Denisa Kostolanyiova from Get Your Guide's affiliate presentation from TBEX North America 2018

2. How to Build Successful
Affiliate Partnerships
in the Travel Industry

3. Agenda
Introduction
The Faces of the Travel Industry
Collaboration Types
A!liate Marketing - What is in for you?
Breaking The A!liate Myths
Case Studies
The GetYourGuide‘s Journey & Our Partners

4. 4
Who Am I & Why Am I Here?
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€250,000
Millions in GMV
ü 2016:
Focus on Partnerships with Travel Publishers
ü 2017:
Growing our In-house Team
ü 2018:
10× Our A"liate Program & the Partnerships

5. 5
The Faces of the Travel Industry

6. 6
Talking the Travel Industry Language

7. 7
No Freebies? What‘s Next?

8. 8
Short vs. Long-Term Partnerships

9. 9
Why Affiliate Marketing?

10. 8 Biggest Affiliate Mistakes &
How to Avoid Them!

11. 11
- Focus on those that best fit your content
- Keep your audience’s interest in mind
- Affiliate Network vs. Direct Partnerships?
Mistake #1
Signing Up to Too
Many Affiliate
Programs
What to do Instead?

12. 12
- Keep it simple & relevant
- Within content
- Not the Sidebar or bottom of a post
- Keep it subtle but visible
- Repeat the most relevant products
several times!
Mistake #2
Too Many
Links, Widgets
or Banners
What to do Instead?
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14. 14
- Proper introduction of the brands & products
- Use appropriate call-to-action’s (CTA)
- Appealing Ad copy
Mistake #3
Not Guiding
Your Audience
What to do Instead?
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15. 15
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Appealing Ad Copy
&
Introduc4on

16. 16
- Practical Posts = Best for monetization
- Answer the Why, When, How questions
- Clear paragraphs with call-to-actions
in-between
- Use Highlights and colors
- Link General post about a destination
to tour review with CTA
Mistake #4
Not Formatting
Your Post for
Commercial
Appeal
What to do Instead?
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18. 18
- Forget Partner’s Homepage!
- Make it easy to find what your readers need
- Eliminate steps / pages visited
- Pre-filter but leave some room for choice
- Use Only the Most Relevant pages
(Product, Attraction, Destination)
Mistake #5
Using Low-
Performing
Landing Pages
What to do Instead?
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19. 19
- Reach out!
- Stop complaining on random channels
- Missing something? We love Proactive
Feedback!
- We only win by working together
effectively!
Mistake #6
Not
Communicating
with your Account
Manager
What to do Instead?
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20. 20
- Update your pages!
- Work on your Top Page SEO
- Check for broken links!
- Track & Repeat your success!
- Request New Products & Product testing!
Mistake #7
It’s not such a
Passive Income
After All
What to do Instead?
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21. 21
- Higher Commission follows Higher
Conversion
- Build Trust by Pro-activity
- Be in the Front Seat & Innovate
Mistake #8
Focusing on
Commission Not
the Conversion
What to do Instead?
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22. Case Studies

23. ü240% YoY Growth in 2017
HOW?
ü Understand reader‘s behavior
ü Find the money making post
ü Test Different Integration
ü Create affiliate-geared content!
ü Create a Relationship with Your
AM
Case Study #1
ü Product features
ü Issues
ü Commissions /
Competition
ü Do favours for one
another
WIN WIN

24. 24
Clear Title = Clear Aim
SEO Ranking = Tra!c
Repeat Repeat Repeat
Give Options

25. ü259% Growth in 3 months!
HOW?
ü Unique Audience & Destination
ü Build Audience‘s Trust
ü Suggest Relevant products
ü Continuous Page Updates
ü Proper Brand introduction
ü Test Di!erent Landing Pages &
Integrations
Case Study #2
ü Communication
ü New projects /
Initiatives
ü Supplier Intros
ü Feedback
WIN WIN

26. 26
Clear Separation
Unique Audience
Trusted Source
Interaction in Comments
Give Options

27. HOW?
HARD WORK PAYS OFF!
1M in sales with GYG in 2017
How did it begin?
ü 2012: 1 site dedicated to London
ü 2013: ViviParigi
ü 6 years later:
• 10 Destinations
• 3 Languages
Passive
Income? Not
so Much!
100%

28. 28
Product Integration & Own
Testing
Placement
Product
Copy
ü A/B Testing
ü Easy To Use
ü Trackable
ü Fully Responsive

29. 29
Track & Optimise

30. 30
Assign Monetary Value
to Your Articles
EPC (Earnings Per Click)
The campaign ‘Corning_article’ received 223 clicks
and generated €50 in commissions.
EPC = commission / n. clicks
50 / 219 = 0,22€ EPC
EPV (Earnings Per Visit)
‘What to do in Corning’ had 587 visits and generated
€50 in commissions.
EPV = commission / n. visits
50 / 587 = 0,08€ EPV

31. 31
Don’t Loose Track of Your Audience!!
BUILD a MAILING LIST!
Users must find real value in your site
They are looking for answers to their questions.
O!er them special content to download
Collect email addresses and build a segmented list.
Engage!

32. GetYourGuide’s
Journey & Strategy

33. 33
Based in Berlin
400+ Passionate Employees
In 14+ Destinations worldwide
O!er 32,000+ activities in 7,2000
Destinations
Preferred partner for:
OTAs, Hotels, Airlines, Editorials
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34. 34
Who do we work with?
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Fodor’s Travel
The Culture Trip
Michelin Voyage
Time Out
Online
Publishers &
Editorials
Airlines &
Car Rentals
OTAs &
Hotels
Travel
Agents
Ryanair
EasyJet
KLM
Emirates
Accor Hotels
KAYAK
Google Trips
Holiday Pirates
TUI
Thomas Cook
ARC

35. Top GYG US Destinations
All time Favorits:
New York City
San Francisco
Chicago
Boston
New Orleans
Miami
Washington

36. Growing US Destinations
Chicago (October)
Miami (December)
Washington (Sept & Oct)
San Diego (Sept & Oct)
Hawai
New Orleans (December)
Boston (Sept & Oct)
Atlanta

37. Thank You!
Contact
denisa@getyourguide.com