Partnership optimization is a key component to program success, and if done well, it’s mutually beneficial for both the brand and the partner. An often-overlooked partner optimization is the expertise and ability to utilize CPA-only and free optimization opportunities.
Don’t miss out on this rewarding strategy – discover how an experienced partnership marketing agency can leverage their network of solid partnerships, clear communication skills, savvy processes, and proven success to build a customized optimization plan for your unique brand.
Leveraging free and CPA-only optimizations with partners ultimately comes down to the positioning, and simply being willing to have an open and honest conversation with partners. If you never ask, then you’ll never have the chance to succeed in this area. However, if you want to bring this exclusive ask to the table, it’s important you already have a strong relationship in place with your partner.
At Acceleration Partners (AP), we understand that all partnership marketing is rooted in relationship building. How we approach, work with, and refine our strategy with partners reflects our belief that sustainable partnerships should be based on empathy, trust and transparency. With our network of partners, we can help brands with these nuanced conversations. You might be surprised by your partner’s answer—don’t assume that all partners will say no.
With your AP team’s help, we can provide data on past performance and other insights that might encourage partners to see how this strategy can be mutually beneficial to both parties.
For example:
Affiliate partners would be interested to know that while performance has increased X% during previous sale/offer periods, we predict it could instead increase by a higher Y% if the partner were to provide additional exposure through gifted optimizations.
For any partners that are open to the idea of free or CPA-only optimizations but are still hesitant, your AP team can help your brand establish trial periods to reassure partners. We also recommend utilizing any available incentives to increase potential performance during these optimizations, such as discount codes, cashback and offers/sales.
The most important part to remember when seeking to implement this lucrative strategy with partners is to not wait until it’s too late and performance is struggling. Your AP team is always looking for ways to maximize your program’s performance, and starting partner conversations around low-cost or free exposure when performance is good will better showcase the earning potential later.
Ready to start implementing CPA-only and free/gifting optimizations into your affiliate strategy? Start by going through our step-by-step process of solidifying your brand optimization goals, identifying the right partners, and creating an actionable game plan.
Your partnership marketing agency can pursue free-of-charge opportunities in a wide range of ways, see below for a few examples of how these types of optimizations can be profitably leveraged.
Cashback sites can add imagery and offers to merchant pages. AP can help your brand create new merchant pages for other opportunities, such as B2B and even update your search algorithm to ensure your brand is being shown to potential customers searching for key terms.
Newly onboarded partners are often able to provide free-of-charge exposure to alert customers to a new merchant. Some other important free-of-charge approaches to consider are newsletter inclusions, banner placements and “new merchant” hubs.
Some networks and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms allow agencies to upload offers, sales and discounts that can be pulled through an application programming interface (API), or similar automatic software that sends the incentives directly to partner websites for instant exposure.
Not only does AP have the knowledge and insights on how to implement free optimization strategies for you brand, we also already have proven experience of successfully creating and maintaining these types of partner optimizations.
With more and more brands looking to increase promotional opportunities through influencer and blogger partner types, it’s important to consider adding gifted or loaned products/services optimizations with your agency partner.
Gifted products and services can act as a gateway to new types of promotion for your brand. Consider these gifting examples:
Gifting may also reduce the price of tenancies and commission in some instances. Be sure to ask you partnership marketing agency for help asking if this is a possibility with the partner.
Despite current economy uncertainty and a shift in partner behavior to prefer up-front fees, performance-based opportunities – including free-of-charge, CPA-only and gifted products – still exist. Why not leverage these optimization strategies in your own partnership program?
Author: Rebecca Oliver