3 Basic Scenarios for Managing Affiliates in Search
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Written By Reprise Media | October 13, 2005 | Share This
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Search marketers & affiliates. They go together like milk and cookies. But how do you make sure everyone plays well together? Reprise Media Account Director Joel Lapp shows you how.
Over the past few years, we’ve heard quite a few questions from name brand clients about managing paid search campaigns concurrently with active affiliate programs. In some scenarios, companies realize that their affiliates’ presence can be problematic as they attempt to manage their own campaigns in a successful and cost-efficient manner.
This should never be the case. Every client has special circumstances and variations, but we tend to begin by recommending
Open Season
Quite often, companies simply allow affiliates to do whatever they see fit online. There are no rules/restrictions on keywords, bids, or engines after acceptance to the affiliate program. The downside here is mainly financial: Your company ends up with the same competition for ad real estate as any affiliate.
Banning Affiliates
By keeping affiliates in your program from running paid search ads, you are completely in control of your brand’s presence. However, you may lose a significant revenue stream that affiliates provide. The folks signed up for affiliate programs tend to have more time on their hands to manage a paid search campaign than you do. Also, blocking them from the search engines may open up ad space for the competition.
Healthy, Happy Balance
Instituting a few well-defined restrictions tends to be the most effective option for most of our clients. Establish a list of rules/guidelines for affiliates to follow when they join your program. For example, you may define a list of keywords they are not allowed to bid on.
Alternatively, you could set a bid cap for specific keywords (typically branded) to ensure that your own ads always run in a higher position. This may ruffle a few feathers, but in most cases the affiliates are pleasantly surprised to find better performance since the cap eliminates unnecessary market inflation. They find themselves in the same positions with a lower CPC. Keep in mind that the actual parameters will be driven by the metrics of the individuals business & the discipline applied to them.
The plus for you is lower costs and better positioning. Affiliates then compete only with other affiliate’s ads online, not with yours. By setting a few rules and regulations, you can protect your own investment and push the affiliates to dig a little deeper for new customers you may not be reaching.
Bottom line is, search engine affiliate programs should always complement your own paid search efforts, not hinder them.
Topics: SEM: Paid Search |