For clients who have been relying on Google’s affiliate network (GAN), it is somewhat of a shock that Google has announced the closure of this program. As an agency, Direct Agents has been working with GAN for over 3 years, and it has been an excellent platform to help our clients grow their affiliate programs.

What is left and what’s next are questions being asked by every merchant who has to make that difficult decision on where to transition. What complicates this even more is the overwhelming influx of “opportunities” and “migration deals” from other companies who claim they can replace what GAN had to offer.

In today’s affiliate marketing space there are five key components that merchants should take into consideration when choosing the right partner:

1. Publisher selection – Who are the publishers on the platform and do they fit your campaign goals?
2. Accessibility – How active are the publishers on the platform? Will your offer get the distribution it needs for the platform to be a viable revenue source? Can you speak directly with publishers to recruit publishers to your program?
3. Optimization and Analytics – What is the level of reporting the network offers, and how much information can you retrieve once your campaign is live?
4. Publisher Tools and Technology – How sophisticated is the tracking system being used? Does it offer mobile support? Does the platform offer Datafeeds, Deeplinking and Couponcode generation?
5. Costs and Contract Terms – This may seem obvious but this can be easily overlooked. Some networks require 1 year contracts with extensive monthly minimums, and others take a large commission per transaction.

There are numerous options out there when deciding where to go after GAN. It is important to weigh all the factors and make an informed decision rather than get caught up in the whirlwind of post GAN excitement. Google has noted that it will be supporting all merchants with GAN through July 31 st so there is time to make the appropriate strategic choice for your organization.

Please contact sales@directagents.com to discuss any questions you may have during your planning process for next steps with affiliate marketing.

For the past 5 months, the Direct Agents Creative Team developed and successfully launched a new mobile-friendly company website with Responsive Design and new product organization.

As a Digital Marketing agency, Direct Agents was looking not only to remake the site, but also to model the very services it offers, including mobile-friendly design. The goals of the project were to design a site that was cohesive, functional, modern, and most importantly, a site that fully summarized and displayed the multitude of services offered.

The development of a website was an opportunity to give the best representation of expertise, including Responsive Design the most essential tool used in Mobile Marketing. Incorporating this feature was the biggest challenge of the project.

Responsive design is an approach used to make sites adaptable and adjustable to any device being used, whether it be an iPhone, Android or tablet. It optimizes viewing experience, allows for effortless navigation and scrolling, and limits automatic resizing.

Because of the increasingly rapid growth of the mobile industry, responsive design was an especially important feature to incorporate. Recent statistics revealed that mobile internet usage would overtake desktop by 2014. Studies also showed that 3 out of every 4 consumers will only wait, at most – 5 seconds for a page to load before abandoning it.

To overcome and tackle this challenge, the Creative team had to test each section of the site on multiple screens. This, the team agrees, was the most difficult and time-consuming aspects of the project. A code was developed for each possible device, and each version had to be tweaked and customized.

Direct Agents rolled out the new site in just 4 months, just in time to celebrate its 10 year anniversary.

As a result of the Creative team’s innovation, vision and perseverance we now have a site that is even more dynamic, maintains functionality and models the team’s expertise.

From all of us at Direct Agents – huge thanks to  Daniel Moran, Alper Dilmen and Magno Parada for all their hard work!

Brian Staples

VP of Creative and Design Services

NEW YORK (April 1, 2013) – Direct Agents, an award winning digital advertising agency, just marked their ten year anniversary on March 27^th, 2013. The company was established in 2003 in New York City by brothers Dinesh and Josh Boaz and since then has provided a full range of digital marketing services for leading brand advertisers looking to acquire new customers, generate sales and increase their online presence.   Direct Agents currently services clients and has relationships with publishers across the world including North America, Europe and Latin America.

“Since our inception, the company’s vision has been to be a best-in-class full service digital agency with a performance based approach.  At the core of our vision was the importance of building long term relationships with key advertisers and publishers and delivering effective digital marketing solutions. The success of our partners is pivotal to our own success. It’s been exciting to see how far we have come and we’re excited to continue our growth in 2013,” said Dinesh Boaz, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Direct Agents.

LendingTree, the nation’s number one online lending exchange and long time client of Direct Agents, summed up Direct Agents’ work best.

“Congratulations to Direct Agents on their ten year anniversary.  As LendingTree’s AOR for our external email campaigns, we are extremely pleased with their performance and our partnership. Thanks guys….here’s to another ten!” said Bruce Cook, SVP Business Development, LendingTree.

Working in a highly evolving industry, Direct Agents has distinguished itself from its competitors over the past ten years with its expert knowledge, superior client service and advanced analytics and technology.  Recently, Direct Agents launched a Mobile Marketing solution to accommodate client requests in this fast growing space.   As part of the Mobile Marketing service Direct Agents offers mobile app distribution and also mobile optimized creative design.  Direct Agents is also proud to announce the upcoming launch of ‘Direct Edge,’ a robust dashboard for clients.  Direct Edge will offer clients in depth insights into their campaign’s analytics, consumer engagement and sales attribution.

”As we enter our second decade in business, we are committed to building and expanding an even stronger platform to help maximize results for our clients.  Our Mobile Marketing solution and our Direct Edge dashboard are just two examples of ways that Direct Agents is able to better service the needs of our clients,” said Josh Boaz, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Direct Agents.

Direct Agents has continuously delivered quality and consistent results and has been recognized as a Top Agency by Digital Marketing News and has made the Inc 5000 list four times throughout the past decade. Direct Agents will continue to evolve and expand, as the field of digital marketing will become increasingly prominent and essential for advertisers.

About Direct Agents
Direct Agents is a digital marketing company that provides a multi-channel customer acquisition solution that delivers customized online advertising campaigns for brand advertisers.  We specialize in helping our clients acquire new customers and generate sales while taking the guessing work out of online advertising.  For more information, visit www.directagents.com.

Media Contact:

Mona Khaldi

Direct Agents

mona@directagents.com

212-925-6558 x160

Every January there is a sense of excitement and anticipation about what the coming year will bring.  In the case of the online advertising industry, a fast-moving and ever-changing industry, mobile, email, search and display will be the channels that I believe will see the most change in 2013.  Following are some of my predictions for 2013:

Mobile Marketing

While 2012 was a dynamic year for mobile marketing and the multi-screen user, 2013 will be the year that advertisers will embrace this medium.  Less focus will be placed on the existence of the multi-screen user and more attention will be placed on the different options that the multi-screen user presents to marketers.

Brands should be able to gain more insight into mobile devices users in 2013 as mobile device users will become more comfortable allowing brands to recognize their location, intent and preferences.  As a result push-pull mobile marketing will take place as the best brand apps and experiences will tie this information into their marketing campaigns in order to optimize conversions and connect with consumers.

Prospect Email

With more than half of all email opens occurring on mobile devices, I believe that Prospect Email will continue its rapid growth in 2013.  One change that we see for 2013 is the growth in the number of emails that will be designed using a responsive design or will be sent out using a mobile decision engine.  Responsive designs allow for optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices by using fluid proportion-based grids and flexible images.  A mobile decision engine is able to detect the device the recipient is using and will then deliver and display device specific creative that best targets the end user.  By doing so, advertisers will better be able to target and optimize their campaigns to customers no matter what device the consumer is accessing their email on.

Search Marketing and Display Advertising

Search and display will still remain two of the cornerstones of online marketing campaigns in 2013 however there will be a shift as advertisers will be spending more money in the mobile space.  Currently, the mobile search and mobile display space remains relative uncluttered and in 2013 I expect that  several brands will look to invest top dollars in this space in order to own the mobile consumer and differentiate themselves from their slow- to- adapt competitors.

As local advertising continues to explode with the rise in smartphone users, search and display will take center stage with their hyper-targeting abilities.  New tools will emerge to support these micro-targeted program and marketers will increasingly take a systematic approach adding coordinated multi-channel efforts including local mobile search marketing and display retargeting.

If one thing rings true for 2013, the mobile and digital marketing era continues.  With cross-channel marketing plans at the forefront, marketers will need to pay close attention to analytics, targeting and optimization this year as online campaigns remain a very effective marketing medium in 2013.

As consumers of all ages and genders continue to stick to a tight holiday gift budget in 2012, nearly one third are turning towards online resources as early as September to start shopping and browsing for deals, bargains and hard-to-find gifts before November even arrives.  Similarly, the majority of holiday shoppers aren’t closing their wallets once Christmas passes.  Most are actually holding out for the post-holiday sales, extending the opportunity for retailers to acquire new customers and promote their brand.  It’s therefore important for retailers to start creating an early and consistent presence in the digital marketplace in order to deliver personalized, targeted holiday messages to consumers during vital times throughout the holiday season.

Digital marketing is a great solution for retailers looking to target consumers throughout the holiday season.  With multiple channels to choose from including email marketing, search marketing, affiliate marketing and mobile marketing, retailers should work with digital experts to determine the channels that will best meet their needs.
Based on consumer behavior in 2011, email marketing remains one of the most effective digital strategies for retailers.   Chad White of Responsys stated that “To date in 2012, email marketing volume has already grown 20%, signifying that the channel will retain its importance, especially with the online holiday shopping season becoming longer and increasingly influenced by mobile devices.”

Retailers should look at acquisition email programs that provide reach, scalability and targeting since email is the key to reaching consumers at work, at home and on the go.  By working with 100% opt-in lists that have been tested, retailers can benefit from high open and response rates and in return can benefit from an increase in sales.

Paid search marketing is one of the most sought after services this time of year and retailers should not wait to start implementing a search marketing strategy.  In 2011, clients increased their paid search budgets by 31% to ensure their brand stood out in online searches. By determining key words or themes like Cyber Monday, Black Friday, holiday gifts, and free shipping, you can increase your visibility and online activity in the form of clicks and conversions. You can also take advantage of Google’s ad extensions by incorporating consumer reviews and social media into AdWords ads. This tactic allows you to stand out on the search engine results page with engaging products and advertiser information.  By continuously optimizing for CPA and ROI by analyzing keywords, sales trends by daypart, landing page conversion funnels, negative keywords and more you can help stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Affiliate marketing is another key online marketing channel during the holiday season.  According to shop.org affiliate marketing was the most successful online marketing channel used during the 2011 holiday season only behind paid search and email marketing.  According to US retailers, affiliate marketing is the highest sales converter and therefore is a channel that should not be overlooked this holiday season.  Networks like GAN and Linkshare provide access to top publishers with distribution in blogs,  loyalty, rewards, shopping, and special promotions  channels.  By working with an agency that specializes in affiliate marketing, retailers can let the agency work as an extension of their marketing team to manage, optimize, monitor and scale their affiliate marketing program on these networks.

If 2011 was any indication, then in 2012 shoppers will be using their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, this holiday season to shop online, search for discounts and coupons, and scan QR codes for product information and locations. One third of consumers surveyed by Yahoo Advertising Solutions said they would like to receive holiday deals via their mobile device, making in-store purchases easier and faster. By strategizing creative ways to reach mobile users whether by encouraging an app download or utilizing display ads, retailers should look to implement a mobile campaign that focuses on design, content and interactivity.

With so many opportunities to expand your brand and acquire new customers this holiday season, retailers should look to implement a digital marketing strategy as it is sure to produce high traffic to your retail website and increase sales over the following months. By creating a digital marketing strategy now, you will be one step ahead of your competitors!