist
Order
Confirma8on
Pixel
(Net
vs.
Gross
for
%
Sale)
New
Merchant
Promo8ons
w/
Network
(Nego8ate
Upfront)
Categoriza8on
&
Descrip8on
Commission
Structure
(Benchmark
to
peers,
easier
to
go
up
later)
Welcome
Email
Easy
to
Grab
Crea8ve,
Feed,
Links,
and
Offers
(Tagged
for
your
analy8cs!)
Contact
info
for
program
manager
(Email,
Twicer,
Phone)
“Affiliate
Program”
link
on
your
site
with
page
Process
&
Policy
for
Returns
/
Cancelled
/
Fraud
orders
Sign
up
for
an
affiliate
account
to
“gain
inspira8on”

17. Recrui8ng
Publishers
Pay
for
featured
placement,
dedicated
email
(pre-­‐nego8ate
upfront)
Direct
Outreach
(Forums,
Blogs,
Compe8tor
Men8ons,
Network
Search,
SEO
Rankings)
Categorize
Publishers:
-­‐ Coupon
&
Deal
-­‐ Loyalty
-­‐ Content
-­‐ Comparison
Shopping
-­‐ Email
-­‐ Industry
/
Niche

18. Recrui8ng
Publishers
Example
Email:
“Hi
There,
My
name
is
Dan
and
I
am
the
affiliate
manager
for
AwesomeCo
(www.awesomeco.com)
I
visited
your
site
and
no8ced
that
at
(URL)
you
link
to
LessAwesomeCo.com
–
who
sells
similar
products
to
ours.
(or
category,
content,
offers,
etc.)
We
would
like
to
work
with
you
and
your
website.
We
would
like
to
invite
you
to
join
our
affiliate
program
–
Here
is
the
link
to
the
descrip8on
of
our
program
(hcp://www.Awesomeco.com/Affiliate)
Why
partner
with
AwesomeCo….
Special
Offer
–
If
you
join
and
place
a
link
by
2/28
you
will
get
increase
commission
of
$XX
and
bonus
of
$XX)
Let
me
know
if
you
are
interested
or
have
any
ques8ons.”

19. Incen8vizing
Publishers
1.
Incen8ve
to
take
first
ac8on
(ex.
adding
links
to
their
site)
2.
Incen8ve
for
first
order
3.
Special
incen8ves
to
improve
performance:
-­‐ Exclusive
content/crea8ve/offers
-­‐ Tiered
payment
structure
-­‐ Bonuses
for
reaching
certain
levels
-­‐ Increased
payout
for
increased
exposure
-­‐ Special
landing
page
/
co-­‐branded
-­‐ Free
Product
-­‐ Widgets/Tools
-­‐ Time-­‐Sensi8ve
Private
Offers
-­‐ Payment
Frequency

20. 90/10
Principle
90%
of
your
affiliate
channel
revenue
will
be
generated
by
10%
of
your
publishers
Vast
majority
will
generate
0
traffic
Priori8ze
your
efforts
(Recrui8ng
the
top
10%
and
nurturing
exis8ng
10%)
Communicate
-­‐
Newslecers,
Direct
Outreach,
Updates
(Crea8ve,
Offers,
Product)
Always
Excep8ons
to
the
rule
(ex.
ShopCrossFitReebok.com)

21. Coupon
Sites
Coupon
and
deal
sites
are
typically
the
biggest
affiliates
…but
is
their
business
incremental?

22. Coupon
Sites

23. Coupon
Sites
A
Different
Strategy
for
Coupon
Sites
Reward
based
on
incrementality:
-­‐ Do
not
allow
them
to
bid
in
paid
search
in
“yourname
+
coupons”
space
-­‐ No
“exclusive”
compe8ng
offers
-­‐ Launch
your
own
coupon
site
(SEO
&
PPC)
-­‐ Reduce
commissions
for
those
who
rank
organic
(take
what
they
can
get)
-­‐ Reward
coupon
sites
for
incremental
campaigns

24. Coupon
Sites

25. Coupon
Sites

26. Coupon
Sites

27. 5
Piralls
to
Avoid
Coupon
&
Deal
Driven
Program
Lack
of
Acribu8on
Paying
for
Fraud/Refund/Cancel
Orders
(Low
Quality
Leads)
Beware
the
“Mysterious”
Affiliate
(No
Sig.
Site,
High
CR)
Search
Shenanigans
Bonus
Pirall:
Paying
upfront
for
“Placements”

28. Beyond
the
Network
BizDev
is
the
*new*
Affiliate
Remember…Pay
for
Performance

29. Beyond
the
Network
Customer
Driven
Approach
What/Where
does
your
audience:
-­‐ Read
Online
(Blogs,
Magazines,
etc.)
-­‐ Par/cipate
in
Communi/es
/
Forums
-­‐ Purchase
complementary
products/services
-­‐ Search
for
in
Google
-­‐ Follow
on
TwiVer/Pinterest/Facebook

30. Beyond
the
Network
NegoUate
Custom
Deals
Generic
outreach
“Hi
There,
My
name
is
Dan
and
I
work
for
AwesomeCo
(www.awesomeco.com)
I
visited
your
site
(twicer/pinterest/etc.)
thought
it
was
great
and
believe
your
audience
may
also
be
interested
in
Awesomeco.
AwesomeCo
is….
(brief
1-­‐3
sentence
about
with
differen8ator)
I
would
love
to
explore
poten8al
ways
we
could
work
together”

31. Beyond
the
Network
Example

32. Beyond
the
Network

33. Beyond
the
Network

34. Beyond
the
Network

35. Daily
Deals
/
Flash
Sales
Everything
is
NegoUable
Strive
for
Profitable
Deals
Try
Non-­‐Tradi8onal
Offers
Remember
the
levers:
-­‐ Offer
-­‐ Rev
Share
-­‐ Exclusivity
-­‐ Your
Margin
/
Economics

36. Press
/
Media
Approach
with
open
mind
Focus
on
your
benefits
to
their
audience
Many
op8ons
to
work
together:
-­‐ Press
/
Men8ons
-­‐ Performance
Display
-­‐ Co-­‐Branded
Contest
Be
CreaUve!

37. FREE
GIFT
Sent
via
email
If
you
like
it,
show
some
Amazon
love

38. Next
Steps
Sign
up
as
an
affiliate,
join
some
related
programs
Select
a
Network,
Review
&
Fill
out
the
Pre-­‐Launch
and
Launch
Checklists
Launch
your
program!
Brainstorm
some
custom
affiliate
deals
and
reach
out!
AddiUonal
Resources
in
sheet

39. Course Title
Course Title
INSTRUCTOR NAME