In the iGaming industry, affiliates play a pivotal role in driving user traffic and generating revenue and most programs will seek to work with several Pay-Per-Click (PPC) affiliates to boost their direct advertising and build scale whilst paying on a performance basis.
Understanding how to work with these types of affiliates is key to building a strategy that blends with your other direct advertising campaigns. However, one recurring issue in this kind of affiliate partnership is the potential for brand bidding wars, which can harm both affiliates and the operator brand – if the relationship is not managed correctly.
In this blog, we will explore how iGaming brands can work with PPC affiliates to avoid these conflicts and establish healthy long term relationships.
Understanding the PPC Affiliate Model
Pay-Per-Click affiliates are a unique breed within the iGaming affiliate ecosystem. They specialize in running paid advertising campaigns to drive traffic to the iGaming brand’s website, spending the upfront cost-per-click payment structure, and being compensated via a CPA or Revenue share or Hybrid deal – based on the number of new real money depositing players being generated through their advertising efforts.
While PPC affiliates can be a powerful source of quality traffic, they are also known for the potential challenges they can pose to iGaming brands, primarily when it comes to brand bidding on similar keywords that can lead to brand bidding wars.
Brand Bidding Wars: The Battle for Keywords
Brand bidding wars occur when multiple affiliates bid on the same branded keywords in search engine advertising platforms. For instance, if an iGaming brand’s name is “LuckyBets Casino,” multiple PPC affiliates may bid on keywords like “LuckyBets Casino Offers,” “LuckyBets Casino Review,” or similar terms. As a result, their ads appear alongside or can even appear above the brand’s own direct paid advertisements in the search engine results.
While this might seem like a competitive strategy for PPC affiliates, it can lead to several issues for both the other affiliates in the program and the brand:
- Cannibalization of Traffic: When multiple affiliates are bidding on the same keywords, they are essentially competing for the same pool of users searching for these terms. This can result in higher advertising costs and reduced returns for all parties involved.
- Brand Erosion: Brand bidding wars can dilute the brand’s image and confuse potential customers (It can impact the customer journey to your offer and redirect them to landing pages with other sites listed that compete with yours). When users encounter multiple affiliates using similar branding elements, they may find it challenging to distinguish the official brand from affiliate one.
- Legal and Trademark Issues: Brand bidding wars can lead to trademark violations and legal disputes, which can damage the reputation of both the iGaming brand and the affiliates (own brand) involved.
The Solution: Setting up Collaborative Affiliate Terms and Conditions
To prevent brand bidding wars , brand dilution and potential legal concerns it is recommended that operators include clear brand bidding terms into their affiliate program terms setting clear rules on how they want their partners to augment their own direct advertising strategies.
These terms should promote transparency, cooperation, and compliance with clear advertising guidelines.
Here are some essential terms that should be prevalent:
- Keyword Restrictions: Clearly define which branded keywords , phrases and terms affiliates are allowed to bid on and under what conditions. Provide a list of keywords affiliates are not allowed to use (suppression lists) in their campaigns. For example, you can specify that affiliates are prohibited from bidding on your brand name or variations of it in a sentence or phrase, or in certain geolocated regions, or as part of a long tail keyword strategy.
- Negative Keywords: Encourage affiliates to use negative keyword lists which you can supply to them to prevent their ads from appearing for specific terms that could lead to brand bidding conflicts.
- Ad Copy Guidelines: Set guidelines for ad copy that prevent affiliates from using the brand’s trademarks or copyrighted content within their PPC advertisements.
- Display URL Rules: Specify the rules for display URLs in affiliate ads. This can help prevent affiliates from creating misleading URLs that resemble the brand’s own domain.
- Monitoring and Compliance: Implement a technical solution for monitoring affiliate activities to ensure compliance with the agreed-upon terms. Regularly check affiliate ad campaigns to identify any violations. There are several tools already available to ensure brand protection and compliance.
- Set Consequences for Violations: Outline the consequences for affiliates who breach the agreed-upon terms, overstep the guidelines and include warnings, reductions in commission, or even termination from the program.
- Dispute Resolution Mechanisms: Establish a process for addressing conflicts and disputes between your advertising team who will spot breaches and affiliates. This can include mediation, arbitration, or other methods of resolution.
Cellxpert’s Real-Time Tracking: A Game-Changer for Campaign Management
In addition to well-structured terms and conditions, iGaming brands can take advantage of cutting-edge affiliate marketing technology to monitor and manage their affiliate programs effectively. Affiliate managers can use the real time reporting features found in Cellxpert’s media reporting to monitor conversions at a keyword level.
The platform offers a level of Affiliate campaign transparency enabling both parties to access in depth performance data, ensuring that affiliates are held accountable and that brand guidelines are being followed. Affiliate managers can create customized reports that showcase campaign performance daily, weekly or monthly for these partner types, making it easier to evaluate the success of PPC affiliates in the program as a grouping to monitor these kinds of campaigns.
Summary for Affiliate Managers
In summary, building successful partnerships with PPC affiliates in the iGaming industry requires proactive measures and clear affiliate terms and conditions.
By incorporating keyword restrictions, ad copy guidelines, and dispute resolution mechanisms into your affiliate program agreements, iGaming brands can minimize the risk of brand bidding wars and foster better affiliate cooperation.
The key takeaways for working with PPC Affiliates to enhance your direct to customer reach is shown below:
Establish Clear Rules and Best Practice Guidelines: Clearly define your brand’s terms and conditions for PPC affiliates, speak to your internal teams for guidance on how affiliates can add value next to what these teams are already focussing on. Specify exact keyword restrictions, ad copy guidelines, and consequences for violations.
Invest in technology that’s fit for purpose: Consider adopting advanced affiliate marketing platforms like Cellxpert’s real-time tracking to gain keyword-level insights and maintain transparency.
Regular Affiliate Ad content monitoring: Consistently monitor affiliate activities using real time media reports to ensure compliance with the established terms and conditions and take swift action in case of violations.
Open Communication: Foster open lines of communication with your PPC affiliates to build trust and cooperation.
By implementing these simple strategies, iGaming brands can strengthen their relationships with PPC affiliates, gain momentum quicker and minimize brand bidding conflicts, to drive successful acquisition within their affiliate programs.
If you’d like to explore how Cellxpert can help your program track PPC, Paid Media and Affiliate tracking – all in real time, book a call with our sales team TODAY
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