Joining My Affiliate Program , Irish Based Daily Deals NEED HELP

amcn1

Hi everyone,

looking for some help, have a new daily deals website in Ireland , launched and running ok but struggling for traffic, i recently ( last week ) signed up to a vendor program who is pushing my affiliate program out to businesses so far only 2 have joined , i have a deal feed set up as well to make it easy for websites ,

the issue seems to be the vendor i signed up with hasnt got abig base of clients to suggest my business to ,

does anyone know
a) of any vendors in ireland that i can push my program out through
b) of any websites that are looking for affiliate programs to promote ?

any help at all on this would be much appreciated , thank you .

jhegarty

Not what you want to hear, but you are about 4 years too late to the party.

There is a reason boards.ie shut down it's site last year.

dozy doctor

Try http://www.mydealpage.ie/

They might be able to help you out....

sandin

II thought this was an old thread that suddenly re-appeared.

Sorry OP, but as above you are soooo late to the game.

Some daily deals still do well, but many businesses are tired of people calling and most of the sites that were around have closed down.

Only the ones with major backing such as GrabOne, living social (dreadful) and Groupon are still about doing half decent business.

amcn1

Our model is different to the traditional daily deals sites , although we call ourselves a daily deals site we have major differences that plug a lot of the holes that are in other daily deals sites , does anyone have suggestions ?

bbam

amcn1 wrote: »

Our model is different to the traditional daily deals sites , although we call ourselves a daily deals site we have major differences that plug a lot of the holes that are in other daily deals sites , does anyone have suggestions ?

can you post or pm a link please

amcn1

again if anyone can give info on irish websites actively looking to join affiliate programs ?

F35

amcn1 wrote: »

again if anyone can give info on irish websites actively looking to join affiliate programs ?

Hello fine sir, pm me a link and I'll give you advice.

sandin

amcn1 wrote: »

Our model is different to the traditional daily deals sites , although we call ourselves a daily deals site we have major differences that plug a lot of the holes that are in other daily deals sites , does anyone have suggestions ?

sorry, but with respect, I've heard that line sooo many times from people trying to set up.

If you look at the market, Groupon (stock market listed), Living social (amazon poured money into them and it swalloed it up) & GrabOne (indo newspapers) - all deep pockets, all able to operate at a loss for years before making a profit, all have tried different styles.

You obviously have get up and go, but move away from this market, it has swallowed many millions of peoples money without the success it promised.

Just one question - without saying what you are doing, tell me why a business should do a deal with a site like yours? - I'll see, if from a business owner point of view and from someone who has used these deals very successfully (will NEVER use living social), if I can give you fair comment.

amcn1

sandin wrote: »

sorry, but with respect, I've heard that line sooo many times from people trying to set up.

If you look at the market, Groupon (stock market listed), Living social (amazon poured money into them and it swalloed it up) & GrabOne (indo newspapers) - all deep pockets, all able to operate at a loss for years before making a profit, all have tried different styles.

You obviously have get up and go, but move away from this market, it has swallowed many millions of peoples money without the success it promised.

Just one question - without saying what you are doing, tell me why a business should do a deal with a site like yours? - I'll see, if from a business owner point of view and from someone who has used these deals very successfully (will NEVER use living social), if I can give you fair comment.

The current platform you are aware of on daily deals is very much quick buck system thats in operation leaving businesses either a) making losses on the deal or b) consuming too much time from the business with the business struggling to meet the sudden spike in work load etc.

This new system is a low cost platform that is being developed that will offer businesses a sustainable long term ability to stay within the daily deals market to attract new customers ( while rewarding current ones ) while operating the deals at a profit . .

I ask this question of you ,

If on a week to week bases you could work with a platform that gave you 20 customers weekly under a deal that was profitable to you, giving you (20 x 52) customers over a year . . .

would that be more beneficial to your business rather than running a loss making/marginal profit deal every 2-3 months getting 100 customers in one go ?

PaulPinnacle

amcn1 wrote: »

The current platform you are aware of on daily deals....

It sounds like the new "daily deals" platform you're suggesting is what most of us would currently call a cash back site so? No?

Smaller discounts (required if the businesses are going to stay in profit on the deals), longer term of offer (you're suggesting it's available 52 weeks a year), less maintenance/admin overhead (sounds like a "set it and forget it" kind of thing)... which is basically just what is on offer from all of the current 'cash back' sites, no? You would have an edge if your savings were upfront rather than a later refund of money, but I can't see anything to date that would differentiate you from the already crowded and oversupplied market.

(Perhaps there is a major USP there that you're simply holding back from the market for the moment, which is perfectly fine. But if there's not, I'd strongly suggest going back to the drawing board, chatting with some people who work in this space and finding some hook or niche for the offering that will allow you to stand out. Without it, you'll need a HUGE advertising and marketing budget with very very low odds of getting a return on what you invest into it.)

amcn1

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

It sounds like the new "daily deals" platform you're suggesting is what most of us would currently call a cash back site so? No?

Smaller discounts (required if the businesses are going to stay in profit on the deals), longer term of offer (you're suggesting it's available 52 weeks a year), less maintenance/admin overhead (sounds like a "set it and forget it" kind of thing)... which is basically just what is on offer from all of the current 'cash back' sites, no? You would have an edge if your savings were upfront rather than a later refund of money, but I can't see anything to date that would differentiate you from the already crowded and oversupplied market.

(Perhaps there is a major USP there that you're simply holding back from the market for the moment, which is perfectly fine. But if there's not, I'd strongly suggest going back to the drawing board, chatting with some people who work in this space and finding some hook or niche for the offering that will allow you to stand out. Without it, you'll need a HUGE advertising and marketing budget with very very low odds of getting a return on what you invest into it.)

Your missing the ball on what im trying to say , yes we do have USP that have not come to market yet and wont come to the market until we are in a position to stand up against big competitors , for now the site has a few simple USP that encourage businesses and members to join and use our website , I am fully aware that loads have tried but our changes are not gimmicky but actually worthwhile for businesses and members , its a daily deals site nothing to do with cash back , what i was referring to with the question is that if a business can be provided with a platform to attract sustainable business year round would that benefit the business ?

in terms of marketing budget etc. this is why i created this thread to see if i can get help suggestions in ideas of low cost marketing ?

PaulPinnacle

amcn1 wrote: »

Your missing the ball on what im trying to say...

If it were just me, I'd say 'fair enough' and move on. When it's everybody but you that's missing the ball and you're the one that's describing the ball to them... well, if everyone else is driving the wrong way down a one way road, you need to look at which way you're driving.

Again, whatever your USP is could be enough to differentiate you and make you really stand out. However, that's one hell of a USP if it does. In a space where people have been trying to evolve, iterate and improve that system while throwing millions upon millions at it in marketing and advertising along the way, I really hope that there's something unique to the offering that will give you some time to build up a reputation before the copycat sites show up (and if it's as good as you claim, they will).

amcn1 wrote: »

... its a daily deals site nothing to do with cash back , what i was referring to with the question is that if a business can be provided with a platform to attract sustainable business year round would that benefit the business ?

Let me try that again.

You're looking to provide a daily deals platform which, unlike many of the current offerings, is sustainable and profitable on each deal for the businesses that use your service. In order to achieve this you're going to have to hit the level of 'deals' on offer. Regardless of how much efficiency you can achieve in your marketing, how much you lower your overheads, how much you can lower your own take versus the competition in the daily deals market etc. etc. in order to keep the deals sustainable you're still going to have to hit the deal offerings. Once you do this, you're no longer able to compete directly with the daily deal sites. You simply can't. You're now going to be in competition with the cash back sites and the coupon sites. The sites that also offer sustainable savings for businesses, the sites that also offer these deals 52 weeks a year and the sites that also have much lower savings on offer than the daily deal sites. You're not offering coupons or offering cash back, but these are the sites you're really competing with as you can't match the likes of Groupon where the retailers using them (in some/a lot of cases) are doing so at a loss.

(I still remember laughing and seeing it proved [yet again] just how 'house of cards' that entire business model is the day I saw Groupon turn up as an offer on Fatcheese. So I can get 5% cashback on my purchase of a daily deal which gives me 50% off of XXXXXX)

amcn1 wrote: »

... in terms of marketing budget etc. this is why i created this thread to see if i can get help suggestions in ideas of low cost marketing ?

Without knowing what sets you apart from the competition, you've spoken around various USPs you already have and one major one you've yet to introduce but never actually mentioned a single one, not really. Without that knowledge anything we might say is just a generic "bootstrap digital marketing", "start up marketing", etc. etc. Google search away.

Smash The House

I agree, just dont waste any more time op.

It might appeal to businesses due it being more viable long term as you pointed out, but if you have no users, you wont be able to get any businesses on board.

As above, Boards Deals even packed it in and they were specifically targeting the whole Boards community and yet it still wasn't worth it.

The market is saturated. It's that simple I'm afraid

amcn1

Again this thread was set up for help with marketing rather than having to explain why I am bothering to put money time into this , again thanks for your feedback on why you think I should quit now and save myself the hassle , the reason daily deals companies are 'struggling' ie share price falling etc. is the initial wave of this platform is over,

A MP3 player plays music and an IPOD also plays music but they are not the same thing , i am looking to advance the platform , . . .

Copycats . absolutely , we have seen one try to copy our ideas already hence the reason we only have brought 1 USP to the market at this point and are hoping this and another small few changes will provide the capital to bring the entire platform to the market when we are in a position to stand up against the bigger competitiors ,

ok Im either going to change the tact on this thread or start a new one Im speaking from a start up business point of view

new business, looking for ideas / advice on how to best drive traffic to the website - please dont suggest SEO , Social media etc. Im looking for low cost ways that people have found that work on bringing users to the website

sandin

This is a business thread, some here will have a lot more experience than others in different fields.

I'm 30 years in retail this year (grey hairs starting to appear!) - I've used these deals and have enjoyed great success from them.

Sometimes when you see so much negativity for an idea, you need to re-think it rather than moan about it.

In my opinion, a constant smaller discount over a long period alienates the regular customers and cheapens your product. Quick one day or 2 days blitzes, if done correctly and calculated properly can pay great dividends.

GrabOne and Groupon also have a "marketplace" where smaller discounts are offered on everyday products - but it hasn't worked out.

There are many traders that got stung by these deals in the early days due to the dreadful sales pitches of Groupon and especially Living Social (I had to send a solicitors letter to london telling them to stop harassing my).

As to the primary reason companies will use these sites - advertisng and marketing. If used as a short term cash call, it will never work. As part of a marketing budget and understood properly, they can work very well. So unless you have a USP that ties in with the marketing style of a servie or product, it won't work.
And unless you have probably 200k + for a launch, it won't work either.

sandin

amcn1 wrote: »

If on a week to week bases you could work with a platform that gave you 20 customers weekly under a deal that was profitable to you, giving you (20 x 52) customers over a year . . .

would that be more beneficial to your business rather than running a loss making/marginal profit deal every 2-3 months getting 100 customers in one go ?

To get 20 new customers weekly, all I need to do is to do a special offer ona selected product each week and advertise in the normal way.

One of the facebook pages I have has 1700 likes, (individual pages for all stores) - I did an offer last weekend, did it as a facebook offer. Cost €48 in promotion, and over 70 were redeemed. - Busiest weekend at that location for months.

(probably explains why facebook revenues have soared!)

dozy doctor

sandin wrote: »

One of the facebook pages I have has 1700 likes, (individual pages for all stores) - I did an offer last weekend, did it as a facebook offer. Cost €48 in promotion, and over 70 were redeemed. - Busiest weekend at that location for months

What is your facebook and website page?

sandin

dozy doctor wrote: »

What is your facebook and website page?

I don't disclose my business on boards - sorry.

zAbbo

sandin wrote: »

GrabOne and Groupon also have a "marketplace" where smaller discounts are offered on everyday products - but it hasn't worked out.

You might be surprised to know that Irish consumers will spend around €15-20m this year on those everyday products on group buying websites. That's a bit better than not working out.

From the outside looking in, the industry probably appears very simple to read - which is why the OP probably has better insight into his USP/niche than others - possibly he's spotted a viable gap.

There's a lot of miscommunication (natural due to growth rate and number of players), this gets compounded with some business owners black and white view of things e.g Did/Didn't work.

sandin

zAbbo wrote: »

You might be surprised to know that Irish consumers will spend around €15-20m this year on those everyday products on group buying websites. That's a bit better than not working out.

The figure is quite a bit higher than that I suspect.

Average commission rates are about 20% on deals (don't believe the 50% stories - I have dealt at 10%-15% and never higher), and even lower on the "marketplace" sites where 5% commission can be had if the product is right / brand name strong enough.

Some newcomers still try the 40%-50% commission and also claim that 20% of vouchers are never used (its less than one percent) and base their figures around these figures.

At the end of the day, these are part of a company's marketing mix and if the OP understands that his/her competitors are the local papers, the radio station, the magazines etc etc and can offer something that enhances a company's business in the short and medium term, then it may work.

But like any other marketing service, it is a hard slog.

zAbbo

sandin wrote: »

The figure is quite a bit higher than that I suspect.

I'm purely talking about goods/products delivered to your door in the 15m-20m. Overall is 3-4 times that.

Other numbers you've mentioned are probably only based on your own experience or a very small sample size across one industry.

I've seen first hand how incredibly positive it can be to many different businesses across all industries. I mentioned previously I've a lot more in-depth experience in this area (you could probably find out why by checking my profile )

sandin

zAbbo wrote: »

I'm purely talking about goods/products delivered to your door in the 15m-20m. Overall is 3-4 times that.

Other numbers you've mentioned are probably only based on your own experience or a very small sample size across one industry.

I've seen first hand how incredibly positive it can be to many different businesses across all industries. I mentioned previously I've a lot more in-depth experience in this area (you could probably find out why by checking my profile )

For goods, yes that figure is probably about right. As for the commission figures, these are what I'm told by sales manger in one of the companies and also match commissions that people I know are paying too in the restaurant area. Also, a quick look at the Groupon annual report will bear testimony to a much reduced commission level compared to the early days.

Just for the OP - check, double check and check again before putting any substantial funds into this area.

Axwell

Closing this thread - its run its course and there is another thread by the same person about the business, conversation can continue there.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056998740