“Andrewâ€
The following is a guest post by James Cooper, Affiliate Director at Walker – i.
I was asked by Kieron to write an article on agencies and affiliates whilst he is recovering from his operation and would like to start this article off with a quote …
“In my experience (agencies are there) to skim margins, miscommunicate between the parties, delay execution, and claim to be experts at several things at once…oh yeah, and to go to lots of industry dos and lunchesâ€. Andrew.
The above quote came from a recent posting on the A4Uforum entitled “the role of an agency within affiliate marketingâ€. Initially the quote made be laugh in disbelief as I was gob-smacked by a certain individuals understanding of an agencies role. I was then overcome by frustration as this individual was placing all agencies into the same online basket. This was then followed by a wave of nausea probably from all the “industry do’sâ€. I did however feel the need to challenge Andrew’s thoughts, and express my own views and ideas on what I believe agencies are here to do.
So who am I then? Well my name is James Cooper and I’m affiliate director at Walker – i. I’ve been involved within the affiliate industry for 8 years now. I started life as an affiliate coordinator for affiliate network ukaffiliates.com in 2000 which later become DGM, after a brief soirée working as an affiliate I arrived at Walker Media in 2006.
Andrew it seems is rather pessimistic when it comes to agencies knowledge of the affiliate market. Back in the day I may have agreed with him as the majority of agencies would out-source their affiliate work to main stream networks, asking them to prepare strategies and passing their work off as their own.
However over time experienced members of staff from affiliate networks have migrated over to the agency side which in turn has bulked up agencies knowledge in affiliate marketing. In fact at Walker – i we have over 15 years of affiliate experience from a team of just 4.
Indeed agencies are now extremely capable of planning and managing affiliate campaigns formulating ideas and strategies that in the past would only have come from enlightened network staff.
Nowadays with the help of networks agencies can pull off some spectacularly impressive campaigns helping to both increase brand awareness and bring in significant sales.
Andrews comment on ‘miscommunication between parties’ sounds like it comes from personal experience. Over the years I have however noticed an increase in the efficiency and transparency of communication between advertiser, agency, network and affiliate.
Bespoke newsletters, forum postings, affiliate events etc. are all now commonplace within the industry and are seen as important factors when communicating with affiliates. Yes, there is still room for improvement however communication across the various parties has come on leaps and bounds from my early days at ukaffiliates.
Andrew also makes comment on the delayed execution of campaigns. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an infinite pot of cash and the flick of a switch would activate a perfectly optimised campaign … this is far from the truth! Truth of the matter is that launching a campaign takes time when done correctly.
A typical agency implementation strategy would include: obtaining affiliate feedback, calculation of commercials/contracts, meticulous planning of performance, the research, implementation and testing of the optimum tracking solution, the acquisition of promotional material, drumming up of affiliate interest and finally the launch of the campaign. All of the above takes time. Of course an agency should manage the expectations of both affiliate and advertiser however patience is a virtue if a campaign is to be a success.
In addition to the activities mentioned above there is now a trend with agencies to offer their own in-house affiliate solution in essence acting as both network and agency. We launched our own affiliate marketing solution WASP in 2006 and thus now work both with networks and directly with key affiliate partners.
The idea behind WASP is that it works with a limited number of experienced, specialised affiliates offering commercials favourable to both affiliate and client. The WASP system is used both to compliment a networks ‘long tail’, generating incremental volume for an existing campaign as well allowing the client to trial new initiatives within a controlled environment. Behind-the-scenes we’ve been working hard to present an agency offering outside the norm and 2008 will be the year when you’ll a lot more from us.
To summarise in response to Andrew’s quote:
“In my experience agencies are here to formulate and evaluate affiliate strategies alongside networks, build healthy and productive affiliate relationships and liaise relevant information in a timely and efficient manner … oh yeah and to enjoy a drink or two on Friday night 
â€
Post from: Affiliate Marketing Blog Here.org.uk
Original post by Kieron