One of the best things an affiliate manager can do for their affiliate program is to maintain consistent and regular communication with their Publishers.
Affiliate managers often say to me, “I don’t have enough to say to put out a monthly newsletter.” But you do!
Advertisers have much more to talk about than they sometimes realize. And more importantly, it’s information that will make a marked difference on the program’s bottom line.
Take an hour to sit down and draft out an editorial calendar. By having a marketing plan in place for the year, affiliate managers will be more organized and ready to put out meaningful and rich communication to their Publishers.
The goal of planning out the year is to provide an overall marketing package that managers could provide to their Publishers that will spark interest and action.
Personally, I like to create a marketing plan with the following items: Theme, Marketing Tools, and Publisher Bonus.
Promotional Calendar Example - click for larger version
Theme
The monthly theme is going to be the overall message or item that brings together all marketing tools provided for a given month.
Look for events that could tie into the product line such as movie and video game releases, sporting events, product launches, product sales seasonality, fashion shows, pop culture events, and even holidays.
If ever at a loss for a theme, there is surely a holiday in any given month that could be played up as a creative way to present Publishers with fresh new marketing tools.
For example, below are some events and holidays the will occur in the next two months alone.
March 2 – Read Across America Day
March 2 – Dr. Seuss Birthday
March 2 – Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax Movie Release
March 8 – Purim
March 11 – Daylight Savings Time Begins
March 16 – 21 Jump Street Movie Release
March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day
March 20 – First Day of Spring
March 23 – The Hunger Games Movie Release
March – National Nutrition Month
March – Nation Women’s History Month
1st Week of March – Save Your Vision Week
3rd Week of March – National Poison Prevention Week
March 9-11 – Short Track World Championship
March 10-16 – Girl Scout Week
March 26th – April 1st – Figure Skating World Championships
April 1 – April Fool’s Day
April 1 – Palm Sunday
April 6 – Titanic 3D Movie Release
April 7 – Passover
April 8 – Easter
April 13 – The Three Stooges Movie Release
April 15 – Income Taxes Due
April 22 – Earth Day
April 25 – Administrative Professionals Day
April 27 – The Pirates! Band of Misfits Movie Release
April – Cancer Control Month
April – Alcohol Awareness Month
3rd Monday in April – Patriot’s Day
April 4-8th – Track Cycling World Championships
April 7-10th – Women’s Ice Hockey World Championships
Marketing Tools
Utilizing the theme selected for the month, create some new creative or highlight creative that coincides with the theme. This could mean providing a storefront of related products, creating new ad banners, publishing consumer coupons, or uploading related text links.
Publisher Promotion/Bonus
Provide Publishers with an incentive that will entice them to generate more sales for the program. Don’t be afraid to get creative with the bonuses and offer promotions in addition to the common cash for sales bonus.
If each month’s promotion is unique, it can help keep things interesting. Some examples of monthly promotions could include:
Product Sales promotions – Sell X number of specific product, earn Y promotion
Sales from a specific creative – Generate X sales from a specific creative, earn Y promotion
Placement – Send URL with placement of X, qualify for/ or earn Y promotion
Personal competition – Any Publisher that increases their conversion rate by X percent earns Y promotion. Or generate X percent more in sales for this month earn Y promotion
Rollover Promotion – Hit X target in sales for current month, earn increase of Y commission for all sales next month
Tangible rewards – Qualifying Publishers earn gift card, specific product, gift set, product every month for a year, etc.
Experiences – Large ticket items that could include a whole marketing plan in itself. ex. Trip to London for Olympics
Keep Track Of Successes
Always keep a record of how much interest monthly promotions generate. This will serve as a useful guide for creating the next year’s marketing plan. The data on which creatives, promotions, coupons, get the most activity can be used to recreate similar promotions in the next year. And promotions can be dropped that were not as well received.
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