any point in starting an affiliate program for my product?

[davidle]

i am preparing for the launch of my own product. i know our niche very well. it's not exactly small, but i know all of the best websites frequented by those in our niche, and i know how to advertise to people in this niche. so i have a very good idea of what sites we'll use to do media buys. and we have enough
money to advertise on all of of these sites.

if all of the above is true, is there any reason for us to establish an affiliate program for our product? if so, why? and how should we structure it so we're not advertising in the same place? or is that even a concern? also, i'm not sure what kind of rules we could establish that would minimize affiliates coming up with crappy creatives/sales copy that would have a very real chance of hurting the image of our brand...but we have our sales copy/advertisements/promo materials and we don't want affiliates out there using flogs or something making our product seem cheap.

we'd only want to have an affiliate program program if it will make us more money. i'm just wondering how we can get that to happen.

 

[ArgentCloud]

It's probably not worthwhile for you to create and manage your own affiliate program. It might be worthwhile to approach a mid-to-large CPA network and discuss an email-only offer.

 

[REIMktg]

The question is one of margins. When you put your product with an affiliate network you are paying them a commission to bring you sales. If your margin allows for a sufficient margin to pay the commission to the network and that margin is high enough to attract their publishers then give it a try.

Be sure to have a system in place to ensure the sales/leads you are paying for are quality. If that means a cap on sales/leads when you first roll out then do it - you need to make certain the leads/sales stick.

Be very careful that you do not allow you product to be "incentivized" unless you really know what you are doing.

 

[Victoria-Rx]

Well, that is a risk that you must take... promoting your product via affiliates will give it massive exposure.

Goof Luck!

 

[nickster]

I'd make a secondary site/company and unless the sites you are advertising on are very obvious to the product then you should allow natural competition. Otherwise only allow other forms of advertising (other than banners), but if other companies (your real competition) are advertising on the same sites you want to target then it is much better you are competing against your affiliates than your competition right?

If your product really has legs then you should make MUCH more via affiliate sales than you can yourself (especially with a lot of media buys going on at once).

When it comes to protecting your brand, you can sell from your branded site and let the others sell brand x (another brand name) from a different lander.

When it comes to FTC or legalities you should make sure your lander is compliant and tell the networks what form of advertising (e.g. Flogs etc.) that you will not allow if you wish, but with a separate company and a compliant lander you should be covered anyway (make sure the other company is not linked to the company who's brand you are trying to protect) and I wouldn't shoot down advertising that brings in the major bucks.

My two cents for what they're worth.