Affiliate Marketing 101

We offer this introduction to affiliate marketing for those clients, partners and contacts who are new to the channel.

What is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing is a marketing channel in which advertisers (merchants) distribute sales collateral (banners, text links, etc.) and recruit marketing partners (affiliates or publishers) who agree to display the advertisements on their web sites in exchange for a commission on any leads or sales that result from actions derived from those ad placements. Affiliate marketing creates a virtual sales force of web publishers that connect targeted consumers with merchants through the creation of proprietary networks of special interest web sites where consumers are likely to engage with the merchant brand.

Brook Schaaf

brook@schaafpc.com

Affiliate marketing is at its core about building strong relationships between merchants and the affiliate partners who will be driving traffic and leads or sales. Schaaf-PartnerCentric has been forging and fostering such relationships for years, as illustrated by Forrest Schaaf (left), who discusses exciting new program offerings with another attendee at a recent trade show.

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing Merchants who effectively leverage affiliate marketing experience the following benefits: - gain a broader market to sell products and services - create more sales - expose new markets, customers to products and services - solidify business with repeat customers - grow brand with increasing advertising power Types of Affiliates Search affiliates utilize pay per click search engines to promote the program. Comparison shopping sites list products side by side and allow the shoppers to make informed buying decisions. Content sites use product reviews to promote your products. Coupon and rebate sites that focus on sales promotions. Loyalty sites provides rewards for purchases such as points or cash. CPA networks expose offers from the advertiser they are affiliated with to their own network of affiliates. Social affiliates leverage social media sites and social media marketing tactics to promote the program.

Affiliate Recruitment Your success as a merchant depends on affiliate recruitment. The vast majority of sales generated through affiliate marketing are driven by the top performing affiliates known as super affiliates. By attracting these top affiliates to your program, you ensure that the most effective marketing partners are promoting your products and services, thus driving the most sales and growth for your program. Recruiting top affiliates means having a program that offers: - great products and strong creative materials - a commission structure that beats other programs in your niche - support from experienced affiliate program managers Protecting Your Brand When merchants are reluctant to develop an affiliate marketing program, it is often because of a concern about brand protection. The perception that affiliate marketing creates a sales and marketing free-for-all often prevents a merchant from leveraging the incredible benefits of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing actually increases the strength of your brand by empowering the best marketers as part of a visual sales force that promotes your brand and its products and services to new markets and customers who would otherwise never have a chance to interact with your brand. We understand that trusting affiliates with your business might give any merchant pause, but it's important to understand that affiliate marketing is a solution to the needs of your business.

Why Affiliate Marketing Affiliates consistently rank good affiliate management as the number one reason they join an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing ranks among the top five most effective forms of online marketing.

In House vs. Outsourcing Some merchants run their won in house affiliate programs while others use third party services provided by: - stand-alone software - hosted services called affiliate networks The commitment of time, money and resources involved in launching, managing and maintaining an effective affiliate program often proves too much for merchants. Outsourced affiliate program management companies generally offer a high level of support from a team of affiliate marketing experts who support programs through the various network platforms.

What Schaaf-PartnerCentric Does for You Affiliate marketing is about creating targeted partnerships. Our agency will: - evaluate your program and find growth opportunities - provide regular competitive analysis for staying ahead - develop comprehensive strategies to drive growth - increase performance through ongoing program optimization - design/launch affiliate recruitment and activations strategies - build brand loyalty with affiliate partners - provide fresh ideas for promotions and activations - offer regular, detailed analytics and analysis

What Our Clients Have to Say About Our Services "Schaaf-PartnerCentric makes it a priority to seek out great talent, and ensures that the client is happy. I trust my affiliate program is in the best of hands." — Wei Kuan Lum, Senior Manager - Online Customer Acquisition, Small Business, Intuit-Homestead "The team at Schaaf-PartnerCentric have become an extension of the Tanga family. They have internalized our goals and objectives." — Jeremy Young, CEO, Tanga.com "Schaaf-PartnerCentric is a key partner in creating a robust program that rivals paid search as our biggest channel, but at a better, more consistent ROI." — Eoin Comerford, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Technology, Moosejaw.com "The owners, management team, and account managers at Schaaf-PartnerCentric have never let me down. They're always on top of the trends in the affiliate world." - Erin Maskiewicz, Senior Account Manager, MyCoupons LLC "This standard of excellent service combined with professional advice is extremely valuable to us, and we rarely receive this high level of service from other agencies." - Heath Bertini, Merchant Relations Manager, ShopWiki "Everyone at Schaaf-PartnerCentric holds the client/publisher relationship together with the most engaging and progressive glue." Jacob Huang, Account Manager - West, Savings.com

Read Our Case Studies to Learn About Specific Success Stories We have prepared a series of case studies that illustrates some of the key ways in which Schaaf-PartnerCentric has worked to create success for our merchants and affiliate partners. You may read the case studies on our website at http://www.schaafpc.com/casestudy. Our case studies provide good insights, including: - Creating Growth with Strategies that Fit the Brand - Proving the Power of Niche Marketing - Driving Growth Year Over Year With Strategies that Fit the Brand - The Importance of Niche Affiliates - Increasing Affiliate Activity with a Contest and Giveaway Prize

Contact Us for More Information We hope this basic overview of affiliate marketing and outsourced affiliate program management services provided by Schaaf-PartnerCentric is useful to you. Please contact us for more information or to discuss your program in particular. Contact me for more information: Brook Schaaf, CEO, Schaaf-PartnerCentric brook@schaafpc.com