Affiliate Marketing

Do you know where all of your online affiliate ads are being posted? Seriously, every single one of them? “Senators are beginning to wonder if marketers know where all of their online ads appear,” noted Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs at The Direct Marketing Association, during his talk at the Catalog-on-the-Road Conference in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 1. Cerasale said one car maker found its ads posted on a pornography Web site. “It’s your brand,” he told the roomful of direct marketers. “If you lose customers’ trust in this way, it’s awfully tough to get it back.” He advised merchants to establish parameters with

Sitting in packed sessions at trade shows devoted to the discussion of affiliate marketing, one gets the sense that the catalogers in the room are either experts or novices in this growing channel. This special report is meant to serve both groups: It’ll explore what you should know before you start an affiliate program, as well as strategies to make your existing program better. Affiliate marketing is the process by which third parties, often Web sites, advocate your products or services in exchange for a commission. A commission is paid every time the affiliate sends a sale to you, or in exchange for

Liana Toscanini, vice president of insurgence (yes, insurgence) for Sure Fit Slipcovers by Mail, challenged authority seven years ago when she started a catalog and Web site for the 87-year-old slipcover manufacturer. Retail and wholesale distribution has been Allentown, PA-based Sure Fit’s focus. It has sold its product, ready-made slipcovers, to retailers like Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target, as well as to cataloger LinenSource. With an 85-percent share of the ready-made slipcover market, Toscanini told company president Bert Shlensky she believed direct marketing to consumers was an avenue for growth. Shlensky, a promoter of innovation and creativity among his employees, told