Affiliation is a partnership between an advertiser (also known as the “affiliator”) and affiliates of all kinds, including content publishers (influencers, blogs, webzines, etc.). This relationship is most often managed by an affiliation platform acting as a trusted third party between the two parties, and providing them with technological solutions.
The advertiser uses a network of affiliates to promote its products and services. They will then be remunerated according to the results obtained. This is known as the performance model.
Good to know: many content publishers are interested in the benefits of affiliation. This allows them to monetize their traffic by testing new products, highlighting special offers or providing comparative articles or videos. Be careful, however, to target the right people with the right message, by correctly identifying your marketing persona.
A network of ambassadors to help brands raise their profile
A brand that offers content to its users via its blog or social networks remains strongly linked to its editorial line. Affiliation offers an ideal way out. And, in so doing, to attract new customers.
To this end, it is looking forambassadors who will take on the task of highlighting its products and/or activities using the tone and style appreciated by their audiences.
What’s more, multiplying the number of affiliate partners means that the same subject can be treated from different angles, depending on the tone and audience of the content publishers selected.
And by multiplying the points of contact with users and prospects, it becomes easier for an advertiser toexperiment with new strategies with new or existing audiences. But also test different remuneration and promotion methods with a pure ROI objective.
Content publishers at the heart of all affiliate strategies
We’ve talked about brands. But it’s just as important to talk about affiliate sites and, above all, the typology that interests us in this article: the content publishers. The latter, in fact, take on the role of role as advisor, inspirer and prescriber with their audience. In fact, it’s this trust on the part of their readers that advertisers seek out and appreciate.
There are 4 main types of content publisher, each with its own specific strengths.
The first category is the one we highlight on Casaneo: affinity sites specializing in a specific sector. affinity sites specialized in a specific sector (fashion and home in our case). These affiliates are attractive to brands because they have a highly qualified audience and real sector expertise.
In contrast to specialized sites, we find generalist generalist content publishers such as the major media. The latter, who have a “content to commerce” affiliation logic (editorializing marketing content to generate sales or traffic for the advertiser), prefer to opt for publications that are separate from their editorial line. This may take the form of a buyer’s guide or, as is often the case in France, an advertorial (which, as we’ll explain in the next paragraph, is not affiliation).
Complementing these two types of content publishers are bloggers and influencers which generally specialize in one or more sectors. Appreciated by their audience for their tone and independence, they pass on their know-how through videos or advice articles, and like to recommend products or brands to their audience.
In all cases, it’s important for content publishers wishing to become affiliates to guarantee genuine editorial quality, total transparency with their readers (monetized content) and, above all, to offer content that content that meets the needs and desires of its users.
Affiliate Marketing: A growth lever for content publishers
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Publisher sites: attention to attribution models and remuneration methods
If content publishers appreciate affiliation, it’s because they’re generally the ones who get the best commission. cost-per-sale (CPV), which can reach over 12%. Why? Because their prescriptive power is particularly strong. This encourages the implementation of campaigns with very high ROI.
However, this involves negotiating the mode of remunerationon the one hand, and the allocation model of the other. Remuneration is directly linked to results, while attribution corresponds to content publishers’ contribution to consumer awareness. In this respect, we must differentiate between the last click (only the last affiliate visited before conversion is remunerated), from first click (in the event of conversion, the first affiliate visited by the surfer will be remunerated) and multitouch attribution (considering the contribution of all affiliates used for conversion). In the case of an affiliate partnership between an advertiser and a content publisher, a first-click attribution model is preferred to ensure that sales generated by the prescribing affiliate are not cannibalized by “scoring” affiliates such as couponing sites or retargeters.
Please note: some content publishers offer for a fixed fee (and not linked to results). The brand knows the precise cost of publication on the site, which in turn writes an article telling the story. This is known as storytelling.
Although affiliation is a 100% performance-based marketing lever, More and more affiliation platforms are also offering this type of service. This means that the line between brand content and affiliation is becoming increasingly blurred.
Affiliation platforms: the intermediary that simplifies life for affiliators and affiliates
Every digital marketing strategy involves to continuously measure and optimize the performance of its actions. This applies to advertisers and publishers alike. To do this, you need to learn how to use and talk about KPIs and make them speak for themselves.
For publishers, this means carefully observe audience behavior by studying clicks, visits, bounce rates and comments. This allows you to check the engagement of your audience, but also the consistency of your editorial line.
To help you, don’t hesitate to contact affiliation platforms.
At Casaneo, for example, each of our customers has a dedicated space and manager. What’s more, we provide you with a sophisticated tracking tool that allows you to be remunerated precisely according to your results, and in complete transparency.
If you are a content publisher and would like to monetize your traffic.
