Affiliate marketing agency

January 17, 2020

Author: Influencer Hub

Working with an Affiliate Marketing Agency can be a scalable and profitable approach for companies. But that doesn’t mean that every brand should work with an agency. Before we delve into what to look for in a program management agency, let’s first discuss who doesn’t need an affiliate agency?

Companies with annual online sales of less than $8 million. It can be difficult for companies with less than $8 million in online sales to break even on affiliate management fees as those affiliate programs are typically fairly small.

New companies that don’t yet have brand recognition, clear messaging, an established business model, or a site that is converting. Affiliate marketing is not the right place to work out a company’s value proposition. Affiliates invest time and money in promoting companies and companies need to be respectful of that or they run the risk of losing those partnerships forever.

Companies that have intentionally decided to run a small, private Affiliate Marketing program with only a few select partners. An in-house manager can generally manage this type of affiliate program without much difficulty.

Companies that are not looking to grow their program. An affiliated agency is an investment and if a company is not investing in its program, the spend may not be worthwhile.

So, if you’re a company with over $8 million in online sales and want significant growth, but do not have internal team members with operational program experience, affiliate industry experience, or relationships with top affiliates/publishers/content curators, then you’d likely benefit from partnering with an Affiliate marketing Agency.

If you fall into the "needs an agency" category, you should evaluate an agency based on the following criteria:

Growth tools – Does the agency use recruiting tools, list buys, etc.? Do they provide clients with access to a large number of high-value affiliates and content curators? Do they have a dedicated team working on publisher development?
Robust reporting – Can the agency take the raw data provided by the network or SaaS platform and turn it into reporting that’s meaningful and actionable for its clients? Developing reporting, spotting trends, and drawing insights from the data takes time and expertise.
Fraud monitoring – What is the agency’s process for monitoring fraud? Does it have team members who specialize in fraud and fraud prevention? What type of tools do they use to identify fraud? Do they use a tool to find trademark PPC bidding?
Size and experience of the team – How many full-time affiliate program management team members work within the agency? How many years of operational program and affiliate industry experience do they have?

How many affiliate programs have they managed? In what industries? Do they have established relationships with top affiliates, non-traditional affiliates, and high-value content curators?

Publisher development – Does the agency have an internal publisher development team? If so, how many affiliates are in their database? How many affiliate networks do they work with?
State tax nexus knowledge – Is the agency on top of which states have passed sales tax laws that may affect companies with affiliate marketing programs? Will they proactively inform clients of these laws?

Deciding whether you are ready to work with an influencer marketing agency can be determined fairly quickly. It’s the process of finding the right agency to work with that can be perplexing. Having your goals clearly outlined will get your conversations with potential agencies off to a productive start.