Special Report: Affiliate Marketing

The bottom line: If brand is important to you, set your tolerance level from the beginning. “After that, it’s just a matter of managing and policing the affiliates in the program,” she says.

Other essential aspects of successful affiliate marketing are quality offers, effective creative and cross-channel promotion, says Henger. He urges catalogers to use their expertise to create merchandising opportunities in the affiliate channel. Tie creative used by your affiliates to other online promotions, he notes. “Better yet, let’s tie it to the book. Let’s say a catalog has dropped recently. If a product is on the cover of the catalog, there should be a piece of affiliate creative along those lines,” Henger posits. “Keep synergies with the book. It’s going out there, and it’s your best advertising tool. Leverage it for best results across channels.”