Whether you’re a tiny business or a large multinational, getting your product in front of the appropriate people can help you grow.
Affiliate marketing comes into play in this situation.
Let’s start with a quick rundown
How affiliate marketing works in practice.
A business must sell a product or service. They pay a publisher (a website, blogger, or influencer) a nominal price to promote their goods. The customer sees the ad or promotion on the publisher’s website, clicks on it, and makes a purchase. After that, the publisher is paid a little fee or a share of the sale that they brought to the company’s website.
So, how does an affiliate agency fit into all of this?
An agency connects a business with the affiliate partners and media most likely to boost traffic to its website and, as a result, improve revenues.
What Can an Affiliate Marketing Agency Do for Me?
There are a few options:
To find the greatest affiliates for your business, agencies use their relationships in your sector.
They also work with a variety of clientele in various industries, so they have a wealth of experience. They have the answers to difficult questions like attribution, incrementality, and the worth of individual publishers. This could contain information about some of your immediate competitors in some circumstances.
Social media influencers, content creators, and other unique and innovative sorts of collaborations are available to affiliate marketing agencies. This enables them to provide clear and focused marketing solutions tailored to your individual business’s demands.
They’ll be able to negotiate cheaper or more favorable commissions than if you identified the affiliates yourself because they work with such a large network of affiliates and publishers and manage millions of dollars in advertising spend.
That’s not all, though.
Affiliate marketing agencies that are successful have the tools and software needed to track your KPIs. And understanding those important performance indicators is critical to your affiliate campaign’s overall success.
A professional agency will also be able to provide you with a comprehensive marketing strategy to help you manage your current campaigns or create new ones to bring in more business.
What to Look for in an Affiliate Marketing Company?
Your agency should work with clients in your business and be familiar with your target demographics. Take a look at the clients with whom they now work. Are they well-known brands? Are they direct competitors of yours?
The agency must have experience working with other brands and businesses whose goals are similar to yours.
Ascertain that both sides have the same objectives in mind. Some agencies set a goal of delivering X percent month-over-month increase as a metric for success. Others evaluate success by the amount of money they bring in each month.
Decide how you’ll track your progress and look for an agency that shares your values.
Last but not least, confirm that they can deliver the amount of analytics and communication that you require. Consider the amount of time they will be able to devote to your account.
Some affiliate marketing firms will assign a single account manager to your business. Some companies may dedicate an entire team to your account. Others may only have one or two account representatives handling dozens of accounts at once.
Consider how much time and attention your account will receive before making a hiring decision.
What Should I Inquire Before Hiring an Affiliate Marketing agency?
Consider these nine critical questions to see if an affiliate marketing firm is a proper partner for you before hiring them for outsourced program management (OPM).
1. Will my account manager be in charge of any other affiliate programs?
You’ll require some individual attention, so be sure your account manager isn’t overburdened with other clients. Remember that the agency is also a company, and they will prioritize clients who will generate revenue for them. If you pay a tiny monthly fee, you will only receive a small portion of the attention of an individual account team.
2. How will your first three months with your agency be structured?
It’s critical to understand if you’ll need to be hands-on or hands-off. For example, you may choose an agency with established systems in place or one that allows a little more freedom.
As soon as your engagement begins, a successful affiliate marketing agency will present you with a 90-day strategy that lays out a successful path for your program.
3. What plans do you have in place to deal with any potential conflicts of interest?
Hiring an affiliate management agency that works with your competitors has both advantages and disadvantages. Make sure you know how they’ll handle the situation if one arises.
4. Could you please show me some examples of your previous work?
Some agencies may be able to show you examples of previous marketing campaigns they’ve completed for previous customers. Others, though, may not.
Look for case studies or internet evaluations that testify to the quality of their work and experience to ensure you’re picking the proper agency.
Always request references and the ability to communicate with previous customers. Good agencies should be able to offer a variety of choices.
5. Where are your account management teams based?
It’s often beneficial to know whether your account manager or account team will be working remotely or on-site.
By staffing their account teams in-house in the same building, Streamline has had tremendous success handling complex campaigns.
6. How big are the current programs you’re in charge of?
You’ll get a better idea of who they’re now working for if you ask this question. Do they, in other words, have experience working with major corporations, small firms, or high-growth startups?
7. Are you familiar with the network with which my organization collaborates?
Ascertain that they are acquainted with your current affiliate network (s). If they plan to air your show on a new network, inquire about their experience with it.
Allowing yourself to be used as a guinea pig to test out a new network or technology is not a good idea.
8. How do you set your prices?
When working with an agency that only charges depending on performance, you should be wary. Performance-based agencies are frequently misaligned, which can lead to poor affiliate manager conduct.
Most agencies in our industry work on a fixed retainer with a revenue-based performance model to ensure that they are all focused on growing their clients’ businesses. At Streamline, we use our customers’ performance fees to contribute to a profit-sharing pool, so your account team benefits from the campaign’s success.
Choose a trustworthy company.
9. What is the structure of your compliance department?
Before hiring an agency, find out what their policies are for using affiliate software, trademark monitoring, and coupon/voucher auditing. Also, check sure they have a system in place to track anyone who breaks the contract.
Is it necessary for me to hire a company that specializes in affiliate marketing?
To put it bluntly yes & Here’s why:
1. They already have relationships with publishing houses.
You can benefit from their partnerships with a variety of companies, audiences, and marketing channels. You won’t have to rebuild your relationships from the ground up.
2. They are typically performance-driven, which means that if you succeed, they will too.
However, you should stay away from agencies that exclusively work on a performance basis. Affiliate agencies with a negative reputation have a history of faking statistics to make their performance look better.
Companies with a good reputation, like Streamline, have a significantly different structure. Streamline charges a retainer fee and then adds performance incentives on top of that through a profit-sharing arrangement.
Because of this creative strategy, the success of an affiliate program is essential to the bottom line of both the agency and the firm for which they work.
3. Historical data and insights provide you with a competitive advantage.
You’ll be starting from scratch if you operate an affiliate marketing program on your own, with no prior data or understanding of which partners perform well in your industry.
You’d also be limited to seeing only your metrics. The data and insights of a well-known agency would never be made available to you.
Conclusion
Year after year, affiliate marketing grows in popularity. By 2020, it is predicted to be a $6.8 billion sector in the United States. It’s time to start working with affiliate marketers if you haven’t already.
It’s also time to hire an agency if you want to build your business through the correct affiliate channels.
