If you Google ‘what is affiliate marketing?’ a few options appear on the first page: a dictionary definition, a Wikipedia page, a link through to an affiliate network, and a link to a Guardian article from six years ago.
When I first started my career in Affiliates in 2012, I probably read that article as well as countless university essays to better understand the channel.
Before my first interview, I frantically searched for answers to questions like:
- What is affiliate marketing?
- What is a network?
- Who are the best affiliates?
I joined at a time when the industry spend was just shy of £1 billion and even though I had worked at small media enterprises and had an interest in advertising, I had zero knowledge on what affiliate marketing was.
Fast forward to 2017 and media spend in Affiliates has continued to grow. According to an IAB/PWC Online Performance Marketing Study, advertisers spent more than £1.5 billion on Online Performance Marketing in 2016 (+12% YoY). Just to add a little more context to that, we’re seeing nearly 5,000 brands taking advantage of the channel, and more than 12,000 publishers working to send traffic to those brands. From a client perspective, the industry generated 124 million transactions last year for brands last year with the overall ROI for OPM coming in at £12.30 for every £1 spent.
So those are the headline numbers, but what is affiliate marketing?
Starting this month, the Affiliates team at iProspect will be bringing you a series of blog posts to guide you through the basics of affiliate marketing. Each month we’ll be addressing topics around publishers and networks as well as how to know whether you should choose a new network for your business needs.
Affiliate marketing has many benefits for businesses and one of my goals with these posts is to provide a series of resources to help educate and build on your affiliate knowledge whether you’re at the beginning, middle or end of your career in marketing.
Be sure to check back later this month for the first post.
