Definition 6 Technical Project Manager, Mike Reese, delivered an article presentation on developing effective affiliate polices.  Affiliate policies can be an extremely lucrative supplement to your standard marketing practices while at the same time they can also be harmful.  Without an explicit set of policies and rules to govern affiliate programs, you may find your company being misrepresented thus driving down revenue and reputation.

We recently encountered an issue involving an affiliate that simply wasn’t playing nice. The result of this was diminished reputation and poor conversion performance. This affiliate was including my client’s website in “adware” distributed to its users, thus creating a spike in visits and reducing conversions. These users were being displayed the client’s website either unknowingly or without requesting it. This is a simple case of increased traffic not always being a good thing. Revenue generation is the key for any company, so if increased traffic is not contributing to that number is it really worth it?  And where exactly are the users coming from?  By setting guidelines, and enforcing them, you can ensure your reputation is being upheld and your own marketing message is not being diluted.

Mike closed with three final points:
1. Know your affiliates – conduct thorough research to better understand your affiliates marketing practices as well as how they intend to utilize your band and marketing messages.
2. Maintain a consistent message – your new email campaign utilizing the latest promotional offers will only serve as a point of confusion if your licensed affiliate is using last year’s campaign information
3. Enforcement – policies and regulations can only go so far.  You have to be prepared to make immediate concise action against affiliates that have broken the rules.  The quickest way to destroy your marketing message is to allow affiliate companies to continue their illegal or ill-advised practices.

You can read the article in its entirety at: http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/articles/Developing_Effective_Affiliate_Policies.aspx

Definition 6 is a leading interactive agency delivering comprehensive solutions focused on solving real business problems through analysis, strategic vision, innovation, and technical competency.  Contact us today to find out how we can help you with all of your email marketing efforts.