2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, and this is likely to continue into 2021. While this has been an uncertain year, the affiliate channel remains a reliable source of traffic and sales for brands. New partnerships grow revenue for brands and creating a partner development strategy with clear goals and outcomes will put you in a strong position for the year ahead. In this blog, I share the top partner development strategies that you should be thinking about for 2021 to diversify your affiliate programme and realise incremental growth. Why is partner diversity so important? Many clients we consult with are heavily reliant on voucher, cashback and incentive partners. Concentrating activity with specific partners is a risky strategy. Your customers have a broad range of tastes, to target… [Read More...]

While many marketing technology tactics have changed the past two decades to reflect a faster-paced society and advances in technology, the use of affiliate marketing channels has remained relatively the same in terms of system and structure. “It is a business development channel that has never truly been optimized by use of technology,” said Matt Gilbert, CEO of Pepperjam, an affiliate marketing technology and services company. “There hasn’t been any automation built into this channel.” According to Gilbert, the straightforward, last-click attribution model for coupon and cashback partners in affiliate marketing remains immutable to change, but that stability has been a benefit since the COVID outbreak as it remains a dependable, if outdated, system. However, some things have changed. “The most effective affiliate … [Read More...]

Traditionally in affiliate marketing, brands have experienced challenges trying to run influencer marketing campaigns within the affiliate channel. Over the past couple of years, we have seen the demand for influencers rise. As influencer marketing has emerged as a viable marketing channel, brands are wanting to capitalize on it. However, in their effort to incorporate influencers into their marketing mix, brands have run into several challenges in trying to marry these efforts within their affiliate marketing strategies. Influencers want (and deserve) to get paid for their work, and have typically required an upfront, flat fee payment or free product. Depending on the influencer, these fees can be quite large. Many small- and mid-sized brands may not have the budget for this; smaller sized brands are often… [Read More...]

How long have you been with Acceleration Partners and what is your current role? I have been at Acceleration Partners for a little over 4 years and I’m currently a Senior Account Manager supporting the eBay Partner Network on their strategic recruitment initiatives. What is one trend you’ve seen growing in the affiliate space in the last few months? Creativity! As the affiliate space continues to adapt to the impacts of COVID, there has been an all-hands-on-deck approach to find creative solutions for brands and partners. From strategic pricing models, to unique out-of-the-box opportunities, it’s been exciting to see how the affiliate space has been able to pivot so quickly and continue to prove itself as a valuable channel. What has been… [Read More...]

As with every other month thus far in 2020, planning marketing strategies has been a bit like baking a pie that you’ve never heard of, that has no recipe to follow, in an oven that you’re not sure will actually heat up. This is especially relevant to affiliate marketing. All those year-over-year trends and insights we’d typically rely on to help guide our client’s affiliate marketing strategies are no longer reliable.  For instance: Inventory and delivery: In a pre-COVID-19 world, most retailers stocked up on inventory in preparation for the Q4 holiday shopping season; and the postal and delivery services ramped up their hiring to handle the seasonal rise in deliveries.The global pandemic, however, created merchandising issues due to conservative inventory planning and purchasing… [Read More...]

How long have you been with Acceleration Partners and what is your current role? I have been with Acceleration Partners for one and a half years. I am an Associate Account Manager on the Global Accounts team. I am currently based in Singapore, but I am originally from Malaysia. What is a piece of advice you would give to a first time Affiliate Marketing Associate? My advice is to take the time to familiarize with the market that you’re managing, know who the key partners are and start thinking about creative ways to work with them. At the end of the day, the goal is to make sure that this partnership would be able to add value to your client’s affiliate program. What has changed about Acceleration… [Read More...]

September continued to showcase trends that are atypical. As expected, we did see consumers move forward with back-to-school shopping as plans were finalised.  Back-to-school shopping was carried into September and many retailers started to enhance plans to prepare for an early kick-off to the holidays in October. Globally, consumer spending was down in September; in the US specifically, the end of unemployment benefits in July also contributed to a decrease in personal spending over the last few months. Significant increases in revenue and orders Looking at our client data between August 2020 and September 2020, we saw a significant increase in affiliate revenue—up 18% Month over Month (MoM). The revenue increase was primarily driven by Apparel, Education and Household verticals. Orders were also up… [Read More...]

September continued to showcase trends that are atypical. As expected, we did see consumers move forward with back-to-school shopping as plans were finalized. Back-to-school shopping was carried into September and many retailers started to enhance plans to prepare for an early kick-off to the holidays in October. Globally, consumer spending was down in September; in the US specifically, the end of unemployment benefits in July also contributed to a decrease in personal spending over the last few months. Significant Increases in Revenue and Orders Looking at our client data between August 2020 and September 2020, we saw a significant increase in affiliate revenue—up 18% Month over Month (MoM). The revenue increase was primarily driven by Apparel, Education and Household verticals. Orders were also up… [Read More...]