Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Nice question. I enjoyed thinking it through.

The center of the plan is what's in it for the affiliates.

Everything that you create before sets the stage for that discussion, and everything afterwards convinces them to move.

Here's what comes to mind that might be a start:

PART ONE--SETTING THE STAGE
Who you are
What you have
Why it's good
What your program is
How it works

PART TWO--THE PROGRAM
How much does it cost to participate
What are the margins
What is the risk
What is the return
How soon

PART THREE--CONVINCING THEM TO MOVE
Guarantees
Ongoing support or services
Comarketing
References (which maybe you won't have--maybe a good time to think about reference account building.)

And whatever makes sense to your particular business.

As far as format . . . any will do really. Just build an outline that presents these things in a logical way as I hope I did here, and then execute against it.

And maybe it goes without saying: this isn't promotional. You don't have to make it look good, only professional. Think legal document not corporate brochure.

Dear Kellyann,

Great input above and (as always) stellar input from Michael.

Your affiliates? Tell them the tale, the story that's already going on in their heads. Reverse the risk. Eliminate doubt. Raise every possible objection an affiliate COULD come up with and then counter it. Reverse the living daylights out of it.

A great way to do this could with a bulleted list of FAQs, and ideally, a searchable list too.

But the key? Detail. Lots and lots of detail. Who, what, where, why, when, how, if/then, this/not that, that/not this, this means, that means, which means, because, and so on.

Why do they sign up with you and not some other outfit? You commissions? What do you offer, what do you provide in terms of back up, support, banners, links, advice, suggestions, and help?

When do you pay out? How often, what percentage, and in what way? Do you offer sub-affiliate options? What's THEIR payout? how does this cut into YOUR profit?

How's the program managed, by whom, where is it managed? Is there a call centre? Is it all connected to an 800 number. Is there
24 hr support by voice, phone, fax, and e-mail. How much hand-holding will you do, provide, or allow?

Will you offer super affiliates something different, something bigger, better, wilder? Will you offer prizes for tiered levels of sales? How will you judge competition? How long does a new affiliate have to be on board and how much in terms of sales do they have to clock up before you pay out? What's your minimum threshold? What's your maximum per month?

Who controls landing pages or sales material? If it's all online, will pages be given in PSD, HTML, or some other template format? how may these things be modified? How may they NOT be modified?
What about up-sells, cross sells, cookies, clawbacks, and refunds or returns?

If this is all online, take ALL the returns and refunds OFF the shoulders of affiliates and you'll save yourself time, money, hassle and BS into the bargain.

Is it straight sales commission or is it a CPA network? How are commissions paid if she sells more than him? If it's a CPA network, what commissions are paid for what action? What about click fraud and affiliates buying on their own links to get a discount AND get paid? What about link tracking, link cloaking, ISP tracking, bulk buys, value packages, your policy on black hat, white hat, spam, lists, leads, and additional sales you might rack up OUTSIDE the affiliate network on the names and e-mail addresses you've gathered through your affiliates—will they get recurring billing commissions? Or will you be marketing OTHER goods and services to those now, new to you qualified leads and NOT be passing on gratuity commissions?

And on and on.

How are payments arranged? Direct transfer, into PayPal, into Clickbank, by cheque? Will big cheques be FedEx'd or sent by secure courier. When will little cheques expire?

Cover your butt by asking EVERY possible question and then use simple copy on the sign up page to say: click here for more information.

Answer as many questions as you can and your policy cannot be faulted. Tie it in to terms, conditions, exclusions, and earning disclaimers because believe me, the last thing you need is the FTC banging on your door—I've seen that happen with two marketing guys I respect and admire. Not pretty.

Phew! I'm worn out! Make it as idiot proof as possible and dot every "i" and cross every "t" and you'll be fine.

You may want to review several current affiliate contracts, terms, and conditions lists and model yours on something that already exists. The thing to consider is giving levels of detail: the deeper someone goes, the fuller (and the more off-putting for tyre kickers) the detail becomes.

Using the 80/20 rule you may find that six months in, that two thirds of your affiliates don't do anything—or that they do very little. While the remaining bunch work their butts off to send your qualified leads who all have cash in hand.

And when this happens? include some element that clearly spells out that ALL affiliates have to meet at least quarterly benchmarks, otherwise they get their marching orders. You could then use this to increase the commissions of the affiliates that DO perform, thereby giving them and greater incentive to send you even MORE qualified, eager buyers.

I hope this helps. (I think I need a lie down!)

Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA
Follow me on www.twitter.com @GaryBloomer

Markitek has given you exactly what you requested but I thought I'd pipe in with some suggestions.

Make certain that your conversion rates are high before implementing an Aff campaign or you'll burn your early, and perhaps best, affiliates. They won't be back. If they are working hard to sell your product or service and your site isn't capable of converting their traffic you'll have a lot of unhappy affs.

Pay them quickly.

Also, the most successful affiliate programs are those that communicate with and educate their affiliates. It's very much like having an independent sales force. If you leave them to fend for themselves they probably won't accomplish much. By communicating with them at reasonable intervals will provide them with fresh perspectives, and by being in the forefront of their mind you'll keep them focused on your offering.