Another day, another Affiliate Network
Another day, and another Affiliate Network launches in the UK. This week it’s the turn of Clash Media. So what makes them different? As it is a very crowded market and I think that without some sort of USP it’s easy to get lost in the noise. Well in the blurb that I’ve read so far the main USP that I can see is that there are no setup and no monthly fees for merchants. So it looks like they are going for a bit of a landgrab and following a similar route to Affiliate Future - quantity and not necessarily quality. Now before anyone comments; I’m not knocking this as a business model, I’m merely speculating that instead of going down the TradeDoubler route (targeting global brands and charging them a Gajillion pounds for setup/maintenance/account management etc.) they are aiming for mass appeal.
I did post on the A4U forum asking for them to publish a list of their merchants but my request has been ignored. Now the reason for them doing this is obvious, they want you to sign up as an affiliate before they show you the goodies (what merchants they have). That way they can swell their number of affiliates, which is always attractive when pitching for new merchants. However it doesn’t float my boat. As an affiliate I’m literally spoilt for choice when it comes to merchants and networks. So if you’re not going to make it easy for me to see what merchants you have on board then I’m not going to bother looking. There is always another network who will take my business. Its a bit like walking past a shop with blacked out windows in the high street, diplaying a sign saying “come in (and sign up) to see what we sell”. No thanks, I’ll just go next door which has clear windows where I can see what’s on offer.
What I’m listening to right now: Toni Braxton - “Libra”
Friday, June 2nd, 2006 at 12:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:35 am
Agree with you on that point. I saw the post by Clash Media, checked out the site, couldn’t see a list of merchants so I left. I would only join if there was a merchant I liked and who knows… there might be!? But without that transparency I’ll go elsewhere. Like you say we have plenty of choice in which merchants we promote.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Agreed.
You only want to sign up to a network if the merchants are of interest and aren’t already on a different network (ok, rates or terms might be better - but not very often). Transparency is a must.
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Very good blog Kieron. Agree with you wholeheartedly.
Too many networks out there and joining everyone increases on admin. (chasing up broken links, non-payments, getting used to regularly-changing interfaces, staff leaving). Somebody told me at an affiliate event a few years down the line there will be only three major networks and a few niche ones. I more or less agree.
June 9th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
I’ve just tried signing up to see what merchants are on board, but I’ve got to wait 24 hours while they vet me.
The site also looks like a templatemonster jobbie to me!
June 11th, 2006 at 11:05 am
elephant.co.uk
cresta
mytravel
virgin atlantic, now
but they started with kitbag. I pretty major brand.
June 18th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Kieron,
I’m the Affiliate Marketing Director for Clash. I saw the request, and I haven’t ignored it…. as you can imagine setting up a new network is an amazingly time consuming process. I’ll be announcing current and new merchants on A4U over time, but at the moment, actual signup of new merchants and affiliates has to take priority - once the mad rush has died back, I’ll be able to do things in a more measured manner
>> so far the main USP that I can see is that there are no setup and no monthly fees for merchants. So it looks like they are going for a bit of a landgrab and following a similar route to Affiliate Future
There are / will be some excellent USPs on the affiliate side too, but we’re still in the process of getting the best of these set up, so I’ll say “watch this space”, and I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised, when we are in a position to tell everyone about it all.
I’d also say I’m not going for a landgrab here - I just don’t see the business logic in set-up / monthly fees these days. If we are doing out jobs right, the amounts generated by these feess should be dwarfed by the amounts generated from transactions. If, for whatever reason, a merchant isn’t doing a good volume through the Clash network, and we can’t resolve this over time, I’ll suggest that they reconsider whether they should be doing AM at all, in particular through us. One network can’t be all things to all men