Publisher Recruitment
Working with content affiliates
Content affiliates publish guides, reviews, comparisons or other material that helps their audience choose.
Content affiliates publish guides, reviews, comparisons or other material that helps their audience choose. A useful partnership gives them accurate product information, clear commercial terms and room to make an independent editorial judgement.
A brand that supplies only promotional slogans makes the publisher's work harder and the recommendation less credible.
Define the publisher's role
Distinguish a content publisher from a coupon, cashback or paid-traffic partner. Awin's partner taxonomy lists content creators and influencers separately from several other affiliate models.
A content article may take time to research and remain live after a short promotion ends. The brief should therefore cover product access, verification and update routes, not just a tracking link.
Ask who the publisher serves and what decision their article helps readers make. A comparison site may need dimensions, compatibility and exclusions; a tutorial publisher may need setup instructions and known limitations.
Provide the source material they can inspect and a person who can answer factual questions.
Agree what the partnership is measured against
Awin defines a partner as the owner or manager of a website that promotes an advertiser's products or services. Commission is generally linked to a customer clicking an affiliate link and completing a desired action: usually a sale, but sometimes a lead such as completing an online form or submitting an email address.
Before a publisher begins work, agree which action the programme recognises and how it relates to the article's purpose. A guide intended to help readers assess a product may influence a decision before a purchase, while a lead-focused partnership is measured against a different action. Make the agreed outcome clear so the publisher understands the commercial arrangement.
Awin groups partners into Content, Display, Email, Search and Other promotional types. Use that broad taxonomy to check that a proposed partner's main promotional approach fits the brief, rather than treating every affiliate as interchangeable.
Supply verifiable information
Content publishers need product information they can verify. Any claim you make must be one you can prove: the ACCC says a business must be able to prove any claim it makes or advertises, and that claims should be true and accurate.
Awin's documentation explains what a product feed contains for publishers and how they use it, including names, prices, images and direct product links.
The detail of building that material and keeping feeds accurate belongs with the sibling articles on giving publishers product information they can verify and keeping product feeds accurate for content partners. At programme level the decisions are who owns each field and how a correction reaches publishers.
Keep editorial and commercial decisions separate
Commission rules, attribution and approval terms belong in the agreement. They should not be conditional on a favourable verdict.
The sibling article on supporting comparisons without demanding a favourable verdict covers how to handle a fair but unfavourable assessment and how to request a correction when a draft contains a factual error.
Apply Australian advertising standards
The AANA Code of Ethics applies to advertising and marketing communications under an advertiser's reasonable control, whether or not payment or other valuable consideration is involved. It also covers communications directed to potential customers physically present in Australia, and its scope includes advertorials and infomercials.
The ACCC uses reports about possible misleading or false claims to inform its education, compliance and enforcement work. It can investigate and may take compliance or enforcement action.
Key Compliance Requirements for Australian Affiliate Marketing
- ACCC Claim Verification
- Businesses must be able to prove any claim made in advertising
- AANA Code of Ethics Coverage
- Applies to advertorials, infomercials and content under advertiser control
- Jurisdiction
- Covers communications directed to audiences in Australia
Plan the partnership beyond launch
Seasonal content needs its own planning rhythm. Material changes to products, offers or landing pages need a clear route to publishers.
The sibling article on planning seasonal content with affiliate publishers covers lead times, seasonal calendars and how to keep publishers informed.
Review the programme by more than last-click sales. Check whether product information remains accurate, links reach the intended item and publisher content answers real customer questions.
In this guide
- Giving publishers product information they can verifyGive an affiliate publisher a product fact sheet that points to current, checkable evidence.
- Supporting comparisons without demanding a favourable verdictSupport an affiliate comparison by giving the publisher accurate, comparable facts and allowing an independent conclusion.
- Planning seasonal content with affiliate publishersPlan seasonal affiliate content far enough ahead for publishers to research and produce it, then keep the information current through launch.
- Keeping product feeds accurate for content partnersKeep an affiliate product feed aligned with the product page, especially for price, availability, model and destination.
