Editor’s note: This post is a collaboration between Matt Miltenberger and Connor Sliva. 

2023 is here, and it’s starting off with a bang. The back half of last year was a rollercoaster for the global economy, resulting in plenty of ups and downs for the digital advertising ecosystem. Through it all, affiliate marketing has continued to expand its influence, both with brands that are enjoying the ride and those that are holding on for dear life.  

As we look to the weeks and months ahead, we see a few major trends on the horizon. Keep a watchful eye on the following, and you’ll be prepared for any twists and turns that may lie ahead. 

First-Party Data Takes Center Stage  

Today, the entire digital marketing industry is making a strong push towards protecting the data privacy of individuals, which results in less data ownership for brands and more control for the major digital players. We are seeing a similar trend in partner marketing and affiliate programs, as this not only affects what data brands have ownership of and access to for optimization purposes, but also who your program data is being shared with.  

Traditionally, affiliate networks are the owners of the data collected; the brands get access to a subset of their channel data, which allows affiliate networks to use the data for their benefit. This could be something as innocent as an e-book on verticalized trends, created by aggregating and anonymizing their client data. Or, this could be potentially damaging if the network is using the data to recommend program tactics and successful partners to competing brands.  

Brands like Amazon saw this trend coming from a mile away and separated themselves from the traditional affiliate networks in favor of running their own direct partner and affiliate program. TUNE’s data pledge is that our brands take full ownership of every data point we collect on their behalf, and that we will never use our client data for our benefit. This allows brands to break free from the corporate data overlords and run their own direct, privacy compliant partner and affiliate programs, without needing to build a completely custom partner management, tracking, reporting, and payment platform from scratch.  

Postback Is King and Why Privacy Matters  

Last year brought big changes to how partner and affiliate programs tracked consumers. In the past, most affiliate networks relied on cookies to track, and the major browsers have all started the process to limit their effectiveness. These changes resulted in major issues for brands who were using this outdated tracking approach, putting them on their heels to modernize their approach.  

Most networks moved to a cookieless client-side tracking approach, which removed the limitation of cookies, but doesn’t completely mitigate the future risk of future browser policy changes. Looking at 2023, the general sentiment is that consumer privacy is the goal, and more changes are bound to be coming.  

While TUNE offers similar cookieless client-side tracking options, we have been a true believer in server-side tracking since our inception and even coined the common term “postback” in the early days of the industry. This tracking method gives brands a lightweight, flexible approach to measurement, which works with both in-session conversions and delayed conversion events, like down-funnel goals, recurring subscriptions, and lifetime value for a true view of ROAS. It also works with mobile affiliate marketing, which is an area that many brands have yet to leverage.

Brands Shifting to Private, More Strategic Programs  

Many of the tracking solutions available for brands to manage their partner marketing program have been built off the backs of their predecessors. Some innovation has taken place over the last few years, but there are still several hurdles and workflow limitations that brands are up against.   

One common theme we’ve heard is how groups want to have a more competitive approach with the partners they work with — including not broadcasting those partners to other brands who might be running affiliate campaigns. Traditional platforms offer a marketplace of partners that any of their advertisers can access, but this creates a challenge for brands who source and manage unique partners they want to keep private.  

Brands also need better daily efficiency. Getting better real-time data and the ability to activate a new partner in about thirty seconds are huge time savers. Program hygiene and keeping traffic quality high have also been more commonly discussed, and leveraging tools like our automation rules is an easy way to combat that issue. Brands have started shifting their attention to technologies like TUNE, that offer more control and freedom.   

This year we’ll see brands spend time evaluating this approach more closely. The immediate change can seem overwhelming, but this is a critical strategic move in the long run. A solution that can scale with your business indefinitely, where future growth truly has no limitation.   

A Future-Proof Channel in a (Potential) Recession 

The affiliate channel is arguably one of the most resilient channels brands can leverage. Historically, this has been due to the pay for performance nature of the channel and discounting efforts by brands. However, in recent years the maturation of this channel has pushed publishers to innovate their media offerings to advertisers and bring new opportunities to the table. Yes, this is still a massively strong direct response channel, but more importantly, it’s the diversity in the channel that allows businesses to thrive when the macroeconomic impact is questionable.   

Offering consumers a targeted incentive, or simply aligning brand and personal values at the right time, can hold buying interest and keep brands top of mind when shoppers are more selective. Discounting certainly plays a role when flexible income has evaporated for a lot of folks. Leverage the range of your partners this year. Work with your content partners to build a commerce strategy and position your goods or service with a compelling story. Partner with your discount-focused publishers to drive higher-intent consumers. Test into short-form video or dip into podcasting.   

This year, we’ll see brands invest more budget and resourcing into the partner ecosystem. Overall media costs will likely increase, but we’ll continue to see publishers bring more creativity to their offerings. Content commerce will continue to eat away at traditional buying paths for consumers, and maintaining a competitive edge will be critical. Affiliate is a massively efficient channel when programs are managed the right way.   

In Conclusion 

It’s been an interesting six months across the broader technology space, and while it’s hard to predict where this year will take us, there is no doubt that partner marketing channels will see sizable growth. Whatever happens, it’s sure to be an exciting ride. 

What trends do you predict for the affiliate marketing industry in 2023? Let us know in the comments below! 

At the beginning of 2022, my colleague Dan and I made a few predictions about the challenges and trends partner marketers would encounter this year. Now that we’re at the end of 2022, we’re looking back to see where we went right — and where we got it wrong. Without further ado, here’s my full post of original predictions from earlier this year, and below are snippets and how close they were to our current reality. Don’t forget to check out Part 1 to see how Dan did, too!

Web 3.0

Snippet:

“We can anticipate this will continue to evolve, but we don’t know what we don’t know yet … and this year we’ll start to see an increase in dedicated managers, consultants, and even brands that specialize in the nuances of this ecosystem, including more marketing dollars being funneled into this ‘test and learn’ environment.”

Reality:

Well, in some sense we were right in that we didn’t know what we didn’t know. The year started strong with several brands gaining traction or amplifying their awareness, i.e. ExPopulus and FTX, but we quickly saw the common consumer become disillusioned with crypto and a massive wave of distrust followed, largely driven by the latter. Despite a massive crypto winter, there is still a demand for digital coins.

Full prediction: We’ve discussed in the past how cryptocurrency and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are starting to reshape the digital ecosystem, but now, it’s matured into a legitimate channel creating a seismic shift in the global economy. When brands like Coca-Cola, Gucci, and Clinique are leveraging NFTs in their marketing playbook, people tend to take notice. Web 3.0, a potential new version of the internet based on blockchain technology, has officially crept into everyday conversations amongst brands and consumers alike. This isn’t limited to blue chip companies with deep pockets; even the emerging startups are using this strategy, not to mention a whole industry is being built around the metaverse, its currency, and social engagement. Even former critics of the new currencies are slowly coming around.  

What brands, networks, and agencies need to prepare for are the unknown variables this landscape is going to bring out. We can anticipate this will continue to evolve, but we don’t know what we don’t know yet. There are thousands of different currencies and blockchains, with more coming into the market all the time. What makes that exciting is innovation is born from change, and this year we’ll start to see an increase in dedicated managers, consultants, and even brands that specialize in the nuances of this ecosystem, including more marketing dollars being funneled into this “test and learn” environment.  

Social Commerce and the Influencer Next Door

Snippet:

“… but just paying for Facebook ads isn’t going to do the trick anymore (and it’s only getting more expensive). User-generated content and social proof will continue to play a big role in helping consumers decide if the product they want or the business they support meets their individual expectations.”

Reality:

Nailed it. Social commerce is anticipated to near $1 trillion dollars before the end of 2022 and is on track to drive $3 trillion in the next three years. Consumers continue to align their buying patterns with creators who deliver an authentic view into the product’s value. TikTok continues to dominate the charts and has become its own search engine for consumers looking for validation on goods. Brands continue to leverage Facebook ads because of their reach, but returns are smaller and costs are higher. Moving into the new year, we’ll continue to see a shift away from traditional paid social ads, and a heavier investment in the creator economy.  

Full prediction: I know, I know … we’re all kind of tired of hearing about it but are secretly in love with it: TikTok. You can’t escape limited attention spans and the need to connect with consumers as efficiently as possible. Long-form content is still a massive industry with popular podcasts and live streams getting strong viewership, but it’s getting harder to keep someone’s attention for long.   

Social media has been a critical ingredient in the marketing mix for many years, but just paying for Facebook ads isn’t going to do the trick anymore (and it’s only getting more expensive). Many brands have been leveraging influencers and creators for a while now, but as this arena becomes more saturated, it’s important to sift through the noise and understand which campaigns are driving true value based on your internal success metrics. I’m confident brands will lean in more with performance-based campaigns and try to avoid paying massive upfront fees. With rising costs and a more competitive playing field, authentic connection combined with relevant content is a home run; just make sure you can deliver the message quickly.  

User-generated content and social proof will continue to play a big role in helping consumers decide if the product they want or the business they support meets their individual expectations. This year we’ll continue to see platforms like TikTok create new super-influencers with highly engaged audiences. The real challenge will be for brands to capture their mission statement, product value, and positioning in a short-form way that hits all the right notes before someone swipes up. Broader digital and growth teams will also see the value these partnerships can bring for loyalty and retention as a byproduct of getting the “right” customers over the most customers.   

Competition for Business and Talent Intensifies

Snippet:

“It’s vital that brands understand their competition and rework their positioning to match their customers’ needs. It’s easy to assume that if you have amassed a strong number of users, your work is done. On the contrary, now more than ever brands need to take an introspective look at their identity and make necessary (and sometimes difficult) decisions to improve on the experience.” 

Reality:

Not far off. It’s no secret the back half of 2022 has been a whirlwind for several brands, largely in the technology sector. Massive layoffs and macroeconomic conditions are influencing investments and predictions. That said, we’re continuing to see a shift in consumer behavior. Walmart’s revenue surpassed Amazon’s on Cyber Monday, and we saw the most successful Cyber Monday on record with $11.3 billion in sales (almost 6% more than last year). The affiliate industry saw more consolidation, with Acceleration Partners acquiring Grovia, Influencer Response, and Volt Agency, all within about nine months. 

Full prediction: With a massive wave of new businesses launching over the past few years, several have evolved and matured, but competition remains fierce. We’re seeing an increase in mergers and acquisitions due to shortages in technology talent and brands starting to challenge conventional beliefs about where their customers engage the most; one example is Betterment and Makara joining forces to take a bigger bite out of crypto.  

It’s vital that brands understand their competition and rework their positioning to match their customers’ needs. It’s easy to assume that if you have amassed a strong number of users, your work is done. On the contrary, now more than ever brands need to take an introspective look at their identity and make necessary (and sometimes difficult) decisions to improve on the experience. This includes digging deeper on who your customers are, and where they spend their time; in other words, stop wasting marketing dollars chasing results where they don’t exist.  

Brands should prioritize hiring specialists for the future of digital and partner marketing, not just for traditional channels. This includes those who can jump into the deep end on all things Web 3.0, and most importantly, understand how culture and media intersect to push the boundaries into the next generation. We’ll continue to see a diversification of acquisition streams, and more flexibility with budgets to innovate.  

Personalization, Loyalty, and Retention

Snippet:

We know grabbing a consumer’s attention is challenging enough as it is, but how brands engage with those customers is even more critical for retaining them long-term. First impressions can last a lifetime for people who are keen to shop around frequently; everything from site experience and brand alignment to messaging and timing can shift the outcomes. 

Reality:

Not far off in this assessment — according to industry research from companies like Oracle and American Express, customer experience and customer service were common threads that compromised a brand’s ability to retain consumer trust. One bad experience is enough to push many buyers to a competitor, or at least sow doubt in their mind. Many consumers also noted their intent to buy more frequently from brands who make an effort to personalize that experience.

Full prediction: Customers will be particular about the brands they engage with, and often have high expectations for them, even if those expectations aren’t obvious. We know grabbing a consumer’s attention is challenging enough as it is, but how brands engage with those customers is even more critical for retaining them long-term. First impressions can last a lifetime for people who are keen to shop around frequently; everything from site experience and brand alignment to messaging and timing can shift the outcomes.  
  
I would argue that people want to feel immediately connected on an intrinsic level — don’t doubt the emotional aspect of what a brand or product can mean to someone — and are willing to double-down with groups that fill that need. If you’ve hit that note as a brand, a proper retention and loyalty strategy should be a priority. Using a personalized approach will increase the odds of that customer having a strong lifetime value, and reward both parties with a long-standing relationship. All that said, rolling out the red carpet and making each individual feel like they are the most important person to walk through your doors can’t hurt.  
  
In conjunction with internal loyalty efforts, a tactical partnerships program can help support this across the board. By aligning your brand with publishers, creators, and innovators that speak to your audience’s needs, you’re not only expanding your brand presence, but making the path to purchase or join that much easier. 

What other affiliate marketing trends do you think we will see in 2023? Let us know in the comments below!  

It’s a tale as old as time (or as old as marketing and advertising goes): a brand wants to increase its visibility to the market, sell more goods, or tap into a new customer base. Often, these businesses are leveraging a medley of services and technologies to help support their efforts. Many of these show their strengths when siloed specifically to their specialty, but lack the flexibility and sophistication to stretch beyond those boundaries when stretched beyond their limits. In our world of performance and partnership marketing, traditional tracking networks have largely relied on antiquated solutions that leave many users frustrated. A general lack of innovation has left many programs stagnant, and without much to leverage.

Most platforms will share common functionality at a base level: they’re all tracking some type of event from point A to point B, maybe through app or mobile, across several touchpoints, or along a conversion funnel. But what separates the good tech from the great tech really comes down to the details, some of which are easily overlooked if you’re not the person who is managing the nuances day to day.

Beyond these minor details, a strong technology is built with infrastructure that can evolve with your business. Not only does TUNE have the most robust two-way API on the market, we also have a team of professional solutions architects who can customize features for your unique business needs. We know brands can get access to APIs for reporting purposes – but what if you could manage most of your daily operational processes with them? *Lightbulb moment*

What we’ve done is turn many of these pain points into opportunities for greater efficiency. We have designed our platform to be your strategic solution, built with maximum flexibility. Because that’s what brands need to survive and thrive in today’s economy: flexibility. In this blog post, I’ll cover just a few of the ways our platform is providing that flexibility to more and more brands every day.

The Pain of Partner Onboarding

A common challenge I hear from brands and partners alike is how frustrating the onboarding and activation process can be with many of the traditional network solutions on the market. Delays with getting links, or even just getting through the door to be approved to a program, can take days or even weeks. This is particularly challenging when you’ve spent countless hours hunting for new partners or building rapport, only to be stopped on the doorstep.

The past few years have shown us that there’s a massive market of new partnerships, including creators who have dedicated fan bases and are eager to support brands they care about. What if you’ve spent weeks, or even months, building a relationship with a creator? In that time, you’ve discussed the value of your product, shared intimate details about the painstaking process it took to bring it to market, and the hours you invested to make it a reality.

At this point, you ask them to join your partnerships program. But wait! Your traditional network has red tape across the front door – so your new partner has to apply for the network, and in that process, provide substantiating evidence that they know how to promote brands. Then they must be approved by the network, which is typically done on a first-come, first-served basis. Once approved, they are added to a massive marketplace with hundreds of thousands of other partners, leaving virtually no visibility for their individual brand. And, finally, once a partner is officially active in your program, generating links for them can take even more time – so you’re restricted by your platform capabilities before you can even get started. 

At TUNE, we understand the difficulties this presents to businesses looking for flexibility and autonomy. We’ve designed our technology with this in mind, so you can bring partners on board within seconds. (You read that right – seconds.) As the business owner, you dictate the master terms and conditions partners must abide by; you can control whether they are automatically accepted or if you prefer to put them in a queue for further evaluation. Once your partners have accepted the terms, they’re in and can get a tracking link in under a minute; our links propagate in real time, and they don’t have to be assigned a specific insertion order.

Many marketers still find it difficult to bring influencers, podcasts, and other new media onto traditional tracking platforms because of this lengthy sign-up process; gone are those days with TUNE. And because our platform generates links in real time, it allows you to work with any partner type you want. If you want to test a unique B2B campaign, a syndicated piece of content, and a display ad network, all at the same time, you can make that a reality on one platform – TUNE’s.

Automation and Program Hygiene to Scale

Many program managers spend an absurd amount of time dealing with operational needs before they can invest time thinking strategically about how to grow their business. For example, dealing with application approvals alone can take hours each week to evaluate the quality of the partner in question. And that’s just scratching the surface.

I often hear from colleagues how much time they spend reviewing individual campaigns for not just performance, but traffic quality, and how much this slows them down. They might see a huge spike in traffic over the weekend, but it’s coming from a sub-affiliate network, so they have to spend time drilling down to find which specific partner was responsible. Or they launched a campaign earlier in the week to generate more leads, but find out a sizable percentage were fraudulently driven by bot traffic. Now what? I guess they’re spending the rest of the day (or even week) figuring out how to reverse those transactions, negotiate with partners over non-qualified commissions, and try to sort through what’s legitimate and what’s not.

What if I told you TUNE has tools that are natively built into the platform to proactively combat these situations at a campaign level, and that you can automate them? Tools such as performance automation rules, which allow you to set specific criteria and then get instantly notified if something seems off. That sub-affiliate driving a massive spike? Let’s set up a rule that tells you which source (i.e., partner, page, specific article, or more) is responsible so you can get in front of it. Those fraudulent leads coming through? Use TUNE’s time-to-action features to ensure all leads are being ingested within a proper time frame.

TUNE’s powerful controls don’t just enable you to automatically combat issues like these; they can also help you block a partner in their tracks before they turn a small problem into a big one. What’s more, these tools make testing new partner types or campaign structures far less risky, which means scaling your program can be done without diluting your traffic quality; every click that comes through TUNE is instantly put through a quality filter and presented in a separate report, so you can rest assured you’re combating illegitimate activity and keeping a record of every action.

Data Accuracy and Customization

Several traditional platforms have a delay when pulling in data to their system. It’s not unusual to see hours between when a click or a conversion takes place, and when it shows up in your account. In some cases, waiting that long for performance data to populate might not be a showstopper – but I’d argue that optimization and growth can move much more efficiently if you can get what you need quickly to make informed decisions. The beauty of our platform is both brands and partners are getting access to immediate performance data, so collaborating on optimization efforts can be done without any details being lost in translation.

TUNE pioneered the postback as a server-side tracking solution years ago, and it remains the standard in accuracy, speed, and sophistication today. Postbacks enable marketers to reduce their reliance on third-party cookies, future-proof their partner programs, and filter first-party data in real time. This makes tracking everything from a typical retail conversion event to a multi-touchpoint lead funnel incredibly simple. And since postback tracking allows you to customize what events matter most, you aren’t restricted to data fields that may not be valuable to your business, and you can structure the links to build customer cohorts along the way. TUNE’s technology allows you to add additional event trackers right in the interface, so there’s no need to worry about going through a network solutions team or getting stuck in a setup queue. The brand remains in control of which customer data fields to include on a link, all done at a campaign level, which means getting granular data by partner type or source is fast and accurate. Partners can even be granted the ability to append unique variables to their links.

With our Firehose product, you’re getting the best of both worlds: the real-time data ingestion into your private TUNE program, and simultaneously feeding that data into your internal systems. A powerful tool when you’re comparing multi-channel data and deciding where to point the ship next.

Conclusion

Whether it’s apparent or not, brands need flexibility. Period. They need the ability to onboard a new partner quickly and easily. It doesn’t matter where they drive traffic from, or how long they’ve been active. The only criteria should be the one each business sets for itself, not what a network limits you to. They need data – and they need it fast and reliably. A growth manager shouldn’t have to spend hours sifting through potentially fraudulent data or tell an influencer they have to follow a lengthy process just to support their products. They don’t need another pretty graph; they need to know that if a link needs to be updated, it can be done in real time, without compromising their campaign progress.

No longer are you relegated to a set of strict platform guidelines that leave no room for coloring outside the lines. Or ones that tell you what you should be tracking, rather than listening to your business needs. Some technologies pride themselves on a mentality shaped around a closed ecosystem, and quite frankly, it’s putting handcuffs on your business before you even get started. Brands need real solutions. Real data. Real control. The landscape has evolved and continues to reinvent itself frequently – work with the technology that hoisted those sails. You deserve it.

And if you need something custom built to help accelerate your program or simply make your daily life easier, just drop us a line, and TUNE’s Professional Services team can work their magic for your business.

Ready to learn more about how the TUNE Partner Marketing Platform can unlock your growth potential? Email us at sales@tune.com or request a trial.

If you’re curious about incrementality (or maybe even tired of hearing about it), we can’t blame you. The term has been thrown around for years by digital marketers; it’s been a consistent topic when brands hit a certain point in scaling their performance efforts or consider opening a new channel like partnerships. But what is incrementality, and why should brands care about it?  

On one hand, you can make the case that a net-new channel to the business is largely incremental, since it’s a new traffic source. On the other, it’s a specific approach to measuring control and lift down to individual ad rotations. In my experience, incrementality has taken many forms and can’t be discussed without recognizing the cross-channel impact all marketing efforts contribute to the equation. Did your SEM campaigns or cobranded content influence the conversion? Or was it that lightbox that popped up when the customer was inactive for a few seconds on their cart page? Did they get an email yesterday with a catalog of new products, or was it a display ad that was served while they were catching up on the news? Do they follow an influencer who happened to talk about a similar product? 

It’s necessary to define any success metrics before spending time, capital, and resources executing a new campaign or gathering various data points. Below, I’ll share my perspectives on where incrementality sits in the priority list and why it doesn’t always have to be a critical success metric. 

What Is Incrementality? 

Since the beginning, multiple attribution methods have been commonplace in performance channels. As the digital industry and brands have evolved, so has the need for a different way to think about the effectiveness of paid campaigns. This is where incremental gains have become a hot topic: Can I really see if I’m getting the same customers, higher conversion rates, increased AOV, or any other important metric without this additional touchpoint in the broader funnel? 

So, what is incrementality anyway? You’ll find answers in many forms, but here’s a good summary from AdRoll to get you started. In short, incrementality measures whether a specific touchpoint or engagement pushed a customer to convert, when otherwise that conversion would not have happened without it.  

In the affiliate and partner marketing space, it’s common to hear the term when talking about increasing commissions to publishers, discounting to customers, or launching a new extension partner to see if the changes make an incremental impact on a brand’s programs. But in its true form, incremental value can only be determined by a comprehensive lift analysis, with control groups and multi-variate factors in play. And this isn’t the same as a single-channel A/B split test – we’re talking a full-funnel, cross-channel deep dive on all touch points – essentially all at the same time.  

What Does Incrementality Look Like? 

The short answer is, there is no right answer. Incrementality comes in all shapes and sizes. How it looks to you will be different than how it looks to me, based on our businesses, needs, goals, and various other factors. But that’s not very helpful when you’re trying to learn, so here are a couple example scenarios: 

Example 1: A customer is shopping online for a new vacuum, but they haven’t decided to purchase during that browser session yet. Then, a lightbox pops up to offer a 10% discount on first time purchases if the customer signs up for an email newsletter. The customer decides that’s the tipping point, and they end up buying the vacuum in the same session.  

Example 2: A finance brand is generating qualified leads from the same partner, but they want to see if they can increase their account sign-up conversion rate. They split their audience in half for two days, serve one group the standard landing page and sign-up flow, and serve the other group the same landing page and flow but with a 5% bonus added to their account if they register in the same session. 

Two similar but different approaches to what incremental growth can look like. These aren’t the most complex situations, but if you pull back and think about how many emails the customer received in the last few days, whether they saw other branding or content before choosing to shop, or simply the unknown variables, this becomes a bigger quest. 

Now, if we look at incrementality through the lens of a specific affiliate marketing scenario, it may look something like this: 

• Sample 1: group of customers who do not see an offer via their browser extension when at checkout  
• Sample 2: group of customers who do see an offer via their browser extension 
• Goal: Did the output from each group convert at the same, lower, or higher rate? What was the delta between the two groups? Did offering an incentive make a meaningful difference? 

In principle, brands are trying to understand the effectiveness of their campaigns (largely paid efforts), unlock data to get more efficient with their ROAS (return on ad spend), and better optimize the customer experience. Who can argue with the value of more consumer insights to optimize the customer experience and increase market penetration? Still, I have seen on many occasions the quest for incrementality lead to convoluted scenarios, unclear results, and stressed-out program managers.  

Why Incrementality Is Hard to Get “Right” 

Incrementality is subjective, almost to a fault. Its definition and value are going to sound different based on who you ask and which data points matter to your company the most. A direct-to-consumer e-commerce brand will have different success goals than an insurance brand looking to generate leads. A fintech startup is going to need a very different strategy than a mature enterprise retailer.  

I’m not suggesting you look at incrementality as a fool’s errand, not by any means – I’m actually a big fan of the tasks required to get this information, and I’ve seen how some businesses can leverage pieces of insight for future optimization. For example: On the affiliate marketing side, there have always been questions about whether lower-funnel discount partners actually impact conversions. So, brands will sometimes pause those partners for a short time to see if their run rate drastically changes – or they will pull down any active offers from a partner to see if customers still convert at a similar rate. But I’ve also seen many groups get flustered and overrun with the reality of having so many moving pieces that it almost makes it more difficult to showcase value in the channel or campaign. Or cobble together a version of a lift analysis for the sake of showing incremental growth, but lacking any real depth or actionable insight.  

I never wrapped my head around the mad dash to “prove” incrementality, and often within a short period. Working at an agency, this was a common theme I heard for justifying added costs: Prove to me you can get incremental results within 90 days, or we don’t believe in the affiliate channel. I can appreciate the level of urgency and risk the brand is taking, but unreasonable expectations and an ambiguous definition of success will simply be a waste of time and resources for all involved. I would frequently see how brands got more value in lowering their customer acquisition costs by negotiating better rates for media and exposure, or diversifying their partner mix to lower their effective CPA; maximizing their ROAS through a test-and-learn mentality by dipping their toes into a trademark plus campaign with a reputable partner, or reworking their syndicated content to reflect their brand’s evolution.  

Again, these activities can arguably fall under the incremental camp, but depending on what the business case is, they can also get lost in the shuffle of what we perceive that term to mean. Partnerships is one of those ecosystems that thrives on both direct, one-to-one co-branded experiences as well as a broader branding approach to educate consumers in an effort to build loyalty and trust over time. It’s what makes the concept of incrementality exciting but challenging to get right. As with any data you collect, it’s more important to understand what to do with it and how to leverage what you have for a better strategy in the future.  

How to Think About Incrementality as a Business 

Many brands seek “true incrementality” validation with investment in affiliates, an agency, or new technology, or just for specific paid media they are hesitant to invest in. I always enjoyed getting this question of how to think about incrementality, because it’s an opportunity to better understand how each group defines the term and what they look to gain from that insight. It’s a great way to learn new perspectives and share different points of view.

A full cross-channel approach is one way to think about it. A controlled cohort test in one channel is another. And everything in between. There are variables that will change the desired outcome, including shifts in the economy, consumer evolution, and disruptive brands coming into the market, so first and foremost, keep that in mind as you evaluate results. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to incrementality. First, define which metrics are most important to the business overall. Then review each channel individually and address inefficiencies. For example, for the partnerships channel, you can ask, “Am I paying a partner too much commission based on the value of the customers they’re sending?” You can look at lifetime value or churn rates to start, and revisit that structure directly with your publisher so both parties can benefit. Or, “Am I spending too much on Facebook ads?” Take a percentage of that spend to test with micro-influencers to see if that changes things. Direct response is ideal for many brands, but the effect that social proof and branding can have over time creates an inertia that’s hard to find in other channels if done properly. 

In Conclusion 

At its core, incremental value can be a massive undertaking – depending on how you look at the situation. Don’t stop or get discouraged. Instead, set realistic expectations and take a bite-sized approach to understanding your audience before making any sweeping changes. Iterate on what’s working, and leave what isn’t on the back burner to reconfigure as needed. 

Don’t get hung up on incrementality as your primary metric or spend too many cycles trying to perfect it. You can determine the success of your business based on several factors, and this is simply one of them. That doesn’t mean getting more incremental data is a bad idea, nor should brands ignore its value in the mix. But a blanket approach or definition of the term for all brands isn’t the right way to approach it.  
 
My best advice is to adopt a test-and-learn mentality and gather more data on your customers to use across all your media efforts. Use control groups in select channels while offering different calls-to-action, offers, or products in others, and see if that yields any meaningful insight. At the end of the day, anything you do to lower your acquisition cost and increase engagement with your brand is a victory.  

Questions? Comments? Feel free to reach out to me at matt.miltenberger@tune.com. 

Well, the new year came and went in the blink of an eye, but not without a wave of continued change. At the end of 2021, I talked about how much the industry shifted during last year, and now it’s time to look ahead at what we anticipate this year to have in store.

We know the crypto-sphere is here, and traditional currency is quickly being disrupted in more ways than one. The creator landscape is only getting more competitive and critical for brands to expand their presence. And customers have spoken; they want more meaningful connections with the products and services they align themselves with, so businesses need to level up. Which is all to say there will be plenty of challenges for marketers to tackle in the months ahead. Below are a few of the biggest. 

Web 3.0 

We’ve discussed in the past how cryptocurrency and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are starting to reshape the digital ecosystem, but now, it’s matured into a legitimate channel creating a seismic shift in the global economy. When brands like Coca-Cola, Gucci, and Clinique are leveraging NFTs in their marketing playbook, people tend to take notice. Web 3.0, a potential new version of the internet based on blockchain technology, has officially crept into everyday conversations amongst brands and consumers alike. This isn’t limited to blue chip companies with deep pockets; even the emerging startups are using this strategy, not to mention a whole industry is being built around the metaverse, its currency, and social engagement. Even former critics of the new currencies are slowly coming around. 

What brands, networks, and agencies need to prepare for are the unknown variables this landscape is going to bring out. We can anticipate this will continue to evolve, but we don’t know what we don’t know yet. There are thousands of different currencies and blockchains, with more coming into the market all the time. What makes that exciting is innovation is born from change, and this year we’ll start to see an increase in dedicated managers, consultants, and even brands that specialize in the nuances of this ecosystem, including more marketing dollars being funneled into this “test and learn” environment. 

Social Commerce and the Influencer Next Door 

I know, I know … we’re all kind of tired of hearing about it, but are secretly in love with it: TikTok. You can’t escape limited attention spans and the need to connect with consumers as efficiently as possible. Long-form content is still a massive industry with popular podcasts and live streams getting strong viewership, but it’s getting harder to keep someone’s attention for long.  

Social media has been a critical ingredient in the marketing mix for many years, but just paying for Facebook ads isn’t going to do the trick anymore (and it’s only getting more expensive). Many brands have been leveraging influencers and creators for a while now, but as this arena becomes more saturated, it’s important to sift through the noise and understand which campaigns are driving true value based on your internal success metrics. I’m confident brands will lean in more with performance-based campaigns and try to avoid paying massive upfront fees. With rising costs and a more competitive playing field, authentic connection combined with relevant content is a home run; just make sure you can deliver the message quickly. 

User-generated content and social proof will continue to play a big role in helping consumers decide if the product they want or the business they support meets their individual expectations. This year we’ll continue to see platforms like TikTok create new super-influencers with highly engaged audiences. The real challenge will be for brands to capture their mission statement, product value, and positioning in a short-form way that hits all the right notes before someone swipes up. Broader digital and growth teams will also see the value these partnerships can bring for loyalty and retention as a byproduct of getting the “right” customers over the most customers.  

Competition for Business and Talent Intensifies 

With a massive wave of new businesses launching over the past few years, several have evolved and matured, but competition remains fierce. We’re seeing an increase in mergers and acquisitions due to shortages in technology talent and brands starting to challenge conventional beliefs about where their customers engage the most; one example is Betterment and Makara joining forces to take a bigger bite out of crypto. 

It’s vital that brands understand their competition and rework their positioning to match their customers’ needs. It’s easy to assume that if you have amassed a strong number of users, your work is done. On the contrary, now more than ever brands need to take an introspective look at their identity and make necessary (and sometimes difficult) decisions to improve on the experience. This includes digging deeper on who your customers are, and where they spend their time; in other words, stop wasting marketing dollars chasing results where they don’t exist. 

Brands should prioritize hiring specialists for the future of digital and partner marketing, not just for traditional channels. This includes those who can jump into the deep end on all things Web 3.0, and most importantly, understand how culture and media intersect to push the boundaries into the next generation. We’ll continue to see a diversification of acquisition streams, and more flexibility with budgets to innovate. 

Personalization, Loyalty, and Retention  

Customers will be particular about the brands they engage with, and often have high expectations for them, even if those expectations aren’t obvious. We know grabbing a consumer’s attention is challenging enough as it is, but how brands engage with those customers is even more critical for retaining them long-term. First impressions can last a lifetime for people who are keen to shop around frequently; everything from site experience and brand alignment to messaging and timing can shift the outcomes. 
 
I would argue that people want to feel immediately connected on an intrinsic level — don’t doubt the emotional aspect of what a brand or product can mean to someone — and are willing to double-down with groups that fill that need. If you’ve hit that note as a brand, a proper retention and loyalty strategy should be a priority. Using a personalized approach will increase the odds of that customer having a strong lifetime value, and reward both parties with a long-standing relationship. All that said, rolling out the red carpet and making each individual feel like they are the most important person to walk through your doors can’t hurt. 
 
In conjunction with internal loyalty efforts, a tactical partnerships program can help support this across the board. By aligning your brand with publishers, creators, and innovators that speak to your audience’s needs, you’re not only expanding your brand presence, but making the path to purchase or join that much easier.  

Conclusion 

This year is showing no signs of slowing down; each week seems more disruptive than the last, and we’re only a few months in! The world of digital currency and the metaverse are going to be commonplace for the foreseeable future, and brands are finally taking notice. This wave of change is going to push innovation beyond what we’ve seen, and usher in a new generation of marketers, financial analysts, creators, and everything in between. This will push the competitive boundaries and challenge both individuals and businesses to rethink their roadmaps.  

Marketing efforts will look noticeably different than before, and trying to create meaningful relationships with customers can no longer be an afterthought. TikTok and other social platforms will keep driving direct commerce, and the need for specialized talent is (or should be) near the top of any brand’s priority list when looking to the future.

What is the biggest challenge you see ahead for marketers in 2022? Share your opinion in the comments below! 

As we look back at 2021, it’s worth acknowledging the continual disruptions many are feeling coming out of this year, not simply from a business or industry perspective, but through our daily lives. While we collectively navigate the new world, a sense of whatever “normal” meant before is slowly showing its face again. Based on some of Google’s consumer insight trends for the year, people started going out to eat more frequently. Weddings were held after months, or even years, of delays. Movie theaters began filling up again.

Still, a seismic shift in the martech world that was already in motion gained a huge advantage in 2021 with work-from-home coming into focus for many people. The advertising game changed, and convenience-driven brands like DoorDash continued their path to dominance. The evolution of technologies like Zoom amplified a virtual life where people tried hard to replicate the real thing. Looking back, there is no shortage of interesting topics to talk about. Here, we review some of the top trends we noticed across the digital and partner marketing ecosystems in 2021.

2021 Digital and Partner Marketing Trends

E-commerce Takes Center Stage

Digital commerce has been around for decades, but the last year has proven just how powerful the partnerships channel is for business growth. With brick-and-mortar traffic stuck between mandated regulations and personal preference, shopping online has experienced a boom in more ways than one. Brands with long-established affiliate marketing programs are starting to think differently about the channel’s potential. What was once viewed as a secondary, direct-response channel at best – riddled with transparency and contribution challenges – has evolved into its next form; one that allows brands to tap into customers in several unique ways.

New business sprang onto the scene, the “buy now, pay later” movement exploded, and personalization became even more critical in a brand’s playbook. The fintech market has seen an uptick in businesses driving the emerging cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) verticals, and REIT (real estate investment trust) and fractional investing started making its way into the average person’s portfolio. Gaming and work-from-home brands boomed with a significant number of people spending more time away from their corporate offices. Esports competitions are expected to exceed $1 billion in revenue by the end of this year, and it’s easy to understand why.

Traditionally siloed marketing teams now interplay more than ever, pushing the omni-channel boundaries where they can consciously diversify their traffic sources. PR doesn’t have to be a “halo effect” anymore – we can track that more cleanly than ever – and can build on deep relationships with publishers who understand a brand’s customer. Search is no longer relegated to positions one and two on results pages, and SEO now has a broader home as external content sites help evangelize the core business mission. Executive teams are starting to appreciate a more diverse mix of partners to help drive their acquisition strategy and, anecdotally, seem more inclined to trust them to test into the unknown.

The Creator Economy Evolves

Over the last several years, a new generation of partnerships emerged that places more emphasis on authentic brand engagement: the creator economy. Influencers, brand ambassadors, and personal entrepreneurs took to their YouTube and Instagram channels to support businesses, ushering in a new era of social direct response that wasn’t just paying for Facebook ads, where costs continue to rise and a fight for privacy drags on. TikTok took the world by storm and didn’t show any signs of slowing down; their growth this year speaks for itself.

We’ve started to see a similar-but-different approach when working with true influencers versus content creators. The former is defined by generally talking about brands and products they like (with or without paid endorsement) on their established Instagram, YouTube, blog, or other digital channels. However, content creators are typically building new content specific to the brand or products they are supporting (again, often with paid endorsement) and attaching their personal flair to engage their direct audience.
 

“One thing that comes to mind for me is the new distinction between ‘influencers’ vs. ‘content creators.’ Influencers are recognized because of their high follower count, not necessarily engagement. Content creators actually spend time, thought, and energy into creating content that resonates with brands and audiences. On the surface, they’re one and the same, but in 2021, brands focused more on content quality as opposed to number of followers. They saw a higher ROAS from micro- and nano-influencers — smaller followers with higher engagement.”

– Tie Davidson, Partnerships Manager, TUNE

 
It’s great when brands can get their A-list celebrity endorsements, but often, they come at a high cost and often lack a sincere connection, which is arguably more important in the long run than immediate return on investment. The nano-, micro-, and macro-influencer communities are a potent antidote to traditional marketing. Despite fewer followers than the mega-stars, these content creators tap into their audiences with personalized, vulnerable, and relatable content. It’s much easier to understand the value of a product or service through someone else’s experience when that someone feels real and genuine.

Many brands have finally accepted the importance of this channel and are hiring talent to navigate the growing industry. More emphasis is now placed on bringing in managers who understand the influencer space and know how to tap into the right combination of talent, authenticity, and charisma to source the best creators. And yes, in case you’re wondering, influencers are here to stay for a while.

Smarter Data and Better Privacy Are Non-Negotiable

Can you remember the last time an app or a website didn’t ask if it was OK to track you?

Driven primarily by changes to the Apple and Google ecosystems, privacy and compliance continue to write a major narrative. Brands are forced to compete with changing policies that, at least on the surface, seem designed to protect people’s information. It’s a tough sell in a world that’s relied so heavily on third-party cookies for advertising targeting, and the partner marketing landscape is no different. With cookies quickly becoming a relic of the past, brands need partners and technologies they can trust to treat customer information with the right sensitivity. Proper data hygiene isn’t just important for your business, it’s critical.

In the past, a common challenge for many brands has been properly tracking and attributing results from their partner channels. This challenge was amplified when non-traditional partners (talking to you, influencers and podcasters) were added to the equation. Yes, you can have a tracking link with UTMs appended to a YouTube video or a swipe-up Instagram story, but as many brands have learned recently, Google Analytics is not the right tool for this job.

Plenty of businesses don’t rely on Google Analytics to track these campaigns, but far too many still do. By and large, Google’s solution is one of the lowest barriers for entry when a brand wants to kick off a partner marketing or influencer program with little impact to their tech stack. However, an increasing appetite for better insights is coming to the forefront as we enter 2022.

Read more about TUNE’s commitment to topics like GDPR, CCPA, and SOC compliance.

Consumers Lean Toward Authentic, Socially Conscious Brands

The shifting economy and a new generation of consumers drove many established brands to rethink their strategies in 2021. Meanwhile, a new legion of high-growth businesses has stepped in to fill gaps in the market; several of these are focusing on specific customer needs, long-standing pain points, and expanding traditional verticals to new limits. Is investing, crypto, or blockchain just too confusing to figure out? Tired of shopping at the same big-box retailers who may or may not be transparent in their production process? Ready to take that online course to learn coding during the weekend? New business growth has taken on new life in 2021 and, when paired with credible intent, is creating factions of loyal consumers.

The fourth wall has cracked. Consumers want brands to spark a legitimate connection with their values and needs. They need personalized, curated experiences (just don’t ask them to accept cookies…) before they will allow a product or service into their life.

While this shift may be new to some companies, many established brands are already playing their part to great success. One example is Patagonia, which announced it would donate 100% of their Black Friday revenue in 2021 to support environmental sustainability. The result? Patagonia saw a record-breaking $10 million in sales, five times more than they expected to bring in. Their site traffic has also seen a nice jump of over 47% from last year, as they continue to strike a social nerve with a consistent, purpose-driven message.

Acquisitions and Consolidation

There are always new partners, technologies, and agencies coming on to the scene, and 2021 saw a lot of consolidation across the media and marketing mix. Some agencies made the decision to join forces like Gen3 adding to its roster by bringing on Oak Digital, or Acceleration Partners and Streamline Marketing banding together, shifting the services dynamics.

Competitive fatigue and a wildly shifting economy has pushed several media companies to unify businesses for a healthier long-term outlook. Many of these brands share a similar customer base and strategic approach, so it’s not difficult to see why joining forces is attractive. From ironSource acquiring Tapjoy to Meredith joining forces with Dotdash, the new era of media giants is being born again. Even the Goliath that is Experian is taking out its checkbook in favor of product diversification and in recognition of the high-growth insurance technology vertical.

Influencer agencies and content creator managers are primed for heavy growth this coming year and should expect an increase in marketing dollars being pushed in their direction. Content publishers and mobile-first brands will continue to drive massive influence across all aspects of the digital landscape, with the partnerships channel seated at the intersection of the next stage.

Conclusion

As 2021 comes to a close, now more than ever we must accept that change is constant and no one can predict the future.

Consumers are simultaneously searching for more relatable experiences while rejecting much of traditional advertising; if you don’t have a proper mobile strategy, prioritize building one immediately. It’s more critical than ever for brands to implement a conversational marketing approach that speaks to consumers on a human level, and lean on their base of creators to develop uniquely crafted content. Attention spans are shortening, with short-form video becoming a much bigger factor as it is created and consumed by increasingly younger audiences on new apps and social media platforms.

Businesses with a purpose-driven or philanthropic message will continue to strike social nerves and chip away at market share. Convenience and technology-forward brands will keep developing new products and features to compete with emerging businesses in their vertical and a more diverse e-commerce landscape. And the partnerships industry will become one of the most valuable channels as more and more brands look to accomplish these goals in 2022.

Questions about adding partnerships to your marketing mix in 2022? Get in touch with us at sales@tune.com, or request a demo of the TUNE Partner Marketing Platform today.

Learn more about the partner marketing ecosystem in our Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing e-book and blog series.