Affiliate Marketing:What You Need to Know

iGaming Marketing Forum28 October 2008

Three Facets ofAffiliate Marketing

• The Value of Affiliates

• How Affiliates Sell

• Supporting Your Affiliates

The Value of Affiliates

• Performance Based Marketing

• Brand Ambassadors

• Evangelists

The Value of Affiliates

Performance Based Marketing

• Low Risk Marketing

• Pay Only for Results

• Affiliates = Salesmen that work on results only.

The Value of Affiliates

Brand Ambassadors

• Spread your branding to player communities.

• Reach Players where they interact.

• Be represented by community leaders.

The Value of Affiliates

Evangelists• Affiliates rely on their reputation to

make referrals.• They tend not to endorse a product

unless it’s quality.• When an affiliate promotes your

product, it can mean something.

How Affiliates Sell

• Direct Methods

• Indirect Methods

• Marketing Tools

How Affiliates Sell

Direct Methods

• SEM: SEO / PPC

• Media Buys

• Email Marketing

How Affiliates Sell

SEM – SEO/PPC• Affiliates appeal to potential players

who not yet ready to deposit.• They use content strategies to rank well

attract organic traffic.

• They use PPC to buy traffic.

How Affiliates Sell

Media Buys• Affiliates target their demographic on

non-gaming sites.

Email Marketing• Affiliates accrue subscribers who want

leads on the best games/promotions.

Email Marketers

How Affiliates Sell

Indirect Methods

• Trust Economies

• Community Building

How Affiliates Sell

Trust Economies• All business is based on trust.• Affiliates build trust with users.• Relationships come before Sales.• Affiliates are independent 3rd parties.• Trust + Community = ROI

How Affiliates Sell

Community Building• Affiliates build communities around

their portals / content.• Communities ≠ Self-Absorbed: the focus

is on users & content.• Analogy: Farming vs Hunting

Player Communities

How Affiliates Sell

Marketing Tools

• Content

• Creatives

How Affiliates Sell

ContentSupports SEO strategy and capitalizes ontrust economies.• Product Reviews• Game Information

Product Review

Game Information

How Affiliates Sell

Marketing ToolsAffiliates proactively engage users with:• Geo-Targeting• Banner Profiles (for multiple sites)• Banner Creatives: Flash, Javescript, etc.• HTML Mailers (email marketing)• Text Links

Supporting Your Affiliates

• Affiliate Management

• Tracking Reports

• Affiliate Marketing Software

Supporting Your Affiliates

Affiliate Management• Dedicated Support makes affiliates

better affiliates.• Relationship Building increases loyalty

and reduces recruiting costs.• Feedback from affiliates provides

valuable intelligence on trends and technology.

Supporting Your Affiliates

Tracking Reports• Insight: what’s working & what’s not.• Depth & Breadth• Flexibility: date ranges, financial

commissions, etc.• Transparency: builds trust.

Supporting Your Affiliates

Affiliate Marketing Software• Communications Tools• In-Depth Tracking Reports• Marketing Tools• Custom Commission Structures• Frequent Upgrades

• View stats by View stats by playerplayer

• Drill down to Drill down to individual individual transactionstransactions

• Search for specific Search for specific players by id or players by id or usernameusername

Account Report

7 Things That Impact Your Program

1) New Blood – constant recruitment.2) Responsive Communication – affiliate support.3) Updating Creatives – new content.4) Flexibility – commissions & ways to promote.5) Player Promotions.6) Affiliate Promotions.7) Clear Boundaries

Perspective

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

– Robert Collier, author of

• The Secret of Ages• How To Make Money At Home In Spare Time By

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