Advertisers and publishers – a love story in affiliate marketing!

In affiliate marketing, communication between advertisers and publishers is particularly important. An affiliate partnership only works economically successfully when both parties collaborate. Ideally, the goal is to acquire new customers together and repeatedly delight existing customers with new products - with top performance.

In practice, this is unfortunately not always easy. Many publishers feel overwhelmed with the long-term task of managing a high-traffic site. As an advertiser, one cannot give much consideration to the time management of publishers. However, they can create incentives to reward the efforts of publishers.

Fig.1: Communication between advertiser and publisher

What makes communication in affiliate marketing?

There are various ways to maintain communication between advertisers and publishers. We have listed the most important topics here:

Research

It is a tedious but successful method: research! Advertisers should definitely reach out to relevant publishers themselves instead of waiting for a publisher to approach them. Through this initial selection, one can build a successful pool of publishers and directly clarify what is needed and expected from the websites.

Quality over quantity

In a large pool of publishers, it's easy to lose focus on the most important ones. For advertisers, the 80-20 rule generally applies. Accordingly, 20 percent of the strongest publishers deliver 80 percent of the total performance per month. Affiliate marketing is a very dynamic environment in which decisions and work often need to be done under time pressure. It's even more important to have reliable publishers who work independently and purposefully, and who continuously keep their websites updated.

Regular promotions

Advertisers should plan regular, ideally exclusive promotions with publishers. Everyone wants to be especially preferred. Therefore, regular sales rallies, mailings, and coupon promotions must be integrated into a good affiliate plan. Only then are publishers continuously able to promote the latest products and services.

Attractive compensation

The commission model should be as attractive as possible! Why compensate every publisher equally when the aforementioned 20 percent generate better-quality traffic or even more sales? Advertisers should be flexible when it comes to compensation. Do you want to compensate publishers more on a CPL or CPA basis while the publisher is asking for a CPC? Try a hybrid model as well.

Current advertising materials

Advertising materials should be updated regularly! By 2017, up to 25 percent of sales will be achieved via mobile devices. Therefore, it is advisable to adapt banners to a high-resolution responsive design. This allows banners to automatically adjust to smartphone and tablet sizes. Moreover, A/B testing is always helpful to identify user behavior on each website. Do not be deterred by the technical challenge and regularly test which colors, placements, or approaches work best to increase the conversion rate.

Transparency

Transparency and honesty hold the partnership together! Not every publisher works full-time on their website. Do not shy away from voicing criticism or bringing in new ideas and innovations. Only in this way can a collaboration grow and be optimized. Based on a marketing strategy, the publisher may be better oriented rather than being flooded with new updates weekly. It would be a shame to carelessly abandon a painstakingly built partnership.

Conclusion

Building a new channel like affiliate marketing requires many different prerequisites and, above all, often patience. The performance of the sites usually only develops over time and must constantly be adjusted and optimized until then. Until that point, communication between advertisers and publishers remains the most important element for success. Innovation, a willingness to embrace the new, and a bit of perseverance help to work together successfully in the long term.

What can we do for you?

Do you need support in building an affiliate channel? We are happy to assist you in selecting the suitable performance network and gladly take over the research, publisher acquisition, action planning, and controlling for you - always tailored to your website and needs. We look forward to your inquiry.