If you have made the all-important choice to work with an affiliate marketing agency, you now approach the task of choosing an affiliate agency. Choosing the right agency for your business is a critical decision that can significantly impact your growth and success. It’s essential to approach this choice with careful consideration and due diligence. Here are some of our top points to consider when researching affiliate agencies:

• Ensure that the agency you select specialises in the specific services and expertise required to meet these goals effectively. If you’re looking for an agency that requires expertise in your business sector, make sure you look for agencies that have the relevant experience to drive performance. 
• Assess the agency’s track record by reviewing case studies, client testimonials, and industry reputation. An agency with case studies, testimonials and a real reputation within the industry shows that it is knowledgeable and will be able to drive real results for your business, not just promises. 
• Look for an agency that not only has a proven history of delivering results but also aligns with your brand’s values and culture. It’s important that an agency’s culture aligns with your business culture to ensure you are getting the most out of a partnership. 
• Make sure that the agency delivers reports that will be suitable for you as a business. Each business will have different needs, so whether you need weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly reports, make sure any potential agency can accommodate your reporting needs.
• Consider what tools and tech different agencies have available to them. If you need an agency that uses a specific platform or network, look out for this information on their website or contact them if you cannot find it. 
• Ask what level of resources the agency is equipped with. Every agency is different, some will be quite new and have different levels of resources to a well-established agency whose employees have years of experience in their field. 
• Open and transparent communication is key to a successful agency-client relationship, so choose an agency that prioritises collaboration and keeps you informed every step of the way. 
• Finally, find out how long the agency’s contract commitment terms are. For any business, if you are just starting out in the world of affiliates, you may be wary of a long-term commitment without knowing how that agency will perform for your business. If you want a long-term relationship for continuity or need a short minimum term, make sure the agency is aware of this in early discussions.

WHY SYYCO?

Imagine a world where your business not only survives but thrives, where you can focus on what you do best, knowing that a dedicated team is working behind the scenes to boost your brand. That’s the world SYYCO opens up for our clients. Let’s discover why SYYCO is the partner you’ve been searching for.

On the other hand, an affiliate marketing agency offers an alternative that presents both flexibility and cost-effectiveness. By partnering with an agency, you gain access to a dynamic team of professionals, each skilled in their respective fields. This flexible approach allows you to scale your operations up or down based on your specific needs, without the burden of the associated in-house costs.

One size fits no one in the world of affiliate marketing. That’s why SYYCO prides itself on offering a truly bespoke service. We understand that your business is unique, with its own goals, challenges and opportunities. Our approach begins with listening. We take the time to understand your brand, your audience and your vision. 

Once we’re on the same page, our team of experts crafts a customised affiliate marketing strategy tailored exclusively for your business. From choosing the right affiliates to optimising campaigns for maximum ROI, we’re with you every step of the way, ensuring that our efforts align seamlessly with your objectives. 

We don’t just say we put clients first; we live it. Your success is our success. Our dedicated Client Managers and Partnership Managers are more than just contacts, they’re your partners in growth. We believe in transparent communication, keeping you in the loop every step of the way. If you have a question or concern, we’re just a call or an email away, ready to provide the answers and solutions you need.

Our commitments extends beyond the day-to-day tasks. We’re constantly monitoring industry trends and refining our strategies to keep your business ahead of the curve. When you partner with SYYCO, you’re not just gaining an affiliate marketing agency, you’re gaining a team of experts who are as invested in your success as you are.

Affiliate marketing can be a maze, but with SYYCO as your guide, you’ll navigate it with ease. We bring years of experience and a deep understanding of various industry sectors to the table. From identifying the most promising affiliates to optimising conversion paths, our experts are on top of it.

We stay ahead of industry shifts and algorithm updates, ensuring your campaigns remain effective and compliant. With SYYCO, you can focus on your core business operations while we handle the intricacies of affiliate marketing, driving results that matter.

However, ensuring that your affiliate programme is achieving its full potential requires a lot of time and resources. For many businesses, it often makes more sense to outsource affiliate management to an agency. Affiliate marketing agencies can provide resources, contacts and insights to scale a programme more efficiently than you can in-house.

In this blog, we will explore whether an affiliate marketing agency is the right choice for your business, including just some of the many advantages of working with an affiliate agency. We will also look at choosing the right agency.. Most importantly, we will explore why SYYCO may be your first choice when partnering with an affiliate marketing agency.

Is An Affiliate Agency Right For Your Business?

Knowing if an affiliate marketing agency is the right fit for your business is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your digital marketing success. Here are some key factors to consider when evaluating whether partnering with an affiliate marketing agency aligns with your business objectives:

TOP 5 REASONS TO WORK WITH AN AFFILIATE AGENCY

On the other hand, an affiliate marketing agency offers an alternative that presents both flexibility and cost-effectiveness. By partnering with an agency, you gain access to a dynamic team of professionals, each skilled in their respective fields. This flexible approach allows you to scale your operations up or down based on your specific needs, without the burden of the associated in-house costs.

By collaborating with an affiliate marketing agency, you gain a trusted advisor well-versed in industry intricacies. We keep a vigilant eye on emerging trends, shifts in legislation, and evolving best practices, ensuring that your affiliate program remains compliant and adaptable to the changing landscape.

However, an established agency such as ours enters the partnership with a wealth of pre-established relationships. We have cultivated strong connections with a diverse array of relevant partners and publishers over time. These relationships facilitate seamless collaborations and open doors to opportunities that your brand can leverage to achieve its objectives.

In contrast, an affiliate marketing agency operates within a broader context, enabling them to provide valuable insights and benchmark your brand’s performance. We analyse your results in light of industry standards, sharing invaluable insights that can help your brand refine its strategy and stay competitive.

In the competitive digital landscape, partnering with an affiliate marketing agency isn’t merely a choice; it’s a strategic imperative. Our commitment to cost-efficiency, industry expertise, and strategic vision ensures that your affiliate program not only thrives but evolves in harmony with the dynamic digital ecosystem. Let us be your trusted ally in navigating this complex terrain, propelling your brand towards sustainable success.

In today’s digital age, Influencer Marketing has become an indispensable aspect of any successful online business. Brands are increasingly recognising the value of working with influencers to promote their products and services. However, a new approach called Performance Influencer Partnerships is emerging as a powerful way to drive actual sales and traffic. At SYYCO, we’re at the forefront of this exciting trend, helping our clients integrate influencers into their affiliate programs to achieve tangible results.

In today’s blog, we dive into “Performance Influencer Partnerships” – a dynamic approach to influencer marketing that focuses on real, measurable results like traffic and sales. Discover the different types of influencers and why working with them can elevate your affiliate marketing game. To illustrate the power of Performance Influencer Partnerships, we will explore a compelling case study featuring a successful collaboration between SYYCO and a London-based brand.

Types of Influencers in Affiliate Marketing:

When it comes to affiliate marketing and Performance Influencer Partnerships, it’s crucial to recognise the different types of influencers and how they can contribute to your brand’s success:

Why Work with Influencers in Affiliate Marketing?

Influencers have the power to establish strong connections with their followers through authentic and relatable content. By partnering with influencers, brands can benefit from this sense of trust, as followers are more likely to trust recommendations from someone they admire and relate to.

Influencers have dedicated followers who actively engage with their content. This engagement translates to increased reach for the brand’s products and services, exposing the brand to a wider audience.

Different influencers cater to diverse niches, allowing brands to target specific demographics and markets effectively. This targeted approach ensures that marketing efforts reach the right audience, maximising the potential for conversions.

Influencers are skilled content creators who know how to produce engaging and visually appealing content. By collaborating with them, brands can access high-quality content that can be repurposed across various marketing channels.

THE RESULTS: A RESOUNDING SUCCESS

The impact of the Performance Influencer Partnerships was nothing short of spectacular. In Q4 of 2022:

• Social Content publishers emerged as the top-performing segment for traffic and ranked second for revenue.
• Two social content partners claimed spots in the top ten revenue-driving publishers, with one securing a position in the top three.
• The revenue pipeline continued to flourish in 2023, providing long-term benefits to the brand.

Quantifying the Growth:

The numbers spoke for themselves:

• Traffic: An impressive YoY increase of 1,751%.
• Revenue: An astounding YoY surge of 2,857%.

Influencers have evolved from mere partners to indispensable assets within the Chelsea Peers program. Their revenue contribution had become significant, bolstering the brand’s market presence and profitability.

Embrace Success with SYYCO

SYYCO’s passion for delivering exceptional results knows no bounds. As an affiliate and partnership management agency, we have been instrumental in transforming the way medium-sized businesses, particularly in the travel and retail sectors, approach affiliate marketing.

If you’re ready to embark on a journey that unleashes the full potential of Performance Influencer Partnerships, SYYCO is your guide. Our experience and expertise across multiple sectors make us the ideal partner to take your brand to new heights. Click here for our blog on Choosing The Right Affiliate Marketing Agency.

If you would like to read more on the role Social Media plays in the Affiliate Marketing industry, click HERE.

Click HERE to book your free programme review, or email info@syyco.co.uk.

Brand protection and fraud prevention are vitally important to any successful affiliate programme, with threats like Ad Hijacking becoming ever more sophisticated and hard to detect.

We spoke with, AdPolice, on how to mitigate this risk, as well as SYYCO’s own compliance expert, Sarah Webb, who shared her seven top tips, to help brands along the way.

We may all gravitate towards looking for ways to increase revenue, or drive efficiencies, but if compliance is ignored, all that good work can be undone. It’s widely accepted that the overall rate of fraud in affiliate marketing is 9%. This figure is far lower than ad fraud rates in other channels, but according to online brand protection specialists, AdPolice, it is a very conservative estimate.

They reference a study by the University of Illinois, which estimated that 38% of partners in the Amazon Associates programme had engaged in fraud at one time or another.

Bad actors that violate terms and conditions can gain an average increase of 10-50% in commissions, as well as negatively affecting brands’ own marketing activities, like paid search. So crime does pay – unless you take steps to prevent it.

For Ad Police, one of the main threats is Ad Hijacking. This is where affiliates impersonate the brand by running paid search ads that look identical to the brand’s own ads. As AdPolice put it, “Customers have no idea that they have clicked on an affiliate ad, and the affiliate is paid commission for conversions that the brand would have got anyway.”

Here are my seven top tips to ensure your affiliate programme stays fraud-free and squeaky clean:

Try to monitor this outside of office hours too and use a VPN or Google’s Ad Preview tool to see ads showing in different locations or languages, or on specific devices.

Unfortunately some “problem” publishers manage to bypass network compliance checks, and it’s important to ensure that they don’t gain access to your programme.

If your are suspicious of a particular publisher, decline their application, or reach out to them for more information before accepting.

In these cases, you are well within your rights to stop working with them, and focus on publishers that are bringing incremental value to your brand.

Be wary of low quality coupon/voucher sites, which look poorly put together or with strange sounding URL’s. Also ask sub networks for detailed reports on which partners are driving the traffic. Transparency is key!

I would like to see more open and frequent communication between compliance teams at networks and agencies/clients. Prevention is better than cure and networks (and SaaS platforms) should continually improve the vetting and registration process of new publishers so that less bad eggs get into the system in the first place.

Providing an affiliate programme is managed ethically and meticulously, advertisers can rest assured that any non-compliant partners are dealt with before they become an issue.

One thing is certain, the longer fraud is allowed to go on, the bigger an issue it becomes.

To find out more about how working with an agency could help protect your brand, click HERE or email info@syyco.co.uk.

If you are considering working with an affiliate marketing agency, please click here. You can also read about the benefits & risks of social media in affiliates via this link.

Here at SYYCO, we like to think we’ve been one of the UK’s best under-the-radar affiliate management agencies, for a number of years.

But, this year, we decided it was high time for us to start shouting about all the great work we’re doing, alongside our clients and partners. And where better to do that, we all agreed, than at the 16th annual Performance Marketing Awards?!”

As a brand-new entrant to the awards, we were delighted to see SYYCO clients nominated in, not one, but two categories. Our client, KIDLY, only made their affiliate marketing debut last year, with their launch on Awin, so it was fantastic to see them shortlisted in the “best programme launch or migration” category. While London Theatre Direct’s brilliantly executed bounce-back from the pandemic was recognised in the “best managed (SME)” category, in conjunction with impact.com – receiving a high commendation in the process.

Best Managed Affiliate Programme SME

SYYCO, impact.com & London Theatre Direct: A Comeback Story

Awarded a High Commendation

Best Programme Launch or Migration

KIDLY and SYYCO, we have lift-off: Launching an impactful and diverse affiliate programme

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have been nominated for our work with KIDLY and London Theatre Direct – especially on the High Commendation. Both of these brands really resonate with our team and it’s been exciting to see how their affiliate programmes have grown.”

Jon Weatherall, Managing Director, SYYCO

Join the London Theatre Direct affiliate programme on impact.com: HERE

Join the KIDLY affiliate programme on Awin: HERE

About SYYCO

SYYCO was founded in 2011 and operated as a specialist affiliate management agency, for travel and leisure brands, for a number of years. While these are still very strong areas for us, in recent years, we have diversified our client base and now work across all major verticals, in multiple markets.

Click here to hear about SYYCO’s response to the pandemic in CEO Simon Terry’s own words, from the July 2021 edition of Awin talks: “How SYYCO responded to the travel slump.”

If you would like to find out more about how working with SYYCO could benefit your brand, click here to get in touch with our Head of Sales, Nicola Bufton, and book a free, confidential programme review.

Click here to read about why you should work with an affiliate agency. If you want to learn more about choosing the right affiliate agency, click here.