Archive for the ‘Affiliate Marketing’ Category

Spending on affiliate marketing in the UK has fallen in the last year, according to a new study.

The Affiliate Marketing Survey Report 2008 from E-consultancy and R.O.EYE revealed that the average proportion of companies’ internet marketing budgets assigned to affiliate marketing fell to 14 per cent this year compared with 18 per cent in 2007.

Furthermore, sales from affiliate marketing declined from 16 per cent last year to 12 per cent in 2008, although more respondents said they thought the medium was cost-effective this year compared with 2007.

E-consultancy speculated that the decline in affiliate spending may be due to improvements in companies’ strategies.

“Whilst reduced budgets due to the economic downturn may be partly responsible, merchants are also getting better at getting traffic directly to their sites and they are also refining their approach so that they are not paying out for sales unnecessarily,” Linus Gregoriadis, E-consultancy head of research, commented.

A recent Travel Trade Gazette report suggested that travel suppliers are keen for agents to take up affiliate marketing to boost online custom.

Affiliate marketing spending in the US is set to grow from $2.1 billion (£1.07 billion) this year to $3.3 billion by 2012, new research has suggested.

The report, compiled by JupiterResearch, predicted that spending on the medium will soar as a result of the ongoing attractiveness of affiliate marketing’s relatively low risk, as well as its performance-based elements, to advertisers.

However, the publication indicated that Google’s dominance of the search engine marketing sector could prove to be a thorn in the side of those engaging in affiliate advertising as the giant’s Quality Score scheme may prevent low-scoring affiliates from buying paid search.

"Strong affiliates that have quality content and responsible marketing practices succeed within the changing search environment and reap the benefits of a growing ad arena," explained online retail analyst and lead report author for JupiterResearch Patti Freeman Evans.

The UK affiliate marketing industry was worth £3 billion last year, according to the Affiliate Marketing Networks Buyer’s Guide 2008 from E-consultancy, with some £186 million in fees and commissions being paid out to affiliate networks.

The use of gift cards as a marketing tool can prove very successful for some small businesses, the Voucher Association (VA) has said.

Closed-loop gift cards were introduced in the UK in 2002 - and since then over 70 programmes have been launched.

Research from the VA found that nearly 30 per cent of people had purchased a gift voucher or other gift card - with £25 the average load value.

German firm GmbH has also recently begun to offer an online-based smartcard customer loyalty system - the logical next step for the gift card industry and a future growth sector of internet marketing.

Andrew Johnson, director-general of The VA, said: "Gift cards can help small businesses.

"If we look at the US, where gift cards are more popular than they are in Europe, then generally you will find that small businesses, even with only one, two or three branches, are using gift cards to drive future business."

Around 60 per cent of British marketers run only "basic" or "intermediate" email marketing campaigns, new research has revealed.

According to Alterian, just five per cent of the total can be classified as "expert" in using email to drive sales - with the remaining 32 per cent classified as "advanced".

The results were derived through marketers being asked ten multiple-choice questions and the level of marketing was determined by the responses to each one.

Alterian’s chief executive officer David Eldridge said: "With this assessment, we hope that participants will gain a new level of insight into their current level of e-mail marketing proficiency.

"We [can] provide participants with tips on how they can use Alterian applications…to grow from the Basic User group to the Expert and Pacesetter levels."

The comparative sophistication of over 700 marketers, agencies and services providers were measured by Alterian over the course of its research.

Search engine Google has introduced special brand-image ads designed for mobile phones, ZDNet.co.uk reports.

In a statement released on its website yesterday, the firm said that it had developed standard adverts to fit on smaller screens - reflecting the trend towards mobile internet.

Conditions set for the advertising companies by Google include pricing the items on a cost-per-click basis and the requirement that they link to mobile internet-optimised web pages, Reuters reports.

Commenting on the announcement in a blog post, product marketing manager at Google Alexandra Kenin said: "For advertisers, mobile image ads serve as a branding tool and have shown to have good click-through rates.

"Advertisers using mobile image ads will also benefit because we only show one image ad per mobile page [and] for publishers, mobile image ads provide added flexibility."

As well as in the UK, the new Google mobile adverts are available in 12 territories including the US and Australia.

Around 60 per cent of British marketers run only "basic" or "intermediate" email marketing campaigns, new research has revealed.

According to Alterian, just five per cent of the total can be classified as "expert" in using email to drive sales - with the remaining 32 per cent classified as "advanced".

The results were derived through marketers being asked ten multiple-choice questions and the level of marketing was determined by the responses to each one.

Alterian’s chief executive officer David Eldridge said: "With this assessment, we hope that participants will gain a new level of insight into their current level of e-mail marketing proficiency.

"We [can] provide participants with tips on how they can use Alterian applications…to grow from the Basic User group to the Expert and Pacesetter levels."

The comparative sophistication of over 700 marketers, agencies and services providers were measured by Alterian over the course of its research.

Search engine Google has introduced special brand-image ads designed for mobile phones, ZDNet.co.uk reports.

In a statement released on its website yesterday, the firm said that it had developed standard adverts to fit on smaller screens - reflecting the trend towards mobile internet.

Conditions set for the advertising companies by Google include pricing the items on a cost-per-click basis and the requirement that they link to mobile internet-optimised web pages, Reuters reports.

Commenting on the announcement in a blog post, product marketing manager at Google Alexandra Kenin said: "For advertisers, mobile image ads serve as a branding tool and have shown to have good click-through rates.

"Advertisers using mobile image ads will also benefit because we only show one image ad per mobile page [and] for publishers, mobile image ads provide added flexibility."

As well as in the UK, the new Google mobile adverts are available in 12 territories including the US and Australia.

Around 60 per cent of British marketers run only "basic" or "intermediate" email marketing campaigns, new research has revealed.

According to Alterian, just five per cent of the total can be classified as "expert" in using email to drive sales - with the remaining 32 per cent classified as "advanced".

The results were derived through marketers being asked ten multiple-choice questions and the level of marketing was determined by the responses to each one.

Alterian’s chief executive officer David Eldridge said: "With this assessment, we hope that participants will gain a new level of insight into their current level of e-mail marketing proficiency.

"We [can] provide participants with tips on how they can use Alterian applications…to grow from the Basic User group to the Expert and Pacesetter levels."

The comparative sophistication of over 700 marketers, agencies and services providers were measured by Alterian over the course of its research.

Search engine Google has introduced special brand-image ads designed for mobile phones, ZDNet.co.uk reports.

In a statement released on its website yesterday, the firm said that it had developed standard adverts to fit on smaller screens - reflecting the trend towards mobile internet.

Conditions set for the advertising companies by Google include pricing the items on a cost-per-click basis and the requirement that they link to mobile internet-optimised web pages, Reuters reports.

Commenting on the announcement in a blog post, product marketing manager at Google Alexandra Kenin said: "For advertisers, mobile image ads serve as a branding tool and have shown to have good click-through rates.

"Advertisers using mobile image ads will also benefit because we only show one image ad per mobile page [and] for publishers, mobile image ads provide added flexibility."

As well as in the UK, the new Google mobile adverts are available in 12 territories including the US and Australia.

Around 60 per cent of British marketers run only "basic" or "intermediate" email marketing campaigns, new research has revealed.

According to Alterian, just five per cent of the total can be classified as "expert" in using email to drive sales - with the remaining 32 per cent classified as "advanced".

The results were derived through marketers being asked ten multiple-choice questions and the level of marketing was determined by the responses to each one.

Alterian’s chief executive officer David Eldridge said: "With this assessment, we hope that participants will gain a new level of insight into their current level of e-mail marketing proficiency.

"We [can] provide participants with tips on how they can use Alterian applications…to grow from the Basic User group to the Expert and Pacesetter levels."

The comparative sophistication of over 700 marketers, agencies and services providers were measured by Alterian over the course of its research.