BALANCING BRAND VERSUS SALES

GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR FASHION PUBLISHERS

Presented byFiona GandyKey Account Manager, 7thingsmedia

@FiGandy@7thingsmedia

Hashtag: #A4UB7

Style, success &

sales

• Performance-based marketing agency, founded in 2009

• Offices in London and New York

• Clients include:

• Services include: Affiliate, Display, Lead Generation, SEO, PPC &

Online PR

• Recent awards:

• “Best Affiliate Agency” - Winner, A4uAwards 2011

• “Best use of Affiliate Marketing” – Finalist, NMA Awards 2011

7thingsmedia

Affiliate marketing the growth

•UK affiliate market worth est. £4.62bn in 2010*•Est. over £5bn by end 2011•Est. £280m+ paid in affiliate commission

* Affiliate Marketing Econsultancy Buyer’s Guide, 2010

Needs to be managed effectively

Complex landscape

cashback

New season

collection

voucher codes

PR or affiliate bloggers

SALE

Facebook me! Or text, failing that call or email, or tweet me if I am not on Skype but don’t IM me!

Gro

wth

Pote

nti

al H

igh

Low

Brand RelevanceLowHigh

•Maintain relationship•Evolve the proposition

•Assess brand compatibility•Bespoke strategy for mutual benefit•Tactical campaigns

•Develop close relationships•Improve conversion•Identify new opportunities

•Automated approach•Minimal touch point

Affiliate value

Voucher and cashback…

•Getting the most out of your voucher and cashback affiliates

• Communication is key

• Share information and DATA

• What are your competitors doing?

• What are you looking to achieve?• Higher AOV?• Acquisition?• Shift stock?

Voucher and cashback…

•Monitor

• Who’s saying what and where?

• On brand messaging

• Agent Provocateur saw a 115% yearly revenue increase by applying this

Fashion aggregators

• Timescales

• Product feed

• Budget

• Commission

Bloggers

•Very brand loyal

• Traditionally a low converter

• Find ways to work with this – EPC

• Exclusive offers

•Put yourself out there

Events

Events

Who’s who…

Get your house in order

•Review Terms & Conditions

• Use to assist in your screening process

•Welcome email – branded HTML, concise information, include current

promotion / banners

•Contact information

•Replace old banners / text links

•Ensure product feed is working

• Listen to requests

Commission

• What could you afford to pay?• Think ahead to potential incentives

• What do your competitors pay?

• What do your re-sellers pay?

• Different commissions for new /returning customers?

• Tiered structures / category “item level” specific

• Is your affiliate budget structured for scale (fixed, semi-variable, variable)

Optimisation

P a y a ff ilia tes m ore

•C om p ellin g crea tive

•Stron g con su m er off ers/ vou ch er cod es

•Secu r in g good p la cem en ts on th e

a ff ilia te site

•D eep lin k in g to sp ecifi c p rod u cts

•R ed u cin g th e cu stom er jou rn ey

•E a sy site to u se

EPC = CPA & CTR & O SC

“Scale the affiliate programme without the use of voucher code websites”

Know your objectives

“Trade the website

aggressively against

competitors”“Increase

coverage on

fashion

websites”

“Define the value of

affiliate marketing”

“Increase affiliate sales through fashion content sites and bloggers”

Trading Plan

Planning and strategy

Recruitment

•Recruiting your fashion affiliates:

• Agencies• Events – be creative• Affiliate days • Networks – newsletters / own events • Gap analysis... (wait until you hear about Affiliate Manager Plus)• Affiliates4u – banner / posts• Google alerts

...segment

Segmented recruitment

Top aff iliates•Strong relationsh ips•B espoke strategies

Con ten t•C rea te b etter co lla tera l to

a llow a ff ilia tes to p rom ote

m ore eff ectively

PPC• In vestiga te th e ta ctica l u se o f a ff ilia tes on

b ran d +gen er ic term s

Cashback•T a ctica l

a p p roa ch a s op p osed to “a lw a ys on ”

a p p roa ch

V oucher Code

•D o w e w a n t to p lay?

•W h a t a re ou r ru les o f

en ga gem en t?

N ur ser y P r ogr am m e•E ngage inactive and lapsed aff iliates

•D o they need an arm round the shou lder or a k ick up the beh ind?

Communication

• One to one and one to many approach

• Segment by type of affiliate and therefore by type of content

• If you want control then you have to feed affiliates

• Work alongside PR team

• It’s not just the fluffy stuff - trading style relationship with affiliates

• Create an army of affiliates

• Think outside the box ; look books, press day invites

Communication• Step 1 • Step 2

Communication• Step 1 • Step 2

Stand out

Incentives

• Identify your goals

• Segment – every affiliate is different

Cash; Commission on next month’s sales; Tiered structure; Exclusive vouchercode; Products; Previews; Champagne or chocolate; VIP events; Away days; Holidays

• Attractive, Achievable, Fun!

• Expectations

...It’s not the lottery

Incentives

Innovations

• Content units

• Social widgets / linking – everyone becomes an affiliate

• Feed optimisation

•Mobile

• Rewarding check-ins

• Location based offers in-store and online

• Offline editorial / advertorial accountability

Innovations

• Re-targeting

• Re-marketing

• Facebook shop

• Innovative approach

• Absolute focus on value as well as volume

• Move away from the Affiliate Marketing ‘norm’

• Not just “affiliates

Not impressed by coverage?

Revenue up 851%

…traffic up

163% year on

year

8:1 ROI

7thingsmedia has proven the worth of affiliate marketing to the wider company

Orders up by

208%

7things…tomorrow

7 things to implement on your affiliate programme tomorrow:

1. Get your house in order

2. Identify your key objectives and plan

3. Segment your affiliates

- By volume and type

4. Review your EPC – how can you improve it?

5. Recruit, recruit, recruit

6. Strengthen relationships

7. Innovate (...and talking of innovation)

Introducing...

Thank you & questions

Thank you to my beautiful panel: - Eve - Sarah - Alex

Fiona Gandy

Key Account Manager

7thingsmedia

fiona.gandy@7thingsmedia.com

020 7017 3196

@FiGandy

@7thingsmedia