Led by Katy Atlas of Wickfire

1. We’re Going to Need a Bigger Funnel:
Growth Opportunities in Affiliate Marketing
Katy Atlas, COO • August 2019

2. Introduction
This session will present a comprehensive
strategy for:
● Identifying segments of affiliate traffic,
● Placing them in today’s purchase funnel,
● Evaluating their alignment with core
business objectives,
● Developing an execution plan,
● Iterating for best results.

3. The Basics
I’m going to assume you already have…
● An active website or e-commerce site,
● Integration with Google Analytics,
● Custom sales reports,
● Your own in house marketing efforts
… and you’re looking to explore further
opportunities in affiliate marketing.

4. Affiliate Marketing Opportunities
Great Because…
✓ Unique opportunities
✓ Broad variety of opportunities
✓ Works for small & large
budgets
✓ Can deliver growth at scale
✓ Collaborative
But Remember…
✘ Hard to compare channels.
✘ Easy to overspend.
✘ Sometimes opaque.
✘ Sometimes unsuccessful.
✘ Critical to control brand image.

5. Types of Digital Marketing Opportunities
● SEO
● Search Engine Marketing
● Social Media Marketing
● Display and Advertorials
● Influencers & Bloggers
● Email
● Coupon & Deal Sites
● Comparison Sites
● Cashback/Loyalty Sites
● Toolbars
● Lead Gen

6. Sample User Path
How do we allocate marketing spend to cover all these channels to
achieve the final purchase?
● Learns about a product on social media
● Googles product and reads comparison sites
● Reviews brand’s website
● Abandons purchase
● Remarketed via display
● Researches selected brand on Google
● Googles discounts for first-time customers
● Purchase

7. Purchase Funnel: Traditional
Linear decision-making process:
● Brand Awareness
● Research & Information Gathering
● Purchase
● Retention

8. Purchase Funnel: Today
Research&
InformationGathering
Product & Brand
Awareness
PriceResearch
● Cyclical decision-making
● Research throughout the funnel
● Many segments contribute to the
final sale
● Some overlap between segments
● Good data can isolate performance
of each segment

9. Bucket Opportunity Groups
● Product & Brand Awareness
○ Social
○ Display
○ Email
● Research & Consideration
○ Influencers
○ Comparison Sites
● Pricing
○ Coupon & Deal Sites
○ Cashback/Loyalty Sites
○ Toolbars

10. Cross-Bucket Groups
Can target strategies to any stage of the
funnel:
● SEO
● Search Engine Marketing
● Email (sometimes)

11. Define Your Brand’s Goals
● New customers vs. retention
● Brand awareness vs. conversions
● Customer lifetime value
● Transparency in consumer path

12. Allocating Across Segments
● Categorical statements are almost always
wrong
○ “There’s no value to working with
bloggers.”
○ “We’re exclusively focused on social.”
● Be the owner of your data
○ Control tests and focus on high-quality
partnerships
● Drive results with preferred monetization
○ Channels with greater scale potential
require greater investment

13. Remember Additional Value Segments
● Non-tracked Sales
● Incremental offline growth
● Alignment with trusted brands

14. Compare Risks and Opportunities
Opportunity
✓ Can influence brand
awareness beyond a
specific transaction.
✓ Great balance between
investment and
performance.
✓ Critical -- the make or
break point of the user
journey.
Risk
✘ Challenging to gauge
success, potential to
overspend without results.
✘ Competitive and
requires greater
investment.
✘ Overlap with other
channels, last click
attribution can
over-attribute.
Stage
Early Funnel
Mid-Funnel
Late Funnel

15. Iterate
● Review all partnerships critically
at regular intervals
● More data means better
decision-making
● Look at user behavior to identify
better-performing affiliates

16. Conclusion
We’ve discussed segments of affiliate traffic,
their placement in today’s purchase funnel,
allocating budget across channels, and
iterating based on performance.
Now you’re ready to take on new affiliate
growth opportunities!

17. Matthew Wiedle
Business Development
e. matthew@wickfire.com
c. 818-439-5580
Katy Atlas
Chief Operations Officer
e. katy@wickfire.com
c. 646-709-2736
Nick Munoz
Business Development
e. nick@wickfire.com
c. 760-889-4246
Have a question about this presentation? We’d love to hear from you.
Katie Carmichael
Business Development
e. katie@wickfire.com
c. 208-608-2102
Contact Wickfire
Chelseah Murphy
Business Development
e. chelseah@wickfire.com
c. 310-647-7515