Publisher Insights on Affiliate Marketing Agencies and Networks

Affiliate marketing is a space that's similar to the coupon industry, and just like coupons, affiliate agencies face a lot of competition. When we apply for a new program, one of the first things our team does is look up who manages it. Is it managed by the retailer in-house, an affiliate marketing agency, or launched and represented by an affiliate network directly? Knowing who manages the program tells us a lot as a publisher.

Suppose the program is managed by an affiliate agency we have a strong partnership. In that case, we immediately start promoting it on our coupon and deal websites and assign the program to one of our account managers to start running initial meetings with the partner. If it's managed by a coupon-friendly agency, we will take further steps to grow its exposure. On the other hand, if the program is managed by an agency that doesn't offer a value-centric approach, we hold off taking actions compared to what we do for its competitors.

Choosing the right affiliate agency is a big deal for retailers, and there are many factors to consider. We will explore this topic in more depth in future articles.

In the early 2000s, there were only a few affiliate marketing agencies, and the affiliate networks were just starting to provide network services by employing in-house account managers. Over the years, the consulting market has become increasingly competitive, with lots of affiliate marketing agencies and general marketing agencies building their affiliate-centric teams in-house. Many account managers have also moved on and created their consulting services.

While there are many affiliate marketing agencies, the services they provide are essentially the same, although the quality varies from one agency to another. As a publisher, our willingness to work for a program may vary from one agency to another. Typically, an agency has a sales/biz-dev person who brings new accounts, and some agencies focus on browsing the existing affiliate programs and reaching out to them to get them as a client. When an agency sees a new program launch at an affiliate network, some immediately send a sales email to that client to manage that program. However, respectful agencies won't do so if they see that a competitor manages a program.

This kind of behavior reminds me of how we deal with other coupon and discount sites in our industry. For example, our account managers work hard to obtain exclusive discount codes from a partner. We often see a competing coupon website copying the discount code and sharing it on their website. Similarly, in the agency world, some agencies will send out sales emails offering free X months of service to a client, even though another competitive agency already manages the client.

As a publisher, we believe that the industry should continue to grow, and we want to see agencies bringing new programs to the space and spending their time reaching out to existing programs to try and close those accounts. This approach is much more constructive than poaching other agencies' clients. Working together to grow the industry can create more opportunities for everyone involved.

Former network employees typically establish affiliate marketing agencies with a good idea of what is needed to run a successful campaign. They build their consultant company and start running one program, and their agency grows from there. You can also find many agencies established by people who worked at an affiliate marketing agency.

Account managers from affiliate networks have access to performance reports and know who works best. Affiliate marketing agencies have similar data if they've launched and run similar programs through other affiliate platforms. Some clients hire an affiliate marketing agency and also get additional services from the network account management team. While it is somewhat understandable, it doesn't necessarily make sense or, in some cases, make much of a difference. This is usually the case for large brands like Nike, Expedia, Travelodge, Lastminute.com, Gap, Home Depot, etc.

If you've built great relationships, friendships, and partnerships with publishers from various verticals and have entrepreneurial skills, you can start your affiliate agency. From a publisher's standpoint, it doesn't matter if a small or big affiliate marketing agency manages the account. What matters is who's managing the account. Is this someone we've worked with before? Did they provide good support and value to our relationship over the years? Did they come to us with opportunities? Are they good with numbers and entirely on top of the programs they've managed before? Did we, as a publisher, feel their support? If yes, we would love to work with them and provide great support to make their program successful!

We currently work with 30 affiliate marketing agencies and have our favorites when it comes to those agencies and network reps. We receive daily emails from retailers asking how they can work with us, and we typically send these leads to the affiliate agencies we know provide excellent service. Providing quality service is how you grow in this industry.

Our next article will discuss who we like to work with as a publisher, our affiliate agency partners, and why we give them free extra exposure across our coupon brands.