[Software publishers] How to generate web traffic with affiliation?

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Several experts enlighten software publishers on web traffic acquisition levers

The B2B Agency was pleased to take part in the latest study on web traffic acquisition and software publishers: 6 levers seen by 6 experts. The results showed that only 27% of software publishers use affiliation as a source of web acquisition. And yet affiliation is the principle whereby a brand offers a network of partners(blog, magazine, social networks, emailing base, etc.) the opportunity to promote its products or services in return for a set fee.

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Affiliation: multiple acquisition levers

Affiliation is a technique that enables advertisers to rapidly acquire brand awareness, leads or sales thanks to the multitude of publishers on which a brand is positioned.

All acquisition levers can be integrated into an affiliation strategy: emailing, price comparison sites, social networks, retargeting, content sites, etc.

The advertiser provides a performance-based budget that will enable the affiliates (network of partners) to be remunerated according to the action taken (impression, click, lead, sale, etc.).

However, it's not easy to find the right partners for your target, so the advantage of going through an agency or an affiliation platform is to capitalise on your network.

On the other hand, if you're a software publisher, it's vital to define your personas before embarking on web acquisition. Without this essential exercise, you're going hunting without a gun!

So what is a persona?

A persona is a profile, an archetype of your buyers. We associate a typical profile with each customer in order to identify them better and communicate with them more effectively.

In B2B, the creation of a persona can be used to develop usage scenarios for a product or service, or to refine a positioning or promotional strategy. It's a description of your typical buyer, but it also gives you an insight into the environment and the behaviour they adopt in a context that is relevant to you.

As you might expect, the buying decision in B2B is slightly more complex than in B2C, especially in the software sector. Clearly, the complexity of the purchasing process goes hand in hand with the importance of your solution.

The more complex the purchase, the more expensive it is and the more people are involved in the decision-making process. Fear of change is also a significant factor. It will be more complicated to sell a solution to a company that already has one than to a company that does not yet have one.

B2B segmentation focuses on the target company, whereas personas focus on an individual. Even if the target individual has the same function (CIO, for example), their behaviour will differ depending on a number of factors (age, workplace, company, etc.).

How do you create a B2B persona?

When it comes to creating a B2B persona, you need to take care to identify the role the persona will play in the buying decision.

We can start by giving them an identity. Base this on your data and your CRM. Is it a man or a woman, what is their average age, their professional environment?

Next, you need to identify 3 main roles in a purchasing committee: the decision-maker, the influencer and the user. The larger the companies you are targeting, the larger the number of people on the buying committee. Conversely, in very small businesses, one person may take on several roles.

The role of the decision-maker:
In most cases, the decision-maker holds the keys to the safe and controls the budget. The decision-maker doesn't necessarily know the technical details of the purchase; what interests him/her is the ROI.

The role of the influencer:
This is usually a person from within or outside the target company. Their role is to provide advice and expertise to help the decision-maker make the right decision. They need to be convinced of the benefits of your solution. Highlight the innovative aspect, the differentiating factor that will make the difference compared with the competition.

The role of the user:
Often overlooked in an acquisition strategy, the user has a vital role to play. Most of the time, they are internal to the company; they are the inevitable link, because they are the only ones who are aware of the company's needs. It is not uncommon to ask the user for their opinion before making a decision. If the user is not satisfied with your solution, you have no chance of extending the contract.

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Tailor the message to each persona

So, once you've done this identification work, you know who to communicate with. All that's left is to work out how you can use this to benefit your marketing strategy.

What message is best suited to your personas, how do you address your message to them, how do you reach them and on what medium? If you can get feedback from your customers and prospects that matches your personas, you'll have more complete and concrete profiles.

It's then up to you to use the best communication medium to reach them, and to build it around the message best suited to your personas. And to do that, our experts are there to support you and listen to what you have to say.