Why Agency of Record Doesn’t Work for Affiliate Program Management

A misconception among some Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), even heads of e-commerce and digital marketing, is that a full-service marketing agency can deliver the level of quality management that a sophisticated, well-run affiliate marketing program requires. There are some larger agencies who describe themselves as “full-service,” signing multichannel deals with companies where they are considered the brands’ agency of record (AOR). These arrangements are convenient, but they don’t always ensure that the brand is getting a quality product in each of the contracted service areas. This is especially true with affiliate marketing. “Full-service” might seem like a plus at first glance, but that’s assuming the AOR firm can actually deliver on what they are saying “yes” to. In order to drive more business to their channels, large AOR firms will almost always say yes to most brand and client requests for affiliate program management, even when they have little competency or notable experience managing affiliate marketing partnerships or programs. If your brand decides to hire a full-service AOR, do your homework. If they don’t have true affiliate marketing experience, expertise or partner relationships, you put your affiliate program at risk of being grossly mismanaged—or managed in a way that can have long-term repercussions for your brand, your affiliate program and your company.  

Why Affiliate Program Management is Outside of AOR

In affiliate marketing, under-managed programs tend to be full of low-quality affiliates. These could include trademark violators, nefarious toolbar users and cookie stuffers. Partners such as these often burn budgets and don’t represent the brand in a positive light. However, unless the program management team has the right resources, tools and experience, they aren’t easy to detect. Any large agency with a meaningful affiliate management practice should have a team of at least 10 experienced affiliate marketing professionals, including senior leaders with 5-10 years of experience in the industry. Comparatively, you would never hire a pay-per-click (PPC) firm that had only one or two specialists. Most traditional AOR firms don’t have dedicated affiliate program experts, making them a poor choice to manage sophisticated programs—especially global ones. Due to numerous complexities, managing global affiliate programs demand an even greater understanding of the nuances and intricacies of affiliate marketing in different countries and team members who are experienced in publisher recruitment in the region. For these reasons and many others, almost every company with a successful affiliate program keeps the management of their affiliate program outside of their AOR relationship. Industry leaders, including support this position: