Loyalty and Affiliate Marketing. How Much Is Too Much?
Loyalty – How Much Is Too Much?
Affiliate marketing is just like every other industry: you’ll end up doing business with quite a few people, some will stab you in the back and others will prove to be important allies. But how do you treat allies? Let’s analyze two important relationships:
Your Relationship with Networks
You probably already have a network you enjoy doing business with. They always match the best payout a competitor can offer, your AM is extremely responsive and they even send a lot of gifts your way. Sounds like a great situation, right?
Well, here’s when things get complicated. What if another network has a long-standing offer with a certain advertiser and as a result, receives an incredibly high payout compared to everyone else. What if you want to run that offer and your network is unable to match the payout you’d be getting if you were to push the offer through a competitor?
Your Relationship with Business Partners?
Is there someone who has given you valid reason to trust him/her? Have you partnered up on more than one occasion? If so, both of you should definitely appreciate the business relationship but on the other hand, there will also be tricky situations.
What if both your friend and a deep pocketed investor are “competing” against each other in order to become partners and even more so, what if the deep pocketed investor is able to put considerably more money on the table? What then?
Where Do You Draw the Line?
Loyalty is loyalty, business decisions are business decisions and stabbing people in the back is stabbing people in the back. On the one hand, you should obviously not betray the trust of someone close to you or better yet, don’t betray the trust of others in general.
On the other hand, you need to understand that by making business decisions has nothing to do with not being loyal. If another network is capable of offering a significantly better payout, explain that business is business: that you do work with them whenever you can but in such situations, you just have to say no.
The same principle applies when it comes to business partners. If a certain investor (for example) makes an offer you can’t refuse, talk to your friend and politely explain that you’re doing exactly what you would want him/her to do if he/she was dealing with a similar situation: you’re not saying no to an amazing opportunity. Again, don’t make the confusion between loyalty and making bad business decisions because you think you have to. Don’t stab people in the back, treat others exactly the way you want to be treated or even better but don’t confuse loyalty with something it’s not.
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