AdMarula launches digital consultancy services
With AdMarula now in its ninth year of operation we are entering an exciting new phase in the business. Initially launched as an Affiliate/Performance Marketing network, we have built a solid reputation the past decade as South Africa’s no.1 channel for performance-based affiliate advertising, however due to our deep knowledge and understanding of digital we’ve more recently also been working with clients in a consultancy capacity, upon their request. These ‘new’ areas of Digital Strategy, Paid Search, Social Media and Mobile Advertising are fast becoming a real growth area for AdMarula. Digital is no longer a stand-alone item on the overall marketing agenda. The world is digital, and businesses are playing catchup with increasingly demanding customers who expect their online experience to be seamless, quick, intuitive yet not invasive or annoying. It is therefor only natural that clients who have experienced great success through their performance-marketing campaigns with AdMarula, want us to work closer with them on other aspects on their digital strategy in order to ensure a cohesive and integrated approach. This is an exciting yet natural development for us as a business, as well as an affirmation that our team is highly skilled and respected in the industry. For the performance network side of the business its business as usual, while we will be adding to our team to handle the expansion of our consultancy arm. On a different note, AdMarula will be relocating its offices from Technopark outside Stellenbosch to Paardevlei in Somerset West. This will allow our team to be more efficient by cutting out commuting time, as well as give us more direct access to major routes like the N2 towards Cape Town and the airport for meetings. We will of course communicate our new address to you in the appropriate time and manner, and aim for the move to be done by the year end. I trust that all our clients and publishers had a successful Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend and that it will in part make up for lost revenue during lockdown earlier this year. It is encouraging to see that some of our programs that were paused have been restarted, and that clients are starting to increase budgets and channels again. I wish you all a well-deserved break and time with family and dear ones, and look forward to taking on 2021’s challenging with you. Onwards and upwards! Daniel Gross – CEO
Publishers carefully optimistic
It has certainly been a tough few months, particularly for publishers. With advertisers slashing budgets and consumers clinging onto their pennies, publishers have had to be creative in order to survive. But every dark cloud has a silver lining, and these challenging times also present opportunities for publishers who are adaptable and resourceful. Reward and loyalty sites, as well as discounts and coupon sites are likely to lead the race in recovery. According to a recent survey by Rakuten Advertising, 44% of publishers are expecting traffic levels for the 2020 peak shopping period to exceed pre-COVID-19 levels. The survey (which included 150,000 publishers globally), revealed that publishers are continuing to support advertisers during these times with 72% not having made changes to the cost of placements and inventory on their site since the start of the pandemic, keeping costs the same for affiliate advertisers. Many publishers have had to adapt their day-to-day operations by offering additional opportunities to advertisers for the same price or better commission rates, and the creation of new inventory and campaigns. Generally publishers are expecting commissions to stay the same over the peak season period, even though it was noted that advertisers are only committing to shorter campaign periods of 1-3 months at a time. Paid search, social and email marketing still accounts for the largest portion of traffic. So although there has been a notable rebound in consumer spending in recent months due to pent up demand, there is still some uncertainty about the road to recovery and advertisers and publishers alike are planning 2021 campaigns conservatively. So the term ‘carefully optimistic’ is perhaps the best way to describe current sentiment. One things is certain, next year will bring on a new host of challenges for the industry, which will require players on all sides of the spectrum to be flexible and adaptable. The Publisher Team
