Affiliate Marketing resilient during crisis
While overall ad spend has dropped during to the Covid-19 crisis, affiliate marketing has been resilient, according to a study by Rakuten Advertising. This can be attributed to a variety of factors, one being a significant and rapid shift in consumer behaviour, which has made affiliate publishers identify opportunities to re-evaluate the way they meet customer’s needs. The survey revealed that 57% of affiliate publishers have continued “business as usual” throughout the pandemic and some were even seeing stronger performance during the crisis. More than quarter of affiliate publishers said they have also launched new inventory or campaigns to fight the crisis. Some are also providing new services and content to site visitors, while 24% of them have invested in different channels to meet new consumer activity. The pay-for-performance model has been an especially attractive proposition for advertisers during the crisis, since they can determine in real time what they are willing to pay for a sale and thus have total control over channel ROI. As consumers have become more cost-conscious, many companies have become promotional and now rely on large affiliates that are very adept at getting their promotional messages out. The expansive models that affiliate marketing covers (on-site promotion to email, social media, paid search, shopping feeds and more) are helping advertisers to get their offers out far and wide. With large parts of the world now coming out of lock-down, advertisers and publishers need to consider how to prepare their businesses for a post-pandemic world, especially in the face of a collapse in customer demand in certain sectors, significant regulatory modifications, supply chain interruptions, unemployment, economic recession, and increased uncertainty. Perhaps the management theorist Henry Mintzberg defined it best as the 5 Ps: plan, ploy, pattern, position, and perspective. What position can you attain during and after the pandemic? What is your plan for bouncing back? How will your culture and identity change (perspective)? What new projects do you need to launch, run and coordinate? How prepared are you to execute on these plans and projects? You can download a worksheet for the 5 P’s here. It can help you plot your current and future moves. Best of luck for the coming weeks and months and remember, we are here for you if you ever need guidance or help in how to set up your campaigns or change your messaging. Onwards and upwards! The Publisher Team
Optimism – the force that pushes us onwards
I don’t know about you, but the last five months have been a real roller coaster for the AdMarula team. From suddenly having to work remotely, schooling kids at home, to doing virtual client meetings and eventually dealing with the reality and adjustments of returning back to the office, life has certainly thrown us a few curve balls. While this time has forced many of us to stretch ourselves further than we ever thought possible, it has also shown us what we can achieve when we have no other choice. And it’s this realisation, that I think will have a profound impact on how many of us approach life, business and our futures going forward. Yes, it has been (and still is) scary fearing for our own health and that of our loved ones. Fear of the unknown, what the future will bring. I find myself wondering, will there ever be a vaccine? Will we ever travel long-haul for holidays again? Will I need to fly to Durban and Johannesburg for client meetings again? Are business networking events a thing of the past? Now that we’ve seen how things can be done differently, and more efficiently at that, it’s hard to return to the old normal. Perhaps this crisis really is the universe’s way of telling us to wake up, to change our bad habits, to simplify our lives, to be kinder to the environment and to our planet, to make time for ourselves and those we love, to stop being greedy, and to see the beauty in every day. Because our health is everything. Once that is gone, nothing else matters. Having said that, I have definitely in the last week or so noticed that life is slowly starting to return to a new normal. Once empty cafes now have quite a few customers, hair dressers are open and busy, and when I tried to book a place for myself and my family to go away somewhere local over the long weekend EVERYTHING was fully booked. That’s encouraging. Not only does it mean our local tourism and hospitality businesses are finally making a turnover again, but it also shows how resilient humans are. We have an inherent desire to explore, live and be around other people. We just need to keep in mind that this thing isn’t over yet and the rules, although they seem unreasonable and frustrating at times, are there for a reason. For our safety. Back to business: naturally and like most other businesses, AdMarula has also felt the pinch of the economic crisis that we now find ourselves in, with Travel being by far our hardest hit vertical. But five months in and we are already seeing a doubling in transactions from last month, and with local leisure travel given the green light we remain optimistic that our local tourism sector will start to make a recovery after months of lockdown. The entire AdMarula team, management included, have taken a 25% pay cut since the start of the lockdown in order to preserve cash and jobs and I am glad to say that so far we have not needed to retrench people or take any other drastic measures besides keeping our spending down. We have also done an intensive business development drive during the lockdown period which has resulted in several new clients coming on board. You can read more about these in our ‘Featured offers’ section further down. Finally I would like to pass on my condolences to anyone in our business community (publishers, clients, partners, suppliers and friends) who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Whether you have lost loved ones, lost your business, are suffering financially or been ill yourself, we wish you strength and recovery in the coming months. This storm too shall pass, and we will find light in the darkness once again. As per the words of the Dalai Lama: “Choose optimism, it feels better”. All the best for the rest of August, stay warm and stay safe. Daniel Gross – CEO
Surviving the Covid-19 crisis as an affiliate
There might be those who believe affiliate publishers are largely unaffected by the Carona virus pandemic. They couldn’t be more wrong. Although we operate in an online space, when the worldwide economy is in a downturn due to a global crisis, everyone gets affected. But there is proof that some verticals (like travel) are being hit harder than others (like gaming). So how can you as an affiliate, adapt and survive during this stressful time, and what are the big do’s and don’t’s you need to be aware of? The answer may be exactly that: adapt & survive. The virus outbreak hinders many brick-and-mortar businesses, products or services often promoted with the help of the affiliate marketing industry. This in turn leads to a lower demand for online purchases, a cut in advertising budgets, lower interest from customers, and a general decrease of business opportunities for affiliates. But it’s not all bad news. With millions of people forced into quarantine, self-isolation, and working from home they will be looking for ways to keep themselves entertained. This can in turn lead to a rise in demand for entertainment traffic in verticals like streaming, gaming, and dating i.e. new business opportunities for affiliate advertisers and publishers alike. You may also be wondering whether it will now be more expensive to run affiliate ad campaigns now? Whenever there’s a world crisis, no industry remains stable. An unstable industry means unstable pricing. But in the case of affiliate advertising, this may, again, open up new possibilities. For instance, Google Ads pricing has dropped by roughly 25% in the last week due to the pressure on so many industries, especially travel. Overall there are much fewer offers out now in ‘old’ verticals, while we will see more offers emerge for new, trending verticals. The payout for new or existing offers are expected to be lower than usual, but at least it’ll have a chance to convert. At least for a while traffic may become cheaper. But it’s still early days so we’ll need to see. Now, however, is definitely the time to explore new ‘work from home’ verticals. These include Surveys & Sweeps, Lead Generation, Education/Personal development, Hobbies & Interests, Nutra & Healthcare. Mobile devices verticals include: App Smartlink, Utility & VPN, Antivirus, Games. Adult content verticals include: Smartlinks, Cams/Tube sites, Games Push traffic (as users engage with news an are staying alert), pop and domain-redirect traffic (entertainment traffic), and native in-app advertising should also do the trick with people turning to their phones for all kinds of e-commerce related purchases. It is also important for advertisers and publishers alike to update themselves with the latest campaign guidelines for affiliate advertising in times of coronavirus. For example NO Coronavirus related angles are allowed in advertising, which includes the use of terminology like Covid-19, Corona or Covid. This applies across the board to landing pages, icons, images ad descriptions etc. Fake news and deceptive content is also a BIG NO and could have legal implications. This also applies to fake endorsements of products. However advertisers and publishers ARE allowed to promote medical products during the Corona pandemic, as long as the ad is not irresponsible or exploit people’s fears regarding the outbreak. Campaigns without the Coronavirus related angle, but promoting self-protection products are also allowed (like gloves, masks, hand sanitizer), as long as there’s no mention of the pandemic. There is no doubt that these are strange and challenging times, but our industry is an amazingly resilient and adaptable one. Let’s use this opportunity to take on a new challenge, and who knows, you may come out the other side even stronger. Onwards and upwards! The Publisher Team
Digital trends 2020 – what everyone is talking about
Welcome back! I hope you are rested and ready to take on the new year like we are. 2020 is bound to bring on a fair amount of challenges and opportunities for the digital industry. Whether it’s the fact that Google recently decided to phase out third party cookies, or US politicians pushing to break up ‘Big Tech’ firms like Facebook and Amazon, our landscape is ever-changing and the best thing we can do is to be prepared, look ahead, adapt and keep an ear on the ground. According to the World Advertising and Research Center, in 2020 Digital Advertising will for the first time ever make up more than half of the total global ad spend at $336 billion, with Google’s share of the global ad market being 23%, ahead of Facebook’s 13% and Amazon’s 2.5%. But what does that mean for you as a publisher or an advertiser? Below are some of the big trends in digital that you will need to keep an eye on: Companies relying on Google Analytics will get beaten by their competitors – Not that there’s anything wrong with Google Analytics, but things are changing. New channels are being introduced constantly, such as voice search, and transactions are no longer as simple as someone coming and buying from you. On top of that, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships, affiliate marketing, and even webinars. In 2020, you will see more companies adopting business intelligence solutions. A central place where you can tie in all of your data and make better-informed decisions so you can optimize for your lifetime value instead of your short-term income. Conversational marketing – this is thought by many to be the most exciting trend in marketing today, bringing together rapid consumer adoption of smart speakers and innovation in search query processing, conversational interfaces and messaging. However, many of these technologies aren’t expected to become mainstream for another 5 to 10 years. Of those forecast to hit the mainstream within the next 2 to 5 years, the three most significant for marketers to consider are personification, real-time and conversational marketing. Consumer privacy – Repeated privacy faux-pas by Facebook, Google and security breaches at other brands leading to the release of customer details have highlighted to consumers that their data isn’t as safe with online brands as they may have once thought. Privacy regulations like GDPR have been enacted to improve data privacy with increased fines. This also means that the days of the cookie (and particularly third-party cookies) and digital fingerprinting may be numbered. Therefore businesses should be considering other alternatives if they aren’t already. Martech – These days, Marketing Technology presents a bewildering choice of software services for businesses looking to improve their management of digital media, experiences and supporting data. If your business and your agencies adopt the right blend of Martech, it can help give you an edge against competitors, but if not, you may be missing out on the insights and automation processes they are using. The only way to map, store, analyze and act on the complete end-to-end customer journey is having all the data in one place using a Customer Data Platform. But it is up to each company to decide which system (or combinations of systems) is the best fit for their business. It’s quite a lot to think about, but AdMarula is on this journey with you, as your partner in Digital. Upwards and onwards! Daniel Gross – CEO
How digital marketing has changed business forever
The influence that digital marketing has on people’s behaviour and habits is incredible. We only need to look around. There are place where people don’t have running water, but own smart phones – such is the need for people to be connected to those around them. Now more than ever, businesses need to understand how to utilise this new digital universe and the role that marketing plays in it. We look at some of the biggest ways that digital marketing has changed business forever. Transparency – customers are no longer happy to just take what companies say for face value. They want to know about the companies they interact with. This is particularly relevant when it comes to food products with consumers wanting to know exactly what’s in the things they eat. Companies now have a whole new list of priorities which can range from their packaging to how they treat they employees and the information they give their customers. Adaptability – Digital changes at an incredibly fast pace. This requires employees across departments to be agile, work together and most importantly keep up to date with development so they have the skills to adapt and use these changes to the company’s advantage. Provided ongoing education is a great way to achieve this. Ultimately, if a business wants to succeed with its digital strategy it needs to empower it’s work force to be at the cutting edge of digital technology and skills. Innovation – The rise of the digital era has forced us all in some way or another to move out of our comfort zones, learn new applications and communicate with people in a way we never thought possible. The pressure on businesses to be innovate is huge, and those who fail will be left behind. A new kind of celebrity – Social media and video outlets like YouTube have enabled ’regular’ people to become incredibly influential. Companies no longer need to hire celebrities to endorse their products in order to get millions of people interested in their product or service. Data = personalization – Companies now consists of enormous amounts of data about their customers, their behaviour and what drives them. This allows businesses to personalize their message to consumers on a whole new level. New research shows that 85% of users are more likely to buy a product if the message is personalized and supported by social. Content overload – Marketers have their work cut out for them with 3.3 million people making a Facebook post every 60 seconds, and 29 million messages being distributed via Whatsapp. Brands need to be more creative than ever to get their message through to the right customers. So what is our strategy for grabbing potential customers’ attention? The Editor
Interview with Tony Seifart, MD at Incredibility
This month we chat to online marketing veteran and entrepreneur Tony Seifart. An electrical engineering graduate from UCT, Tony has spent nearly two decades in the digital marketing space in various roles including strategist, lecturer, and speaker. In 2015 his company won the Best E-Commerce Company in Europe, Middle-East and Africa from the Business Excellence Awards, and has been nominated again for 2020. Over the last three years he has built up and sold out two online businesses as well as reading his Honours in Theology. When he is not speaking at events or lecturing, he is running his own impressive list of online companies. We pick his brain on the do’s and don’ts of building a successful business online. Describe yourself in 3 words. Stubborn, Loyal, and have I said Stubborn already? When I was a kid I wanted to be… A Fireman! My best friend Craig wanted to be a cop, and since we both couldn’t be cops, I decided to be a fireman! (you can’t defy 5-year old logic!) Tell us about Platinum Club – where did it all start? A few years back I came across a podcast where the guy was giving people advice on how to structure their finances to get out of debt. I bought the course he was promoting, and the information is brilliant. But I realised that nothing like that existed for South Africans – the advice he was giving was mostly relevant only to Americans. Financial Advisors are incentivised to sell policies, not to really help you. Bank Managers are incentivised to sell you debt. But there’s no structured system to help people plan their financial futures without a proper plan. The Platinum Club was born out of the idea of providing the resources necessary for someone to follow a structured path to create their own financial plan. Of course, we need to be careful because we’re not registered with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, so we can’t provide advice – we only provide the tools to create the plan. Once people have a strong plan they can chat to their own Financial Advisor or CFP to put the plan into action. We’ve now also branched out into building our own Legal App for members and partnered with law firms so that our subscribers can now access legal advice 24/7 via an App (so no wasted airtime sitting on a phone). How do you decide which verticals to go into? When I started out with online lead generation, the only companies using lead generation was Insurance companies, so I didn’t have any other choice. Loans and Insurance seem to go hand-in-hand, so I’ve always focussed on those two areas. Why do some internet businesses fail while others succeed? Adaptability is probably the biggest challenge for online businesses. The bigger a site becomes, the harder it gets to change it when circumstances change (and it’s usually at government’s whim). When regulations change, you’ve got to change. When other people see what you do, they try and copy you. They dump large amounts of money into CPC campaigns, which then drives the price up. That’s been the biggest challenge for us. Unfortunately the smaller guys can’t ride out the storm. You’ve got to pick a strategy and system where big guys can’t bully you out of the market. Which channels have proven most successful in attracting visitors to your site/s? In the past we used email campaigns (the CPA put a stop to that), and we moved to Social Media and traditional CPC. Native gets us a lot of traffic, but very low conversion rates. We’re excited to be partnering with AdMarula on some of our new projects though. What is your experience from working with affiliate marketing? Gees, I love Affiliate Marketing! It’s the easiest way to make money online – you don’t have the come up with products and services, you just sell someone else’s product! The most valuable lessons learnt in your professional career, so far? Cash is King. A deal isn’t really done until the money is in the bank. I’ve had so many deals signed and sealed but collapse at the point of payment. What advice do you have for aspiring online entrepreneurs? Don’t be afraid to dump an idea that isn’t working. Some people spend months (years?) on building the “perfect” website, that costs them a fortunate, but never makes a single cent. If a business idea isn’t working, dump it and move on. Best advice anyone has ever given you? Never Give Up! Never Surrender!
Constantly changing, constantly evolving
By the words of world famous inventor and business man, James Dyson, “business means constantly changing and constantly evolving.” It certainly feels like the world is changing at a much faster pace than before. I was recently in Sweden and in just 12 months since my last visit I could see how things have evolved there. New technologies and solutions that weren’t available less than a year ago, have become a part of day-to-day life. For AdMarula, change and evolution is inevitable – in fact, we’ve been doing it for the past 8 years. Being part of one of the fastest evolving industries in the world, we as digital marketers need to keep up and evolve with the industry. Those who graduated with a degree in marketing can’t compete in today’s market unless they know how to learn and adapt as they go. The industry is simply moving too fast. What was popular in internet marketing 10 or even five years ago is now an ancient practice. We all need to educate ourselves on a daily basis. Luckily there are lots you and I can do stay on top of things happening in our industry. Reading, reading, and more reading! I often tell my team this. There is SO much information available to those who are willing to find it. Sign up to blog posts, newsletters, alerts and read articles. Set aside time in your day to do this, because if you don’t you will miss out on more than you realise. Be out there, physically meet and speak to the people in the digital industry. Much of what we do is automated and can be done via email, Skype etc. but in essence Digital Marketing is still a people’s industry so relationships and communication skills are important. Knowledge sharing. Attend seminars and industry events. We can all learn from each other and it’s often the best way to learn about new trends or important changes happening in your immediate business community. For more technical knowledge you may have to attend a course. These days it is really useful for marketing graduates to have some development skills under their belt. The bridge between marketing and tech is becoming smaller and smaller, which means marketers need to know how to ‘speak basic tech’, and developers need to learn basic business skills so they can think one step ahead of the consumer – understand how they can offer a technical solution to a user-driven problem. We are certainly living in interesting times, and I personally cannot wait to see how our industry will evolve even further in the near future. Onwards and upwards! Daniel Gross – CEO
July profile: Odette Faling, CEO at Wanago Travel
This month we chat to Odette Faling, CEO at Wanago Travel – a new online travel agency with a difference. Having spent the last ten years (eight of which were in the travel industry) gaining extensive experience in marketing, sales, affiliate marketing, lead generation, traffic acquisition, building partnerships, global expansion and marketing strategies, Odette shares some of her insights and experiences, as well as her expectations for her latest venture. Describe yourself in 3 words. Ambitious. Passionate. Versatile. When I was a kid I wanted to be….. An investment banker. As boring as it sounds, but when I was 10 years old I walked into the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen looking out on the Sydney harbour and I asked the owner what he did for a living, and he was an investment banker. Tell us about Wanago Travel – where did it all start? One of the founders was looking for technology to add to concerts, events and park entries so he met the Israeli ambassador at Oppikoppi last year who pointed him into the direction of an Israeli tech company. They came to South Africa and realised that nobody is yet selling events, flights and hotels in one flow. That is where Wanago and Travelcheck were born. Travelcheck being the low cost online travel agency selling flights, hotels and bundles only. And Wanago which is still in production that will be focused on experiences first. How is Wanago Travel different from other online travel agencies? Wanago travel is an experience driven website that will be selling experiences and adding flights and hotels on-top of the experience. Travelcheck is an online travel agency selling flights and hotels in a package; this has not yet been done before in South Africa so we are excited to bring this feature to the market. What is your experience from working with performance-based affiliate marketing? My entire career is based on what I learnt from my experience in affiliate marketing. As a CEO I now think of acquisition cost as a necessity and I have put affiliates at the forefront of our marketing initiatives. Most valuable lessons learnt in your professional career, the past 10 years? Take care of your partners (including affiliates) as if they were your family. They pay your bills at the end of the day and take huge risks to buy into your dream. Your vision for Wanago Travel? To be an alternative to booking your entire trip through a travel agent. We want travellers to save time and money by booking their experiences and holidays online. What advice do you have for aspiring affiliate marketers? Ensure that you prioritise building your brand. The days of Google dependency is gone. Hold your suppliers and merchants accountable for the product that you are selling and keep the relationship with them strong at all times. Greatest destination ever visited? Italy, Italy, Italy. The food, the people, the architecture, the beautiful hills and the wine. It gets me every time!
Less is more – more or less
I often tell clients/marketers/start-ups: “Rather do a few channels well than all of them poorly”. While this statement applies to all areas of life, it is particularly relevant to internet marketing. Of course, if you have an unlimited budget and time, then definitely go ahead and design a new site, set up a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, search engine optimization (SEO) campaign, content campaign, and blast everything on social media. However, most companies have a finite amount of money and time. Therefore, it is better to grow your marketing plan by starting small and adding on elements. Start with a website and then add-on core social media accounts your users actively use. Then, build your content up and begin to rank higher on search engine results pages. Once you have nailed search, expand to PPC and Affiliate Marketing. Finally, once you have mastered all of this, expand to newsletters, podcasts and videos. If you have a small marketing team, spreading resources thinly across several channels will unlikely yield the results you are looking for and will leave your team feeling frustrated and demotivated. From the user experience point of view, the less-is-more approach is also becoming more and more appealing as users are inundated with messages, ads, videos and emails. Marketers have been going full steam ahead, pressured by C-suite, high customer expectations, and the daunting selection of new innovations and tech tools, to adopt and master more channels in order to reach more customers and to create a more sophisticated multi-channel explosion. But when do we realize we’ve hit the point of over-saturation? How much is too much? Research shows that we are seeing a shift towards the compact and minimal in everything from lifestyle to home building. It’s the backlash from too much screen time, always being plugged in, and the personal device addiction. As a result, more people are unplugging, embracing minimalism, and decluttering their life. LESS OVERWHELMING IS IN. So, if your customers are simplifying and downsizing their lives, your marketing messaging will more likely come off as appealing if it is presented in a cleaner, simpler box. Good marketing means listening to society’s trends in order to keep brand messaging one step ahead of cultural shifts. Taking a more scaled back approach, rather than trying to do more with a multi-multi-channel CX, may be more appealing to your audience. For example, instead of creating 20 marketing videos a month to keep your social media channels active and your brand relevant, what if you created 2 really amazing videos that are more likely to go viral. Better quality video, better quality content. Of course there will be times that call for a more aggressive approach, whether you are launching a new product or pushing an offer, but for the most part keep it simple. Like Ron Swanson of the TV show, Parks & Recreation, said: “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” Daniel Gross – CEO
CPI: what you need to know
CPI (Cost per Install) is fast becoming popular. Most people use apps every day to perform various activities. Apps are now part of almost everything in our lives, and advertisers have – correctly so –started to take notice. Just as with a CPA campaign model, CPI downloads can be tracked so the client only pays when the user performs a specific action. However the way an advertiser approaches CPI differs from the way they perceive CPA. Bear in mind that the definitions of both CPA and CPI are always evolving, but for now we’ll assume CPI stands for the cases where the conversion happens when the user installs and opens the app. As for CPA, let’s assume it stands for those offers where the conversion takes place when the user purchases something inside the app (as is the case in regular Mobile Subscription offers). It’s important to understand why advertisers choose one over the other: CPA guarantees “instant revenue” users since volumes are substantially lower. In CPI, they’re paying for users that may never spend a penny on the app. Even so, due to the fact that the number of installs is much higher, they predict what percentage of those should turn into active users. This prediction of the highest number of active users is what can make advertisers choose the CPI model instead of CPA, where they’d get fewer users. The way an advertiser approaches CPI differs from the way he perceives CPA. It may sound weird, but advertisers aren’t always looking for committed users. When an app has a high number of installs, it goes up in the Google Play/App Store ranking. This gives advertisers what they’re ultimately looking for – visibility to reach organic users. For the initial high volume installs, advertisers usually look for incentivised traffic. In this type of traffic, users need to install the app to either get some reward in a game they’re playing or be able to see some type of content. Generally, these guys won’t become long-term users of the app they’ve installed. What does this mean? Basically, it means that incentivised users are a way to get to those cool, money making organic users that won’t be forced/lured to download an app. Instead, they’ll decide to download it without seeing any advert because they’re genuinely interested in it. This way, developers will pay for the initial downloads only as bait for the real users they’re looking for and that’ll be acquired for free. Nonetheless, if advertisers want real paying users instead of just many users to go up in the rankings, they’ll become more demanding with the quality of traffic.They’ll need to take the LTV (lifetime value of the user) each publisher delivers into account so they can select which ones they want to see promoting their products. At the beginning, advertisers may lose some money until enough time has passed for them to be able to analyze the long-term value of users they’ve lured via CPI. AdMarula Publisher Team.
