Is affiliate marketing contextual marketing ?
I read this post by Berth Kirsch titled Contextual marketing meets affiliate marketing with some interest, particularly towards the end of the piece where she asks why the big affiliate marketing networks haven't developed a contextual marketing framework.
Already in many ways, affiliate marketing is contextual (well, in a roundabout way at least)--- professional affiliates use pay-per-click contextual marketing aggressively to drive their sales, don't they? Smart affiliates also try to place the advertising for products they sell contextually, where they are most likely to be noticed and potentially lead to a sale. The most sophisticated ones actually build the infrastructure themselves to pull up their affiliate ads at the right time and place.
Maybe this has not caught our attention because in the vast majority of cases, it was not technology or automation that was doing the contextualization of the affiliate ads. As and when the kind of contextual affiliate marketing that Berth alludes to in her piece takes root (could be soon enough?), it will again lead to some questions on the model in which we operate and the role that we play. What exactly will affiliates have to do to earn their commissions?
Currently, affiliates are the decision makers and they face the consequences of their decisions. Will it be the same when we have automated, contextual ads appearing on our websites?
Irrespective of which way this goes, affiliates marketers cannot escape contextualization of their marketing to get results. At least that much we know.
Until next time,
Ben Flux
2 Comments:
Affiliate marketing can be contetxual, or it can be as irrelevant as a random banner ad. On average, the most successful affiliates are those that present relevant ads, offers, or simple unassuming "referrals" in context. That's been one of the great promises of affiliate marketing since the beginning.
>>Will it be the same when we have automated, contextual ads appearing on our websites? <<
Maybe I'm missing your point, but isn't that what Adsense and YPN is?
As I got to the bottom of your article, I'm presented with a text ad on how I can be made rich while I'm sleeping. Seems fairly contextual and relevent to your website.
Why do you have that instead of some hand-placed contextual affiliate link?
11/21/2005 01:46:53 PM
If CJ, etc could spider my site (ala YPN or Adsense) and put up relevant offers from my affiliate relationships then I could have another revenue source to try.
If they were able to rotate the most relevant ads and then give priority to the ads/offers that made the most money for me on that particular placement then not only could my potential earnings be higher but the relevancy would also be covered.
11/21/2005 02:33:48 PM
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