Affiliate Marketing

Lately I’ve been following Michael Fleischner’s marketing blog and enjoying each piece he comes out with. A self-proclaimed marketing expert and established author, he often ties in current events or recent news updates into his posts which I find refreshingly informative. His acute marketing analyses are tinged with a dry wit that makes his blog all the more entertaining to read through. Check him out, really!

All irony aside, Fleischner brought up an interesting point about affiliate marketing. Specifically, “…affiliates are adding value because they are increasing the size of the market and creating a competitive marketplace.” Really, I’ve never thought of it that way. Every time I see one of those online ads proclaiming, “Visit Amazon.ca for more amazing deals!” or “This tech review featured on Cnet.com!” I instinctively think of them as merely online advertisement campaigns based on external link-portaling, placed conspicuously for a quick buck.

But to see these affiliates as business partners is multitudinously more difficult. As Fleischner noticed, it’s certainly a lot more apparent in brick-and-mortar shops and stores, though. A lone restaurant on the block meekly cries of its own merit, with no benchmark or point of comparison readily available. But as soon as another pops up right beside it, not only is healthy competition introduced, but it’s almost like building a huge sign that says, “Hey, check out my neighbour and compare, compare, compare!”

On a related note, I recently bought a dinner coupon from Dealfind, which is very similar to the burgeoning Groupon (yes, this post is just teaming with affiliate marketing!), in which restaurants offer a massive discount on its products and services by selling to the distributor’s loyal customer base, with spectacular demand bound to follow. There is an additional offer wherein for every referral who buys a coupon, you the buyer receive a significant portion in as rakeback. Therefore, usually after 5 or so referrals, the original coupon he bought comes absolutely free! To offer this kind of incentive, on top of the insane discounts of upwards of 50%, to me is truly phenomenal. These marketing companies are paying lavishly not to directly sell their coupons, but to introduce new users; $5 today could be potentially hundreds of dollars in coupon purchases in the future.

Oh the power of referrals and affiliates!