dare to be different - naomi brown - firebox

Dare to Be DifferentAffiliate Programme Brainstorming

Naomi Brown

Online Marketing Manager

Today’s Presentation

• Background and statistics

• The importance of programme USPs

• Brainstorming new programme ideas:Research

Development

Implementation

• Real life examples

• Questions

Today’s Presentation

• Background and statistics

• The importance of programme USPs

• Brainstorming new programme ideas:Research

Development

Implementation

• Real life examples

• Questions

About Me

• Online Marketing Manager for Firebox.com (have managed affiliate programme for over 2 years)

• Firebox is a leading retailer of gifts, gadgets and games.

• 2007 turnover was 11.2 million, with about 15% (over 1.6m) through affiliates.

• Affiliate programme one of the oldest in the UK, having been setup in 2000

The UK Affiliate Marketing Industry

• Uk4profit.co.uk, a site that aims to list all the affiliate programmes in the UK, has over 3500 listed.

• According to Affiliatelaunch.co.uk, over 90 new programmes were launched in August 2008 alone.

• New entrants to the market find it increasingly difficult to stand out

Today’s Presentation

• Background and statistics

• The importance of programme USPs

• Brainstorming new programme ideas:Research

Development

Implementation

• Real life examples

• Questions

Unique Selling Points• Crucial, given the size of the market• USPs for an affiliate programme are different from

the selling points used to customers (service, price, range etc)

• Common Affiliate USPs include:Competitive commission (higher or calculated differently)

High conversion rates

Compelling affiliate incentives

Helpful and friendly affiliate management

Unique affiliate tools

Unique Affiliate Tools

• A different way to make your programme stand out

• Cannot be quickly or easily copied by competitors

• Big sales driver

• Don’t have to cost lots of money to develop

Today’s Presentation

• Background and statistics

• The importance of programme USPs

• Brainstorming new programme ideas:Research

Development

Implementation

• Real life examples

• Questions

Step One: Research

What other people are doing:

• Look at what your competition is producing

• Can you improve upon it? Are they doing anything wrong?

• Also look at what non-competitive merchants are producing in other industries

Step One: Research

Technology:

• What can your network support? (don’t always be limited by this though)

• What new technology is popular on the web at the moment? (eg Video, Facebook apps etc)

• Use forums such as Affiliates4u to see what’s being talked about

Step One: Research

Your affiliates:

• Ask them what they would like to see

• What types of affiliates work best for you and what would be useful for them? (PPC tools, content)

Different tools for different affiliates

Content:

• Videos

• Content units

• Search Boxes

• Gift finders

• Games/ Flash-based interactive content

• Article sources

PPC:

• Live product feeds

• Feeds of top/new products

• Stock amounts in feed

• Suggested advert text for products

• Keywords in feed

Voucher/Reward sites:

• Feeds of new deals and offers

• Dynamic voucher code banners

• Page peel creative (for offers)

Example: the Firebox Affiliate Video Player

Research

• One competitor already producing video

• Video popular talking point amongst affiliates

• Content affiliates perform well for Firebox

Step Two: Brainstorming

You will need:• Research notes• A very large piece of paper• A pen or multiple pens• A quiet room• Some spare time

Put everything you can think of down, then refine

Implementation

• Talk to your technical and design teams about what’s possible

• Write a clear brief for the tool

• Set some deadlines

• TEST- both with affiliates and network

Ideas for different industries

Affiliate tools aren’t just useful for retail

Mobile phones: dynamic tariff selector box

Gaming/Gambling: live feeds of odds or prize funds

Travel: flight search tools, dynamic hot deal boxes, travel information tools (live weather updates, flight news), video reviews for resorts

Fashion: videos of catwalk shows, outfit selector tool.

Today’s Presentation

• Background and statistics

• The importance of programme USPs

• Brainstorming new programme ideas:Research

Development

Implementation

• Real life examples

• Questions

Today’s Presentation

• Background and statistics

• The importance of programme USPs

• Brainstorming new programme ideas:Research

Development

Implementation

• Real life examples

• Questions

Conclusions

Points to take away with you

• Your programme needs USPs, which should relate to affiliates not just customers

• Unique tools aren’t difficult to produce and can be an excellent USP, whatever your industry

Questions?