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Nicky Senyard founded Share Results on her philosophy that long-term, sustainable relationships are the key to a successful affiliate program. Under her leadership, Share Results continues to offer a unique and fresh approach to affiliate marketing, with complete marketing solutions for affiliates and advertisers alike.

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Does Brand Bidding Belong in Your Marketing Plan?

Written on
Mar 5, 2010 
Author
Nicky Senyard  |
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Does Brand Bidding Belong in Your Marketing Plan?

bid_smallADOTAS – Brand bidding is when an affiliate targets specific keywords associated with a brand, as opposed to a generic word, such as a noun or adjective that describes the product. Usually when brand bidding, an affiliate is bidding on a trademarked name and is often therefore “competing” directly with the merchant.

Programs which allow affiliates to bid on their brand are often of the opinion that many searches are executed by brand identity, and the more their brand name is seen in the search engines, the better it is for them. Conversely, other programs feel that allowing brand bidding is essentially giving up control on their brand identity as they cannot manage where and how their brand is viewed, and also risk misuse by affiliates.

There are definite pros and cons to brand bidding, and a variety of exceptions to the rule that should be considered by merchants and affiliates alike.

Considerations for Merchants

Brand name bidding is definitely something that needs to be evaluated by merchants, and then stated in their Terms & Conditions so that this policy can be clearly applied by affiliates. In fact, merchants can take it a step further by creating lists of specific keywords that are off limits to affiliates, as well as a list of words that are permissible. Once this is established, merchants can work with their affiliate managers to act as a communicator to affiliates, to make sure these guidelines are being adhered to.

Pros of Brand Bidding

Allowing brand bidding can be especially beneficial to (1) newer merchants who are just launching their online platform and (2) merchants who do not have their own PPC marketing strategy in place. In each case, having a third party introduce your brand name online can be an effective way of building brand awareness, and indeed, increasing profitability.

That being said, many established merchants who do invest in their own PPC campaigns still allow brand bidding because, at the end of the day, more people are seeing their brand name on a more consistent basis, and they feel this makes for increased business opportunities. On a final note, some merchants may decide to allow brand bidding, but only in markets or search engines where they are not present. This can be extremely beneficial for adding exposure to a brand.

Cons of Brand Bidding

For merchants who do invest in their own PPC campaigns, the cons associated with brand bidding focus on having an increase in competition for bids on branded key words. There is a bit of misconception here that having keyword competition will drive up your bid price. To combat the increase in cost per keyword an operator will need to focus on developing a high quality score which will give the operator access to cheaper keywords than a competitor bidding on the same keyword.

Another concern is quality assurance. Once a merchant gives up control and allows affiliates to use their brand name at will, the sky is the limit in terms of possibilities. Affiliates could bid on a merchant’s brand name to promote a competing brand, or could use this keyword to send visitors to a rinky-dink site or to a site that also promotes other brands — with which the merchant may or may not want to be associated.

A final thought to consider here, especially for merchants selling items that may also be sold by non-trademark owners (like the knock-offs you find on the streets of New York) is the ability to steal search traffic from the rightful owner of a product to promote a fraudulent brand. Major apparel, luxury, jewelry, fragrance, and other well-known and sought after brands are the hardest-hit by trademark infringement.

Allow High-Performing Affiliates to Brand Bid

Using their affiliate marketing software, merchants can segment their affiliates, so that they can customize messages and rights for different affiliate groups. This might be considered by merchants who are interested in allowing some of their high-performing affiliates to take part in brand bidding, while disallowing others.

Considerations for Affiliates

A definite must for affiliates, before bidding on a brand name or any variation of it, is to check out an affiliate program’s Terms & Conditions, where their policies should be included. If there is any confusion, or if brand bidding policies are not listed, it’s best to seek clarification on this matter. Going ahead with brand bidding without permission could lead to a myriad of negative outcomes, including having your sales declined, missing out on a performance bonus, being out-of-pocket for your PPC investment and even being kicked out of a program completely.

Many merchants may not allow bidding on their brand name, but may allow bidding on misspellings or variations of their brand name. Either way, affiliates should consider the cost of brand bidding. With other affiliates bidding on these keywords, as well as merchants, the costs can be high, and depending on what an affiliate has in mind in terms of ROI, may well be out of their spending budget.

Loyalty and Trust

It’s in the best interest of merchants to make their brand bidding policies very clear, and readily available. For affiliates, it really is paramount to be in line with a merchant’s rules and regulations, especially concerning their brand name. When affiliates create long-lasting relationships with merchants that are based on loyalty and trust, they are more likely to be offered exciting benefits like, exclusive promotions, co-branded marketing tools and even the exclusive use of keywords.





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