Should merchants provide brand flexibility to publishers

Today's topic is rather interesting as this is the dilemma faced by many merchants.

Should I maintain strict control over the use of my brand and trademarks?

Strategy 1:
"No." Allow brand flexibility; extend full brand usage rights.

Pros:

* Empowered publishers will find many ways to drive conversions
* Maximum brand reach online

Cons:

* Risk of brand abuse when undesirable content frames your brand
* Altering of creative and destination URLs in ways that are inconsistent with your brand

Brand flexibility is good for advertisers who:

* Have sufficient resources for monitoring and branding education
* Have stringent publisher acceptance criteria
* Are looking to aggressively increase consumer acquisitions online
* Are looking to significantly increase the number of publishers in their program
* Are less sensitive to issues relating to usage of name, image and likeness

Strategy 2:
"Yes." Maintain brand sensitivity and control or limit usage of my trademarks.

Pros:

* Consistent brand message across all channels
* Protection of established image and brand messages

Cons:

* Loss of potential revenue from publishers who know how to convert
* Potential loss of paid search page real estate (to competitors or resellers)
* Brand control is good for advertisers who:
* Have a well-established brand and significant investment in brand positioning
* Have a brand requiring a very specific context for proper promotion, or may have contractual obligations to manufacturers from whom they license products
* Have marketing activities in multiple channels requiring coordination for consistency

How Your Brand Fuels Your Bank Account

If you are prepared to offer support to minimize branding abuse, it would be recommended that you allow publishers to use your brand and trademark materials to drive traffic and increase your return on investment (ROI).

Instead of excessive brand control, we suggest you shift your focus to monitoring and education to prevent brand misuse. Treat your publishers like an online sales force. If they are well-trained and have the right collateral and best practices to promote within the scope of your brand requirements, they can effectively market your program to consumers.

On the other hand, if you choose a strategy of tight control over your brand, you should use consistent promotions across all channels to reduce channel conflict; use the same offers and creative on your Web site, in stores, and in your affiliate marketing channel.

Because publishers typically misuse branded material only when they feel they are provided with insufficient tools, we suggest you compensate for strict usage terms by offering ample creative and tools. Provide enough links, options, and even data feeds (especially if you are a retailer) to support creative publishers. Also, think of boosting your commission payouts or incentives, because strict promotion rules can generate higher lifetime value traffic, which is worth additional compensation.