The role of an Agency within Affiliate Marketing

[fionam]

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I should perhaps temper my previous comments with a caveat - it was a generalisation based on MOST of the agencies I've worked with in person.

Nicola, you are one of the exceptions to the rule, and there are a few others too.

I've always been of the view that the shorter the supply chain between the affiliate and the merchant, the better. Better understanding of each other's business, quicker and more acurate communication, and less middle men slowing things down and adding margins.

Because this place is mainly full of the people in the middle of these supply chains, with very few of the "ends" present, it represents un unbalanced and biased viewpoint.

You only have to look at the agency person asking me to call him so that he can explain why an agency's a good thing to realise my point here

Hi Michael,

Just wanted to follow Tara's post with another point from Equator; I do understand that from an affiliate perspective it does look like an agency is simply another barrier in getting contact from a merchant, however like a few people have already pointed out sometimes we aren't so much of a stop gap but actually a faster route to getting things done. A lot of merchants do not actually understand the basics of affiliate marketing, and a lot of the time they don't want to. It's our job to find the time and to make their programme a success - we work very hard to understand our clients businesses and are an integral part of their marketing team and indeed overall strategy. We pride ourselves on having a strong team with a few accounts each, giving us the time to spend growing each account to the best of our ability.

It is also worth noting that we are totally unbiased - as an external resource we have a good understanding of the industry and of various sectors and are not network, merchant or industry specific.

I'll sign off with a post Tara and I made on Kieron's blog a while back when he was off on a well deserved holiday - Guest Post 2: How to make agencies your sucka. Agencies want to work with you and we work hard to get to work with the best merchants and affiliates in the industry, so please make the most of us!

Thanks,

Fi

[Hero]

If I may point one thing out, as you brought the blog post back in the surface, Fiona:

"Merchants work the pants off their agencies. They make us do back-flips. It’s a good thing we’re so good at it. I’ve never understood why affiliates don’t make “their” agencies work equally as hard. Make us write that 500-word copy for you! Ask us to create those deeplinks! Demand a list of all hotels with how many rooms each has! Believe it or not, we’d be glad you did just because it helps us build our relationship with you and brings the programme that much closer to making our targets."

Take Andrew, for example. Andrew's problem is that he has done just that - asked the agency for tools & material - he's received none. He's had to chase again and again and heard nothing. Ask a second agency for similar things and get none, you see a pattern emerging. Sure, if you ask Equator, you get them.

Not all agencies are good, not all agencies are bad. Some are better than others. Some have even got staff who understand affiliate marketing. Some have staff who do affiliate marketing and do not know what the term "affiliate" means. Hell, some of them didn't even have a digital/online branch 6 months ago and today they are the leading online experts. Some understand the phrase "the client's best interest" to mean "harming our pocket". I especially enjoy educating agencies who in their turn go and give advice to the merchant. And then, there are those whose efficiency is such that you look forward to receiving their emails and meet up with.
Thankfully, more agencies of the latter genre show up in here than the rest

[fionam]

Hey Hero,

I absolutely agree with your point about agencies - I've heard many stories from affiliates, merchants and networks alike about the bad apples, and I genuinely cannot believe how some people don't want to help themselves. But this goes beyond working affiliate managers at an agency. It effects all players in the industry. It's a good thing there are so many good people to counter the others!

I just wanted to make the point that not all agencies are as Andrew described; we aren't all there to "skim margins, miscommunicate between the parties, delay execution, and claim to be experts at several things at once whilst actually knowing less than both the affiliates and the merchants do about the sector concerned. Oh yeah, and to go to lots of industry dos and lunches too". People like Existem, ROEye and us at Equator have worked incredibly hard to get to where we are and it can be very deflating at times when people try to lump us folk all together.

Following Tara's post I hope we have highlighted the programmes we work on and if anyone needs anything at all for any of them we are more than happy to help - I promise I will reply to any emails

[buspassjohn]

From my point of view as a merchant, can I just say that we have a myriad of priorities in sourcing, selling and fulfilling orders, which keep us busy 365 days (366 this one) a year.
We don't have the time or expertise to do the job an agency can do in helping to run an affiliate program, hence we don't have an affiliate program at the moment but are looking to restart using an agency.
If they produce results, in part by attending industry do's & junkets, then great, we don't have the time, our priority is maintaining our service to customers and our very high growth rate.
I am sure the agencies I have talked to have a lot more knowledge of the affiliate market than I can ever have or attain but I don't expect them to have my 28 years experience of the Gift business, thats why I am looking to employ an agency to run our affiliate program, it's their job and the final verdict on how good they are is simple - results.
Every week we have enquiries from affiliates wanting to work for us, we don't know if they are good, bad or indifferent, I hope shortly we will have an agency that can determine this for us; and an affiliate program for them to join.
John

[8601cam]

Buspassjohn, it's great to have your input and take on the overall issue of agencies. I'm not sure who you are liaising with so my following comments are not directed to any one party in particular.

I guess the question is whether the results you mention are truly the best results you could achieve.

Seeing growth in sales generated by affiliates is just one aspect of measuring performance.

1. What if these sales would have been yours anyway?
2. What if you are rewarding multiple times for the same sale through a multi channel approach?
3. What if you have concerns about how or where your brand or image is portrayed?

The affiliate industry is littered with examples of mismanagement and ill informed decision making by merchants, agencies and networks. With so much choice and 'expertise' being touted I can appreciate it's hard to know who to trust but measuring true success is more than just results, you need to be able to qualify those results. This is where I think the real agency partners add their value and their experience goes beyond the buzzwords and template strategies often used by intermediaries. All I can do is reiterate solicting real world examples and references from all parties in order to gauge an overall picture of how any agency is perceived and performs.

MVi and Equator are two such agencies willing to offer that kind of transparency (there are others but I'm just recalling a couple that are often raised). They add something tangible, they have vision and an opinion, they may not be the easiest agencies for any network to work with but from a merchant's perspective they drive your programme in the right way.

As a final note it's not just the bigger agencies who can offer you affiliate channel expertise, I can count at least 5 well respected small/individual players who operate on a more bespoke and personal level performing miracles with niche merchants.

Kind Regards

Mark

[taramoar]

they may not be the easiest agencies for any network to work with but from a merchant's perspective they drive your programme in the right way.

Mark are you saying we can be difficult? LOL

I have to admit, we can be demanding on our networks, but - to go back to the title of this thread - that's our job and that's what gets results, both for publishers and merchants. And pro-active networks like Affiliate Window get that!