When it comes to Performance Marketing, there are a few key basics both advertisers and publishers need to consider going into 2022.
First, Consider the Basics of Performance Marketing. If you have an existing affiliate program, audit its current setup and look for opportunities to update or optimize things.
Advertisers Should Review:
- Creatives & Partner Resources – Make sure all offers are up to date and drive traffic to the correct landing pages. Ensure your creatives are fresh, eye-catching, and featuring the latest product/service and your educational assets are being shared with publishers to enhance their knowledge of your brand.
- Partner Performance – Understand who’s doing what, where, and how within your program. You may find there are some current partners who can do more and add more value to your bottom line. It’s a win-win tactic.
- Influencers – This type of partnership is the way of the future, consider setting up longer-term campaigns with multiple, regular posting schedules. Impact has determined some key influencer trends to help brands prepare for 2022.
- Tracking Setup – Determine if your links are driving traffic to the best converting landing pages on your website. Don’t forget to prepare for Google’s 2023 algorithm and cookie-tracking updates — work with your development team, the network or platform, and your marketing agency (if you have one) to get ready.
Publishers Should Review:
- Content & Links – If you’re a publisher who regularly utilizes content to promote brands, you may be missing a trick by not taking advantage of the tools and features available to you through networks and platforms. For example, AWIN provides an awesome guide to Content Syndication to boost your post’s exposure, as well as how you can qualify your SEO backlinks. They even offer a Publisher MasterTag to enhance your website and automate processes, helping to save you time.
- Influencers – Micro & Macro influencers should already know that Instagram has officially opened the door to affiliate marketing. If you’re not already familiar with how to include affiliate links in IG, take a look at this post from AWIN.
- Commission Payout Methods – As a publisher, consider all the ways a brand can compensate you for your efforts. Based on the vertical you’re in — B2B, retail, travel, etc. — smart commissioning options will help you get ahead. Be open to testing out different types of payouts, from CPA, CPL, and CPC commissions to Free Products, Flat Fees, Hybrid options (flat fee + commission), In-Store Credit or Rebate, the list goes on. Advertisers love a partner who is open to testing things alongside them, to see how profitable a partnership can be for each other.
[mkdf_highlight background_color=”” color=”#347c30″]Tip:[/mkdf_highlight] If you want to learn more about how to set up or update your affiliate program’s tracking after Google’s new updates, check out PerformanceIN’s article & guide, Tracking in a post third-party cookie world.
If you’re an advertiser who is new to Performance Marketing and need to learn about tracking and which network or platform may be right for you, check out AIM’s Track It! Guide, it’s our definitive guide to picking the right solution for your brand.
Focusing more on advertisers, brands should also consider their overall performance marketing strategy to prepare for 2022.
As the Program Operations Manager at AIM, I work closely with all of our clients as they start a brand new program or work to optimize an existing one. One of the first common stumbling blocks is a brand’s ability to really play well with others.
What do I mean by that? Some advertisers are leading the charge in their abilities to work with many types of affiliate publishers, different ways of paying out commissions (how, where, when, and to who) by incorporating smart attribution tracking, and the ability to pay out commissions based on product margins, type of lead (MQL, SQL), or action (conversion, download, form fill, etc).
Brands who are open to testing any and/or all of the items listed above, in conjunction with a well-thought-out content and resource calendar, and links to high-converting landing pages will see the most success in their affiliate programs.
[mkdf_highlight background_color=”” color=”#347c30″]Tip:[/mkdf_highlight] If you’re a brand that’s looking to learn more about best-in-class performance marketing strategies, reach out to us today! We’d love to hear from you and can help design the right approach for your affiliate program.
Finally, we have to admit, COVID-19 will be here to stay throughout 2022 and it will continue to have surprising effects on the way consumers navigate online shopping.
For example, unlike never before, B2B SaaS services and products are leading the way and launching new performance marketing programs. PartnerStack encourages brands to explore the power of Indirect channels to enhance brand awareness and market expansion. Here’s a quick video from PartnerStack’s CEO & Founder, Bryn Jones, at the Saastr Annual 2021 event which helps highlight the opportunities of indirect channel marketing and where SaaS advertisers should start with their program set-up.
If you have a desire to learn about COVID’s effects so far on the online shopping environment and the trends appearing within performance marketing, it’s worth following along with Impact’s Partnership Benchmark Reports. Their latest report highlights that although conversion rates may be lower, the AOV of online orders is higher than before.
Verticals included in the report include:
- Apparel, Shoes, and Accessories
- Arts & Entertainment
- Computers & Electronics
- Flowers, Gifts, Food & Drink
- Health & Beauty
- Home & Garden
- Telco & Utilities
- Travel
If you have questions or would like to know more about setting up an affiliate program, optimizing your current program, or preparing to shine online in 2022, please contact us to talk to an expert. If you’re a publisher working with one of our current programs and would like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact the program’s affiliate manager — they’re more than happy to help.
