When and How to Choose an Outsourced Program Manager – Merchant ABCs #28
by Merchant ABCs
Podcast: Download (Duration: 35:56 — 32.9MB) | Embed
Merchant ABCs hosts Deborah Carney, Vinny O’Hare and Amy Ely discussed the benefits of working with an Outsourced Program Manager (OPM) and how to find the right one for your business.
Key Takeaways:
· OPMs bring experience, relationships, and expertise that can help grow your business
· Understand the OPM’s philosophy and approach – what networks and types of affiliates do they work with?
· Determine the levels of service offered and the right fit for your business – is it best to start off as a consulting relationship? Do you need full service? Will you co-manage or leave all the work to the OPM?
· Research the OPM’s involvement in the industry and their reputation – are they active in the community? Do they provide helpful and expert information over blogs, forums, podcasts, or through speaking at conferences?
· Make sure you agree with the OPM’s approach to recruiting affiliates – will they recruit via email, phone, social media, conferences, etc?
Find us on Twitter:
Vinny O’Hare
Deborah Carney (a.k.a. Loxly)
Amy Ely
MerchantABCs
Geekcast.fm
Thanks to Geekcast.fm for hosting our podcasts, check them out for lots of other great podcasts about affiliate marketing and marketing in general.
Affiliate Program Agreement Essentials – Webinar Replay and Slide Deck
by Merchant ABCs
Here is the replay to the Affiliate Program Agreement Essentials Webinar, along with the slide deck to go with it. If you join the Merchant ABCs mailing list we will send you the link to the podcast with Eric Nagel for you to download as well. Between this webinar and the podcast we cover pretty much all the basics that a merchant needs to consider before launching a program. Of course there is always more and as the industry evolves there will be new things to consider and include, but for now this will give you a solid start.
Some Resources:
ericnagel.com – Straight talk from an affiliate that knows his stuff
affiliateabcs.com – Hear from affiliates about what they deal with
Podcasts with info from Eric
Merchant ABCs Special Presentation – Top 10 Things Your Site Needs *Before* You Start Your Affiliate Program
by Merchant ABCs
Affiliate Summit is presenting a series of webinars leading up to Affiliate Summit East in NYC, which we were invited to participate in. Since a lot of new merchants and merchants without programs yet are always looking at why affiliates aren’t signing up or want to know how to recruit affiliates, this webinar shows the elements that super affiliates look for in a merchant’s website before they will look at joining your program or posting your links.
Here is the link to the slidedeck if you want to print it out for reference:
We have a related podcast with affiliate Eric Nagel, a super affiliate that explains what he looks for in a merchant site and why.
Engaging New Customers Following Black Friday – Merchant ABCs #27
by Merchant ABCs
Podcast: Download (Duration: 21:13 — 19.4MB) | Embed
Merchant ABCs hosts Deborah Carney and Vinny O’Hare joined Kim Salvino and Amy Ely of buy.at to discuss ideas on engaging new customers gained from Black Friday sales.
Topics include:
- Promotion ideas to recapture the attention and dollars of Black Friday / Cyber Monday customers
· Helpful data, creative and resources for affiliates so they can generate additional holiday sales
Key takeaways:
- Consider time-sensitive promotions that encourage customers to keep returning to the site, such as daily deals or a “Countdown to Christmas” – great examples include eBay and Amazon’s daily and weekly deals
· As the remaining shopping days dwindle, alter promotions to feature gift cards and/or free overnight shipping
· Promote complementary products or add-ons for gifts they’ve already purchased, such as Kindle Edition books if the original purchase was a Kindle Fire
· Use Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales data to give affiliates top seller data and popular categories, then let them know if and when you will highlight or offer a sale on these products again
· Supply affiliates with shipping deadline dates and when gift card sales are strongest so they can plan and promote accordingly
· Recognize that holiday promotions don’t have to stop at Black Friday and Cyber Monday, give affiliates offers that run through the rest of December and into post-holiday shopping promotions – for example, encourage gift card spending after the holidays
Helpful statistics:
From Shawn Collins’s Affiliate Tip Blog and citing stats from comScore:
- Online shopping for Black Friday 2011 was a 26% increase versus Black Friday 2010
· Thanksgiving Day (November 24) was also strong with an 18% increase over Thanksgiving 2010 with $479 million in online sales.
· There was $1.25 billion in online spending on Cyber Monday 2011, which is up 22% from 2010
· Cyber Monday 2011 was the heaviest online spending day in history and only the second day ever to surpass the billion-dollar threshold
Find us on Twitter:
Vinny O’Hare
Deborah Carney (a.k.a. Loxly)
Amy Ely
Kim Salvino
Merchant ABCs
Geekcast.fm
Learn more about buy.at:
Visit the buy.at blog
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter: @buyatUS
Thanks to Geekcast.fm for hosting our podcasts, check them out for lots of other great podcasts about affiliate marketing and marketing in general.
Create Engaging and Efficient Affiliate Newsletters – Merchant ABCs #26
by Merchant ABCs
Podcast: Download (Duration: 42:19 — 38.7MB) | Embed
Merchant ABCs hosts Deborah Carney and Vinny O’Hare joined Kim Salvino and Amy Ely of buy.at to discuss ideas on how merchants can create engaging and efficient affiliate newsletters
Topics include:
· Using subject lines, content and a format that is helpful and appealing to affiliates
· The pros and cons of using HTML vs text, personalizing messaging, and including tracking code
· The importance of understanding legal & illegal practices when communicating with affiliates
Key takeaways:
· Use subject lines that make sense – don’t title “monthly newsletter” when you can include key words that relate to the information in the email
· Consider addressing recipients by name and making the messaging personal
· List main topics at the start of the email to immediately engage recipients on points of interest
· Think about including code (that works!) when mentioning the great creative available for your program – if you have their attention, make their life easier by allowing for a quick copy/paste
· Don’t bother telling affiliates about sales that started yesterday and end tomorrow
· Engage affiliates beyond your program details, ask them what they need from you, share helpful industry stats, discuss topics with them on forums, in social media, etc.
· Include contact details at the close of each email
· Test before you send! Test before you send!!!
Helpful statistics:
· In a recent survey of 7,000+ affiliates from Affiliate Benchmarks, they listed weekly as the most preferred frequency of affiliate program newsletters
· Further, affiliates listed direct personal email, newsletter email, and network email as the top three preferred ways to receive information from advertisers they work with
Find us on Twitter:
Vinny O’Hare
Deborah Carney (a.k.a. Loxly)
Merchant ABCs
Geekcast.fm
Learn more about buy.at:
Visit the buy.at blog
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter: @buyatUS
Thanks to Geekcast.fm for hosting our podcasts, check them out for lots of other great podcasts about affiliate marketing and marketing in general.
Mommy Bloggers Panel from Affiliate Summit West 2010
by Merchant ABCs
MommyBloggers: Changing the Face of Affiliate Marketing? panel from Affiliate Summit West 2010, which took place January 17-19, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV. An interesting note to this panel is that I posted a request for speakers in HARO to find the bloggers, except for Kim, who I already knew.
Why should merchants watch this video? Because all of the bloggers on this panel get a significant amount of traffic to their blogs and social media accounts. Too many merchants are carte blanche turning down “Mommy Bloggers” and bloggers in general. This is a powerful group of people that probably can hit your target markets. Merchants need to understand that blogs are just another type of website. Instead of turning down a blog automatically, take a look.
There are a very large number of blogs and bloggers that get insane amounts of traffic, more than many “traditional” affiliate websites because bloggers market via word of mouth. Anyone know what the best marketing is? Word of Mouth. Bloggers are the beginning of the trend now being called relationship marketing. Meaning that instead of having a website that is SEO optimized and pulling in new traffic plus is at the mercy of the search engines, these bloggers get backlinks and people develop a loyalty to specific bloggers and buy what they recommend.
Speakers:
- Deborah Carney, CEO, Team Loxly (Moderator)
- Wendy Limauge, Blogger, Sweeties Swag
- Carrie Rocha, President, Pocket Your Dollars
- Kim Rowley, President, Key Internet Marketing, Inc.
- Heather Sokol, Proprietor, Inexpensively
MommyBloggers are involved in many types of monetization strategies for their blogs, affiliate marketing being one, however they aren’t necessarily doing it in the “traditional” ways.
More details on Affiliate Summit at www.affiliatesummit.com/
Many thanks to Affiliate Summit for posting the replays of sessions from past summits. Many of these are still very relevant, like this one.
If you are unable to see the video below, please go direct to YouTube and watch it there.
Merchant ABCs #25 – What Your Affiliates Need to Maximize Black Friday and Cyber Monday
by Merchant ABCs
Podcast: Download (Duration: 28:53 — 26.4MB) | Embed
Merchant ABCs hosts Deborah Carney and Vinny O’Hare joined Kim Salvino, Amy Ely, and Jeannine Crooks of buy.at to talk about preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Topics include:
· Important information affiliates need to promote your Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals
· Considerations when designing a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal
Key takeaways:
· Plan and send Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals at least 4-6 weeks in advance so affiliates have time to prepare.
· Communicating with your affiliates is very, very important. If your deal details won’t be available far in advance, tell your affiliates if you’re planning to run a deal at all – this way they can prepare their sites. If you send them a deal a few days before or on Black Friday, you’ll likely be out of luck.
· Don’t try to pass off a standard promotion (ex. Free shipping on orders over $50) as a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal if it’s something you already offer regularly. Your customers and affiliates will find out and be disappointed if you’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes, and might take their business elsewhere.
· If you’d rather not discount your entire online store, offer a special on one or a handful of items to drive traffic to your site, and keep the remaining items at regular price.
· Ensure you have ample stock of the products you’re featuring for the deal, and if the stock runs out, be prepared to redirect the page to a similar item with a deal.
· When sending affiliates (and/or your network) deal details, we strongly recommend providing all of the following information:
- Offer title & details
- Official deal start date & time
- Official deal end date & time
- Specific landing page URL
- Required coupon code (if applicable)
Helpful statistics:
· Black Friday online sales totaled $595 million in 2009 and $648 million in 2010
· The largest online sales day in 2010 was Cyber Monday and the peak week was December 5-12th
Find us on Twitter:
Vinny O’Hare
Deborah Carney (a.k.a. Loxly)
Merchant ABCs
Geekcast.fm
Learn more about buy.at:
Visit the buy.at blog
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter: @buyatUS
Thanks to Geekcast.fm for hosting our podcasts, check them out for lots of other great podcasts about affiliate marketing and marketing in general.
How Merchants Can Make Q4 Better for Affiliates – Merchant ABCs #24
by Merchant ABCs
Podcast: Download (Duration: 32:13 — 29.5MB) | Embed
Merchant ABCs host Deborah Carney joined Kim Salvino and Amy Ely of buy.at to discuss Q4 planning, including tips on how to effectively support affiliates and generate the greatest revenue from this channel during one of the most lucrative times of the year.
Topics include:
· Important information affiliates need to effectively promote your program in Q4
· Great Q4 holidays (beyond Black Friday) to consider for promotion opportunities
· Activities to avoid during Q4 that may cause your program to lose affiliates
Key takeaways:
· comScore 4th quarter sales reached $39 billion in 2009 and $43 billion in 2010 – presenting a huge revenue opportunity this year
· The largest online sales day in 2010 was Cyber Monday and the peak week was December 5-12th
· Plan out a promotional calendar and the dates you’ll provide relevant creative to your affiliates
· Send a list of best sellers, new Q4 products, and (for PPC affiliates) suggested keywords
· Update data feeds daily and consider “changes file,” top sellers, and category specific sub-feeds
· DO NOT plan major site updates or affiliate network changes in Q4
· If your gift cards are commissionable, let your affiliates know, if they aren’t – why not?
Find us on Twitter:
Deborah Carney (a.k.a. Loxly)
Merchant ABCs
Geekcast.fm
Learn more about buy.at:
Visit the buy.at blog
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter: @buyatUS
Thanks to Geekcast.fm for hosting our podcasts, check them out for lots of other great podcasts about affiliate marketing and marketing in general.
Slides from Merchant ABCs Presentation at Affiliate Summit East
by Merchant ABCs
Here is the slide deck from our presentation at Affiliate Summit East 2011 in New York City about what you need to know before launching an affiliate program.
Merchant ABCs #23 – Introduction to Pay Per Call with Ring Revenue
by Merchant ABCs
Podcast: Download (Duration: 35:20 — 32.4MB) | Embed
Drew Thorne-Thomsen from Ring Revenue, joins Merchant ABCs hosts Vinny O’Hare and Deborah Carney to discuss the Ring Revenue service. Pay per call has been around for awhile but it is getting more traction as more affiliates are looking for ways to monetize offline advertising or other untraditional types of advertising and pay per call gives affiliates, networks and merchants a way to start tracking those sales. In addition to the call tracking, there is also a corresponding link that can track. Plus if you think your program is too small or you don’t have a call center, there are other options for you to accept trackable and commissionable call.
A little background on Drew:
Drew Thorne-Thomsen, VP of Customer Development at Ring Revenue - Drew is responsible for partner development and support, as well as new business development. Prior to joining RingRevenue, he was CMO at Trident Marketing, where he was responsible for customer acquisition for several Fortune 500 brands. Drew drove millions of phone calls to their own performance call centers through traditional and non-traditional marketing strategies. Before that, he spent nearly a decade at Commission Junction, where he launched and developed CJ Media and CJ PayPerCall. Drew spent six years on the United States Alpine Ski Team and competed at the World Cup level. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Some of the main points for Merchants:
- Pay-per-call is delivering millions in new revenue for merchants
- Access increased distribution channels online, offline and mobile
- Phone sales typically worth 1.5-2X online sales.
- Define caller quality criteria
- Pay only for quality calls
- Visit RingRevenue to find out more: www.ringrevenue.com
We would love for you to leave comments and let us know if you are using Pay per Call or what questions you have about it. We will be scheduling a webinar for later in the month and would love to have questions from you!
Find out more about Ring Revenue and Pay Per Call:
What is RingRevenue?
Advertiser Get Started Video
Contact info:
Drew Thorne-Thomsen
drew@ringrevenue.com
Find us on Twitter:
Ring