We held a Masterclass last week in Sydney.

Recently a lot more brands are asking questions around “how to closer align their PR teams with their affiliate opportunities”. The reason for this is a steady rise in content attribution within the channel and we are seeing a huge increase in new customer acquisition through content partners as well.

So how can brands maximise this natural progression of growth in the channel?

We invited the amazing team from Are Media along to our Masterclass to discuss what they are seeing working well and would like to see more of from brands who are actively engaging with them through the affiliate channel. 

Firstly - this is not a threat to PR, Ali Izzo (Head of Digital Strategy and Implementation) announced as we kicked things off. She went on to say that we are looking for PR to be able to shape the narrative for the publisher to be able to run the story and feature products with affiliate links. This is not a competitive space but rather a balancing act of maximising the brand article and also giving readers/customers a place to go and then transact. 

Tara Lusk (Senior Affiliate Manager) highlighted a brilliant case in point of a Charlotte Tilbury piece on the Met Gala, covering the event but also featuring the products within the article. This is the perfect marriage to maximise page views at the point of inspiration and creating buzz whilst also feeding readers through to purchase. 

Another point raised by Lauren Leisk (Head of Affiliate Partnerships) is for brands to understand how good they are at converting. You can lead a horse to water but it's up to the brand to then convert them. Are Media take this into consideration when looking at placements and mentions for brands. Another consideration is - will the brand amplify the content piece? Are they willing to push the article on their own as well?

Sharing is caring - extending your sales data to your content partners can help to provide context and social proof - that can be enough for a hook. For example - a Best Seller is back in stock, or this item is sold out in other markets, ecom best sales or Mecca best sales. 

• For best results share your brief with the Are team 6 weeks prior and they are happy to adhere to ‘under embargo’ information. Consider search terms and rank when offering up your brief. 

• It can also be a challenge to work with brands that do not fall under their main expertise categories - for example, pet products or other. Are brands want to be the authority in their domain, typically fashion, beauty and lifestyle. 

It's great to see that brands are consistently asking about affiliate through PR agencies and what we are seeing now is that some publishers will not even feature you if you don’t have affiliate links set up. This speaks to the health of the industry and a strong sign for partnerships.