Guest Blog - Chris Bishop from 7thingsmedia on running successful affiliate marketing campaigns

How do 7thingsmedia promote affiliate campaigns and what’s the main difference between what you do and what a network does?

There has been a noticeable shift over the last 12-18 months for brands to engage an agency to provide fuller account management for their affiliate campaign. Previously the norm would be that the chosen affiliate network(s) would act as both the technology provider and the service agency. More and more, brands are realising the affiliate channel, as a whole, is under-performing; due to lack of insights, reliance on voucher codes, a lack of resource and fundamentally not having a robust plan. This has led to a growth in both specialist affiliate agencies as well as full service media agencies bulking up their affiliate management provision.

We've identified and hit a key gap in the online service market, delivering significant sales growth for multi-channel retailers that either did not have an understanding of the landscape, or were working with networks/agencies who were unable to unlock their full potential due to their approach. Case-in-point: One 7thingsmedia high street fashion client has seen a 1317% annual sales revenue increase versus the previous incumbent agency. Also, as a ‘full service agency’ that manage the full suite of digital channels, that allows us to view affiliate marketing within a wider marketing context.

Typically – when working solely with the networks – the affiliate sector has always sat slightly separately from “mainstream” online marketing but we work hard to ensure our brands value the channel appropriately.

What are the key points in running a successful affiliate recruitment campaign? How have you seen this deliver results?

We believe that there are only three main ways to grow an affiliate campaign:

1. Getting more out of your existing affiliates

We work closely with all current affiliates to identify their areas of strength, understand their business model and tailor our offering to assist them as well as possible. This includes reviewing commercial terms with all affiliates to ensure that the client is receiving the optimal amount of value from working with all affiliates.

2. Recruiting more affiliates on to the campaign

We employ a number of tactics to recruit more affiliates on to the campaign in order to sustain campaign growth and extend brand reach across the internet. We utilise our existing relationships to source affiliates, work closely with all leading affiliate networks to remain on top of industry developments and we have dedicated resource that utilises our in-house, Affiliate Manager Plus (www.affiliatemanagerplus.com ) technology to identify relevant sites and then subsequently contact them to recruit to become affiliates.

3. Improve conversion

There are two separate elements in our approach to increasing conversion for our clients. Firstly we look at maximising the click through rate from affiliate site to client site. We do this by looking to improve creative and content on the affiliate site, negotiating better placement and utilising the right messaging. Secondly we focus on the aspects that we have control over within the on-site conversion on the client site. This is achieved by focussing on where affiliates are landing their traffic on the client side and ensuring that the requisite amount of pre-sell is occurring on the affiliate site. Based on this approach we've built a strong reputation on leading brands into online and generating the results that convinced them to stay: In 2009, 7thingsmedia showcased an 851% increase in USC's affiliate activity, but rather than being the exception, triple-digit percentage growth has become somewhat the norm as we've demonstrated this time and time again. In 2010, Agent Provocateur recorded 208% growth, whilst 2011 brought 119%, and 209% for Ted Baker and Ideal World respectively.

How do you see advertiser data and access to product level data becoming more significant this year?

As marketers we crave knowledge on what compels customers to buy the products we sell. Then we want to know how we can influence that customer, and new customers, to purchase more. Whether client-side or heading up the agency, I've always been impatient to know more: Who are my top trending affiliates? Which affiliate performed the best in our last mid-season sale? Where are the gaps in my programme? Where are competitors succeeding where I'm not? What sales trends am I missing? And ultimately which affiliates sell the most of our top selling product?

The channel is rich with data which should enable account managers and Clients to be more informed about the channel and optimise performance. However, the amount of data involved can often be debilitating: The average account manager spends hours just pulling numbers when this time could be much more effectively spent on driving increased performance from the results of the data. Therefore, I'd definitely say that - with increased technology – 2012 will be the year of data!

About 7thingsmedia

Chris Bishop is the founder and MD of award winning 7thingsmedia. Their clients include: Agent Provocateur, Econsultancy, Fashion Union, Gio Goi, GANT, Ideal World, Liberty London, MARS, Secret Sales, Ted Baker, UNICEF & USC. They affiliate manangement dashboard Affiliate Manager Plus provides comprehensive and conclusive affiliate marketing data, instantly. With offices in both London and New York; 7thingsmedia's services span the digital marketing mix including affiliate management, display, lead generation, PPC, online PR and natural search.

7thingsmedia – http://www.7thingsmedia.com

Affiliate Manager Plus – http://www.affiliatemanagerplus.com