Iab Amc - Key Issues Agencies

[benwood]

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As discussed in our meeting last week, we will be kicking off a thread this evening for agencies involved in providing affiliate marketing services to clients (either as a solus service or as a part of a wider mix of services) specifically asking for feedback from the community on the KEY ISSUES that face agencies which we could look to resolve via the development of BEST PRACTICE case studies for the whole community.

Please post thoughts and comments, which me and the IAB will then review and cluster for debate in the next session.

Thanks in advance for positive comments.

Ben

[hpops]

hmmm...plenty of views no posts. OK, I'll break the ice.

Heres 5 from an agency perspective

1) Delivering value versus delivering volume - how to give the best to a client in a performance related model
2) Conflicting data passed to merchants - networks advising against agencies, affiliates advising against network - very confusing for merchants
3) Lack of understanding from merchants on affiliate marketing - education issue
4) Larger agencies versus specialists, non-helpful entrants into the marketplace or opportunity for step-change
5) No clear structure for agency discounting as prevalent in larger "online" sector. Ad hoc deals for discounting tend to be ill-thought out and client-specific. "Kick-backs" rare and client tends to fund whole service.

[Paul Wright]

Just a couple of discussion points that come to mind...

Network Transparency
Network Standardisation
Managing Affiliates or Managing Networks?
Agency Benefits
Network Restrictions
Agencies who actually manage programmes vs agenices who simply white lable network services
SLA's - Liability
What IAB can offer Agencies
The demise of last referrer wins / weighted commisisons / cross channel deduping

Cheers
Paul

[hatmatic]

I second (or third) the posts above.

I'd like to add the following:

1- Universal tagging - networks using third party tracking systems e.g. Doubleclick, Atlas - what are the benefits, what are the threats?
2- Multiple attribution analytics - the distinction between acknowledging where sales have come from, and attributing value/revenue to the sales referrers
3- Paid search - when is it fair or unfair to represent a merchant's brand
4- Spyware - how common is it? Can we identify the key perpetrators?
5- Inter-network competition - is the UK industry big enough for it? Does it set a bad example for the new merchant looking for a network?

cheers,
Matt

Hatmatic.co.uk - About us

Hatmatic is an independent specialist digital business consultancy

[Tel]

Afternoon,

Key issues from agencies to develop best practice case studies? Excellent news, were do I begin?

These points are genuine ones I have came across in my humble years in online marketing and the affiliate world. Meant for debate, not ‘point scoring’ or ‘arguments’ please.

Brand, brand, brand.

Ongoing and developing speed at a real rate of knots, clients are more interested than ever in where their brand is placed in the affiliate world. Some clients are writing different content guidelines for different affiliate genres for example, which means that they are in control of how the user sees their company and exactly how it is portrayed on ‘partner sites.’ This is a significant step on from simply “no cash back sites” for example, as they are considering the proposition and being tolerant depending on the sales potential.

Social Networking – control of affiliate content?

Merchant’s products being written about on affiliate’s own social networking by consumers sites is one thing, but their products being written about on sites that they pay commission too, that’s another thing. How much control over the second should or could they have?

Where do affiliates fit?

Having a knowledge of their marketing schedule is key and their objectives within this. A matured search campaign for example may have to be tweaked to allow for effective affiliate marketing through search affiliates (adding incremental sales.) How can we ensure that the advice is sound and for the benefit of their online schedule and not simply to protect the revenues of the search agency?

De-duplication

A mature marketing schedule and launching with three affiliate networks next week? Have you considered your users journey through that cookie hell? Paying for sales once is essential for an efficient schedule, implement the correct tools and validation policy and you will avoid being red faced in 6 – 12 months time, or even seriously out of pocket.

Compliance Issues for Finance Clients

With an ever increasing focus on online from the FSA, whose responsibility is it to ensure that affiliate’s websites are accurate and up to date? What is the role of a network with hundreds of affiliate sites and how can merchants and affiliates be realistic about turnaround times if rates or products do change? Surely having an understanding of the key genres on your affiliate programme and even a granular knowledge of the pages on their site that you are live on is the only way? Whatever the merchant is happy with, it must be an informed and transparent approach.

Defining the exact commission parameters.

Clarity needs to exist in the terms and conditions for what the agency bills the client for and what the affiliate is paid on. Only by getting total clarity on what constitutes a lead/sale will we be able to protect the affiliate from bitter disputes. This is especially prevalent in finance lead vs sale based activity.


Also, gone on for long enough here..and am v hectic/busy:


Where affiliate marketing spends comes from in a client organisation (sales v. marketing budget)?
Issues affecting PPC, such as SE changes, particularly behavioural targeting?
Do networks with an effective management solution pose a significant threat to agencies?
Capping by genre where aff spend is from a marketing budget, e.g. not placing restrictive caps on SEO guys.
Transparency


Hope that this helps.

Col.