The Rise of Big Brand Affiliates - Does Big Mean Better?

Cashback is back in the news this week and once again traditional content affiliates are concerned for their longevity. Colin at DVD Times has started a brand new blog called Poisonous Monkey and he asks How can the content affiliates compete with cashback sites?. Whilst Entrepreneur questions if these new super affiliates spell the end for us!

Big brands adopting affiliate marketing isn’t new! Last year for example every brand and their dog was opening up a white label bingo site. Bingo providers were falling over themselves to sign up brand after brand. From Woolworths to New Woman Magazine - branded bingo was plastered every where. The frenzy for this “must have” has subsided in recent months, indeed several white labels have fallen by the way side (for example lastminute.com).

Shopping and cashback are now the current flavours of the month. Sky are the latest company to take on a “Shop Window” in association with Affiliate Window. They are following in the path of Metro and The Sun, who have sinced dropped “Shop Window” in favour of a white label cashback site (ask yourself why!).

So should affiliates be concerned by the rise of the big brand affiliates?

Of course there are more competitors squeezing into the affiliate marketing boat but big brand doesn’t always equate to big affiliate business. Ask anyone what Google does and they’ll probably say “search”. Ask them what The Sun does and they’ll say “newspaper”. Ebay is “auction”. Facebook is “social network”. In other words, brands become pigeon-holed and they, just like any traditional affiliate have to constantly promote and push their marketing channels that are outside the “norm” for the majority of users. That is not always easy whilst focusing on your core USP.

Flavours of the month are also just that! When the next “must have” addition to these ever growing big brand portals is bandied around, the previous incumbent will get shunted down the list or even booted off if it turns out to be a poor revenue stream.

We also need to remember that new cashback sites have to compete with those already established in the sector, so let’s see how two well known cashback sites doing in comparison to say the biggest 100% cashback site, a popular deals site and let’s say the infamous voucher code site (Google Trends)

You can’t glean too much from the above, but it does show vouchers on the up (orange), deals looking good (dark blue) and cashback (100% is light blue, the others green and yellow) looking a bit stagnant (this may not be reality of course in terms of revenue - but it’s an interesting graphic)! Big brands may well breathe life into the cashback sector, but I still don’t think their presence is sufficient reason for traditional affiliates to think their end is nigh.

Online shopping isn’t some new phenomena and cashback has been featured in many a publication and also by internet media celebs like Martin Lewis for several years now. This means that The Sun et al still have to get in there and convert new people to cashback because most of those who already know about it will probably be getting 100% elsewhere. On top of that they have to retain them and make sure that they (The Sun) are earning revenue from the channel.

Will they be successful? Only time will tell!

Granted “media muscle” (lol) will be a factor, but there are still plenty of opportunities open for traditional affiliates. Remember you have the advantage of working for yourself, being swift and nimble in your promotions and can also gain from the exposure online shopping will receive from big brands. Watch what they’re promoting - use their advertising spend to your advantage!

You also have to remember that big brand affiliates will still face the same issues those of us who have been doing affiliate marketing for a while have to face - users not using your affiliate links, shoppers picking up voucher codes elsewhere, users forgetting to go via your cashback, tracking problems, cookie issues etc. - and they may not be as forgiving!

Whereas a traditional affiliate may be able to adapt to changes in the market place, big brands tend to have a habit of reducing or even dropping channels that don’t earn them money… like their bingo white labels!

Be concerned, but the end is not nigh (well at least I hope not)!