A recent IAB Affiliate Advertiser survey reveals that although more than three quarters of everyone who responded said their affiliate marketing spending had increased in the past, and nearly the same number expected their affiliate marketing spending to increase next year, more than half these same people said that knowledge of affiliate marketing at the CEO level is practically non-existent.
It seems strange to consider that a marketing tactic which is showing proven results, so much so that spending in this area – which is already high – and is expected to increase would pass mostly unnoticed by the head of the company.
This lack of knowledge at the CEO level is astounding, but not so uncommon. Often the head of a company sees only the big picture and not the minute details which helped paint that picture. They are more concerned with bottom line numbers, not so much with how those numbers got there, especially when the numbers as good.
As an affiliate marketer it is your job to not only produce results but make certain those results, and the efforts put forth to achieve them are recognized. This can be accomplished through the use of a detailed quarterly report delivered directly to the head of the company.
Affiliate marketing is performance marketing. That means unlike relationship marketing whose results are fluid and less definitive, you can produce real evidence for the work you are doing. There are hard and fast rules for effective affiliate marketing. There is no gray area in affiliate marketing. By its very nature it produces results or it doesn’t exist. These results can (and should) be tracked, recorded and delivered to the boss. This is the best way to keep her informed about what is happening; how the affiliate marketing work you are doing is producing real results and what efforts were undertaken to produce those results.
