“THE LEGS TO THE STOOL”CONSIDERING ALL TRAFFIC SOURCES

FOR AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

MATT FRARYCHIEF OF CHAOS

PREPARED FOR HITPATH MASTERY CONFERENCE 10/08/15

QUICK ABOUT ME

• Skier, and resident of Castle Rock and Breckenridge, CO

• Founder of SmarterChaos.com• Founder of SheIsMedia.com• Partner at Pollen-8.com• A Founder of one of the former top 25 online

Ad Networks in the US ROIRocket.com• Mentor at The Founder’s Institute Denver• Worked in digital marketing for eBags,

Mercedes, Microsoft, DollarShaveClub and more than 1600 of the top retailers online

• MBA from #1 International Business School in the world, Thunderbird Graduate School

• Speak Russian, and taught in Japan

MATT FRARYCHIEF OF CHAOS

“AFFILIATE IS NOT A CHANNEL, BUT A WAY TO PAY FOR MEDIA. YOU MUST EVALUATE ALL TYPES OF AFFILIATE OPPORTUNITIES INDIVIDUALLY TO UNDERSTAND THE GREATER VALUE. THERE ARE NO BAD AFFILIATES, ONLY BAD AFFILIATE MANAGERS.”

- MATT FRARY, CHIEF OF CHAOS

LET’S EXPLORE THE “LEGS OF THE

STOOL” CONCEPT IN AFFILIATE

MARKETING

3 Types of Traffic Types

TRAFFIC TYPES VS. PROMOTIONAL

TYPES

1. Site Traffic (owned) - most advertisers understand that affiliates can use their own sites to promote a product/service

2. 3rd Party Display/Search/Social (rented) – affiliates can use 3rd party tools to drive traffic including but not limited to Google, Facebook, Twitter, Ad Networks, etc

3. Email Traffic (owned or rented) – affiliates can collect emails addresses on their own site, or manage other site’s data and mail offers to this data

AFFILIATE TRAFFIC TYPES

2. SEARCH, SOCIAL AND DISPLAY -TRAFFIC ON 3RD PARTY ENGINES & NETWORKS

1. SITE TRAFFIC – TRAFFIC GENERATED FROM THE AFFILIATE’S OWN SITE

AFFILIATE PROGRAM

3. EMAIL TRAFFIC – TRAFFIC FROM A 3RD PARTY LIST OR IN HOUSE NEWSLETTER

PROMOTIONAL TYPES

SITE

TRA

FFIC

SEARCH, SOCIAL, DISPLAY

EMAI

L

ABOUT THE AFFILIATE STOOL

Affiliate Programs are NOT a channel but more of a compensation model

All Affiliate traffic types must be considered and administered correctly

A marketing team must buy-into the fact that there WILL BE CROSSOVER into internal marketing efforts – try integrated marketing tactic

How you manage the cross-over/attribution for internal vs. affiliate traffic will determine the success of your marketing overall

The Komodo Dragon of Affiliate Marketing – it exists but in small amounts, fairly isolated, and hard to capture

Affiliates that have unique websites in certain niches are out there, but usually exist in the long tail of any program. To access that long tail, significant resources must be used to reach them

These affiliates want to monetize their site because of their unique content, but will require something to review, fresh content, unique promotional codes, and the ability to bid on traffic to get it to that page on their site

They may own newsletters and will email their base

Types of promotional methods: (Email, coupon codes, search)

1. SITE TRAFFIC

Here’s what a Komodo Dragon looks like – great when you find one!

SITE TRAFFIC EXAMPLE

The Big Fat Elephant of Affiliate Marketing – this is a huge way to promote a program for affiliates, but internal teams won’t allow (trust) affiliates to bid on 3rd party platforms on their brand, their products, or their trademarks. If it gets out of hand, it can absolutely crush a program or wipe out any trust that the Affiliate Manager has built

Affiliates are generally very good at generating traffic from sources other than their own sites. However, these are the same 3rd party sites that the brand or advertiser is generating traffic from themselves. There is a delicate balance here.

The consideration should be is whether or not the traffic is going directly to the advertiser or to a page on the affiliate site about that advertiser.

Types of promotional methods: (coupon codes, search/social)

2. SEARCH, SOCIAL AND DISPLAY

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SEARCH + COUPON + REVIEW EXAMPLE

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SOCIAL + COUPON + CONTENT EXAMPLE

The Bull Snake of Affiliate Marketing– email marketing is often seen as dangerous, and completely misunderstood. In reality, it effectively builds network to your customers. It can also be dangerous if you do the wrong kind and could end up being a whole other type of snake.

Affiliates are generally very good at generating traffic from sources other than their own sites. However, these are the same 3rd party sites that the brand or advertiser is generating traffic from themselves. There is a delicate balance here.

The consideration should be is whether or not the traffic is going directly to the advertiser or to a page on the affiliate site about that advertiser.

Types of promotional methods: (coupon codes, email)

3. EMAIL TRAFFIC, 1ST OR 3RD PARTY

The Bull Snake of Affiliate Marketing– this is what a bull snake looks like

EMAIL TRAFFIC EXAMPLE

NEWSLETTER - LIVE INTENTNEWSLETTER - LIVE INTENT

The following are strategies that affiliates use to drive traffic to a retailer’s website, using the legs of the stool

Search Coupons/Promotions/Vouchers/Flash Deals Social Content/Blogs Email/Newsletters Loyalty/Incentive/Cashback Display Ads/Retargeting Toolbars and Installs MOBILE: Search, Display, Content, Games

CONSUMER PROMOTION TYPES

The key to search is determining whether or not to allow affiliates to do paid search bidding on TM (Trademark), TM+, or no trademark at all

• Each Advertiser is different, but the argument that an affiliate bidding on the trademark is bad, is short sited.

• There is no way that an internal search team can cover all avenues, all the time, on every engine

• Affiliates paying for traffic on your behalf and creating more real estate in the results in not necessarily bad

• Many internal search teams see an increase in conversion when more people are bidding on the brand

SEARCH

COUPONS/PROMOTIONS/VOUCHERS

Advertisers often don’t allow coupons because they do not want to “discount their brand”

• Advertisers use coupons regularly across search, social, display, internal promos, and display

• This causes Advertisers to be in direct conflict with their affiliates

• Using the same coupons that the internal marketing team are using across their channels in the affiliate channels could produce a 100 to 200% return in the affiliate channel

SOCIAL

Affiliates get a lot of their traffic from Social media including Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+

• Advertisers do not want competition in the social media channel

• Advertisers do not want affiliates to offer discounts in social media

• Many times, Affiliates have a stronger following in social media or more unique tactics

• Creating a unique social media tactic for an affiliate including unique promotions, hashtags, images, content, or contests will yield amazing results

CONTENT/BLOGS

Most advertisers desire unique blogs or content sites to drive sales/leads to their program through content-relevant info.

• Blogs require a special promotion or coupon that no one else has in the affiliate channel (of that few have)

• Blogs act more like rock stars and require special handling/content

• Blogs want to be sent free product and review it• Content and niche sites are looking for a CPM deal or paid

placement, however if you work with them and offer a higher payout, special landing page, special deal, or specific content they may do business with you

EMAIL/NEWSLETTERS

There are three types of email, and all must be treated differently

• Newsletters• An affiliate gathers info on their customers and send out

emails with “ride along” ads or dedicated ads

• CPM Based Email• An advertiser buys an ad within a newsletter (LiveIntent)

• 3rd Party Email Lists• An affiliate manages a list of data usually not from their site

LOYALTY/INCENTIVE/REWARDS

Incentive and loyalty traffic are not all created equal. The quality of traffic depends on the affiliate and how the affiliate works with the user and rewards that user. Here are a few types of traffic and how to work with them:

• Loyalty – miles, points, or affinity rewards• Cash Back – giving cash to take an offer• Virtual Currency – a user plays a game and gains virtual

currency by taking an offer within a game• Content Unlocking – a user takes an offer to unlock

software, entertainment, or more• Mobile Incent – a user is playing a game on a device or a

phone and an app developer unlocks part of the game if you take that offer

DISPLAY ADS/RETARGETING

Display advertising and retargeting is an arbitrage game for the Affiliate. The affiliate buys on a CPM or PPC basis across thousands/millions of websites using a targeting criteria to back out into less than what the advertiser pays per sale/lead/CPA

• The advertiser should provide a compelling offer/landing page/payout

• The affiliate needs to have view thru or retargeting code placed on the advertiser’s website in order to accurately determine return on their buy or to retarget the user correctly

• This method works best if the Advertiser allows the code and provide feedback on conversions and user behavior

TOOLBARS/INSTALLSTo work with Toolbars, you have to understand the value to their customers

• Install the toolbar• Give a special discount• Provide guidelines • Force Click vs. Affirmative Click

MOBILE: SEARCH, DISPLAY, CONTENT,

GAMESMost advertisers do not mobile optimize their sites

• Provide coupon

• Provide content

• Give a phone number to sell

• Affiliates are not one dimensional.. It takes a personalized approach to each and every affiliate to determine the way in which the retailer should engage.

• Affiliates will use many of the promotion types to drive traffic to your site

• Example 1: Wickfire

• Uses PPC to drive traffic to the advertiser directly• Uses PPC to drive traffic to their own:

• Review sites• Coupon.co Coupon Site• Niche content sites

AFFILIATES ARE NOT ONE-DIMENSIONAL

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AFFILIATES ARE NOT ONE-DIMENSIONAL (CONT.)EXAMPLE 2 SHOPATHOME• INCENT• COUPON• MOBILE • EMAIL• TOOLBAR• SITE• SOCIAL• BLOG

SAMPLE PHASED APPROACHPhased Affiliate Recruitment Phases

Phase 1:• Content Sites• Blogs• Past Affiliates

Phase 2: • Coupons• Social• Networks• Loyalty/Rewards• Email Newsletters

Phase 3• Third party emailers (direct mail)• Incentive/Cashback/Virtual Currency

ACTUAL CLIENT UPDATECAMPAIGN #1• Traffic started early January (2 mths ago)• 341,058 clicks• 8,330 Actions• $49,861 in Revenue• $14,072 in affiliate commissions• 91 Affiliates Active

CAMPAIGN #2• Traffic started early February• 25,792 clicks• 696 Actions• $7,514 in Revenue• $6,716 in affiliate commissions• 33 affiliates active

(USING THE LEGS TO THE STOOL MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACH)

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SUMMARY• THERE ARE 3 LEGS TO THE STOOL

• SITE• SEARCH/SOCIAL/DISPLAY• EMAIL

• THERE ARE PROMOTIONAL METHODS USED BY THE LEGS OF THE STOOL

• YOUR MARKETING TEAM SHOULD EMBRACE ALL THE LEGS AND PROMOTIONAL METHODS IN ORDER TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL AFFILIATE PROGRAM

• AFFILIATES ARE NOT ONE-DIMENSIONAL AND ARE IN FACT ONE OF THE MOST SOPHISTICATED MEDIA PARTNERS WITH WHOM YOU WILL WORK

THANK YOUYOUR MAP HERE(492W X 362H)

WHERE TO FIND US340 Third St Castle Rock, CO 80104(720) 583-1136www.smarterchaos.com@smarterchaoswww.facebook.com/smarterchaos