WEBINAR NOTES: APRIL 16 2020
WEBINAR NOTES: APRIL 16 2020Our recent Webinar, covering the fashion sector, was a brief overview on some of the specific points to consider for affiliate discovery and recruitment. The recorded session was illustrated with example data from the Publisher Discovery analysis, looking at boohoo.com and a selection of their competitors in the UK market.
Download the recording below.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS
There are some key considerations in the fashion sector for anyone recruiting affiliates. The choice of which brands to examine in the platform will in part determine which fashion affiliates are discovered. Though many sites will link to all levels of fashion retail brands, some will focus on high-end labels. Others of course will focus more on mass market clothing.
BRAND
A central issue, brand equity is not unique to fashion but in this sector the power of brand is paramount. That is especially the case for a premium or luxury label. Many high end labels will in fact not work with coupon/voucher or cashback affiliates. Leading on price reduction has potential to seriously damage the brand.
RESEARCH
It is therefore important to research potential affiliates thoroughly. The usual start point for many is still Search engines – working the keywords to identify websites that figure well in SERPS and which may have decent traffic levels. The tricky part is working out which of these will work with you using an affiliate link. This is where Publisher Discovery can help – it shows only affiliate websites in the chosen market sector.
The platform enables affiliate managers to see an outline affiliate analysis of each potential partner and rank by relevance to the market and give an idea of potential traffic levels. The data also shows social accounts and email addresses where available, as you can see here. By checking these you can also assess the promotional mix being used – and their audience and geo.
If you’re recruiting for your own programme, check through each of these and assess the fit with your brand. Not every publisher website will be a 100% fit of course. Even where an affiliate may appear not to be a good fit, they could well have a strong niche and maybe only in a social channel. Look at who else they are promoting and that should give a hint.
Remember of course to check any linked personal social accounts. Always consider that your brand could potentially be associated with that as well.
FIXED FEES
With the development of the ‘influencer’ culture in the digital sector, the affiliate landscape has subtly changed too. There have always been fixed fees and tenancies operating in affiliate even as far back as 2002/3. Affiliate websites with high traffic have always attracted tenancy fees for prime placement or home-page takeovers.
As we examined in an earlier post, even a few years ago, fashion bloggers would avoid using affiliate links as they were believed to damage their SERPS ratings. Changes in search engines have given rise to more and more bloggers, influencers and mainstream news media adding the affiliate model to their monetisation portfolios.
RECRUITING DIFFERENCES
It pays to be aware of the different types of affiliate in all this. Some will be solo bloggers or influencers, while at the other end websites such as wardrobeicons.com mentioned above, or sheerluxe.com have significant staff rosters. Different publisher have different styles and you should adapt your approach to each prospect. Have regard for their audience and promotional mix too.
The standard outreach is via email or often via a website form, both of which give variable results. Some of our users recommend testing a specific affiliate channel account – such as @brand_affiliates and use that to follow your target publisher accounts. This can be a great way to get underneath the ’email radar’ – and even soft land the email you are about to send. It also helps you build a better picture of the publishers’ social interactions.
WEBINARS
You’ll find other webinars in the series advertised on our Facebook events page.
SUMMARY
As a summary, here’s the key steps for how to recruit affiliates:
- Find which affiliate sites are most active in your vertical
- Understand who your competitors are getting traffic from
- Built a target list to recruit
- Reach out to engage with your target partners
- Diversify your affiliate types to strengthen your program
- Build your relationship and work together
- Rinse and repeat
Related Articles
What is the Affiliate Management Role? >
35 Top Tips for Affiliate Management >
Finding Fashion Affiliates > - 5 mins
Finding Affiliates > - outlined by market sector and network
Recruiting Affiliates at Scale >
35 Top Tips > - download the booklet with some top tips from leading minds in the affilaite industry
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