IAB Australia’s Affiliate Marketing Working Group has published the first Affiliate Industry handbook for the Australian market.  Established by IAB Australia in July 2016 as a cooperative of the major Affiliate Marketing companies in Australia, the Working Group aims to bring awareness and education to the growing local market.

The handbook outlines the basic mechanisms of the practice, the different types of Affiliates, the key players in the local markets, the role of content; and how to capitalise on mobile and other technologies.

It is the first project completed by the Working Group, who next plan to examine the local Affiliate Market to determine its size and revenue within the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem.

“Affiliate Marketing is an industry built on relationships and I’m pleased the group has been able to work together to produce this handbook and help drive the channel forward,” said Matthew Sheppard, international account manager for Navigate Digital and one of the authors of the handbook.

“I know from my time overseas as a marketer just how valuable Affiliate Marketing is,” added IAB CEO Vijay Solanki. “I think we can expect a similar story will soon be told here in Australia as the industry grows in financial importance and reputation.”

Whilst there are no official Australian figures, Affiliate Marketing is a rapidly growing component of digital marketing in many foreign markets. According to the IAB U.K./PwC Online Performance Marketing Study 2015, Affiliate Marketing produced £16.5B in sales in 2015, equaling 10 per cent of all U.K. retail ecommerce (and 1 per cent of U.K. GDP). The same report noted that Affiliate Marketing generates a 14:1 ROI.

“Affiliate marketing is an integral part of our digital channel mix; we can see that it directly drives and influences a customer to purchase on our website with a consistently strong return on investment,” said Claudia Dwyer, digital marketing specialist at David Jones.

“We’ve established a solution around our strict brand guidelines, working with transparency across the breadth of our partners – whilst also streamlining processes. Affiliates are not only bringing sales to David Jones, they are bringing new valuable customers.  As affiliate partners and strong top of the funnel, influencers continue to grow in Australia, we can also see the opportunity for David Jones to grow with them.”

The IAB Affiliate Marketing Handbook 2016 was authored and compiled by the following company representatives:

• Anthony Capano, Rakuten Marketing
• Chris Carner, Cash Rewards
• Isabell Schneider, MediaCom
• Matthew Sheppard, Navigate Digital
• Richa Dani, Columbus
• Roger Lee, APD
• Verity Beard, Allure Media
• Zane McIntyre, Commission Factory