So How Do We Tell Networks & Merchants What We Do?
7 Comments November 3, 2008 / Posted in Affiliate MarketingDespite being in affiliate marketing for what feels like eons now, it’s still a shock to the system when a merchant rejects you for reasons which aren’t valid for your website or because quite frankly they have no trust in the affiliate to promote them properly. In recent months we’ve been dubbed a cashback site (we’re not), a voucher code site (well yes we have them, but that’s not the be all and end all) and a gaming site (ditto).
On top of that one network even went so far to close our account with them (temporarily) because they didn’t believe our volume of traffic was legitimate (it was)!
Having spoken to a couple of people (and here I’d like to thank Matt Bailey at i-Level and Darren Newmark at Linkshare for their help) it was concluded that we’re either often overlooked, rejected, or totally forgotten about because no one knows what we do at Loquax. Most assume (quite correctly) that it’s something to do with competitions, but never one’s to sit around to wait for the grass to grow we’re (at least in our own eyes) a little bit more than that.
So a “Guide to Loquax” has been written. It’s a PDF file (thanks to Frostie) that explains what Loquax does in affiliate marketing. Hopefully it will give networks, merchants and agencies a bit more insight into Loquax and encouragement to work with us!
The big question how do we get this document out and about?
First off we could (and will) send it to networks via affiliate managers we know – likewise agencies – but the concern here is will it be lost or will it not get passed around to merchants (perhaps no one is actually even interested… ooh paranoia time LOL).
Which then got me thinking… wouldn’t it be useful if on a network management system there was an option for an affiliate to include a document explaining their work on their accounts. I know there are “profiles” but the reality is they’re pretty useless and lack significant depth (if they worked, no one would say we were a cashback site).
Offering such a facility would have to be limited to some affiliates (established/trusted/got off their backsides and written something types) otherwise a merchant may feel swamped by several hundred documents. However it would offer (1) the affiliate would know that it’s accessible all the time to the merchant and (2) if there’s any problems with a merchant – e.g. rejections or they’re just interested in that affiliate then they have access to an indepth resource.
Affiliate marketing has changed a heck of a lot – even in 2008 – so much so that we have felt the need to put together this information (accompanied by some lovely quotes from Zak Prezzybox, Sean Carter and Bruce Existem AM – thanks guys) so that networks, agencies and merchants understand what we do – and hopefully that will encourage them to work with us now and in the future!
If you would like a copy of the document please feel free to contact me!
always thought it would be mega useful if affiliates had the services of a dedicated independant ‘affiliate manager’ – someone in the know, trusted by the networks who knew exactly what our sites were capable of and who could promote us to the networks/merchants/agencies and broker the best deals for us, for a small! financial reward – it would save all this faffing about.
An agency for affiliates – yeah I could see that being useful. We want to do stuff with merchants, but just don’t have the time to blow our trumpet to them – and if we’re not on radar through sales, there’s usually no way to get them involved or taking a chance.
Darn it, another blog post I agree with completely.
We get turned down for Buy.at/Launhpad1 for pretty much every program these days because most of the people we knew have moved on to be replaced by people who insist on phoning me up (I don’t pick the phone up unless I know who’s on the other end and Buy.at have caller ID disabled) so they don’t get to talk to me very often which is just as well because I’m a grumpy sod.
I agree the merchant profile thingies aren’t really up to the job and there should at least be notes on the network systems which newbie admin staff can read before they decline us yet again.
I think it is beneficial for both sides to see exactly what they are getting with each other, a merchant knows what to expect from an affiliate and an affiliate knows what is acceptable to that merchant so that you can start promoting in the right way. Really good idea, have you tried to contact the merchant direct or through the network on programs that you have been turned down by with the pdf to see if you can alter their opinions.
Hi LucyP – the PDF is a few days old so no we’ve not used it yet direct to merchants – although we will do. Usually though we do contact networks/merchants and try and question rejections etc.
However, an email often isn’t enough to answer the merchant’s doubts, so hopefully in future we’ll be able to supply them with this document essentially outlining what we do.
Jason
I work for an agency and I would love to see PDF’s or a link to page where the affiliate explain a bit about themselves.
If I am in doubt, I put the application on hold and write an email asking whatever questions I may have.
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