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Contents 1 Advertiser strategy guide 1.1 Housekeeping Do's & Don'ts 1.1.1 Do: 1.1.2 Don't: 1.2 Building Awareness (0-3 Months) 1.3 Recruitment and Engagement (3-6 Months) 1.4 Find out more

Advertiser strategy guide

To help plan which activities need to be carried out in the first 6 months we have prepared a guide outlining key daily checks that must be performed to ensure a successful and well-run affiliate programme. As well as some helpful steps on what to do at different stages of your journey.

It's important to note that the more time you spend building your affiliate partnerships the stronger performance you'll see on your programme.

Housekeeping Do's & Don'ts

Do:

• Check the performance graph and To-Do List found on the Advertiser Dashboard on a daily basis

• Review pending Publisher Approvals awaiting to join your programme

• Check your Publisher Recommendations and invite any good fits to your programme

• Reach out directly to any newly accepted publishers to be onboarded on their site etc

• Upload any upcoming promotions or offers into the My Offers tool

• Process pending transactions or transaction queries

Note: pending transactions will auto-approve 7 days after your returns period set out on your application form. Please check and decline any cancelled/returned transactions within this timeframe or you risk paying for non-commissionable transactions. The dashboard will also alert you to any Transaction Queries submitted by publishers. Check these regularly, as all Transaction Queries are set to auto-approve after 75 days.

Don't:

• Leave your profile unattended for long periods to avoid a build-up of tasks

• Ignore the publisher requests as this can look unprofessional and may have a negative effect on your business

• Miss information/assets on the different tabs/tools on your profile page on Awin. Publishers know where to find the essentials so it's important to provide them with as much as possible so they can promote you

Note: Download our Post-Launch Checklist to guide further setting up your programme post-launch. We find most clients who follow this guide generate their first sale within 21 days! The guide also outlines key housekeeping tasks for you to perform to maintain a smooth-running programme.

Building Awareness (0-3 Months)

You must be confident navigating around the interface if you are to make the most out of your affiliate programme. Set time aside to play around and familiarise yourself with the various sections or watch our Interface Tutorial Video Guide.

Step 1 - Think about your business goals for the programme, is it to drive volume, attract new customers, increase average order value (AOV) or grow your brand awareness online?

Step 2 - Make sure you have a good understanding of the different types of publishers and their requirements.

Step 3 - Search and find suited partners via the Publisher Directory. Once you have a clear idea of the different types, this should help you to know what you’re looking for. Be sure to engage with these publishers early on to build relationships and trust between them.

Step 4 - Use the My Offers tool to manage your promotions and discounts whether they be public domain or exclusively arranged. Publishers can download the My Offers feed to gain access to the latest offers from all joined programmes from the network. Be sure to notify partners of these offers and make sure they’re promoting them the correct way.

Step 5 - Be sure you’re utilising the My Creative section by, not just uploading your logo, but any website or social media banners/images you have of your products or seasonal offers etc so your publishers can download and replicate this for cohesive branding authenticity.

Step 6 - Always keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. What product information is being shared with publishers, what promotions/incentives are they running and where are they appearing? Some publishers will send out newsletters to their consumer base featuring advertiser offers so consider signing up to monitor coverage. Read both The Hub and Awin publisher newsletter to gather insight into how competitors promote their programmes to publishers on the network.

Step 7 - Create and send messages through the Communications Centre to keep your partners up to date on your latest products, offers and promotions. This can be done weekly, monthly or how regular you seem fit. Having consistent communication and awareness can also help to cut back on time against manually emailing each publisher, especially when needing to notify publishers regarding new creatives etc.

Step 8 - Promote your new affiliate journey via your website, social media, or The Hub. Let your customers know of the exciting news! Announce to your new or existing customers that you’re now onboarding affiliates for your brand and what incentives they will receive as a point of sale.

Recruitment and Engagement (3-6 Months)

After 3 months of being live, the network will calculate and publish your Awin Index score in the Advertiser Directory. The Index is a score out of 100 derived from 4 key performance metrics also known as CAVE data:

• Conversion Rate
• Approval Percentage
• Validation Period
• Earnings Per Click (EPC)

The higher the score the more optimised the programme which makes it more attractive to prospective publishers.

Step 1 - Attract publishers to promote your business via direct and in-direct recruitment methods

Step 2 - Maintain and grow your relationships with your publishers. Find out how you can secure more exposure on their sites, feature in their newsletters and take note of any feedback they may have.

Step 3 - Analyse your publisher mix. Do you see consistent sales from the same publishers? Think about how you can reward or show your appreciation. Could they receive a higher commission rate?

Step 4 - Implement an activation strategy for the inactive affiliates who are signed up for your programme but have yet to send any traffic. Focus on partners that are a good fit for your brand or are known high-volume drivers on the network.

Step 5 - Run a Publisher Gap Analysis to help show potential gaps in your affiliate programme, plus saves time in finding new top-performing affiliates to work with.

Step 6 - Time for a clean! Look at the data on your programme, are there any outdated creatives or offers? Be sure to remove these to save publishers from using the wrong content. Are there any publishers that haven’t generated or contributed to your programme since it went live? Remove any publishers that are taking up your time and space.

Find out more

• Affiliate Marketing Best Practices - read our beginners guide to Affiliate Marketing Best Practice
• How to Use Awin - We cover all the fundamental aspects of affiliate marketing strategy and how to use the Awin platform to achieve your affiliate marketing goals.
• Advertiser Success Centre - discover how to fully utilise the Awin platform and optimise your affiliate campaigns.
• Awin Interface video guide - learn how to use our Awin Interface with this step-by-step guide, walking you through all the tools you'll need to get started with your affiliate marketing programme.
• The Hub - our dedicated publisher portal
• PerformanceIn - previously known as the A4U Forum, a newly rebranded information portal brought to you by the same company responsible for the Performance Marketing Awards and the A4U Expos. Specific sub-forums are available to post your promotions.
• Subscribe to the monthly Awin Strategy Newsletter here.
• Subscribe to the monthly Awin Client Partnership Newsletter here.