1. Session 3 The Digital Marketing Communications 1

2. Learning Outcomes
At the end of this session, students should be able to;
Identify the role of digital marketing communication within the extended marketing mix
Identify the digital communications mix
Describe how digital communications tools can be effectively coordinated to enhance the customer experience.
Syllabus reference 3.1, 3.2, 3.4
So what is this session all about?
In this session we will be looking to understand the key aspects of the digital marketing mix – with specific emphasis on digital communications techniques. This session will focus on how organisations can use the various digital communications techniques available to them as part of their digital marketing activities. As there are so many communications tools to look at, we have split this into two sessions.
Digital changes rapidly and especially with technology applications. The best resources available to support your learning for this session will be found online and provided by professional organisations or individuals. We’ve provided you with links to relevant articles as well as videos, webinars and podcasts, we would encourage you to further reading around these topics online and via the Digital Knowledge Bank.
We’d also recommend you read Chapter 7 in the Chaffey & Smith recommended text as well as Chapters 4, 6 and 9 in the Ryan and Jones recommended text.

3. How the Marketing Mix is changing in the Digital Environment
Product:
Digital Value Experiencing the brand
Price:
Transparency
New pricing models
Place:
Representation New Distribution models
Multi-channel buying
Promotion:
Online Vs. Offline Mix
Integration
People:
Resourcing and training
Contact strategies
Physical evidence:
Online physical evidence
integration
Process:
Optimising internal and external processes through the web
Digital marketing affects all aspects of the traditional and service marketing mix.
Product – looking at opportunities for modifying the core or extended product for digital environment.
Price – the implications for setting prices in digital marketing; new pricing models and strategies
Place – considering the implications for distribution for digital marketing. We considered the key terms disintermediation and reintermediation in Session one.
Promotion – exploring the new opportunities for promotional technique, which we will look at in more detail in this session and the next.
People – considering additional staff that may be needed to service any online proposition as well as additional training required.
Physical evidence – this refers to online physical evidence; the website and how it’s designed as well as usability.
Processes – consideration for optimisation for internal and external processes through digital technologies
Chaffey & PR Smith, 2012

4. How Digital is Morphing the Marketing Mix
Digital brings together several elements of the marketing mix together – namely product, promotion and place.
For example:
Social media enables conversations to be generated to enhance the customer experience (product), promotes the brand (promotion) and spreads the accessibility of the brand (place)
Apps and widgets improve the customer experience (product), delivering the experience where the consumer is (place) and also promotes the product too (promotion).

5. The Role of Marketing Communications
Differentiate
Remind and reassure
Inform
Persuade
Attitude change
All marketing communications need to deliver against one or more of the following four main tasks:
Differentiate – Standout or create position. This is especially important in competitive markets where there is little to separate the products on offer
Remind - Remind people of a need they might have or reminding them of the past benefits of past transactions and so to convince consumers of a repeat purchase
Reassure – for example, immediately prior to exchange or post purchase to confirm the customer has made the right choice.
Inform – provision of information about offering and organisation
Persuade - current and potential customers of desirability of purchasing products
Fill, 2013 5 5

6. Objectives of Marketing Communications
Develop category need
Impart information
Build brand awareness
Develop brand attitudes
Brand purchase intention
Purchase facilitation
Post-purchase / customer reinforcement
This slide outlines the main objectives of marketing communications 6 6

7. Digital and Promotion
The Internet can vary the promotional element of the marketing mix:
New ways of applying each of the elements of the communications mix
Different ways of reaching the customer in the various stages of the buying process
Different ways to assist stages of customer relationships management – from acquisition to retention
The Internet can vary the promotional element of the marketing mix:
New ways of applying each of the elements of the communications mix – for example, advertising, sales promotion, PR and direct marketing
Different ways of reaching the customer in the various stages of the buying process – for example, using to send follow up information for consumers who abandon their online basket.
Different ways to assist stages of customer relationships management – This includes getting initial visitors to the site and gaining repeat visits through a variety of communications techniques.

8. Goals of Digital Marketing Communications
Traffic building goals
Use online media and offline promotion to drive traffic to a website which convert to required outcomes (sales, leads etc.)
Conversion and engagement goals
Use on-site communications to deliver an effective, relevant message to the visitor which helps shape customer perceptions or achieve required marketing outcome.
Third-party site reach goals
Reach, influence and engage with prospective customers on third-party media sites.
Multichannel marketing goals
Integrate all communications channels to help achieve multichannel marketing objectives by supporting mix-mode buying
Longer-term brand engagement goals
Sustain long term interactions leading to additional sales
A digital marketing campaign plan should have five types of goals included.
Example traffic building goals:
Achieve X unique visitors within one year
Deliver X online sales within one year, with an average order value of X and at a cost-per-acquisition of £10.
Example conversion and engagement goals:
Grow database by X over the next 12 months
Achieve X% conversion rate of new visitors to the website
Convert 30% if first time buyers to repeat purchasers within 6 months.
Example third-party site reach goals:
Increase brand awareness by X% within 3 months
Example multichannel marketing goals
Achieve X sales from offline adverts (within a given period)
Achieve X% of sales achieved in the call centre as a result of website visits (within a given period)

9. Three Key Online Media Types
Advertising
Paid Search
Display Ads
Affiliate Marketing
Digital Signage
Paid Media
Earned Media
Owned Media
Atomisation of content into ads
Paid Placements
Digital Properties
Website(s)
Blogs
Mobile apps
Social presense
Partner Networks
Publisher editorial
Influencer outreach
Word-of-mouth
Social networks
To help to develop a suitable strategy to reach and influence potential customers online, it’s common to refer to three main types of media channels that marketers need to consider today.
Paid media: These are bought media where there is investment to pay for visitors, reach or conversions through search, display or affiliate marketing – as well as traditional media such as TV advertising or direct mail.
Earned media: This is the media (or space) that is ‘earned’ by the brand – so the audience is reached through editorial comments or sharing online. This can include PR activities, content marketing activities, word-of-mouth and social media.
Owned media: This is the media owned by the brand – this can include their websites, blogs, database, social media presence and mobile apps. Offline, this could include stores. A organisation should consider the owned media available to them and how what investment is needed as part of their digital marketing activities
Atomisation of conversions
Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

10. The 6 Key Digital Media Channels
3. Online Partnership
Affiliate marketing
Sponsorship
Co-branding
Link building
Widget marketing
1. Search Marketing
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Paid search (PPC)
Paid for inclusion feeds
2. Online PR
Publisher outreach
Community participation
Media alerting
Brand protection
Offline communications
Advertising
Personal selling PR
Sales Promotion
Sponsorship
Offline communications
6. Direct mail
7. Exhibitions
8. Merchandising
9. Packaging
10. Word-of-mouth
Websites & Social Presences
Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick (2012), identified 6 main digital media channels. We will look at each of these in turn throughout this session and the next.
4. Interactive Ads
Site-specific media buys
Ad networks
Contra-deals
Sponsorship
Behavioural targeting
5. Opt-in
House list
Cold (rented lists)
Co-branded
Ads in third party newsletters
6. Social media marketing
Audience participation
Managing social presence
Viral campaigns
Customer feedback
Chaffey,and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012
Online Communications
Offline Communications

11. Selecting Digital Media Mix
Area
Issues
Quality
Attention-grabbing capability
Stimulating emotions
Information content and detail
Clutter
Time
Short lead time
Long exposure time
Flexibility
Appeal to multiple senses
Personalisation
Interactivity
Coverage
Selectivity
Pass-along audience
Frequency/repeat exposure
Average media reach
Cost
Development/production cost
Average media delivery cost
This slide outlines some of the considerations for selecting communications media. It provides a useful framework for evaluating the various digital media we will be looking at as part of this session. Each media discussed in this session will include an evaluation of the media using this framework.
Coulter and Starkis, 2005 (cited in Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012)

12. Search Engine Marketing
Two types of SEM:
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) (Natural Search)
Involves achieving the highest position possible or ranking in the natural or organic listings in search engine results pages (SERPS)
Paid Search Marketing or Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Similar to conventional advertising – adverts are paid for by organisation on a ‘per click’ basis
A relevant text advert with a link to a company page is displayed when the user types a specific phrase
Labelled as ‘sponsored links’ or sponsored results’
There are two types of SEM that have been outlined on this slide.
PPC is often classed as advertising as this involves paying for a placement within a search engine, while SEO is a longer term approach that involves understanding and manipulation of search engine algorithms.
We will talk about these in more depth over the next few slides but here is a useful article that explains the differences between the two types:

13. Search Engine Marketing
Keywords or Search Phrases
Paid
Search
Paid
Search
This slide shows in Google the difference between Natural Search and Paid Search.
Those on the right hand side are always paid ads and are also listed as paid (see the small yellow icon that says ‘ad’). There are often other paid ads right at the top of the page too, but this will depend on the key term used (again, labelled as ‘ads’ by the yellow ad icon).
Go to Google or another search engine of your choice now and see if you can spot the difference between paid ads and SEO.
Natural
search

14. How Search Engines Work
SEO depends on several factors:
Selecting well focused keywords that visitors would use
The relevance of the content of the site to the keywords chosen
The quality and type of code used to create the website
The freshness of information/news and how often it is updated on the website
The quality and relevance of links on the site, in particular inbound links from relevant sites with very good page rankings
Volume of traffic to site - popularity
Continual process that needs regular management and monitoring
The diagram here shows how search engines work.
Search engine optimisation uses a number of tactics to draw the attention of search engines to an organisation’s site. The idea behind SEO is to make a site fit as closely as possible with the searches performed by a target market. This is achieved by streamlining the elements within the site in order to make it more easily read by search engines.
SEO is also designed to help make a site appear the most relevant to the searches that target viewers are likely to make. This is what makes SEO such a tricky game to play. While search engines, algorithms and computer behaviour follow lines that are relatively easy to predict, human behaviour is slightly more complicated and a lot more volatile.
This is where keywords come in. A keyword is a term that is commonly used in connection with the subject of a site. When a site is found to have a certain number of keywords that are related to those used in the search, it appears relevant to the search query. Sites are then listed in order of relevance, although this is calculated via a far more complex equation than is easily explainable or guessable.
When a person searches through a search engine, the query is compared with stored information hauled back by the search engine’s spiders. How these spiders choose the information and how it is then sorted is a secret closely kept by the search engine companies. Optimisation begins at the page level and branches out to include everything about a site that is on the web (including social media) as well as how consumer engage with the relevant content.
From the pages place within the site and its URL, through its code and content and out to its links, SEO tactics can be implemented to make it more search engine-friendly.
The slide also highlights some of the key factors involved with SEO, which we will explore further in the next slide.
Watch this previous webinar from Oxford College of Marketing providing a useful introduction to SEO:

15. Two Important Factors for Good Search Engine Ranking
Matching between the web page copy and the key phrases searched
On-page optimisation; including keyword formatting and keyword density (do not add too many keywords – see below)
Links into pages (inbound or backlinks)
Pages and sites with more external links from other sites will be ranked more highly
Quality of these links has become more important as Google’s continued algorithm changes punishes sites that it feels abuses its Webmaster Guidelines (too many irrelevant links, keyword stuffing, paid for content etc)
SEO Success factors
On-page SEO – what is on the site
Content – freshness, engagement, relevant keywords, quality
HTML – meta description tags, title headers,
Architecture – crawability (how easy is it for the search engine to crawl the site, Flash designed sites often make this tricky), duplication (only one page available on the site, or duplication of content), site speed.
Off page SEO – what is directing traffic to the site
Links – number of links in, quality of these links and link/anchor text
Social – social signals play an increasingly important part of signalling site popularity and content, monitoring social shares.
Google are undertaking constant algorithm updates which can impact significantly on organisations and their web properties.
This useful article describes the key things you need to know about SEO:
This article is useful at explaining the three key aspects organisations need to be aware of for SEO in 2014:
Google explain the best practices to help Google find, crawl, and index a site:

16. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Text-based advertising appearing within the ‘sponsored’ section of the major search engines.
Cost is incurred only when a user clicks on your advert.
Ranking is not just based on highest paying click, but also on the sites quality score.
Quality score is based on the relative number of click-throughs on the adverts as well as the quality of the landing pages.
According to Econsultancy’s (2013): Paid search marketing means you advertise within the sponsored listings of a search engine or a partner site by paying either each time your ad is clicked (pay-per-click - PPC) or less commonly, when your ad is displayed (cost-per-impression - CPM).
Why would an organisation use paid search?
An organisation will feature at the top of the SERPs. With organic results decreasing rapidly further down the screen, it’s vital that a company appears within the top five results in order to stand a chance of click-through.
If the organisation has enough investment, PPC is the fastest way to get to the top.
It’s quick and easy to set up a PPC campaign, and appear immediately in the sponsored results.
Everything can be tracked – every ad, keyword and penny spent can be tracked, allowing for a more accurate ROI. This also means it’s a lot easier for an advertiser to test campaigns too.
PPC can offer the ability to to schedule ads and target them to specific locations and times.
Google Adwords and Yahoo Bing Network (YBN) are the two major networks for undertaking PPC with.
You can listen to a webinar that provides an introduction to PPC here:

17. Search Engine Marketing
Keywords or Search Phrases
Advert Title (link to keywords)
Advert Description (why you rather than another advertiser?
Webpage (select carefully – link to keyword)
This slide shows the make up of a PPC ad.
You can watch a video from the IAB UK about Search Advertising here:

18. Using SEM in the Communications Mix
SEO
PPC
Quality
Highly targeted traffic
Can be difficult to control rankings as affected by numerous factors
Can take longer to implement changes in terms of key words and phrases targeted
Can rank on page one of search engine relatively easily (if pay for)
Can alter ad text to grab attention
Limited on detail able to include
Time
Focuses on longer term communication goals
Can focus on campaign goals and objectives
Flexibility
Complexity and dynamic nature can make it quite inflexible – reliant on how site is indexed & changing algorithms
Very flexible – ad copy can be changed as required and isn’t reliant on algorithms
Coverage
Significant traffic driver but lack of predictability.
Can easily target keywords, phrases and locality.
Predictable
Cost
Relatively low cost (apart from agency or specialist fees) but requires continual investment.
Costs can be high if bidding on generic terms
Good accountability
Summary of Search Engine Marketing:
Benefits of PPC:
Cost Control: enables setting of budgets and enables caps to be put in place for spend. Similarly, it enables an organisation to manage each keyword’s bid to help target higher returning keywords.
Targeting: There is a plethora of targeting options in paid search. Everything from location to placement to network targeting.
ROI: There are tools within paid search interface that enables goals to be set up and conversions tracked. It is possible to get a true measure of ROI with PPC.
Instant and flexible: Campaigns can be set up and start running immediately – copy can be changed to suit messaging required, such as for discounts or sale.
Limitations of PPC:
Complexity of managing campaigns: There are a lot of settings, targeting, and optimization strategies that can be used for profitable campaigns. Organizing and strategizing these can take a lot of time and expertise.
Competition:  increased competition in this market has driven costs up, more so in certain markets.  Higher competition also means that those companies with big budgets and man power tend have the dominant positions.
Benefits of SEO:
It’s free (almost): Search engines don’t charge to have a website come up in results.  However, it takes a lot of time and effort to develop the successful optimise a website – it can require man power or specific expertise (like an agency of trained individual)
It’s trustworthy. People trust organic results more than paid advertising. They are much more likely to click on organic listings than on a paid ad.
Limitations of SEO:
Lack of Control: There are numerous factors that are outside an organisations control with SEO and especially the (forever) changing search algorithms
Unknown Factors: Google (and other search engines) is fairly secretive about what they use a formula for “relevant” sites. While some general “best practices” are known, there is a lot of uncertainty as to what factors truly impact on search results.
Long-Term Investment required.
Adapted from Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

19. Display Advertising
Display advertising involves an advertiser paying for an advertising placement on third-party sites such as publishers or social networks
A rectangular graphic displayed on a web page for the purposes of advertising. It is normally possible to perform a click through to access further information.
Intended to attract traffic to a destination site (website, landing page, microsite) by linking to the destination site of the advertiser
October 25th 1994 saw the birth of online display with the first ever online banner being hosted on Hotwired. AT&T’s “You will” campaign was the first web ad to be run. The campaign generated a massive 78% click through rate – even though it wasn’t animated!
In display advertising, one page impression occurs when a member of the audience views a web page. A click-through occurs each time a user clicks on a banner advertisement with the mouse to direct them to a web page that contains further information. A click-through rate is calculated by dividing the number of clicks generated by number of impression served. This is then stated as a percentage.
The average click-through rates on web display banners is around 0.2% but higher on mobiles (but some suggest that 50% of mobile banner clicks are accidental!)
You can watch a basic guide to display advertising from the IAB UK here

20. Purchasing Ad Placements
Display advertising is purchased for a specific period and it may be purchased for the ad to be served on:
The run-of-site (entire site)
A section of the site
According to keywords entered on a search engine
Common payments include:
Number of customers who view the page with the ad on – cost per thousand ad or page impression (CPM)
Number of customers who click on the ad – cost per click (CPC)
Number of customers who complete the desired action – cost per action/acquisition (CPA)
This article provides a guide to the various online advertising options open to brands:

21. Types of Display Ads
This slide shows some examples of the different types of display adverts that organisations can use as part of digital display advertising, including Facebook ads.
The IAB produce display advertising guidelines, that include the recommended sizes for advertises and sites to use. You can look at the guidelines here:

22. Display Advertising Targeting Options
On a particular part of the site - site-specific buy
A particular time of the day/week
Handset, operating system and mobile carrier (for mobile display advertising)
Behavioural targeting - dynamically serving ads based on their previous Internet actions
Behavioural re-targeting - similar to the above but focusing on where these actions did not result in a sale or conversion
There are different targeting options available through display advertising, these are growing in complexity with developments in technology.
This video highlights the key developments in the display advertising market:
You can watch a webinar on display advertising here:

23. Using Display Advertising in the Communications Mix
Display Ads
Quality
Can deliver content through ads
Can provide ‘top of funnel’ traffic
Reduced effectiveness in generating click-through rates over last 10 years, despite more prominent formats being introduced (page peels, MPUs, expandable banners, video)
Issues of ‘banner blindness’
Information presented within banners or text link is limited
Success is dependent on targeting and landing page directed to
Time
Focuses on short-term campaign goals or branding goals
Flexibility
New banner formats enable more interaction (video content, for example) and improved technology enable relevant ads to be displayed. Messages are limited to space available.
Coverage
Wide reach available and organisations can select exposure to adverts (i.e. only allow one view in 72 hours)
Cost
Can be relatively low cost – space bought on a CPM, CPC or CPA basis.
Benefits of Display Advertising:
Reach
Increase brand awareness
Can achieve a direct response
Relative cheap (depending on placement!)
Can deliver ROI
Increasingly interactive formats
Dynamic updates available to ad campaigns
Disadvantages:
Low click-through rates / ‘banner blindness’
Banner clutter
User annoyance (impact on brand)
Brand reputation issues with ‘blind’ buys and DSPs (real-time bidding)
Adapted from Chaffey, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

24. Types of Email Campaigns
Service communications
can be part of the sales process or service process (i.e. receiving bill notification)
Offers opportunity for further communication with customer and cross-selling
Regular newsletter
Part of being a registered user of a site
Can keep customers up-to-date with organisation developments as well as opportunity to sell further products/services
Triggered communications
can be sent as part of the sale or customer lifecycle – for example, 30 day free trial expiry, licence expiry or basket abandonment
Acquisition mailings
Purchasing data from a third party and sending campaigns in order to acquire new customers
marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every sent to a potential or current customer could be considered marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:
Sending s with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
Sending s with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately.
Adding advertisements to s sent by other companies to their customers.

25. Email Marketing Campaigns
Benefits to organisations
Potential issues
Can help build customer relationships – assist in CRM strategies
Can be used for customer retention, acquisition or driving transactions.
Good for educating, entertaining and engaging customers.
Relatively low cost (compared to direct mail)
Quick campaign deployment
Direct response method encouraging immediate action
Can be personalised and automated
Permission and being viewed as ‘Spam’ – UK organisations must have permission to send s and provide an option to opt-out on every .
Poorly targeted campaigns – organisations must segment their databases to be effective.
Poorly timed campaigns – send too much or at the wrong time.
Deliverability and renderability
Does require additional resources and technology – but can be outsourced
Works less successfully with a ‘cold’ list.
This slide provides an evaluation of marketing.
Think about how your organisation (or one you are familiar with) currently use marketing – what types of s do they send? How successful are they for the business?

26. Key Email Success Factors
Creative – the design of the , including layout, images and copy
Relevance – does the meet the needs of the recipient?
Incentive – ‘What’s In It For Me?’ (WITFM Factor) – benefits of clicking on the for the recipient
Targeting and Timing – is the relevant to the audience? When is it sent? (day, time and relative to competing marketing communications)
Integration – are all campaigns integrated with other marketing communications?
Copy – structure, style and links
Attributes – message characteristics such as subject line, from address and format (text vs. HTML)
Landing page – use of ‘deeplinks’ to direct product pages, checkouts or specific online forms.
Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick provided a view into the success factors of marketing, using the mnemonic “CRITICAL“:
Creative – This refers to the overall design of the (layout/images/colour). This should also consider how the renders in various readers (Outlook, Gmail, AOL) and on diffeent devices (mobile optimised creative)
Relevance – Targeting and ensuring s are relevant and personalised to each recipient
Incentive - Recipients look at s and think “WIIFM?”, i.e. “What’s in it for me??”. What benefit will they get from opening and clicking on the ? If it’s not obvious, they won’t open!
Timing – Organisations need to test which days/time yield the best results for broadcasting s.
Integration – How will integrate with other digital and traditional media campaigns to ensure consistency of messages.
Copy – The copy will be guided by the objectives of the (newsletter vs. selling), but should consider calls to action as well as structure of the template.
Attributes – these are the attributes of the , from subject line to from address, the pre-header (which includes a link to open the in a browser).
Landing Page – It’s important the user is sent to a relevant landing page to continue their journey and achieve the goal the organisation wants them to (i.e. complete a form, purchase or register).
Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

27. Online Partnerships: What is Affiliate Marketing?
When a third party website markets the products or services of others and they are remunerated on the basis of a commission or fee for any sale or action agreed
Affiliate marketing is essentially ‘paying on performance’
Examples of large organisations who use the affiliate model to generate revenue and form their core business include: GoCompare, Compare the Market and Money Saving Expert
In affiliate marketing a 'publisher' (essentially an individual or organisation with a website) acts as an outsourced digital sales team for a business, promoting a brand’s products or services in return for a fixed fee or commission. They do this by hosting promotional adverts on behalf of an advertiser and if visitors to the website click on this advert, the link takes them to a site belonging to the advertiser.
Depending on the performance metrics agreed between the advertiser and the publisher, if the customer then clicks (perhaps to receive further information), watches a video, registers, signs up to a newsletter or buys something, the website publisher receives a commission for driving that action.
Affiliate Marketing is often used by companies to reach a wider audience, increase sales and their customer base. It is an easy way for companies to get a large number of people (affiliates) to advertise, promote and sell their products and services in return for a small commission.
The IAB and PWC reported that affiliate marketing and performance industry are now worth in excess of £9bn in the UK and listed are some of the UK’s most recognisable affiliates – some are now household names and advertise their services on TV.
You can watch an introductory guide to affiliate marketing here:

28. Who is an Affiliate?
A third party who will promote products or services for a commission based on reward
Many different types of affiliate, usually differentiated by the method of promotion:
Content
Bloggers
Paid search
Reward/cashback
Voucher Code
Comparison/Directory/Aggregators
The IAB and PWC reported that affiliate marketing and performance industry are now worth in excess of £9bn in the UK and listed are some of the UK’s most recognisable affiliates – some are now household names and advertise their services on TV.

29. What is an Affiliate Network?
Provides a trusted platform for affiliate marketing to occur
Provides a technology platform
Work as the ‘middle man’ between merchants (advertisers) and affiliates
Enable affiliates and merchants to access information and creative
UK-based networks include: Affiliate Window, Commission Junction, Trade Doubler, Affilinet and Webgains
You can look at some of the UK top affiliate networks by accessing their sites:

30. How does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Visitor
Affiliate site
Tracking Software
Merchant Site
Commission Fee & Creative
Visit
Click
Re-direct
This diagram summarises the affiliate marketing process. When a visitor to an affiliate site clicks through to a merchant (such as an online retailer), the visitor will be tracked through a cookie placed on the visitor’s device. If the user completes the transaction (so returns to the site) within an agreed period (usually 30 days), the affiliate will be credited with the sale.
To summarise:
An affiliate promotes products or services for a specified advertiser for a commission
A merchant is the advertiser
An affiliate network provides the technology platform and assists in managing the relationship between merchants and affiliates
Merchants pay a commission to affiliates for desirable actions
Networks charge a standard monthly fee and an override on each affiliate sale generated
Affiliate marketing relies on the use cookies and tracking pixels to record desired actions.
You can download a useful guide to affiliate marketing here:
The Guardian also produced an interesting look at the benefits of affiliate marketing:
Sets time-limited cookie Checks click to purchase period
Sale or Lead
Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012

31. Online Sponsorship
“The linking of a brand with related content for the purpose of creating brand awareness and strengthening brand appeal in a form that is clearly distinguishable from a banner, button or other standardized approach” (Ryan & Whiteman, 200, cited in Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012)
Benefits for online sponsors: their name is associated with an online brand that the site visitor is already familiar with – it can assist to build relationships and trust with users of the site
Examples of online sponsorships:
newsletter sponsorship
Sponsorship of channel within a portal
Sponsorship of microsite
The area of online sponsorship has developed in the last few years and given rise to ‘Native Advertising’
You can watch a video here that looks at providing an introduction on native advertising:
You can watch a webinar on native advertising here:

32. Online Sponsorship: Examples

33. Test Your Understanding
For an organisation of your choice, assess their current digital display campaigns. Are the current campaigns achieving their goals? What areas could be improved and what other display options could they consider in the future?
If your chosen organisation does not utilise display advertising, prepare a mini business case for the marketing manager suggesting how digital display advertising could complement their current digital campaigns.

34. Bibliography
Chaffey, D and Ellis-Chadwick, F (2012) “Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice”, Fifth Edition, Prentice Hall.
Fill, C (2013) ‘Marketing Communications’, Sixth Edition, Pearson.