Affiliate Marketing: Give Explicit Instructions to Affiliate Marketers

Do you know where all of your online affiliate ads are being posted? Seriously, every single one of them?

“Senators are beginning to wonder if marketers know where all of their online ads appear,” noted Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs at The Direct Marketing Association, during his talk at the Catalog-on-the-Road Conference in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 1.

Cerasale said one car maker found its ads posted on a pornography Web site. “It’s your brand,” he told the roomful of direct marketers. “If you lose customers’ trust in this way, it’s awfully tough to get it back.”

He advised merchants to establish parameters with their online affiliate marketing providers. “Don’t just tell them where to place your ads, but write it down for them,” he advised. “Then monitor your ads closely.”