Mobile the Next Big Money-Maker

REVENUE performance Monetization & High-Performance Marketing MOBILE THE NEXT BIG MONEY-MAKER

• Mobit - The next generation of mobile optimization? • The future of social performance marketing

Issue 15 | Summer 2013 • 7 keys to global affiliate marketing success revenue.mthink.com t3leads-ase-ad_16x10-75_PP_v01_crvs.pdf 1 7/25/13 2:40 PM

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REVENUE Dedicated To Monetization + High Performance Marketing performance Contents PUBLISHER & EDITOR Chris Trayhorn The Future of Performance Marketing: More DIRECTOR OF ONLINE Consolidation & Better Social Media Sheila Fox Lead Generation...... 4 PRODUCTION DESIGN Rick Greer By Peter Klein, MediaWhiz

Revenue Performance is published by mThink 55 New Montgomery, Suite 617 Public and Private A liate Networks: San Francisco, CA 94105 mThink: Intelligent Performance Marketing Finding the Right Mix...... 6 By George Hansen, oneNetworkDirect, Digital River CHAIRMAN AND CEO Chris Trayhorn

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING Firefox and Third Party Cookie Blocking ...... 8 Yvonne Schellerup By Ryan Gilbert, Webgains USA DIRECTOR, WEB DEVELOPMENT Ron Snow Understanding the Modern Payday Loan ...... 10 By Morgan Gethers, T3Leads advertising Index: ad:tech ...... 16 SPECIAL PRODUCT REVIEW AdultModa ...... 20 Mobit: Changing The Game In Mobile Media? ... 11 eMetrics Summit ...... 22 By Chris Trayhorn, Revenue+performance FriendFinder Networks ...... OBC Fluent ...... 9 Are You Asking For It? You’d Better! ...... 15 iBallers.com ...... 17 By Matt Frary, SmarterChaos.com LifeLock ...... 23 Privacy Policies: A Legal Necessity Matomy Media Group ...... IBC for Mobile Apps ...... 18 MediaWhiz ...... 7 By David O. Klein & Daniel West, Klein Moynihan Turco LLP

Millionaire Network ...... 2 The 6 Most Common Mobile Optimization T3Leads ...... IFC Mistakes & How to Avoid Them ...... 19 By Lee Aho, Clickbooth While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the content of this publication, the publisher will accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for any loss or damage, consequential or otherwise, suffered as a result of Seven Requirements for Global A liate any material published here. The information published in Revenue+Performance is not intended as a substitute for legal, Marketing Success...... 20 accounting, tax or other professional advice. The publisher assumes no responsibility for statements made by advertisers By Lisa Mollura, Rakuten LinkShare in business competition. All editorial submissions, whether solicited or unsolicited, become the property of mThink. State- ments and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those 5 Steps to Accelerating International Growth .... 21 of Revenue+Performance, mThink, its afﬁliates, advertisers or any other agent. The name “Revenue+Performance” and the By Cristian Miculi, Avangate phrase “Super-Afﬁliate Insights” are the intellectual property of mThink. The entire content of this publication is protected by copyright; full details are available through the publisher. All Choosing Your Best Network Partner ...... 24 rights reserved. These trademarks or copyright materials may not be used in any media for any purpose without the express By Doug Godkin, Millionaire Network written consent of mThink.

Disclaimer: Revenue+Performance and revenue.mThink.com include editorial and/or advertising that refers to afﬁliate programs © 2013 mThink ISSN: 1549-7615 that often include many different websites. Occasionally those programs may include websites offering education in casino or Cover Image: © Dmitriy Melnikov card games. In such cases no promotion or endorsement of those sites should be inferred or implied – our editorial coverage and/ or advertising relates only to the afﬁliate program itself. Revenue+Performance magazine and revenue.mThink.com do not accept advertising that promotes online gambling.

revenue.mThink.com 3 Industry Insights – Peter Klein, MediaWhiz

The Future of Performance Marketing: More Consolidation & Better Social Media Lead Generation By Peter Klein, MediaWhiz

Three seemingly disparate events this year — the closing GAN’s failure is indicative of the across-the-board of the Google Affiliate Network (GAN), Facebook introducing consolidation that has been going on in the performance CPA buys and Twitter launching Lead Generation Cards — marketing industry in recent years. Performance marketing foretell the future of performance marketing. There are two is still a huge growth channel, and it will continue to grow, trends moving in parallel: the increasing consolidation of the fueled by innovations in mobile marketing and social media. industry that will result in only a few select full-service players There remain, however, far too many small companies getting and niche networks in operation, and a continued integration squeezed out by market saturation and capital needs. of lead-generation marketing capabilities by social media In short, there wasn’t enough value being added to the portals. performance marketing food chain by all of the new affiliate Brands are increasingly coming to the realization that network entrants to sustain their own business, let alone an experienced performance marketing network/agency is drive organic growth for the industry. Something had to give, critical. Equally important is the acquisition of action-taking and it took the shuttering of GAN — not the largest affiliate consumers in a social media setting versus merely purchasing network, but one that had great name recognition given a presence. its affiliation with Google — to wake the industry up to the In short, more advertisers, along with the social media reality that a bubble of new, often unsustainable affiliate platforms they use to reach consumers, are realizing that a networks was forming. And just like financial and real estate strong lead-gen component is needed for successful, ROI- bubbles, all good things eventually come to an end. positive brand advertising. The closure of GAN, combined The Era of Performance Marketing Stability with Facebook’s and Twitter’s forays into lead generation, represents a critical evolution toward performance The closing of Google Affiliate Network represents the marketing’s future. end of a reckless era of expansion and greed within the performance marketing industry. We’re at the dawn of a more google affiliate Network Closure and Consolidation mature, stable era in performance marketing. In mid-April, Google announced it was shutting down the Affiliate networks and performance marketing agencies GAN platform to allow the search giant to “focus on other need more than big-name recognition to fuel sustained products that are driving great results for clients.” All services growth. They need to have their own content and properties, will be shut down over the course of a few months, Merchants focus on a particular niche or vertical(s) and employ highly (May 1), Publishers (July 31) and reporting (October 31). Many skilled internal media buyers with powerful technology and of the traditional CPA networks have tried to capitalize on this analytics — not just own the physical media channel. There gain, though I’m sure the majority of this scramble went to the will always be room for small players to earn a decent living, convenient choices of behemoths like Commission Junction or but those days are slowly passing by without having one of LinkShare. these pieces. The sudden closure of GAN came as a major surprise to Large or small, consolidation is helping to assemble large, many in the performance marketing industry because of the end-to-end performance media experts. I have even seen general feeling that Google had the market power to succeed this with my own company. MediaWhiz has always been a at anything it attempted. Google has an amazingly talented large player in the performance marketing industry, working and entrepreneurial staff but even so it is hard to shake the with some of the world’s top brands across a variety of media idea that Google believed it could dominate a $35 billion channels, such email and search, and competes strongly in industry on name and existing clients alone. The problem is several verticals (Education, Finance, Insurance and Health that search and performance marketing are two completely and Beauty). Last January, we were acquired by Matomy distinct channels of online marketing. The complexities within Media Group, a global performance marketing company that the performance marketing industry are far greater than those excels in display, mobile, international and verticals such as within search marketing. games and entertainment, and is a strong complement to Google’s shuttering of GAN reinforces the notion that MediaWhiz’s core business. Combining the best of these two performance marketing is one of the most complex facets of companies’ core strengths in such a complementary fashion online marketing. It requires a sophisticated understanding of will pay off in the near future as we spread out wider coverage how customer acquisition works in the digital age. to thrive and adapt. Adaptation, in this case, is the ability to

4 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 focus resources on growth opportunities as they arise without GAN, it’s that it’s best to facilitate the dollar spend for the losing focus on the core business offerings. experts with great performance marketing capabilities and There are many other mergers and acquisitions of note technology. Marketers should view this as an opportunity to throughout the online marketing and advertising ecosystem, help drive true ROI results via social media. such as Globalwide Media buying Neverblue, Facebook Other social networks, such as LinkedIn, Instagram and acquiring Instagram and Yahoo buying Tumblr. All of these will Tumblr, will continue to turn to the performance side of online undoubtedly continue the online marketing arms race to own advertising as a means to strengthen their value. Having social and operate the media. networks actively join the performance marketing ecosystem means that advertisers and marketers will have a sudden Social Performance Marketing: Facebook and Twitter influx of real-time, verifiable data at their disposal. This will Although the aforementioned GAN failure/industry help eliminate wasteful marketing spend since targeting consolidation may seem like an independent event, I believe relevant offers will be that much easier, particularly at the it’s strongly connected to the recent wave of social media local level. As more state and federal cookie/privacy laws get networks/platforms moving into performance marketing. passed, turning to these portals for enhanced targeting will This is a significant departure from social networks operating become that much more critical and valuable. on a CPC- and CPM-based pricing model, as well as the weak marketing technology platforms they have offered advertisers. The Future is Strong for Performance Marketing In April, Facebook launched CPA bidding through its API. The performance marketing industry will continue to Facebook Exchange (FBX) allows retargeting and offline data experience further consolidation amongst companies, coupled matching. with social media lead generation efforts that will help propel the industry to new levels. Within five years, I predict, we will Twitter launched its Ads API in February and added Lead be looking at an industry based primarily within social media Generation Cards in May. According to multiple industry and mobile, targeting specific consumers who want immediate sources, the microblogging platform is poised to launch an ad information and are primed to take an action. Technology and exchange sometime this year to allow for retargeting. data will drive real-time bidding and analytics to make smarter So what does this all mean? It seems pretty obvious that decisions and deliver better ROI for advertisers. Barriers to social media platforms finally have realized that just having entry will be tougher as one will need the right combination of “presence” metrics (a.k.a. eyeballs) isn’t a sustainable business content, media ownership and media-buying experience. model in digital mediums. That, and brands will spend more Performance marketing has always bred entrepreneurship on scalable, ROI-metrics driven campaigns — a realization that for marketing campaigns and technology services, and will most performance marketers have long understood. continue to do so in the future. Don’t be surprised to see more Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have done the mergers and acquisitions within the ad-tech space, as there difficult part of having the content and owning the media, are many DSPs, SaaS providers in tracking and lead validation, but until now have not executed on the skilled media-buying and data aggregators that would make a great fit when added aspect necessary to sustain long-term advertising revenue to the portfolio of a performance marketing company. growth. This is especially obvious since, until now, there has No matter how you look at the performance marketing been little investment by most social networks in the media- industry in these changing times, the strong influx of dollars, buying interfaces or purchasing units for advertisers. whether from advertiser spend or investment, is creating Companies have spawned out of technology opportunities a more mature and sustainable ecosystem. Never have and API access trying to make it easier to spend advertising marketers had the ability to engage, acquire and retain so dollars. With the billions of dollars pouring into performance many people so quickly and accurately. marketing, the only natural adaptation is to capitalize on this Performance marketing has shown its value and will opportunity by making it easy to spend the money effectively become even stronger as more of the big social media sites — both technically and from a cost efficiency standpoint. continue to recognize the internal and external value of It may seem intimidating that social media giants like marketing ROI. Twitter and Facebook, which, combined, have billions of users globally, can potentially become dominant players in about Peter klein performance marketing. However, similar to Google, I view Peter Klein is senior vice president of media services at per- them as the experts in developing their data-driven vehicles formance marketing agency MediaWhiz, a Matomy Media to reach targeted consumers, not capable of operating their Group company. own performance agencies. Perhaps that is down the line in a few years, but if we have learned anything from Google with

revenue.mThink.com 5 Managing Performance – George Hansen, Performance Marketing Group, Digital River

Public and Private Affiliate Networks: Finding the Right Mix By George Hansen, Performance Marketing Group at Digital River Direct Relationships… • Foster a liate trust • Enable dierentiated value • Provide stronger control to your Organizations can no longer rely on public affiliate networks leading to more focus and propositions (o ers, payouts, brand identity and message alone. While these affiliate networks drive meaningful sales, opportunity etc.) for top aliates many have become inefficient. Companies that rely exclusively on a public affiliate network are often left wondering which strategies may be working best, how to manage attribution and Privatized more importantly, what is working for mobile, a multi-billion $ Long Tail Top dollar opportunity? The way to find answers to these questions A liates is to supplement existing public affiliate network relationships with a private affiliate network. What are the Differences Between Public and Private affiliate Networks? Time Public networks offer broad distribution, handle affiliate recruitment and make partner payments. Public networks can are seeking. However, with this reach comes less control over also deliver a high volume of ad placements. Private networks where their ads get placed, how they are merchandized and the rely on Pareto’s principle (80/20 rule) to concentrate on impression they create. publishers driving the highest ROI and also allow companies Private networks allow companies to have tighter control to manage their affiliates directly. Savvy companies invest in of brand image and integrity as a result of more targeted both types of network: a public network to cast a wide net and a placement of their ads. Companies are able to choose where private network that allows them to manage directly their own their ads appear or, sometimes more importantly, where their high performing publishers. ads do not appear. If a campaign is not working or driving Why getting the right Mix Matters, Especially for Mobile sales, there is flexibility to change quickly and test alternative approaches. That kind of agility and flexibility is a key Finding the right balance of public and private affiliate differentiator of private networks. networks is especially important when dealing with mobile opportunities. Private networks allow organizations to see Making the Transition analytics and optimize their own mobile strategy. Insights Most companies will find benefits from using a combination gained through the private network can then inform their of public and private networks. Merchants ready to implement public network decisions, helping them to place mobile ads that a private network should consider platforms that provide the have proved to perform well. data tracking capabilities they need to craft an effective mobile As mobile usage climbs, these insights become even more strategy as well as one that can offer all of the data and control important. Whereas companies uninitiated to digital marketing associated with a private network without overwhelming the once felt dependent on public networks, many organizations merchant’s internal teams. A company managing a successful are now reclaiming their digital channel and positioning private network will need to evaluate which partners fit their themselves for the rise of mobile marketing and commerce. requirements, then recruit and manage those publishers directly with the goal of building profitable, long-term It Begins with Visibility relationships with top performers. Executed and managed Companies and publishers in affiliate marketing win when properly, high value publishers will want to migrate to the a consumer clicks an ad and then purchases the advertised private network over time in order to access advanced revenue product. So what makes consumers click? opportunities and higher payouts. It takes real-time statistics, ad unit metrics and control Simply put, companies that transition to a private network testing to identify productive strategies. Universal best have the opportunity to capture more of the available practices are just beginning to emerge in mobile marketing, marketing ROI and craft a highly calibrated approach to mobile so companies need this insight to maximize ROI for existing marketing, well ahead of the competition. campaigns today. Private networks can help uncover revenue opportunities that were previously hidden. about george hansen With Visibility Comes Control and Flexibility George Hansen is a director of sales for the performance marketing group at Digital River, a leading provider of global Public networks deal with hundreds of thousands of e-commerce solutions. He has 10 years of experience in the publishers to offer the broad reach that many organizations performance marketing and e-commerce field.

6 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 revenue.mThink.com 7 Device Tracking – Ryan Gilbert, Webgains USA

Firefox and Third Party Cookie Blocking By Ryan Gilbert, Webgains USA

Web browser developer Mozilla has made it clear that how does it work? at some point in the near future they will implement third Storing no data on the user’s machine, device tracking party cookie blocking by default in Firefox – possibly as soon builds a unique device profile to identify an individual user as Q3-2013. Third party cookies are those set by a different (or more accurately, an individual device) and works on all domain to the one that the user is visiting at the time and machines that connect to the internet including smartphones, have a range of applications including analytics solutions. As tablets and game consoles. an example, if the user visits www.coolshop.com, which uses an analytics package from hitstats.com, Firefox will by default Device tracking analyses the user’s machine on a number block any cookies from hitstats.com. of variables to compose a unique device ‘fingerprint’. There are over 100 potential points of analysis which can be used This initiative by Mozilla will have a significant impact on ranging from OS and browser, to plugins used, accepted advertisers and publishers, and as a result ad networks that browser language settings, time zone and timestamp on to remain competitive must develop technology that provides device. an alternative tracking solution. Device tracking is one such approach. As technology moves forward and user machine specifications change, these Device tracking uses no cookies, no developments can be incorporated shared objects, no tagging and records into the queried parameters, no personally identifiable information What is certain is that ensuring a truly future-proof tracking (PII) of any kind. Device tracking methodology. stores no data on the user’s device increasing privacy and as a standalone tracking method, concerns are likely to see Publishers it is compliant with the EU’s ePrivacy Publishers that are unsure about Directive as well as being compatible more restrictions on whether their network uses first with the overhaul in privacy regulations party cookies should check with the taking place in the United States. cookie tracking in the network directly to ensure that links So what is device tracking? will not be affected. So long as first party cookie tracking is used, clicks will Conventional cookie technology future. Device tracking is not be affected, however, post-view works by storing information as a now a necessary part of tracking links used in re-marketing and small text file in the user’s browser and re-targeting applications will be. In indeed, most tracking mechanisms use any network’s toolkit those situations, other solutions will be some form of ‘tag’ placed on the user’s needed. computer or device. In the case of my own network, Third party cookie blocking is not Webgains has released a solution that utilizes device tracking the first or only challenge facing the affiliate marketing effectively, though tracking correctly is restricted to use of industry. With the rapid expansion of the mobile market and Javascript links only. the increasing prevalence of privacy and security concerns among users, all conventional tagging technologies are facing Conclusion serious challenges. Device tracking provides a more robust Nobody yet knows exactly when Mozilla will implement and acceptable tracking solution suitable for tracking sales third-party cookie blocking, but what is certain is that across all browsers in the ever expanding mobile arena as well increasing privacy concerns are likely to see more restrictions as traditional desktop and laptop usage. on cookie tracking in the future. Device tracking is now a In most cases device tracking augments existing necessary part of any network’s toolkit. tracking methods rather than replacing them. As a result, implementation for merchants is typically very easy – often about ryan gilbert no additional work is needed at all - and device tracking can be rolled out seamlessly. Some other advertisers that use Ryan Gilbert is director of the North American arm of the Webgains international affiliate network. A native of conditional firing of their tracking code may need to work Adelaide, South Australia, he has served in a number of with their tracking vendors to ensure the logic used is first senior management positions within affiliate marketing party and not third. This is likely to be the case for advertisers industry for the past 10 years. who are on more than one affiliate network, those who are If you would like more information on device tracking deduping against other channels, and those who are using and/or cookie blocking, you may reach him at: some kind of container tag or tag management system. [email protected]

8 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 Fluent is a digital performance marketing company bridging the gap between advertisers and publishers to provide integrated solutions for online customer acquisition and monetization. Our proprietary web and mobile ad-serving technology helps advertisers better engage, qualify and communicate with their target audience. We promote interaction between brands and consumers with the end goal of providing tangible results through a pay-for-performance model.

Find out more about our suite of digital marketing solutions at www.fluentco.com Aff luent Financial Services – Morgan Gethers, T3Leads

Understanding the Modern Payday Loan By Morgan Gethers, T3Leads

The need for people to have access to small, short terms are reluctant to use them. The closing of bank locations, the loans is not a recent phenomenon. Payday loans and their shriveling of free checking accounts and the explosion of bank equivalents have a long history. Over time, of course, the fees have all led to a drop-off in retail bank customers. A 2011 industry that provides such loans has evolved and grown. FDIC study found that consumers were choosing pre-paid Pre-computer age payday loan transactions took place in cards and payday loans over other options because although storefronts. Just as almost every other kind of business, the fees are high, they understood how they worked and what the customer went to a physical location to conduct their the costs were. Today, only 68.8% of American households are business; in the case of loans they applied in person. Applying defined as fully banked (with at least a checking and a savings and then waiting for a loan decision was tedious. In spite of account) - these consumers need financial services but they the lack of convenience, storefront lending still thrives to are simply choosing to obtain them from non-bank sources. this day but is now being threatened by the growth of online lending. Payday Loan Flexibility game Changers: Computers and Technology Flexibility is not just a marketing slogan. Payday loans really Computer technology has transformed the short term are easy for consumers to use and this has played a major role lending industry. The ability to apply from home and receive in their growth. Consumers are often confused by big bank nearly instant loan decisions has loans. That’s why Alternative not just made the process faster, Financial Services (AFS) such but has improved efficiency as payday loans and pre-paid for lenders, facilitated growth The ability to apply from home… credit cards have exploded in and allowed the involvement of popularity. People understand affiliate networks. These changes has improved efficiency for how they work and there are few, have created the framework lenders, facilitated growth and if any restrictions on how they of the modern day short term can be used. lending industry and the allowed the involvement of evolution is being accelerated return To The Past by the introduction of wireless affiliate networks… the Payday loans have been connectivity and mobile devices. around for a very long time and, Consumers can and do apply evolution is being accelerated for affiliates, the opportunities for loans from their cell phones, by the introduction of wireless are likely to continue to grow. often applying in emergency New innovations such as “Direct situations where a speedy Call” - in which there is an option response is essential. connectivity and mobile devices for loan applicants to be put in Why Payday Loans have direct telephone contact with Become So Popular a potential lender – are leading Millions of jobs have been lost since 2008 causing cash flow to positive results. Ironically, in spite of all the technological issues for many people, often through no fault of their own. advances, we are seeing that a little personal contact can lead Five years into the recession, many are still earning much less to new innovation, better customer service and increased than in the past and with damaged credit ratings, traditional conversion rates. loans become all but impossible to obtain. Payday loans and other forms of non-traditional lending are an effective way about Morgan gethers to meet emergency expenses for those who have been hit Morgan Gethers is Business Development Manager for hardest by the lingering poor economy. T3Leads, interacting, assisting and ensuring the most a Tale of People without a Bank profitable set-up for a number of affiliate accounts. He’s a graduate of Pepperdine Univeristy with a Bachelor of Further fuelling the increase in payday loans is that many Science degree in Business Administration. He can be con- consumers no longer have bank accounts or, if they do, they tacted at (877) 778-3532 x207 or at [email protected].

10 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 revenue+Performance - PRODUCT REVIEW

Mobit Changing The Game In Mobile Media? Does Matomy’s new Mobit platform hold the key to success in mobile performance marketing? By Revenue+Performance Staff

Israel-based performance marketing network Matomy Media Group recently launched a new mobile media buying platform called Mobit. It offers conversion tracking, campaign management, near-realtime reporting and a sophisticated analytic “Mobit Insights” function that automatically identifies the most important campaign optimization priorities. The introduction of Mobit, described as a “smart tracking and analysis tool for mobile affiliates and media buyers,” comes during a period of rapid expansion for Matomy. It follows the recent acquisition of US-based affiliate networks MediaWhiz and Adperio, mobile marketing specialist network MobAff, and German network Team Internet. Much of Matomy’s success has been built on their expertise with mobile offers, and Mobit is a development of the proprietary tools their own mobile media buyers use in-house. Our team spent several days recently using Mobit and talking to Matomy’s CEO, product manager and media buying team in order to find out just Figure 1: Mobit: a smart tracking and analysis tool for mobile affiliates and media buyers. what the deal is. It is hard to argue against the proposition that mobile is the That is why mobile is so exciting to so many publishers and future of performance marketing. The adoption of Internet- merchants. It is a new territory, where the fittest and smartest enabled mobile devices worldwide has been remarkable in have the opportunity to thrive and grow. This is the target its speed. Whether in Western economies where tablets and audience for Mobit. smartphones are taking ever larger pieces of the ecommerce Mobit began as a tool developed for use in-house by Matomy’s marketplace, or in emerging economies where in many cases own media buying team. Like so many mobile marketers, they mobile handsets have become the most prevalent form of access to the Internet, mobile is increasingly important to online found themselves struggling to scale and optimize mobile marketers. campaigns quickly and effectively, largely because the campaign management and analytics tools available simply couldn’t handle In response, performance marketing is changing and evolving efficiently the sheer volume of data that mobile creates. rapidly. With so many different affiliates working to find the best possible way to convert offers online, our industry has filled After much internal discussion and a lot of software the role of online marketing’s prototype laboratory, constantly development man-hours, Mobit is the result: a mobile media coming up with new ideas, building sites and incentives to test buying and campaign management platform that offers really and then dumping the ones that don’t work. smart analytics. Let’s take a closer look.

revenue.mThink.com 11 revenue+Performance - PRODUCT REVIEW

Q&a with Noa Features Benvenisti Mobit has been designed to provide mobile media buyers with a one-stop Background solution for their campaign analytics and optimization, and as such it provides a comprehensive set of features. Not only does it allow one-click set up of I’ve been in the online media campaigns from Matomy’s network, as well as running CPA offers from any industry for seven years and have Noa Benvenisti, other affiliate network, but it also offers built-in and customizable templates to eight years of experience as a Head of Product work with any media buy platform that can be set up and tracked just as easily. product manager during which I at Matomy Media Group have nurtured the development The tracking and reporting functionality is deep too, allowing drill-down into of several products from scratch any aspect of a campaign for which data is available, real-time conversion tracking to production. Between them all, they have and even an auto-suggest optimization tool, Mobit Insights, that claims to identify tracked billions (and counting!) of live events. best- and worst-targeting options for media buys automatically. The system even offers split-testing and post-click redirects so that traffic can be redirected to Out of all of the products I have helped to different landing pages that have been optimized to each traffic type. create, Mobit is the one in particular that I am extremely proud of. Mobit was instantly adopted All in all, it’s a feature set designed for the working media buyer or affiliate by our internal media buy teams as well as external that needs to move fast, identify what is working and then scale successful media buyers that we showed it to. It is generating campaigns rapidly. amazing traction. getting Started about Mobit Development Getting started with Mobit is done by completing a simple registration Mobit was developed and brought to life by a process. You set up your supply platforms. A supply platform is anywhere from group of very talented developers. They brought which you buy mobile media. There is a whole list of supply platforms that come Mobit into being in a very short timeframe. Just ready to use in Mobit, so in many cases you can just pick the one you want. If a month and a half after development started we you need to add a new one, there is a short web form that helps you to create were able to launch the first campaign. We have a template for the tracking data you collect and post-back from/to the supply been adding features and improving the product platforms, including tracking token (clickID), data collection tokens (SubIDs) ever since. Now with six months of testing by our and postback URL. You only need to set up the template once and then it can in-house teams and by several beta customers used for all future media buys from that platform. with high traffic volumes, we are proud to make it available to any media buyers that need mobile Working Interface media optimization. Mobit is built around four main screens, each of which is designed to allow Best Features you to accomplish a specific task quickly and easily. Mobit has many great features but my personal The Home screen (see Figure 2) presents a straightforward dashboard with favorite is “Mobit Insights”. This features literally a chart at the top showing trend-lines for both clicks and revenue. The chart does the work for you. By clicking a single button defaults to showing the last seven days. Beneath the chart is presented a list of you get instant recommendations on how to target both your best and worst performing media-buys over the last 24 hours. It’s a your media-buys in order to improve margins and profits. It not only makes recommendations you wouldn’t have thought of yourself but it also saves a huge amount of time for media-buyers. Got to love that. Latest Developments In addition to the many features already built- in to Mobit, we will also soon be incorporating post-click rule-engine redirects. This feature will allow media-buyers to pass non-targeted media, and redirect it based on operating system, device, geography and number of other parameters to a campaign of their choice. This feature will help media buyers maximize the yield of the traffic as well as lowering their media costs by buying non-targeted media. It is yet another way that we have designed Mobit to be the best mobile media optimization platform possible. Figure 2: Mobit’s dashboards are clear and easy to read. Data can be presented graphically allowing trends to be easily recognised and acted upon.

12 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 simple layout but it makes it the work of a few seconds to check in and see if any Matomy CEO Ofer buys need urgent attention or if all is well. Druker reveals all The other three primary screens of the interface are Campaigns, Reports and Until relatively recently Line Items, each of which we will cover in more detail later in this review. For Matomy Media Group had now, it is enough to say that throughout the application Mobit offers a clean a fairly low profile in the Matomy Media and uncluttered interface that is simple to navigate and that makes drilling USA, but that has changed Group CEO, Ofer Druker down into data very easy. It is responsive too – something that is an important dramatically in the last few consideration when using on-demand software. months with the acquisitions Campaigns of US-based affiliate network MediaWhiz and mobile marketing specialist network MobAff. The Campaigns screen is where you set up new campaigns and edit existing We caught up with Matomy Media Group’s ones. Mobit provides solid integration with Matomy’s network so if you wish to CEO, Ofer Druker, to find out more. bring in new campaigns it is as simple as typing in the campaign ID and everything gets set for you automatically. But you can also set up campaigns from any other revenue+Performance: Tell me a little about CPA networks with just a little more work, and Mobit will provide seamless Matomy for people who may not have worked tracking and reporting on those campaigns alongside those from Matomy. with you before? Line Items Ofer Druker: We started as a small company of just five people back in 2007 and we now Line items allow you to provide post click rules to your media buys. You are have 400 people worldwide in seven locations. currently able to split your traffic using simple A/B testing logic which means Matomy Media Group has established itself as that multiple campaigns can be tested at once with a single media buy. one of the world’s fastest growing ad networks reports and a leading international performance media Reporting is the heart and soul of any tracking and optimization tool and solutions provider. It now includes American Mobit doesn’t disappoint. The Reports center presents a clean interface (see companies MediaWhiz, MobAff and Adperio, Figure 3), with drop-down lists of your network partners, advertisers, campaigns, and in Europe there is also Team Internet which supply platforms and line items by which you can filter your report data. Reports is based in Germany. can be grouped and can include any data collected from any of your media buys, r+P: What do you think is the key to your campaigns and mobile specific criteria. success? Mobile performance marketing is sometimes intimidating for newcomers OD: I think it is that we stay focused on because it generates so many different data points: device, OS, geographic and what is important to our advertisers and to our network information, and click and conversion data that is then used to calculate publishers. Right now there are three key areas: KPIs such as EPC, CVR and profit and loss. It is easy for novices in mobile marketing to be overwhelmed unless they have clear performance insights presented in an • Mobile – We are focused on growing organically easily digestible form. This is where Mobit shines. as well as making major acquisitions such as MobAff. • Data – We see data as the key enabler for cross-channel campaigns. Our development of Mobit is reflective of this.. • Consolidation – Consolidation in the industry is desirable and Matomy will continue to play our part, making key acquisitions that allow us to expand and that will add to our tech capabilities and market reach. r+P: How about you personally? Are you enjoying growing Matomy? OD: I’ve been in online media and internet advertising for over 15 years: I co-founded Oridian (Ybrant Digital) in 1998 and Soho Digital International in 2005, for example. But for all the different things I’ve done I must say that I am most proud of Matomy. I work with amazing Figure 3: Reporting and analytics is a strong-suit for Mobit. In addition to detailed, near-realtime people – I couldn’t be more proud of them. reporting on each campaign, “Mobit Insights” work in the background to intelligently identify both the most profitable and least profitable segments of your media buys.

revenue.mThink.com 13 revenue+Performance - PRODUCT REVIEW

So long as campaigns and supply platforms are set up profitably, meaning that scaling up on successful media buys properly – and Mobit makes those processes simpler than any becomes much easier too. In combination, it means that one can other mobile optimization platform than we have yet seen – the very quickly stop buying traffic that doesn’t convert well, and reporting is intuitive and fast. buy a lot more traffic that does convert - campaign optimization doesn’t get much simpler than this. Mobit Insights Mobit Insights was developed with input from Matomy’s own Mobit Insights is one of the features of Mobit of which Matomy is most proud. Essentially it is a data analytics tool that mobile media buying team and it shows. It goes well beyond the constantly runs in the background while your campaigns are standard reports available in the competing mobile optimization being tracked through Mobit. When you see the Insights button tools we have looked at – in our opinion it is a game-changer. appear (a star-shaped logo in a circle) you have instant access Conclusion to a report that tells you exactly which combinations of traffic Mobile is the future of online marketing. It is proving to characteristics are giving you your most profitable conversions, be effective in the form of individual campaigns or as part and also which combinations are least profitable. of an integrated multi-channel, multi-platform efforts. And Imagine you have a campaign that has been launched it only going to become more important. For any publisher, successfully and now you want to scale it up. What kind of media advertiser or agency seeking to should you buying? Does it make succeed with mobile performance a difference whether the traffic is marketing, having a deep and wide coming from iPhones or Android • Manage and optimize all understanding of mobile media phones? Or from Samsung buying is absolutely essential. handsets or those made by HTC? mobile ad campaigns in Or from which carrier? one place In our view Mobit addresses this need admirably. It is able to report These are the kinds of questions on campaigns in near-realtime, it that simply don’t apply to • realtime conversion tracking is easy to add new campaigns and online performance marketing, and data collection to edit existing ones, it aggregates where day-parting and some all the available data (including demographic targeting may • Post-click redirects and carrier, device OS and particular be all that is needed in terms of optimization. But mobile is split-testing device model, for example) into different – carrier, device model, one place and can then show which operating system, WiFi or 3G – all • Mobit Insights automatic media buys are least profitable and these different criteria may have analytics saves time and which are most profitable - the a real and significant effect on list of functions is long. And the conversion rates. The problem is maximizes profitability good news is that it all works well. that with so many different data The Mobit on-demand platform points, analyzing all the possible is responsive, cost-effective and different combinations can take provides good user support. It days of work. makes for a simple to use but powerful platform for managing mobile campaigns. That’s the problem that Mobit Insights aims to solve, and in the short time that we had to work with the system, it seems In an industry like performance marketing, where there are to work extremely well. Within a few minutes it is easy to look literally hundreds of cookie-cutter CPA networks, it is great at a campaign, identify what kinds of traffic from which sources to see a network investing in technology in order to stand out aren’t working and then either stop them completely or redirect from the crowd and to take a leading role in the development of them to another landing page. That alone can save an enormous new marketing strategies for affiliates. Matomy deserves a lot amount of wasted media buy. But Mobit Insights also instantly of credit for launching Mobit - we think it is excellent. Highly identifies the precise type of traffic that is converting most recommended.

Sign up for a free 45-day trial of Mobit: www.matomy.com/meet-mobit After the free trial period Mobit is available on a monthly subscription of $49 /month, or entirely free to all Matomy afﬁliates earning more than $1,000 /month in revenue. For more information, please contact [email protected]

14 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 Managing Performance – Matt Frary, SmarterChaos.com

Are You Asking for It? You’d Better! By Matt Frary, SmarterChaos.com

Affiliate Marketing is traditionally a sport played best The first and most important step is for these affiliates by the big guys - the big beasts of the industry. Companies to start asking for it. What is “it”? It is whatever they need such as eBates, ShopAthome, RetailMeNot, Vertive or in order to engage more closely with the brand and the SurfMyAds always are near the top of any affiliate manager’s advertiser so that their promotions are more relevant, list when considering who should be targeted. Yet the truth engaging and effective. There are at least five things that is that there are often huge potential traffic sources that every affiliate can ask their affiliate manager for that will are ignored in this situation. In particular, there are very help them become part of the 5%. powerful content creators such as blogs and content sites ask For a Product To review that may be overlooked. These sites may only consist of a single person in their proverbial basement, or a perhaps just You are essentially the virtual sales staff for these few people in an office somewhere, but they still may have advertisers. You have to get to know the product, product huge influence online. Why is it that this part of the affiliate selection, pricing, and everything there is to know about the world is so often ignored? product before you can sell it. You wouldn’t go out and sell someone’s widget without trying that widget first….would You often hear people refer to the Pareto Principle; you know the rule that says, “20% of affiliates will contribute you? Don’t be afraid to ask for free samples or the product 80% of total affiliate sales.” Thank to be sent to you. You’ll want to take pictures of it, review it, you, Vilfredo Federico Damaso and write about it. Nothing is better Pareto. You have contributed to than original content to attract traffic to your site, and nothing our conversation over 100 years any affiliate can become after you first came up with the creates new content like your own idea. opinion on the product you are part of the 5% driving the marketing. I’m pretty sure Pareto wasn’t an affiliate marketer, but people in traffic to these advertisers ask for a Coupon or Unique this industry have been quoting Promotion his rule for a long time. In fact, and in so doing can make When you reach out to an those of us that have been in the advertiser or program manager, business for a while now have you are going to want to ask them modified the rule to state that more money than 95% of what deal they have that you can actually just 5% of the affiliates uniquely promote. You see, if in your program will send 95% of the marketers out there they have 20% off their product your business. somewhere else on the web, but you The question is whether have to sell it at full price, it’s like affiliates who are not currently in being in a boxing match with Mike that golden 5% have the ability to change the situation? Tyson with one arm tied behind your back and no ear guards. Yes. The answer is yes. If the advertiser values you as their selling partner, they will offer you a unique promotion, or some unique product to These affiliates need to be asking themselves, how can promote that is limited to their affiliate channel or to you I be heard over the larger affiliates? How can I drive more as an affiliate. If the advertiser is using promotional code sales with the traffic that I’m providing? tracking such as what is available in Impact Radius or that Affiliate marketers who want to do better should begin can be uniquely tracked to you, then you will get more credit by engaging more with their brands and advertisers. Make a for sales than you are getting today. Your traffic will start to phone call, start an instant message conversation, reach out convert better, the search engines will pick up your unique via email, or send smoke signals. The truth is that affiliate deal, and it will create more buzz around your site. program managers actually WANT affiliates to reach out to them. Any affiliate can become part of the 5% driving the ask for Pre-Written articles or eBooks traffic to these advertisers and in so doing can make more This tactic is one that is not often employed, but is very money than 95% of the marketers out there. effective. Many advertisers have pre-written content about

revenue.mThink.com 15 Managing Performance – Matt Frary, SmarterChaos.com

their products, reviews, or eBooks that you can use as more content for your site. You can weave this into your original content and your experience with the product, and therefore appear as a subject matter expert on this particular product. Many afﬁliates use those eBooks to offer free to visitors to their site in order to incentivize them to join a mailing list. This is a huge advantage for you, as we all know growing your email list is pure gold and you can sell the advertiser’s product to your list and then offer more products to them down the road. If an advertiser has a highly technical product or service, pre-written content can help you explain and pre-sell that product so that once the user hits the site, they are already making an educated decision to purchase or sign up. Pre-written content can increase conversion rates on your trafﬁc and therefore make more sales, earning you more money.

The more conversations you have 25+ with the people for whom you sell, and the more that you know about the products you are selling, the more you are going to make as an affiliate

ask for a Site analysis Sometimes the best question is the hardest one to ask. When you reach out to an affiliate manager or program manager, ask them “What do you think of my site? How could I better sell your products? What would you like to see on my site?” Many of us sit for hours coming up with content or building our sites, and many times we aren’t looking at it from a sales perspective. If you ask for advice or a site analysis, the advertiser can collaborate with you to build the optimal pre-sales content that will help convert your traffic into more sales and/or leads. If you ask the advertiser, and the advertiser or program manager doesn’t have a good answer for you, I’d ask them how THEY sell their products. Many times an affiliate simply puts a banner around content that is not relevant to the product in the banner, and then they wonder why they are not selling anything or why their clicks do not convert. If you find a really experienced program manager or advertiser, ask them for five things that you could change about your site that they think would help drive more sales. This will show you are proactive, and it’s

16 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 Managing Performance – Matt Frary, SmarterChaos.com

likely that the tips will help or provide you ideas you had not thought about. ask What has Worked For Other affiliates When traditional sales teams try to repeat success, they often interview their top sales person and determine what he or she is doing right, and then try to extend that to the rest of their sales team. This is a also good approach to affiliate marketing. If there is one technique, topic, methodology, or type of traffic that is working better than others, the affiliate team of that advertiser should be happy to share that with you. Don’t expect the advertiser to share specific sites with you, as that wouldn’t necessarily be fair to those affiliates that are top performers, and there is certain etiquette that should be followed so as not to upset your highest performers. Ask for the top conversion rates, and make sure you understand from what type of traffic that conversion is derived. See if the advertiser can give you specific media that has worked well. Does email traffic convert better or are blogs the winner? Make sure that you are comparing apples to apples, because advertisers also like to pump up their stats, using conversion rates from incentive sites or loyalty programs which will always be higher. Once you find out what has worked, see if you can repeat it and be realistic about what type of affiliate you are. If you are not an email affiliate, and the advertiser works best on email, its best to move onto another program. At the end of the day, affiliate marketing is not an easy job and it is not all about the four-hour work week. You have to come out of the basement, get on the phone, and start finding out how to sell more. The more conversations you have with the people for whom you sell, and the more that you know about the products you are selling, the more you are going to make as an affiliate. It seems so simple, but how many times have you been on the phone this week? How many of your advertiser program managers do you know by name? Ask for it. You shall receive. about Matt Frary

Matt Frary is CEO and Founder of SmarterChaos.com, an Internet marketing and sales agency focused on large brands. Matt was a founder of a former top-30 online ad network called ROIRocket.com, and is a frequent speaker at online marketing conferences. As a Mentor at The Founder’s Institute in Denver, CO, Matt enjoys working with start-ups to realize positive ROI quickly and is a pas- sionate and serial entrepreneur. His career also includes branding for the Smart Car at Mercedes Benz, marketing at eBags.com, lead generation for the Auto Channel at MSN (DriveOff.com), brand agency experience at The Integer Group in Denver, and becoming a dominant force in ethical lead and sales generation online.

revenue.mThink.com Legal – Klein Moynihan Turco LLP, David O. Klein and Daniel West

Privacy Policies: A Legal Necessity for Mobile Apps By David O. Klein and Daniel West, Klein Moynihan Turco LLP

For the first time in history, a majority of Americans now to their employees a written manual on data handling and own a smart phone of some kind - 56% of Americans, or protection procedures, and that users are notified in the event over 177 million people, to be exact. With this increasingly of any breach of security with respect to their data. significant number of people able to use their cell phones to download and utilize mobile applications (“Apps”) on a daily Privacy Policies Can Make app Developers Money basis, there are several legal concerns that App developers In addition to the legal necessity of operating in compliance and marketers must address. In this article, we will discuss the with state and federal law, a well written privacy policy can most fundamental of these: mobile App privacy policies. form a key feature of App developers’ business strategies. It is not uncommon for clients to inquire, skeptically, as Providing that proper disclosures are included in the App to the necessity and importance of having a privacy policy privacy policy and elsewhere within the App user interface, available within their App. While some might prefer to skip and end-users affirmatively consent, App developers can this step (and the associated expense), our advice is almost monetize user data through e-mail marketing, telemarketing always the same: if you own, operate or market a mobile and, where permitted by law and under a narrower set of App that collects personally identifiable information (“PII”) circumstances, mobile/text message marketing. from end-users, such as name, e-mail/mailing address, phone Conversely, if an App developer does not properly obtain number, etc., an easy-to-read privacy policy must be made consent from users to use their data for marketing purposes, readily available to end-users within the App’s interface. any attempt to do so (without obtaining separate and express Moreover, if end-user’s PII or mobile tracking information is consent) would almost certainly violate applicable law. made available to third parties, you must obtain the end-user’s Specific disclosures must be provided for each intended use, affirmative consent to the sharing of such information. and App developers cannot deviate from the stated purpose Privacy Policies are required by Law and range of options granted to them in their privacy policies. The most straightforward reason for this is that such Even when an App’s privacy policy clearly discloses the privacy policies are required by various state and federal laws. various ways in which the App developer can use end-users’ Depending on the type of App and the audience to which it is PII, the App developer is not always granted the right to use directed, the App developer may need to inform users, via a that information in all of the enumerated ways. For example, prominently featured privacy policy, of what PII is collected, some states have more restrictive laws that apply to the use of how that PII is used, to what parties the PII may be disclosed, sensitive information, such as Social Security Number, health- the security measures taken to protect that PII and whether related information and financial data (such as credit card, the App uses persistent identifiers to recognize and track bank account and other related information). users’ activities across different platforms using their mobile With a wide array of rules and regulations governing the device IDs. collection, use, sharing and security of the various forms of For instance, under the amended Children’s Online Privacy PII – and given the potential financial benefits involved in Protection Act (“COPPA”), which went into effect earlier this utilizing a database of consumer information – it makes good month, if an App developer is aware that its App is collecting business and legal sense to craft a privacy policy that is well- PII from children under the age of 13, or if the developer suited to the individual needs of the applicable business. knows that their App is collecting PII from another website The increasingly widespread availability of cell phones has or App that is targeted to children under the age of 13, the created a lucrative market for Apps that shows no sign of App developer must clearly explain the App’s information slowing in the future. If you are an App developer, operator practices, provide direct notice to parents about those or marketer, you must be cognizant of the pitfalls associated practices and obtain parental consent before collecting with poorly drafted or inaccurate privacy policies, and not let the child’s PII via the App. These obligations apply to App your privacy policy, or lack thereof, hinder you from reaching developers even when third parties (like ad networks or plug- your professional and financial goals. ins) collect PII through their App(s). Collecting, storing and transmitting data via an App about David O. klein and Daniel West also imposes a responsibility on the App developer and its David O. Klein and Daniel West of the firm of Klein Moynihan Turco LLP employees to safeguard such data. Various state and federal practice Internet and Mobile Marketing Law in New York City. David O. statutes require that data collectors maintain and distribute Klein can be reached at (212) 246-0900 or via e-mail at [email protected].

18 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 Mobile Optimization – Lee Aho, Clickbooth

The 6 Most Common Mobile Optimization Mistakes & How To Avoid Them By Lee Aho, Clickbooth

It is predicted that over half of all worldwide traffic will action is hard to find or impossible to navigate with a finger, come from mobile devices by 2015. Mobile usage and growth don’t expect a conversion. As an advertiser, ask yourself what statistics like these are staggering and if you value your action you want performed – whether it’s short form lead gen business and brand they cannot be ignored. You must be or a credit card payment, then determine what information optimizing for mobile. is critical. Simplify text entry with fewer, larger text fields Ineffective mobile traffic optimization will not only expose and when possible use dropdown menus, checklists and pre- your business to substantial decreases in potential revenue populated fields. An adult finger easily covers 45 pixels when but will also jeopardize the reputation of your brand. A pressed on a mobile screen, so a clear call-to-action that is frustrating mobile experience can translate directly into a 44x44 pixels is ideal. negative consumer association. 5. Using Creatives That haven’t Been “Mobilized” Mobile users expect an experience optimized for their viewing device and the epitome of mobile optimization is Nearly half of your email creatives are viewed on a mobile simplifying the consumer’s experience in order to help them screen and if they aren’t optimized for mobile the chances convert. Unfortunately, most advertisers are not doing this are over 80% that they will be deleted. Non-optimized ad effectively or even at all. creatives will simply be ignored. Even if your mobile landing To help you avoid the potential pitfalls, here are six of the page is optimized, your mobile creatives must be designed most common mobile optimization mistakes. with mobile in mind. In emails, avoid long subject lines, reduce email width to 640 pixels or less and email size to 20K or less. 1. Slow Load Times Format your ad creative to 320x427 pixels or less. Just as on Slow loading pages are not just an inconvenience for site your mobile site, ensure that your email and ad creative call- visitors; in the age of ecommerce, consumers expect your to-action and text links are clear and easy to press. page to load easily and quickly. Most consumers will wait only 5 seconds for a web page to load on their mobile device 6. Network Lacking Necessary Mobile Capabilities before abandoning the site altogether. Ideally, your mobile Once you have optimized for mobile consumers, choose to page should render in less than one second. Keep it simple partner with a network that is capable of boosting your mobile and limit page sizes by stripping out any unnecessary content, traffic. A good network will have strong mobile capabilities especially large images or Flash. including targeting. Mobile targeting is a huge benefit for 2. Over-Elaborate Site Design network advertisers. Advertisers are able to route traffic to Function is more important than visual appeal on a mobile specific landing pages based on a series of rules. For example, device so don’t recreate your desktop site. Instead, mobilize a network can create a rule that will identify iPhone traffic and the experience. Simple, clean pages with minimal distraction redirect users to an iPhone optimized page. There are many convert best. Ensure that copy is concise and large enough other ways a mobile capable network can significantly help that it is easy to read on a mobile screen. improve offer performance. 3. Forgetting Mobile SEO The mobile sector still has enormous growth left in it, so Google is just as strict in regard to mobile SEO as in online. it is not too late to capitalize on this ever-increasing traffic Faulty redirects and error messages for your mobile visitor source. Start mobile optimizing now – the right way – and get will lead directly to demotion in mobile search rankings ahead; wait any longer and it may simply be too late to catch and you will soon see a decrease in traffic. Always redirect up. mobile users from a desktop page to its mobile optimized equivalent. If you do not have a mobile equivalent page yet, about Lee aho serve relevant desktop content rather than redirecting users Lee Aho graduated from Michigan State with a BA in Mar- to an irrelevant mobile or error page. keting. Originally hired at Clickbooth as an Advertising 4. Complex Or Missing Calls To action Consultant, Lee was quickly promoted to Senior Advertis- ing Consultant, and most recently to Vice President of Ad- Google reports 61% of mobile visitors move to competitors’ vertising. He excels in planning, evaluating, managing, and sites after a frustrating browsing experience. If your call to optimizing online campaigns.

revenue.mThink.com 19 Managing Performance – Lisa Mollura, Rakuten LinkShare

Seven Requirements for Global Afﬁliate Marketing Success By Lisa Mollura, Rakuten LinkShare

Whether you’re a publisher or an advertiser, you already network. Your account team can connect you with local affiliates know that performance marketing is the most cost effective that can give you a reality check on the demand for your particular way to enter new overseas markets. The low risk, pay-for- products as well as provide strategic advice about campaign feasibility in specific regions. performance business model, coupled with local affiliate expertise, allows retailers to quickly set up shop and reach 2. Recast the competitive landscape. You know which competitors you’re up against on a daily basis in the U.S., but you can’t assume buying customers without having to invest in offices and full you’ll be facing those same companies in every country. Be sure time staff. to explore if there’s already a hands-down preferred local vendor Still, many businesses are finding it challenging to replicate offering comparable products. If so, it’s time to rethink your strategy in terms of working with local distribution partners to decrease the success they’ve had in the U.S. when they enter new shipping costs as well as increasing incentives for affiliates. markets. They invest time and resources into learning about 3. Look under the IT hood. Your success in a new area will hinge upon the country or region, align with the right business partners the strength of the country’s IT infrastructure in terms of speed and and hire local experts. Many even develop country specific security of transactions. Just think back to the mid- to late-1990’s websites. At first glance, this appears to be the right approach. when e-commerce was starting to really hit its stride. We saw online However, there are hidden obstacles that can prevent you sales skyrocket along with the broader accessibility of Internet from reaching your potential in what should be highly access and technology advances in broadband. Today, it’s easy to take our infrastructure for granted and lose sight of the fact that lucrative markets. many countries are just now getting high-speed connections. As you If you’re currently struggling to achieve strong results explore new territories, fully investigate how accessible, easy and overseas or you’re considering entering new markets, then the widely used the Internet is by the country’s consumers. following seven criteria should be the main areas upon which 4. Localize your messages. Going beyond website translation, you to focus for global affiliate marketing success. also need to understand the nuances of the local language and business customs. This is another area where your affiliates can 1. Identify the strongest growth areas for your business. It’s a given that add tremendous value so work with them and your performance you’ll research hot growth markets. However, keep in mind that just marketing network’s account managers to develop campaigns that because a region or country is recognized as having high potential, speak directly to your target audience. this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to seize opportunities in it. One way to test the waters is to work more closely with your global affiliate 5. Establish your brand in each new country. Don’t assume your U.S. brand cache will instantly carry over in a new area. For this reason, you’ll need to invest the time in establishing your brand in a new country. The key is to maintain your core differentiators yet also adjust your messages accordingly. As they say, “When in Rome…” 6. Prioritize the fulfillment process. Fulfillment operations can be a tricky component of your overseas expansion. You don’t want to lose customers or compromise your brand due to delays in shipping or high duties and taxes. You can overcome these challenges by working with established partners in drop-ship, payment processing, currency conversion and last mile delivery. 7. Embrace the mystique of international products. A recent study by Forrester uncovered that consumers place a higher value on products that are made outside of their home country. As an advertiser, you can trade on this so long as you don’t compromise quality in pursuit of premium pricing. If you’re mindful of these common obstacles, you’ll be able to more easily enter new markets and start to see faster returns on your investments in performance marketing. The recent Forrester report also revealed that as e-commerce companies expand into new markets, the affiliate channel commonly proves to be the most cost-effective path to reach new customers. Get things right from the beginning and global success can be yours. about Lisa Mollura

Lisa Mollura is senior marketing manager for Rakuten LinkShare.

20 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15 Business Expansion – Cristian Miculi, Avangate

5 Steps to Accelerating International Growth By Cristian Miculi, Avangate

Software applications are ideal products to sell online but many Software Apps Market Geo Breakdown merchants limit themselves to only selling into a single country. Whether you’re just starting to sell online or have an established Asia/Paci c APAC 16% business, selling internationally is an important opportunity for the CIS development of your business overall. In this article we look at some 3% of the key things to consider when seeking to expand abroad. US/CA/LATAM First things first: decide where you’re going W. Europe / 49% Before launching on your international growth campaign, MEA you need to decide where to expand. The US is generally 32% where software companies get most of their sales, and it’s a strong market with a good long-term outlook. However, you shouldn’t limit yourself to that territory, especially as developing economies gain traction. More and more software companies are looking to grow in emerging markets like Latin America Figure 1 – Software Applications Market Geographical Breakdown (source: Gartner Market Databook 3Q11 Update) (LATAM), China and India, but all of these markets have unique requirements. Use affiliates and resellers as “translators” To prioritize your approach, you’ll need to do some One of the best strategies for approaching new markets is intensive research on your target markets. This should include to minimize costs and risks by using affiliates. Growing your identifying the market size and trends, competitive landscape, business through affiliates offers many benefits: opportunities and risks. Also take into consideration where the • Affiliates get paid only if they generate value (sales, leads). customers and traffic on your website currently come from, which can make it easier to get started planning your expansion. • Affiliate programs are easy to set up. As you can see in figure 1, the Americas account for almost • Affiliates have established online audiences in a specific 50% of the entire global software and software-as-a-service market. (SaaS) market. North America (US and Canada) specifically is When it comes to business models, performance marketing a mature market that’s growing more slowly than emerging encompasses several models that you can experiment with markets but still faster than Europe. Competition is strong in when selling online: pay-per-sale, pay-per-install and even the US, so have your company’s SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, pay-per-lead. Depending on the type of products that you Opportunities, and Threats) analysis close by and know how you have and the locale you’re targeting, you can come up with plan to stand out from the crowd. When it comes to emerging ways to effectively motivate affiliates using your model. markets in the Americas, Latin American is growing very quickly. Pay-per-lead, for example, works best with larger deals One of the most important factors to focus on is localization of for business-to-business (B2B) software and online services, your existing offers – this is especially important in Brazil. while affiliates targeting emerging markets will most certainly The second biggest software market to target is Europe, prefer pay-per-install instead of pay-per-sale due to lower Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and specifically Western Europe: conversion rates in those areas. Work closely with experienced United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. These affiliates and examine competitors’ tactics to refine your established markets currently make up around one-third of strategy in a specific market. the total software and SaaS sales. EMEA also features three Once you’ve established your target market and affiliate interesting emerging markets with a lot of potential: Russia (and model, join a local affiliate network and start recruiting CIS), Poland and Turkey. affiliates. If you have the budget, working with agencies or Last but not least, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region claims some outsourced program managers (OPM) to connect with strong 16% of the worldwide software and SaaS market share, with a local affiliates and resellers can really accelerate the process strong market in Japan and major emerging markets in China of seeing returns from your affiliates. But with the right and India. APAC is expected to grow dramatically in the coming localized offer, you can successfully recruit affiliates yourself. years due to a combination of population growth, increasing If things go well with affiliates thus proving that the demand and current market headroom, so it’s a great place to market opportunity exists, the next step is to start looking turn your focus now. for resellers. Strong points in favor of using resellers include

revenue.mThink.com 21 Business Expansion – Cristian Miculi, Avangate

their usually reliable and experienced sales techniques, their 2. Take care of legal requirements and local taxes. When established long-term industry partnerships and their pre- entering a new market, consider the local legal framework. Find existing active presence in the local market. out if there are any particular regulations to consider such as the European Union’s ePrivacy Directive (also known as the There are no “rules” that determine whether to use affiliates “cookie law”). Localizing prices must also include adapting to or resellers in any particular case, but both can help you tap local taxation characteristics. For instance, shoppers in Europe into new markets more easily and cost effectively than you and in other countries, unlike the US, are accustomed to having can by using only your own resources. taxes included in the prices, not added during the purchase Dress like a local: 5 steps to prepare your product for process. Seeing taxes pop up later can surprise and deter these growth shoppers. Tip: Identify a partner to act as your Merchant of Record or Now that you’ve gained a sense of where and how to sell to Reseller in a particular market who can deal with all the aspects customers within a certain territory, we recommend working of financial transactions and shopper payments on your behalf. A through five steps to prepare for expansion into new markets. Service Provider (Direct) model requires you to handle taxation and You might compare it to “dressing like a local,” or adopting payment processing yourself and interact directly with shoppers local customs to appeal to customers in a specific market. and payment processors which can be expensive, confusing and 1. Localize your offer. Translate your website and products time-consuming. or services into the language of the region you’re targeting. 3. Support local payment methods. Not every buyer is able or English is not always the best converting language, so having willing to pay in US dollars using a credit card, so team up with your offer localized can greatly help generate and convert new a solutions provider that can fulfill local payment methods for leads. And don’t stop there: if you include testimonials on your your target region. Or go even further and establish regional website, add endorsements from local influencers, well-known pricing models to attract new users in a specific locale. publications or prominent clients. Proof point: AVS4YOU, a UK based software company, saw sales Proof point: Patrick Llewellyn from 99Designs says his company in France increase by 40% after establishing regional pricing, saw a 50% to 60% uplift in sales in Germany after translating their displaying prices in the local currency and adding local payment website, adding a local support number with local business hours methods. and supporting local payment methods.

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PRODUCED BY emetrics.org/boston Preferred local payment methods around the world: out to customers in different ways. Find out what the top • Over 40% of shoppers in the Netherlands prefer iDeal, a performing companies in a region do, then follow their lead standardized online banking-based payment method. while also differentiating your promotions. For example, failing to offer a free trial for a business-to- • PayPal is now the preferred online payment method for consumer (B2C) software product will almost certainly reduce German shoppers. your opportunities in the Middle East and many emerging • Alipay is the dominant online payment platform in China, markets. Your discounting policy will also affect sales in accounting for approximately 50% of the market. different regions, so see how you can add value for your • 30% of all online payments made by Brazilian shoppers customers with region-specific offers. are processed through the Boleto Bancario system. Going international will help drive more revenue for your • Konbini payments account for up to 18% of ecommerce company at low risk if you do it the smart way: by sharing your transactions in Japan. risks and your earnings with affiliates and resellers initially. 4. Offer native language support during local business hours. Starting out with support from partners is a great way to drive This is an absolute requirement for the strongest markets out additional revenue in the short term while incurring minimal there, including Japan, France and Germany. Not only does it costs. Then, if a market proves worthwhile, you will be able to help customers find information and deal with any issues, but it focus additional resources with less risk. also builds confidence in your company, products and services. International markets will continue to grow. Now is the This is especially important in software, where companies can’t moment to ensure that your international expansion plans just make a sale and run, but need to provide ongoing support. Be sure to localize product documentation as well as are in place and that you have spent the time to find good establishing local email and phone support. Outsource partners with which to work. translation and support for specific languages if you don’t have about Cristian Miculi sufficient internal resources, or consider using resellers to handle support requests. Cristian Miculi is senior affiliate marketing manager for Avangate, an 5. Customize promotions for each market. Depending on the eCommerce solutions provider that enables Software and Software-as-a- Service companies to sell their products via any channel and any model with region you want to target, you can build traction by reaching a view to optimizing both online and offline revenue. As a LifeLock affiliate, what’s in it for you? LIFETIME ASSOCIATION PARTNER Lead with the leader Industry leading identity theft protection High brand awareness High member retention LifeLock BOSTON You SEP 29 - OCT 3, 2013 Generous income opportunities Up to $72 bounty on completed adult enrollment The eMetrics Summit: the most Quarterly spiffs for higher earnings comprehensive and forward thinking digital analytics forum. Free to join our Affiliate Program

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PRODUCED BY emetrics.org/boston Join the team and get the rewards. Begin your partnership today. Please visit us at Affiliate Summit East in Philadelphia at Exhibitor Booth #302. LifeLock.com/affiliates revenue.mThink.com 23 Strategic Partnerships – Doug Godkin, Millionaire Network

Choosing Your Best Network Partner By Doug Godkin, Millionaire Network

Whether you are an advertiser or a publisher there are answer questions, but also to provide solutions as they many opportunities available in today’s online landscape and see opportunities arise? You want a proactive partner. many important decisions to be made as a result. 8. What is the future strategic direction of your partner? Selecting the right partners to grow your business is a Does their long-term direction coincide with yours? What pivotal decision. The decision must be based around a number is their focus on expanding into new areas? Will they of factors each of which must be carefully weighed out: short move with you, or perhaps before you? and long term goals, existing sales strategy, compliance, 9. What other legitimate clients and customers does your volume and product development. Due to the importance of partner support? Do they have the level of expertise to the selection process to the success of your online marketing manage accounts for Fortune 500 Companies? strategy, don’t be afraid to ask tough questions of your prospective partners. Choosing the right online strategic 10. Does the network you use have a strong compliance partner makes all the difference in generating significant policy and strict criteria by which they decide who sales, revenue, and customer value to work with, advertisers and while minimizing risks. publishers? Or are they an open forum working with the masses? Some key points to consider: Choosing the right online Private networks have significant 1. Do their compliance and advantages in many of these areas. operating procedures meet strategic partner makes all At my own network, Millionaire and exceed FTC Guidelines? Network, we have worked hard over Stay informed, read up for the difference in generating the past four years to proactively yourself, ask before you ever significant sales, revenue, address many of the challenges commit. in the marketplace. By actively 2. How long have they been and customer value while recruiting and building out a team in the industry? Is there an of industry leaders and marketing established track record of minimizing risks professionals, we have been able to relationships that have proved gain a key capability to foresee and successful? provide solutions within the ever- changing landscape of the direct 3. What is the experience level marketing industry. of the members operating the company? How long have they been in the space? Do they have the level of A good network partner embraces the industry’s challenges experience in the industry and a good reputation among and turns them into opportunities. In our case, the broad their peers to earn and keep their business? Will they skillset and abilities of our team lead to us being able to treat your business the same? produce major results for our partners as well. So, when seeking a new network partner, get out there and ask around, 4. Do they not only recognize, but move ahead of shifting and look at who will best help you to reach your goals. trends in the industry? If so, what proactive approaches The best networks – like Millionaire Network! – don’t claim will they take to ensure that your product is going to to be the best fit for everybody. Anyone who tells you they reach its target audience effectively? are, you don’t want. But for those who are a good fit and so we 5. Are they working in the mobile landscape? How is this do work with, we provide 100% commitment. evolving medium changing the rules in our industry? Are Somewhere out there, whether my own network or another, they in tune with this evolution? there is a team that is a key fit for you as a strategic long-term 6. Are they actively working to bring in the exclusive offers partner. that will grow your business? Look diligently and be determined not to settle. 7. What level of service are they able to provide when about Doug godkin you need it most? Is it merely a few staff behind a chat window willing to occasionally answer a question? Is Doug Godkin is director of marketing at Millionaire Network, one of the there a serious level of support that is able to not simply Blue Book’s Top 20 performance marketing networks.

24 REVENUE+performance – ISSUE 15

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