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  • 8/9/2019 Revenue Performance Magazine, Fall 2010 Edition

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    Why Online Lead Gen

    Response Time SucksBuilding An Online Brand

    Advice From11 World-Class Experts

    Pay-Per-Call:The Next Big Thing?

    Why Online Lead Gen

    Response Time SucksBuilding An Online Brand

    Advice From11 World-Class Experts

    Pay-Per-Call:The Next Big Thing?

    US INVASION!GOING INTO EUROPE

    WHAT NOBODY WANTSTO TELL YOU...

    US INVASION!GOING INTO EUROPE

    WHAT NOBODY WANTSTO TELL YOU...

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    Autumn 2010 | Revenue.mthink.com

    ContentsPay-Per-CallPerformance marketing....................................18An Interview With Jason SpievakWhy pay-per-call is growing so fast and whatmerchant and affiliates need to know.

    BY GENO PRUSSAKOV

    NetworkingBuild Successful Relationships Within YourAffiliate Channel .......................................................................... 4BY GEORGE HANSEN

    Brand SenseUsing Online Marketing to Build

    a Brand..................................................................................................... 6BY CHRISTOPHER PETIX

    International ImpactsExpanding Your US Affiliate ProgramInto Europe ....................................................................................... 10BY JODI RIEGER

    Best PracticesWorking With Brands Online

    Best Practices and Procedures................................... 12BY PETER S. KLEIN

    Media MentoringWhat Nobody WantsTo Tell You About LaunchingAn Information Product......................................................13BY SCOTT REWICK

    Campaign TrailTop 10 Tips For A Successful AffiliateMarketing Program.................................................................14BY KIM RIEDELL

    Affiliate CornerBecome a Conference Proin 5 Easy Steps ............................................................................... 16BY MARANDA MOSES

    Clicking Through

    Survey Says: One Year Later,Colleges Still Lag in Responseto Internet Leads....................................................................... 22BY GLENN HOUCK

    High Performance MarketingChoosing Appropriate KeyPerformance Indicators .................................................... 24BY JASON OATES

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    Publishers letter

    2 revenuePERFORMANCE ISSUE 5

    PUBLISHER & EDITORChris Trayhorn

    ART DIRECTORDavid Witcomb

    SENIOR WRITERLisa Morgan

    PRODUCTION MANAGERYvonne Schellerup

    CLIENT LIAISON Jennifer Neaves

    CONTRIBUTING WRITERSJason Oates, Glenn Houck, George Hansen,

    Christopher Petix, Peter S. Klein,Evgenii Prussakov, Jodi Rieger, Maranda Moses,

    Scott Rewick, Kim Riedell.

    VICE-PRESIDENT, SALESTobias Siegel

    ADVERTISING/SALES DIRECTORKelly Joseph Lemos

    To advertise, subscribe or obtain reprints, cal l 415-371-8800,

    or visit: revenue.mThink.com

    Revenue Performance is published by m Think55 New Montgomery, Suite 216

    San Francisco, CA 94105

    mThink: Intelligent Performance Marketing

    CHAIRMAN AND CEOChris Trayhorn

    VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETINGYvonne Schellerup

    DIRECTOR, WEB DEVELOPMENTRon Snow

    COMPTROLLERJulienne Riveong

    DEDICATED TO SUCCESSFULPERFORMANCE ADVERTISING

    While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy

    of the content of this publication, the publisher will accept

    no responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for any loss

    or damage, consequential or otherwise, suffered as a result

    of any material published here. The information published

    in Revenue Performance is not intended as a substitute

    for legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice. Thepublisher assumes no responsibility for statements made

    by advertisers in business competition. All editorial submis-

    sions, whether solicited or unsolicited, become the property

    of mThink. Statements and opinions expressed herein are

    not necessarily those of Revenue Performance, mThink, i ts

    affiliates, advertisers or any other agent. The name Revenue

    Performance and the phrase Super-Affiliate Insights are

    the intellectual property of mThink. The entire content of

    this publication is protected by copyright; full details are

    available through the publisher. All rights reserved. These

    trademarks or copyright materials may not be used in any

    media for any purpose without the express written consent

    of mThink.

    2010 mThink

    ISSN: 1549-7615

    Cover Image: Diego Cervo, Sandra Van Der Steen | Dreamstime.com

    Disclaimer: Revenue Performance and revenue.mThink.com include editorial and/or advertising that refers to affiliate programs that ofteninclude many different websites. Occasionally those programs may include websites offering education in casino or card games. In such cases

    no promotion or endorsement of those sites should be in ferred or implied our editorial coverage and/or advertising relates only to the affiliateprogram itself. Revenue Performance magazine and revenue. mThink.com do not accept advertising that promotes online gambling.

    George Hansen is Directorof Sales and BusinessDevelopment at Digital River oneNetworkDirect.

    Christopher Petix is thePresident of Clash-Media US. Hehas over 15 years of experience inonline marketing with companies

    that include Double-Click Media,Vendare Media and Coreg Media.

    Scott Rewick is one of the mostprolific media buyers that mostpeople have never heard of. Havingbought over $100M in display basedmedia over the last decade.

    Maranda Moses, is a SeniorAccount Manager at Share Results,a boutique affiliate marketingagency that works with affiliatesand merchants to provide acomplete affiliate marketing

    solution, including software, anetwork and SEM services.

    Kim Riedell oversees publisher

    client account managementnationwide and advertiser clientaccount management on the eastcoast for Commission Junction.

    Evgenii Prussakov is an author,blogger, speaker and consultantin affiliate marketing andaffiliate program management.

    We called this issue of Revenue Performance the long, dry Summer editionbecause thats the way that many industry insiders are describing it to us.

    People are getting through, but its a little tough out there.Depending on where you are in the world, Summer brings relentless heat, lethargy

    and storms; or alternatively, easy living, green fields and sunshine.

    Both experiences are true. It just depends on your situation and, to some extent, onyour attitude. Here at Revenue Performance were believers in PMA: Positive Mental

    Attitude. Business may be hard right now, but if you can not see the opportunitiesabounding in the industry, youre either blind, or youre just not looking.

    To help you find what you need, we went out and asked eleven experts to give ustheir tips on how to make some Summer waves. We have people who have founded

    some of the biggest networks around, bought ten of million of dollars of media, andsome of the best affiliate managers there are.Read them and know that opportunity inonline marketing is still knocking on your door. You just have to open yourself to it.

    Chris Trayhorn

    Publisher

    Contributors

    Advertiser Index

    AdMedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC

    CPAway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

    Digital River oneNetworkDirect . . . . . . . . . . OBC

    HealthCompare.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

    Hover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

    Intuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

    Ipsos Affiliate Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    Klein Zelman Rothermel LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

    MarketHealth.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

    Monetizeit, The MediaWhiz Affiliate Network . . . . 7

    MillionaireNetwork.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC

    NetMargin, A Datran Media Company . . . . . . . . 3

    Webgains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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    NetMargin is the media network that elite direct

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    Online marketing for merchants can be a complex busi-ness with many moving parts. One of the best ways tosimplify it is to regard as being built upon a few funda-mental building blocks. George Hansen, director of salesand business development with Digital River, recentlyshared with us some key pointers to establishing andmaintaining a successful affiliate channel.

    Revenue Performance: Are there any particularmacro-level trends that you see happening within online

    marketing?

    George Hansen: The pay-for-performance model con-tinues to grow in strength and, by providing measurabilityand ROI, it gives merchants the opportunity to build theironline marketing investment. Online marketing removesmuch of the guess work from campaigns and provides ex-ecutives with predictable returns on their investment.

    RP: What do you think is the most important single tipfor merchants to keep in mind when developing a perfor-mance marketing campaign?

    GH: I call it the Four Ps of performance marketing: price,product, place, and promotion. You have to keep thosefour factors front and center. Many merchants have severalprospective market segments that they can address. The keyis to target your audience in a way that allows you to offera compelling product, charge a competitive price and earnacceptable margins. Too often merchants focus on promo-tion or price while forgetting about product and place. Theproduct offering should be structured to be as compellingas possible. Once thats determined, then one can addressthe right mix of price and promotion. There are times todiscount your product and there are places where you cansell it at full price. The most successful online merchants

    offer a variety of products and price points within theirproduct line. They also have an active promotions calendar

    with regular promotional opportunities and work to ensurethat their products are merchandised in the proper places toreach their target market.

    RP: What are some of the common mistakes you seeonline marketers make?

    GH: It is not uncommon to see websites that promoteproducts with too little detail or sites that are proverbiallya mile wide and an inch deep. These sites are usually verylight on content and generally dont add much value to the

    end user.

    A more successful and sustainable approach is to becomean expert in your field and go an inch wide and a mile deep

    within your topic. Create unique content around your prod-uct mix to add value throughout the purchase process. Thedeeper you go into a niche, the more each of your efforts

    will build upon the other, ultimately adding value to yourusers and establishing you as an expert in your field.

    RP: What percentage of a merchants online businessshould come from the affiliate channel?

    GH: The size of a merchants online affiliate channel canvary greatly, but across the board we typically see affiliatemarketing activities driving 10 percent or more of a mer-chants overall online revenue. Anything below that prob-

    ably indicates that there are opportunities being missed.

    RP: There have been big changes in the industry overthe last year or two. What do you see ahead as you lookforward to 2011 and beyond?

    GH: Online marketers are in the great position to takeadvantage of the improving global economy and leverage itto generate positive revenue growth through the second halfof 2010 and well into 2011. The pay-for-performance model

    within online marketing continues to resonate with mer-chants. It will still drive growth and profits for those thatexecute their online campaigns well and work with their

    network and affiliate partners to optimize campaigns effec-tively. We are also going to see online marketers discoveringemerging market and revenue opportunities as e-commerce,social media monetization solutions and the mobile spacegrow. Its a great time to be involved with performancemarketing. |rp

    GEORGE HANSEN is Director of Sales and Business Development at

    Digital River oneNetworkDirect.

    Networking George Hansen

    Build Successful Relationships WithinYour Affiliate Channel

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    To an increasing extent it is becoming clear that thebusinesses in America that are succeeding duringthese difficult times are often those that enjoy thegreatest brand loyalty. This isnt a surprise to experiencedmarketers. They have always known the value of brandbuilding. If one can create trust in a brand, then loyaltyfollows and loyal customers have a much higher long-term

    value (LTV) than opportunistic customers.But the challenge has always been how to create that

    brand loyalty. It needs to be a company-wide effort, in-

    tegrating all aspects of the customer experience. Applescustomer loyalty, for example, is second to none because itpromotes innovative, top-end products and supports thatimage with high quality customer engagement. It providesa strong end-to-end brand experience that exceeds cus-tomer expectations.

    As more and more organizations have come to realize theimportance of brand, so they are increasingly looking athow their online marketing activities can help the process,by first gaining visibility and then creating engagement.Online lead generation (OLG) is one approach in particularthat has evolved to deliver new and increased return oninvestment as a powerful brand building channel.

    While traditionally online lead generation has been usedsimply to identify potential customers, advertisers now un-derstand how to leverage its value beyond initial consumeropt-in, and to establish longer-term brand engagement.

    Boosting Return on InvestmentROI has always been an important consideration for mar-

    keters, but as budgets have become more restricted and thereis increased scrutiny of all spend, ROI has become firmlyfixed as the top concern. Online lead generation has alwaysprovided ROI, but new OLG tools boost that return furtherby not only identifying interested consumers, but by thenenabling them to engage with the brand. These engagementinteractions provide insight into the consumers interests, andenable more effective marketing opportunities in the future.

    Long-term ROIExperience shows that consumers will defect from brands

    that bombard them with impersonal and irrelevant infor-mation, but are more likely to make a purchase following apersonalized interaction with a brand.

    Organizations that initiate personalized customer engage-ment will be rewarded with loyal customers. First impres-sions cant be taken back, so its important to identify inter-ested consumers effectively and then ensure that the initialinteraction engages the customer rather than attempting ahard-sell which may be rejected.

    Company growth comes from adding new customers, not

    replacing ones that have left. Customer loyalty is the way to

    Brand Sense Christopher Petix

    Using Online Marketing to Build a Brand

    6 revenuePERFORMANCE ISSUE 5 C

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    Using Online Marketing to Build a Brand

    retain long-term business, while effective customer identifi-

    cation helps to add more customers to the revenue stream,who will themselves be loyal in the long-term.

    Increased Customer EngagementCreating a one-on-one dialog between a brand and an in-

    terested consumer is the kind of soft-sell that promotes long-term benefits. The customer is given more time in whichthe brand can nurture trust while continually discoveringadditional information that will enable further personalizedengagement.

    Its important to ensure that engagement with thecustomer is varied and always relevant to the preferencesthey have established. Coupons for free trials or money-off

    purchases are valid opportunities for customer engagement,but the conversation should go further. Newsletters can beused to deliver company updates as well as consumer-orient-ed advice. This sort of engagement builds trust and createscontext for further engagement. The more that is knownabout the customer, the more precisely can be targetedthose special offers and promotions and the more warmlythey will be received.

    Brand Engagement for High Value GoodsApproaches to marketing and customer engagement vary

    from industry to industry, depending on how significant thebuying decision is for the consumer.

    Major purchasing decisions, such as where to go to collegeor what car to buy, are one-off events so require a sales-oriented engagement. Organizations in these sectors needsales leads that they can contact and convert. If theres noconversion then the contact will often be regarded as a miss,unless the customer expresses interest in buying in thefuture.

    The goal for these organizations is to make immediatecontact through a number of different channels simultane-ously, including phone calls, emails and direct mail. Thisapproach is intended to move the interested consumerthrough the sales funnel as quickly as possible.

    In the auto-industry, for example, identifying a consumer

    who is looking to buy a car is fairly straight-forward, butqualifying and converting them is more difficult. Within myown company. we identify potential customers and engagethem immediately in a conversation that may ultimatelylast across multiple weeks although our clients can tellearly-on whether the lead is qualified or not. We use promo

    videos, emails, newsletters, test drives and telephone calls all in context and always focused on increasing brand trust to try and make the sale happen quickly.

    Brand Engagement for Consumer GoodsCPG organizations have a slightly different approach

    to their campaigns. With fast-moving consumables, high

    volume is critical, therefore a quick sale does not necessar-

    ily deliver the results required. Instead, these brands need

    marketing leads that they can engage. Often just an emailaddress is sufficient to initiate that engagement and thebrand can build a relationship from there.

    This approach requires a high quality initial engagementto open the door to on-going communication. For advertis-ers, it carries an added benefit in that it reduces marketing

    waste to optimize ROI.Companies like 3M, Procter & Gamble, and Church and

    Dwight use brand building initiatives like these for brandssuch as Scotchbrite, Prilosec and Arm & Hammer. Activi-ties include free sample and coupon campaigns, where apotential customer is identified and then fully qualified toreduce marketing waste. These promotions are only offered

    to potential customers that are fully qualified in terms ofboth need and interest. They are effective door-openers toget additional information about the consumer and so toenable escalation of the engagement.

    This kind of targeting helps to ensure that campaignpromotions are successful and that they create satisfied cus-tomers with increased trust in the brand. Those customersmay then be updated with further marketing materials andspecial offers all of which further add to brand loyalty.

    Whether a brand is a high-value product that is onlypurchased once every five years, or a consumer item thatis bought at the supermarket every week, the principles ofbrand building are the same. Exceeding customer expecta-

    tions and proving a consistent brandexperience are critical to the process,and these kinds of interactions areperfectly suited to an online leadgeneration marketing model.Online lead generation isan essential tool for brandbuilders today. |rp

    CHRISTOPHER PETIX is the President of Clash-Media US. He has over

    15 years of experience in online marketing with companies that include

    Double-Click Media, Vendare Media and Coreg Media.

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    If you are a US-based advertiser looking for a new rev-enue stream and new opportunities to build your brand,taking your affiliate program into the European marketmay be a great next step. In Europe, just as in the USA, CPAperformance based marketing is gaining strength as con-sumers turn more and more towards coupons and cash backsites. And e-commerce generally is going from strength tostrength in Europe. According to a Forrester report, RobustEuropean Online Shopping Growth to Continue, online adver-tisers spent over $7.5 billion to reach consumers in Western

    Europe in 2008, up 25% from $6.0 billion in the previousyear. An estimated 136.1 million Europeans were onlineduring this period in the five largest European Union coun-tries. European online retail activity rose a staggering 58%in 2007, with a similar increase witnessed in 2008. Europeas an online marketplace is maturing fast and represents ahuge opportunity for advertisers ready to take the leap.

    Which markets?

    How should you decide which European market is theright one to target? Many advertisers find that the UK is agood place to start because the shared language with theUSA means that existing marketing content and collateral

    can be leveraged effectively. YesAsia.com, a leading Asianonline entertainment retailer, sells Chinese, Japanese andKorean products including CDs, videos, books and games.Stefan Janssens, Internet Marketing Manager for YesAsia.com and YesStyle.com, explains that language was the keyreason they launched first in the UK. We started in theUK, for the simple reason that our site is in English. Wethen also started programs in France and Germany, becausethey are the largest markets outside the UK.

    But language should not be the sole driver. A comprehen-sive fact base should be developed including data such asthe per capita GDP (gross domestic product) and the level ofbroadband penetration in each country, and this will begin

    to provide a sense of the opportunities.A deep understanding of your own market data will

    give the additional insight needed to make good planningdecisions. Mining customer data to identify trends suchas how many international orders are fulfilled each monthand where these customers are located can provide keydata points. Even if you are not serving many customersoutside the US, there may be a history of customers whohave inquired about international shipping or availability ofproducts/services outside the US.

    You should also understand which of your competitors areoperating outside the US and where they are seeing success,especially if they are running successful affiliate programs

    internationally. Look at who their top partners are and dont

    forget that many of your current US affiliates may alreadybe operating in other countries. They can be a great sourceof information about new markets.

    The biggest market might not always be the most ap-propriate option for your business. Julian Bock, ProductManager for Germany based InnoGames, believes that thequestion of which markets to enter first is not simply a caseof launching in the biggest markets. He looked at trendsin the marketplace as well as examining his own user data

    when expanding their affiliate program to new countries.

    Julian runs their most successful title, Tribal Wars, acrossRomania, Portugal and Sweden, as well as in larger coun-tries such as Germany, Spain and the UK. He says, TribalWars was a huge hit and so we used customer information &the existing user base to give us an idea of which countriesto go into. Understanding the market data and your owncustomer data together will give you a fuller picture of what

    your best next move may be.

    Business IssuesExpanding your business internationally offers long-term

    benefits but inevitably also means that there are a numberof business and finance-related issues to consider. VAT

    (Value Added Tax), for example, is not something mostAmerican companies are familiar with, yet it applies tomost products and services in Europe and may reduce yourprofit margins if you dont plan for it effectively. On the cus-tomer service side of things, if you roll the business out re-motely, how will you provide customer service in a differentlanguage and time zone? When building your fact-base, youshould research shipping and distribution costs, consumerdemand for your product or service, language and transla-tion issues and legal and tax implications. You may also berequired to make changes to your sites functionality withregards to language and currency. More specifically youmay need to update your websites terms and conditions.

    Significant contingency funds need to be put aside to ad-dress unforeseen issues in all of these areas. However, withcareful consideration and thorough planning the pitfalls canbe avoided and can even be regarded as additional barriersagainst entry for any future, less prepared competitors.

    Strategies for rolling outOnce youve done the research and decided where to

    expand, there are a number of alternate strategies you canconsider when planning your rollout. Remote roll out: Use your US office to run the entire

    operation remotely. This has the advantage of being low-cost with no infrastructure to build or maintain overseas.

    However, it can be difficult to maintain a high level of

    International Impacts Jodi Rieger

    revenuePERFORMANCE ISSUE 5

    Expanding Your US Affiliate ProgramInto Europe

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    customer support with a lack of local knowledge andresources, and the distance can make it much harder togain significant traction.

    Organic roll out: Establish a local office and your af-filiate program in one country at a time before movingon to the next. In this way you can control the costs andgrow at your own pace, learning about one market beforemoving on to another. This can take more time andresources, and management is more complex.

    Hub roll out: Establishing a hub in one country to cover

    a larger region, such as Southern Europe, for example,allows for relatively quick growth and can also covermore markets (with a hub in a major area and satellitesin smaller areas.) This strategy can be expensive, though,and risks running into language and cultural differences.

    Acquisition/Merger/Partner roll out: Acquiring orpartnering with another organization that already has abase of operations in the market youre looking at allows

    you to roll your program out quickly and inexpensively,and gives you the opportunity to leverage the partnersmanagement and local knowledge. Potential disadvan-tages in a merger/partner rollout include some loss ofindependence and brand identity.

    Finding an affiliate network partnerEven if you have done all the primary research, and have a

    well planned strategy for expansion, bringing your affiliateprogram to a new country may be easier with a local net-

    work partner. The right affiliate network can help by pro-viding a bi-lingual point of contact for you and your affiliatepartners, and can help advise you on localizing your website

    with the right language, design and presentation. A localnetwork partner will a lready have developed relationships

    with successful local affiliates and can help connectionswith the right partners. They will also have an understand-ing of local market conditions so can advise on the USPs,

    commissions and affiliate benefits that should be offered inorder to stay competitive in a new market.

    With the right research and planning, expansion of an af-filiate program into Europe opens up exciting new revenueopportunities and can help grow a brand internationally.It needs careful planning, but a successful launch can beachieved with the right preparation and, especially, with theright network partnership. |rp

    JODI RIEGER has over 10 years of experience in performance marketing.

    She is an Account Manager for Webgains USA, working with many inter-

    national publishers and advertisers. She may be reached at

    [email protected]

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    During my years of experience in developing broadagency relationships with mid-to-large brands, ithas become clear that as budgets become bigger, sothe need for efficiency, transparency and ROI measurementincreases as well. But on their own, they are not enough.

    What is needed to a perhaps even greater extent is educa-tion in online marketing best practices for the executivesand agency personnel involved. To be clear, its not that themarketing folks and performance agencies running theseprograms arent very smart. Its just that online and affiliate

    marketing has grown and changed immensely over the past10 years, and its unlikely that they are up to speed withsuch a fast-moving industry.

    So what is important for marketers, online customeracquisition managers and agencies to keep top of mind

    when constructing new campaigns? Here are 5 key pointsto consider. Education Marketers selling into this sector need to go a

    step further than the standard business development call.Get out there and meet onsite with a session that educatesthe client on your company and the type of marketing youconduct - especially if you have an affiliate network. Youneed to communicate that affiliate marketing is consti-

    tuted of all forms of media, not some unexplored uniquechannel, albeit through partners rather than internal traf-fic. Also that affiliate programs are scalable well beyondthe size of their internal operations, given that networkscan access millions of people.

    Transparency It is important toshare all of the compliance mea-surements of your company/network and information onmedia placements. This data isneeded to provide reassurancethat the brands image will beprotected. Data sets might

    include keyword monitoring/jump pages in Search EngineMarketing (SEM), seeds andtest messages in email, orbanner placements on websitesand social sites like Facebook. It is often also useful toshow the partner which Affiliate ID (SubID to them) isresponsible for what kind of traffic, along with the sampleplacements and tests.

    Budgets Brand owners and merchants often have verylarge budgets to work with, but results dont necessar-ily come overnight and all sides need to be prepared toshow patience. Typical IOs start at $50K for the first few

    months, which is an appropriate amount for testing and

    understanding each others metrics. Once baselines areestablished, partners need to work together on land-ing page optimization and payouts, which are critical tooptimizing results. It is important to be patient and gainmutual trust. Everyone wants million dollar budgets andmillion dollar results - the end goal of the scalable CPAmodel but to achieve those kinds of goals one must con-tinuously work at improving results while the campaign isin progress.

    Overcome Fear of the P&L Advertisers often have con-

    cerns as to which of their internal departments the rev-enue will be attributed, given that there is such a varietyof media used by affiliates. This issue can be dealt with byshowing through education that in fact the entire affiliatechannel is under their domain be it email, social media,display, search, etc. Networks absorb risk via the CPAmodel, so as long as the client is reassured and all partiesare transparent with each other, there should be no con-cerns other than focusing on performance.

    Conversion from Risk-Aversion to Heroism the final stepand overall goal of the relationship is to deliver high qual-ity, measurable, and scalable results that go beyond initialexpectations. This means making the marketing decision

    maker or online acquisition manager a hero. Give themsuch great results that they look like a genius for takingthe chance on you. Give them daily metrics that can bemerged with their own, as well as quarterly presentationsand regular visits for strategic planning sessions. The aim

    is to build a bond, show each otherin a good light and educate seniorexecutives with regard to the successof the business relationship.

    Whether you occupy the role ofmarketer, agency or the customeracquisition manager for the brand,

    remember that the online andaffiliate space is constantly chang-ing and growing. In a dynamic andfast-changing landscape, these five

    points can be used as a frameworkfor success in campaign creation andmanagement. |rp

    PETER S. KLEIN is General Manager of MonetizeIt, a division of

    MediaWhiz, a leading online performance marketing agency. Prior to

    joining MediaWhiz, Peter held management positions at RocketProfit,

    Cablevision, enews.com and Publishers Clearing

    House.

    Best Practices Peter S. Klein

    Working With Brands OnlineBest Practices and Procedures

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    We are seeing explosive growth in informationmarketing: the creation and promotion of infor-mation products. In addition to the large group ofindustry experts that have been using this model for sometime, amateurs in all kinds of industry sectors are tryingtheir hands as well.

    It can be intoxicating. Take a topic about which you areparticularly passionate, and then sell your passion andinformation to the world. It sounds so easy. Best of all,much of the necessary infrastructure already exists. Thereis an army of industry gurus that stand ready to help youbuild your first product, while leading networks such as

    Clickbank have systems in place that will help you both hostand market your service. It really is the case that launching

    your first info-product may not be as difficult as you think.As a new info-marketer, you first need to think about the

    type of product that you intend to sell. Beginning with asubject that you are passionate about gives you a distinctadvantage when it comes to creating the actual content.From Horse Ballet to How To Be a DJ, the range ofsubject matter that can be successfully marketed is virtu-ally limitless. Whats next is deciding in which format you

    will deliver your material. These days the standard deliverymethod is via digital download, however your info productcan just as easily be sent via normal mail.

    Once youve decided upon the content and format, the nextstep is setting up the online infrastructure you will need.Landing and sales pages need to be developed and for mostpurposes it seems that WordPress has become the publishingplatform of choice, especially for new marketers that arentthat adept at HTML. Naturally, as part of your online infra-structure youll need to find a hosting company - BlueHost isa popular one - and voila, you should be ready to go.

    After youve set up all of your marketing pages - not atrivial endeavor by the way - youll need solutions for emaillist management A Weber tends to be where most peoplego - and how you want to structure the ecommerce side ofthings. Generally, the two choices are doing it yourself by

    applying for a merchant account and using a service likeOneShoppingCart, or letting an organization like ClickBankhandle it all for you.

    Many new info-marketers choose ClickBank because,not only do they make setup fairly easy, but they also addanother important element to the equation: ClickBank canbring you affiliates to promote your product.

    This is the Reality Check. What nobody wants to tellyou is that without traffic that results in prospects landingon your pages, all that time spent creating an info-productis worthless. A product with no customers isnt much ofanything. Its the single mistake that one sees new info-marketers making time after time: they spend a tremendous

    amount of time in conceptualization and creation of the

    product, only to be left wondering why sales dont just flowin after the product launches.

    As a new info-marketer, you simply must spend timeunderstanding how you will drive potential customers to

    your product pages. It is paramount. There is a huge varietyof ways to drive that traffic, whether it comes from searchengines such as Google, from the efforts of participatingaffiliates, from your own social media initiatives, or throughad networks, media buying, email campaigns or many otheralternatives. The choices can seem endless, but what ismost important is devoting the time to develop a solid planaround driving potential customers to your product.

    There are thousands of new potential customers comingonline each and every day, and the appetite for informa-tion products in continuing to grow. The opportunities arehuge but always remember: creating a product without alsocreating a rock-solid plan to find customers is simply a wasteof time. |rp

    SCOTT REWICK is one of the most prolific media buyers that most people

    have never heard of. Having bought over $100M in display based media

    over the last decade, Scott is one of the true pioneers of modern day affili-

    ate marketing and high volume media buying. A co-founder of NetBlue

    and former President and CEO of AdEx, Scott shares his expertise at

    Media-Mentors.com.

    Media Mentoring Scott Rewick

    What Nobody Wants To Tell You AboutLaunching An Information Product

    Counsel to the

    Online Marketing Industry

    CONTRACTS,

    PRIVACY POLICIES,

    Sweepstakes Rules,

    LITIGATION, ETC.

    Contact David O. Klein today at:(212) 935-6020 x 244 | [email protected]

    485 Madis on Avenue, New York, NY 10022

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    Conferences are excellent opportunities for network-ing, relationship building and business development.As an affiliate, attending a conference requires a sig-nificant investment of your time and money so you need toensure that you maximize your experience and come homefeeling rewarded and energized. Here are the five mostimportant things to keep in mind that will help you survive(and thrive!) at your next affiliate marketing event.

    Set a GoalIt is of paramount importance to create a clear shortlist of

    goals for yourself when youre attending a conference. Doyou want to find out all you can about promising affiliateprograms? Connect with leading affiliates? Learn about newonline business strategies? You may be tempted to say, allof the above, but since your time will be limited, its best tohave a narrower focus.

    Have a set of priorities, in order of importance, and checkthese off your list as each is achieved. If you go after every-thing all at once, you may risk losing direction, and end up

    with an unfulfilled conference experience. If an opportuni-ty arises that you werent anticipating, explore itand thencome back to your priorities.

    Personal BrandingYoure going to be meeting a lot of new people. Businesscards are a must, but how do you introduce yourself? If

    youre kinda doin this, and sorta starting that, you need torethink your presentation. Know your unique selling pointsand strengths, and present your brand (yourself) withconfidence.

    The key is to stand out. Your introduction is what canmake or break a great first impression. It may sound silly,but practicing out loud can really help. Make sure yousound like the star that you are.

    Scope Out the Itinerary

    Take some time up front to review the available sessionsthat will most benefit your business and help you crosssomething off your checklist of goals. Try and learnsomething completely new. Maybe your SEO skillsneed fine tuning or youre looking to make your

    way into social media marketing. Perhapsyou want to produce a video or bringyour HTML skills up to the nextlevel. Conferences are the perfectplace to break out of your mould,and discover something you canincorporate into your next promo-tional campaign.

    Know What You Are Looking ForThere will be plenty of merchants lined up, ready to

    introduce their products and programs. Knowing whatsimportant to you in terms of partnerships, will equip you to

    weed out the programs that dont fit.Have some questions lined up for merchants, and dont be

    afraid to ask some tough ones! Spending too much time witha merchant that doesnt offer you (a) the commission struc-ture you want, (b) the support you need, or (c) the products

    you want to promote, is not using your precious time wisely.If someone doesnt have what you want, move on!

    Meet with other AffiliatesBe sure to connect with other affiliates to learn more

    about how they are succeeding, and to hear about popularprograms that might make for a good fit for your business.Open up with other affiliates and share your own experi-ence and the chances are that theyll do the same.

    Dont limit your affiliate relationships to just the confer-ence though. There will be lots of gatherings and partiestaking place off the conference premises, so just like withthe itinerary, find out whats going on, and make a point ofattending the hottest social events.

    Each conference experience will be

    unique, so make sure you have aplan for yours. Stay focused andgoal-oriented, and you willbe well on the way tomaximizing your con-ference experience. |rp

    MARANDA MOSES is a Senior

    Account Manager at Share Results, a

    boutique affiliate marketing agency that

    works with affiliates and merchants to provide

    a complete affiliate marketing solution, including

    software, a network and SEM services.

    Affiliate Corner Maranda Moses

    revenuePERFORMANCE ISSUE 5

    S

    tephaneLarcher|Dreamstime.com

    Become a Conference Pro in 5 Easy Steps

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    Geno:Lets start with an overview of how pay-per-call works.What is the concept behind it?

    Jason:Pay-per-call lets advertisers track calls like clicks. It utiliz-

    es unique toll-free and local phone numbers in both onlineand offline advertising to track the source and effectivenessof an ad campaign. For example, lets say you see a billboardon the side of the highway advertising a product you want to

    learn more about.You call that number, and the advertiser is able to know

    exactly which billboard prompted your call. He may be run-ning ads on billboards and other media all over the country,but now he can track where your call came from. That datacan then be combined with information from the othermedia outlets to measure effectiveness and which ones hiscustomers are finding to be the most relevant.

    When used within an affiliate marketing model, adver-tisers first sign up with a network partner and then createtheir pay-per-call campaigns, setting criteria to define whata quality lead means to them. Publishers apply to thecampaigns, select one or more unique phone numbers and

    then run the promotions either online and/or offline. Whena consumer sees the phone number and calls, the networktracks the call and if it meets the advertisers criteria the callis connected and the publisher earns a commission.

    Geno:Does a pay-per-call program compete in any way with anonline affiliate program?

    Jason:Actually its quite the opposite. Its not a matter of

    calls orclicks, its about calls and clicks. Weve seenclick-through rates increase by 5%-30% as a result of the

    credibility implied by displaying a phone number in an ad.

    An Interview WithJason Spievak

    Pay-per-call advertising has been growing rapidlyover the last year or so, allowing advertisers andpublishers to generate hot leads from potential cus-tomers who prefer to use the phone. Some industryinsiders are already estimating that it will becomea multi-billion dollar market, with companies likeRingRevenue, KeyMetric, CallButton, ValueLeadsand others extending the pay-per-call paymentmodel into affiliate marketing.

    Pay-per-call bridges the gap between online and

    offline by making it possible for affiliates to drivephone leads too. For merchants, the beauty of theperformance-based pay-per-call marketing is, ofcourse, the low financial risk involved. The actionthat will trigger an affiliate payment is predefined(e.g.: calls over 3 minutes), and tracking is handledby the service provider.

    Geno Prussakov recently sat down with the CEOof RingRevenue, Jason Spievak, one of the leaders inthe space, to discuss why pay-per-call is growing sofast and what merchant and affiliates need to know.

    By Geno Prussakov

    PAY-PER-CALLPERFORMANCE MARKETING

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    A breath of freshair in domain names.

    http://affiliates.hover.com

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    When consumers see that a company can be reached byphone if necessary, it makes them more comfortable and

    willing to engage with the ad and complete a purchase.That applies whether they complete the transaction byphone or online.

    Pay-per-call is becoming an important complement toonline affiliate programs, improving overall ad effectiveness

    while expanding affiliate opportunities to include big-ticketpurchases more likely to close over the phone, and openingup exciting new channels like mobile and offline.

    Adding pay-per-call to a merchants online affiliateprogram is also proving to be a great way to recruit newpublishers. Its pretty common in the first 30 days of a newpay-per-call program launching that the merchant will pickup hundreds of new publisher applications.

    Geno:Can you give me any examples of how pay-per-call hasopened up new opportunities for either merchants oraffiliates?

    Jason:Sure. ServiceMagic is an online marketplace that

    connects homeowners with service professionals. Untilrecently, they offered no offline opportunities for their af-filiates, but in the last few months they have been using theLinkShare pay-per-call service. As the interest of their pay-per-call affiliates in these opportunities has increased, theybegan to expand the variety of offline marketing channels

    they were offering. As a result, ServiceMagic affiliates can

    now drive traffic via flyers, radio and print ads, for example,using unique phone numbers that enable the company totrack and then compensate affiliates accordingly.

    Mobile is also proving to be strong channel for manymerchants. The challenge with many mobile campaigns is

    that many mobile publishers are able to drive a lot of calls,but they arent always well qualified. Historically this has pre-sented a problem for the merchant because they dont wanttheir call center agents spending time answering calls fromunqualified callers. Pay-per-call platforms can allow the mer-

    chant to screen, survey and filter these calls before they reachthe call center. By doing this, the technology creates a win-

    win where mobile publishers can run broad based promotionsand merchants only accept and pay for the quality calls.

    To take my company as an example, just over 50% of callsgenerated across our partner platforms in the past month

    have come from offline publishers, including mobile.

    Geno:An issue that I have been campaigning about is thedanger of phone leakage, where if a merchant has theirown phone number displayed on their website it maytake sales credit away from a referring affiliate. Its criti-cally important that affiliates are credited with the salesthey are entitled to. Can concerns about phone leakagebe addressed with your technology?

    Jason:Yes, our solution allows the affiliates trackable phone

    number to be injected into the merchants website in

    Illustrationcou

    rtesyRingRevenue

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    place of the merchants default number. When a potentialcustomer clicks on the affiliates ad, the click URL passesa unique identifier that the merchant can use to switch outtheir main phone number with the publishers phone num-ber so that anytime the site visitor is on the merchants site,

    they will see the phone number that was assigned to thatspecific publisher.

    Geno:What are the main benefits to merchants that result frompay-per-call programs?

    Jason:I think there are three main benefits.

    * Pay-per-call makes all advertising more effective. Customershave an increased sense of security doing business with acompany that is also reachable by phone if they have ques-tions. For merchants who offer the option to either call or

    click, we see both methods of contact increase.* Pay-per-call increases sales. Studies show that calls convert

    to sales at a rate of 30%-50% and that the average ordervalue of sales closed over the phone is 1.5 to 2 times betterthan those sales that convert online. Whats more, sinceconsumers are more likely to buy big-ticket items when theycan speak to someone live, pay-per-call allows merchantsto offer higher value products through the affiliate channel.The bottom line is that consumers want human interaction.If you arent giving it to them, youre losing them.

    * Pay-per-call provides a gateway to a multitude of marketingchannels where most dollars are spent but where trackingand compensation have proven difficult. Online advertising

    spend represents approximately only one-tenth of spendon offline advertising. Pay-per-call brings the performance-based model and online tracking and targeting technologyto the offline world, creating an unprecedented opportunityfor advertisers.

    Geno:Ive personally have seen a new pay-per-call programyielding up to 25% conversions. This seems like a greatopportunity right now.

    Jason:Exactly. Its also worth noting that, despite all the benefits

    associated with running pay-per-call campaigns, theresreally no up-front financial risk. Performance-based pricingand customizable lead criteria mean advertisers pay onlyfor high-quality results and merchants can scale call volumeat a rate they are comfortable with. As you say, its a greatopportunity. |rp

    JASON SPIEVAK is the co-founder and CEO of RingRevenue, a leading

    provider of telephony solutions to the performance marketing industry.

    EVGENII GENO PRUSSAKOV is an author, blogger, speaker and

    consultant in affiliate marketing and affiliate program management.

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    For the last two years LeadQual has been surveyingover 100 for-profit colleges in order to examine howthey respond to leads generated online. The originalsurvey consisted of more than 450 Internet inquiries, whilethe latest expanded the research to 780 leads submitted to155 different colleges.

    In the first years survey, we found that only 61% percentof web inquiries obtained a telephone response. For thosethat did receive a call, it came, on average, seven hours afterthe lead was submitted. The best schools responded withinfive minutes, however less than three percent fell into that

    category. Speed of response is critical to converting onlineleads, with research showing that waiting just 30 minutesmay reduce successful contact rate dramatically, so theseslow response times are disappointing.

    In spite of these poor results, our latest survey has foundlittle in the way of improvement. Even though all leads weresubmitted during normal business hours, median phoneresponse time across all colleges remained unchanged atone hour and 36 minutes. On average, 66% of the inquiries

    we submitted received a phone response, an increase of justfive percent. Only 35% of the schools responded to everylead received, meaning that two-thirds were leaving at leastsome of their Internet inquiries completely unanswered.

    The only metric that showed some improvement year-on-year was in median response times of individual colleges. In2009, only one school had a median phone response time ofless than or equal to two minutes. In 2010, that figure rose tonine percent. Similarly, colleges with a median 10 minutesor less response time increased from 7% to 13%. Beyond the10 minute mark, and up to and including 24 hours, medianphone response time was essentially unchanged year-on-year.

    What became apparent through follow-up questions wasthat many of those schools that are among the fastest inresponse time are succeeding through use of outsourced

    solutions. These colleges include schools such as BrooklineCollege and Virginia College. But what is clear from theresults is that many schools perhaps the majority are notmaking progress in lead response, even though its critical toeffective conversion.

    There appear to be several factors that are making it dif-ficult for colleges to improve their response times: First of all, CRM systems focus on tracking that leads

    have been allocated for follow up rather than accuratelytracking how quickly sales or admissions representativesrespond to a lead.

    Second, most schools cant depend on admissions reps orenrollment advisors to reliably document when they call a

    Clicking Through Glenn Houck

    revenuePERFORMANCE ISSUE 5

    Survey Says: One Year Later, Colleges StillLag in Response to Internet Leads

    100%

    0:02 0:10 0:30 1:00 1:30 3:00 6: 00 12:00 2 4:00 4 8:00 9 6:00 >96:00

    90%

    80%

    70%

    60%

    50%

    40%

    30%

    20%

    10%

    0%

    % of Schools by Response Time

    Response Time Less Than or Equal To

    %o

    fSchools

    2009

    2010

    The growth in the number of schools responding in two minutes or less. This may indicate

    an increasing recognition of the importance of quick response.

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    The Leader in Health Insurance Online

    Partner with eHealthInsuranceUp to $75 Per Action*

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    Contact David O. Klein today at:(212) 935-6020 x 244 | [email protected]

    485 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022

    23revenue.mThink.com

    CLASSIFIEDS

    potential enrollee. These folks are just too busy handlingtheir primary job of interviewing and helping the studentthrough the enrollment process. As a result, measure-ment of lead response time becomes problematic, or just

    doesnt happen at all. Third, to rapidly respond to Internet leads within a few

    minutes of receiving them a school would need a mini-mum of a dozen people, including managers, to cover allthe hours in a five to six day work-week. And those dozenor so staffers would be needed just to make the first callto qualify an inquiry. That figure excludes additional staffto handle the primary responsibilities of enrollment advi-sors.

    In industry sectors such as education, mortgages and in-surance, its a given that no online leads are exclusive. Speedcounts when it comes to conversion, but most organizations

    simply arent equipped to boost their response time without

    outside support. Those organizations that are recognizingthis fact are gaining a significant competitive advantage.

    For-profit schools in particular - and everyone else too, infact - should be focused upon speed of response to Internet

    leads. Its a key metric but very few, if any, organizations aretracking it. Regardless of whether they choose to build anin-house team or hire a third party to expedite their Inter-net response rate, our research shows that there is a hugepotential pay-off to those that decide to put resource intoimproving this area of their operations. |rp

    GLENN HOUCK is co-founder of LeadQual (www.leadqual.com), an

    Internet marketing firm specializing in converting Internet leads. Prior

    to LeadQual, Glenn served as senior vice president at HomeGain.com, in

    charge of sales, marketing, and product & technology development.

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    In todays challenging business climate, any positiveresults that can be gained are encouraging, but it isoften difficult to accurately measure success. Marketersface a bewildering array of potential success metrics, thedefinition of which is not always clear, let alone their impacton overall results. Because of the complexity often involvedin assessing the true success of a campaign, marketers tendto look for answers where the looking is good, rather than

    digging deeper. Most of us have probably been guilty of thisat some time. It even has a name, the Streetlight Effect.

    An old joke illustrates the root of the name. One nighta policeman finds a drunk crawling around on his handsand knees under a streetlight. The drunk tells the officerhes looking for his wallet. When the officer asks if hes surethis is where he dropped his wallet, the man replies that hethinks he actually dropped it across the street. Then whyare you looking over here?, the officer asks. Because thelights better here, explains the drunk.

    When we as marketers are trying to evaluate success, weneed to make sure were looking in the right place, and notacting like the drunk in the joke, only looking where it is

    easy to see. Whether youre a direct or a brand advertiser,its critical to understand which metrics provide an accurateand balanced measure of performance.

    Its common for many advertisers to solely focus on howmuch it costs to acquire a customer (CPA) in aggregate andbase their optimization decisions on that metric. But thereare several shortcomings with aggregate performance re-porting and metrics; they dont identify why youve reachedthe CPA, they dont properly assess lifetime value, and theydont determine which publishers, placements and/or listsare performing well and which are not.

    It Starts with KPIs

    A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure ofperformance specially designed to help a business measuresuccess, typically in terms of making progress towardslong-term organizational goals. KPIs are frequently used tovalue difficult to measure activities, such as the benefits ofleadership development, engagement, service and satisfac-tion.

    KPIs can be specified by answering the question, Whatis really important to different stakeholders? Havingdetermined the right KPIs, they may then be monitoredusing business intelligence techniques to assess the presentstate of the business and to assist in prescribing a course ofaction. The act of monitoring KPIs in real-time is known as

    business activity monitoring (BAM).

    KPIs differ depending on the nature of the organizationand the organizations strategy. They help to evaluate theprogress of an organization towards its vision and long-termgoals, especially toward difficult to quantify knowledge-based goals.

    Typical Advertiser KPIs and Associated Benefits Target Audience Alignment: Understanding how a

    publishers traffic aligns with your preferred customerdemographic and psychographic profiles can informcreative and media targeting decisions.

    Target Geo Alignment: Identifying where your bestand worst customers are coming from makes it easier toimplement appropriate geo targeting controls.

    Contact or Response Rate: Tracking contact or responserates from call centers or CRM programs can help iden-tify media sources that produce low or high quality leaddata. A media supplier could drive a great CPA, but iftheir leads respond at a very low rate, the cost to convertthe lead to a sale could be cost prohibitive.

    Charge-Back Rate: You could have a great initial cost per

    sale, but high consumer or lead buyer charge-back ratescan ruin your ROI.

    Lifetime Value: This takes into account all of the rev-enue realized from a customer over a specified periodof time. You may have a media channel that producesa high CPA, but a high lifetime value may offset higherthan average CPA. If youre not looking at lifetime value

    you may be optimizing away from your most valuablecustomers.

    Multi-Attribution Conversion Tracking: If youre onlylooking at the last click that resulted in a sale or lead,then you may be attributing too much value to mediasources like search, coupons or shopping comparison

    engines. Brand Lift: Taking into consideration an ad campaigns

    impact on brand awareness, brand favorability, brandassociation and purchase intent can help brands buildequity while achieving sales and revenue goals.

    Any marketer really wishing to make progress on achiev-ing business goals should review which of these diverse KPIsfit their situation best, then put them into use in order tomake smarter decisions. |rp

    JASON OATES is SVP of media services at NetMargin, a Datran Media

    Company.

    High Performance Marketing Jason Oates

    revenuePERFORMANCE ISSUE 5

    Choosing Appropriate Key Performance IndicatorsDefining How You Measure to Deliver Better Results

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