February 28, 2007 at 4:48 pm · Filed under Affiliates
First (beta?) CostPerNews podcast covers the new ReviewMe affiliate program, AdSense, advertising inventory and Wayne Porter's post on Google SlumSense. Only 7 minutes long!
February 28, 2007 at 2:25 pm · Filed under Affiliates
Besides blogging about online marketing and “social media” or “web2.0″, I’m also a Religious Studies professor and student at a local college.
On Tuesday nights, I have a graduate seminar of Divinity School students focusing on a highly specialized topic in Religious Studies (”Postcolonial Treatment of the Deuteronomistic History”… I hope you don’t know what that means). We meet at the local coffe shop across the street from the college since there are only four of us, and on most nights the conversation is incredibly stirring, involved and can be contentious as we wrestle with ancient ideas.
Last night, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a young man sitting in a booth near our table was avidly listening to our conversation. After a few minutes, he came over and asked exactly what we were studying and where we were from. After explaining this was a graduate class and giving a brief overview of the topic, he gave an “Oh” response and went back to his booth.
The conversation resumed and we were immediately back to being knee deep in Hebrew and theory when he came back to our table… this time bearing “gifts.”
He asked if we would take a few pamphlets with instructions on how to find salvation in Jesus Christ since we seemed to be interested in the Bible, but were discussing things which were not “true.”
I collect religious kitsch and pamphlets (especially these), so I graciously thanked him and immediatly thought of how to blog the encounter. I have no problem with shopping your ideas to audiences, or trying to convince people that you have the right answers.
That’s what marketing (online or offline) is all about. We often put the brunt of our frustrations with this type of marketing on “religious” groups, but it’s the same thing we do every day when we deploy campaigns.
However, the irony (and ultimate error) of giving religious tracts to a group of Baptist Divinity School students and a Religious Studies professor discussing theology and history in a coffee shop in a small (and “dry”… no alcohol allowed) town in Western North Carolina is immense.
There are many examples of merchants, networks, affiliates and publishers in our own space of online marketing who commit the same types of mistakes in their targeting of audiences. We tend to focus on deployment, metrics, analysis and optimization… but often forget who we are presenting our message to, and why they should actually care. Most times, we simply turn off potential customers or members with our poor targeting.
Their cooperative model is an intriguing case study for companies seeking to grab a toehold (or tent stake) in the complicated world of offline and online merchant sales.
Although they do have their own line of gear, clothing and supplies, REI is basically an outlet for outdoor and adventure experiences. This is a crowded space, and competing with local outdoor shop retailers with loyal audiences willing to put branding bumper stickers on their cars or water bottles seems like an impossible task.
However, REI has bridged the gap between the offline and the online to provide a similar sense of community by leveraging their cooperative business foundation. Members pay a one time fee of $15 and are members for life. REI is not making money on the member fee for the cooperative, they are making money on the emotional and communal connection to the cooperative.
Most interestingly of all, REI is able to translate that feeling of community beyond just its (wonderful in my opinion) brick-and-mortar stores throughout the country to its website and its online presence.
For example, here is an email that was sent today to promote their newest coupon:
Even in GMail, the image resolves without having to load.
Here’s the key things about this email ad:
The first call to action is “SPEND YOUR DIVIDEND!” It’s not initally about the coupon, the products, or your next camping trip. It’s immediately about the fact that you are a part of the team and have a dividend waiting to spend. Leveraging community. Smart.
Then, there is a automated yet personalized letter detailing the fact that REI had a record year in 2006, my dividend check is in the mail (only $6.84, but we’re beyond money… this is an emotional experience by this point) and I can trade it in for that new pair of climbing shoes I’ve been wanting.
There’s no gimmicky language, no pressure, no insistence on the coolness factor of the latest Mountain Hardware fleeces. It’s all about the fact that we did well in 2006, your check’s in the mail, and don’t forget about us.
Very powerful and very interesting lesson to anyone looking to translate offline to online success, especially in a crowded and audience-loyal space such as outdoor gear.
Networks could learn something from this example as well…
A state House resolution approved Wednesday is a first step toward giving everyone in South Carolina — residents, businesses and visitors — free broadband Internet access.
The measure, co-authored by Greenville Rep. Dwight Loftis, creates a South Carolina Wireless Technology and Communications Commission that would implement a statewide wireless broadband network.
South Carolina would be the first state to have statewide wireless broadband Internet, Loftis said.
Just to illustrate how hard it is to come to an Understanding here — not only about what the Net is, or what the Web is (the headline, fwiw, confuses Web with Net and both with wireless), but about exactly what roles governments and businesses should be playing here. Read the comments to find much the citizens also know. One should think carefully before making new laws here.
Still… I’m proud of SC for attempting to raise the issue. We’ve done so much wrong in our history, but moving into 21st Century conversations about free access for all residents (given the fact that SC still has remote rural areas such as my homeland of the Pee Dee region) is a wonderful step forward.
Anyone can create a social network, load it up with a forum, RSS, blog and brand it to your own specifications. Will any merchants or networks try to build a Ning site out? I hope so.
I’ve actually created a social network using Ning to show you how quick, easy and powerful this could be:
Try it out and see what you think. This could be a fun little place to play, explore and get our hands dirty. Of course, it’s complete experimentation in typical web2.0 style, so there’s no pressure to join or even click. And I’m (definitely) not looking to start a social network. I suggest BUMPzee if you’re looking for that. Again, this is for exploration to see how we can possibly use Ning or similar technologies to improve our own programs.
Nevertheless, try it out and see what you can do with your own Ning account for your own network, merchant site, affiliate site, etc.
Either way, AdSense is a poor way to advertise and a worse way to monetize. Unless you just want short term gains. Then, by all means… run as many contextual ads as your template will fit.
Sure, it makes money if you have enough page views.
But are contextual ads really worth it?
I don’t think so. Monetize your traffic with ideas and interactions. Not with text links.
Affiliate marketing needs to move beyond this crutch.
It’s no secret that the UK and US joint affiliate market is growing leaps and bounds. Today’s talk of the possible AOL/TradeDoubler deal has been a major headline as was the Zanox/AccuQuote partnership announced a few weeks ago just before the Affiliate Summit East.
Now, buy.at, one of the leading affiliate networks in the UK is also entering the US market in a soft launch. Malcolm Cowley, Strategic Accounts Director is heading up the drive into the US under CEO Kevin Cornils, former Marketing Director of Europe for Match.com.
Intially the operation will be ran remotely, but a US office is planned for the future.In a unique and clever move, buy.at is partnering with American affiliate guru Andy Rodriguez Consulting. Malcolm writes:
“Many networks moving from the UK to US and vice versa have failed to engage their customers quickly. buy.at’s relationship and association with Andy and his team, guys whom we have an enormous amount of respect for, should help to put us on the radar in the right way. Our ethics and working practise are a great fit.”
buy.at’s previous business foundation has focused solely on affiliate marketing, rather than diversifying into areas such as search or display, partnering with global brands such as T-mobile , Capital One , Hertz and Sky.
In terms of market share, Cowley writes that buy.at competes head on with entities such as CJ or TradeDoubler in Europe. This would benchmark buy.at alongside CJ, Linkshare and Performics in terms of sparring partners here in the United States.
Client wise buy.at will be working with CD WOW! US as the sole client and more big brand name programs will be added over the first couple of months as buy.at aims to rapidly become a big 4 affiliate network here in the US.
Can an affiliate network grow so large that it loses contact and communication with its affiliate base?
Yes.
Can that loss of contact and communication drive away affiliates who are looking for better relationships and communities in which to find suitable ways to monetize their inventory?
Yes.
There is a great deal of content and inventory waiting to be monetized. Why haven’t many of the larger networks been able to adequately monetize the inventory available on blogs, podcasts, widgets, RSS, social networks and video?
Because they have grown too large.
So what will the online or affiliate network look like in 5-10 years?
It will be smaller, leaner, meaner and focused on a relationship with just a few merchants with a niche focus and the ability to monetize inventory across a variety of channels. These will slowly replace the large one size fits all, one stop shopping networks which have loomed over the landscape since the inception of affiliate marketing.
Environmental conditions dictate evolution, and we are in for the age of the smaller and smarter network in the coming decade.
This is going to go through because AOL must make a move in the European ad space to keep up… especially now that it has put it’s revenue model on an advertising foundation and moved away from the subscription model.
I’ve got a good source in the middle of all of this, and I’ll blog more about details when I can.
This post seems particularly appropriate on Oscar’s Night…
It’s no secret that traditional boundaries between traditional content creation and YouTubers is quickly eroding.
The New York Times acknowledges as much in a technology feature describing these “New Hot Properties.” One of those featured is our own Shmuly Tennenhaus, who has created quite a community and mythology surrounding himself…
Mr. Tennenhaus, an aspiring comedy writer who gained a modest following on YouTube for his droll question-and-answer clips and other spots featuring his grandmother “Bubby,” is being wooed by the site’s competitors, including Metacafe, ManiaTV and others, with promises of guaranteed exposure, a share of advertising money, or both.
This is all happening rather quickly. Traditional walls between media, content and creation are crumbling all around us. Sands which large media companies built their castles upon are now shifting, and the entry barrier is slowly but surely moving towards a quality quotient (see Shmuly or Ze Frank).
This movement is going to bleed over from Hollywood and entertainment content creation into all sorts of realms, including the marketing realm. Be prepared because what works to draw traffic and attention today won’t work in the near future. What works to measure that traffic and attention (CPA, CPC, CPM) won’t work either.
Taking advantage of the system or optimizing it
