Although there is a considerable amount of controversy around online ad fraud and how to effectively and ethically advertise, one pricing model continues to dominate ad revenues: performance.
According to the IAB, in FY 2015, performance-based models accounted for 65% of $59.6 billion in revenues compared to 33% CPM and 2% hybrid.
Within the performance-based model, an approach known as digital partner marketing has steadily gained traction – and could be one of the best ways to advance trust and transparency in digital advertising.
In partner marketing, advertisers reward marketing partners based on their contribution towards driving consumer purchases for the advertiser by promoting their products or services. Each partner’s contribution towards a purchase is tracked, measured and rewarded in a way that’s available and transparent for both parties.
This direct relationship between partner contribution and reward invites close cooperation between advertisers and marketing partners to maximize revenues—which both parties benefit from—by promoting the most profitable products for an advertiser. Higher profits for the advertiser, in turn, can easily be passed on to the partner.
The earlier iteration of this approach is known as affiliate marketing, a model in which brands are limited to working with traditional online “affiliates,” which are typically bloggers or coupon and cashback websites. Although frequently overshadowed by other marketing tactics, partner marketing has evolved considerably from its origins in affiliate.
Partner marketing extends beyond traditional affiliate by incorporating broader partnerships including traditional affiliates as well as comparison engines, aggregators, mobile apps, social media, and blog and media partners.
Technology is what facilitates these direct relationships between advertisers and partners. The right technology can help build trust between brands and their marketing partners by affording both parties greater transparency on partner performance as well as on any commission adjustments advertisers make as a result.
It also allows large customers with significant marketing partner efforts to develop more strategic relationships with key partners, promote more profitable products and services, collect and analyze extensive data sets and glean actionable insights for further program optimization.
To learn more about how to incorporate partner marketing into your overall digital strategy and how technology can drive trust and transparency for you and your partners, contact us for a conversation and demo.
