In the course of MGECOM’s business, our Business Development team will reach out to merchants to discuss how MGECOM services can be of service to them in the online marketing efforts. Over the course of their discussions the merchant will ask them what MGECOM can do that they cannot do for themselves. Merchants may say they have a marketing team that can start running the affiliate marketing channel, or they can hire a part-timer or intern that can handle the affiliate marketing duties.

In most cases, these types of solutions are not successful over the long run. In this post we will list the reasons why it often makes better business and financial sense for merchants to hire an Affiliate Marketing Agency, or Outsourced Program Manager (OPM) to manage their affiliate marketing programs.

Reason 1: Expertise in the Industry
MGECOM knows how to “do” affiliate marketing. We have a seasoned team of experienced professionals whose only job is to focus on making positive results for their client. They are not tasked with managing the email marketing, PPC advertising budgets, keyword research and social marketing for a client. Our team has the affiliate marketing experience and track record of success to prove that we know how to manage an affiliate program.

Reason 2: Established Network of Successful Affiliate Marketers
An OPM with experience has networked and built trusting relationships with key affiliates across many verticals over their years in the business. It is an uphill battle for a merchant to have some new to affiliate marketing to try and get results as quickly and efficiently as an OPM that has an established in network of professional contacts in their industry they can quickly reach. The MGECOM Affiliate Managers have relationships with affiliate marketing professionals who are E-mail Affiliate Marketers, Pay-Per-Click Affiliate Marketers, Content Affiliate Marketers, Professional Bloggers, and many more. We can quickly reach these busy professionals to discuss new business opportunities with them.

Reason 3: Familiarity with Affiliate Networks
Affiliate networks, such as Commission Junction, ShareASale, Google Affiliate Network, can be complex and overwhelming for a merchant that does not have experience in setting up and designing their affiliate program. The MGECOM Team has established over one hundred affiliate programs and created thousands of banners and text links across all the network interfaces. We also have inside contacts at the affiliate networks that we can call on if we have any issues.

Mining through the network reports for the metrics that important to your business can be cumbersome if you are not familiar with the various terminologies and reports that are found on each network. However, our team runs reports for our clients everyday. We know how to quickly run reports and translate the metrics that are important to clients.

Reason 4: Save on Manpower and Training Costs
Is this your current hiring process? Your company posts a job, then screens hundreds of resumes, then spends time interviewing and second interviewing, then makes offers, then waits for the candidate to accept and start, then start training this new hire. In addition to those costs, the business has to pay the salary, vacation time, benefits and sick time to this new worker. What if this new hire doesn’t work out? You are back to square one. All the while your company is not generating revenue from your affiliate program. Additionally there is office space you have to pay for and there are the industry conferences that you must budget for if you want to maintain a good relationships (and create new ones) with affiliates in the industry.

But, if you choose to hire an OPM company to manage your affiliate program, the process will be similar to this: Talk with MGECOM to discover your company’s needs with your affiliate program. Ensure there is a match of your needs and our experience. Agree to allow MGECOM to manage your affiliate program. In just 30-45 days your affiliate program is live and ready to start generating revenue for your company.

You will not have wasted all that time and money. And, MGECOM regularly attends the affiliate industry conferences such as the industry-leading Affiliate Summit (where All-Access passes start at $1,879), thereby saving you more money by not having to budget and send your in-house staff.

Reason 5: Broader Scope of Specialized Skills
Affiliate marketing can take many angles; there are PPC affiliates, content affiliates, coupon affiliates, bloggers and social media affiliates. Our team has a broad reach into these various avenues of affiliate marketing that you can be sure we can find the right partners to promote your program.

Reason 6: Affiliate Laws and Technology are always evolving
Our company lives and breathes affiliate marketing, therefore it is our responsibility to keep up with the latest happenings and trends in the industry. We are well-studied and versed with the affiliate nexus tax (are you familiar with this legislation? We are.). We are constantly using the same new technologies and techniques that affiliates and networks are using. (Batch reporting? Pixel firing? We know all about these.). We must stay on top of the going

Reason 7: Quicker Responses and Adaptation to Changes
Internet marketing is a constantly-evolving business and MGECOM can react faster to your changing needs as we are singularly focused on results-based affiliate marketing. We have the ability to pull various affiliate marketing professionals and subject-matter experts into the program as needed. What about vacation time? If your in-house person goes on vacation, how are you going to maintain your program for two weeks? When a program manager for MGECOM goes on vacation, another manager steps can step in without your program missing a beat.

Reason 8: Brand Reputation
As an affiliate marketing specialist firm, MGECOM is very well aware that nothing would kill our reputation and business quicker than failing to protect our client’s brands. We know affiliates don’t always play by the rules and we know who you should avoid working with in order to protect your brand. We have the broad reach into the affiliate channel and use of the latest technology to prevent fraud and monitor affiliate activity to ensure a level of brand protection.

As you have read, there are many compelling reasons that a business should consider as reasons to hire an OPM agency to manage their affiliate program. Hiring an OPM will give the merchant the greatest chance for affiliate marketing success and they will see positive ROI more quickly than assigning the affiliate marketing duties to an in-house manager.

We hope you have found this information useful! If you would like to discover if affiliate marketing is right for your business, please contact our business development team.