Someone on my list asked me a question that I would like to answer and I hope that it will be of benefit to everyone!
Here is the question:
“Why is direct marketing not allowed by some companies and exactly why that is. Some say no direct linking through search campaigns. So what do you do when setting up a campaign to not go directly to their link?”
I am assuming you mean email campaigns?
Its interesting because I had the exact same conversation with my husband last night. It was with regards to Amazon actually. It is against Amazon Associates TOS to promote with your affiliate link to Amazon in email campaigns or PDFs.
Why Do Some Companies Not Allow Direct Marketing?
To answer the first question – and this is my personal opinion – I guess the reason that the company states this is because it wants to prevent getting email spam complaints! Some affiliate programs allow you to do email marketing with your affiliate links provided you do not spam but I am sure there are other companies that ‘don’t’ trust their affiliates to keep to the rules?
If I was as big as Amazon I am pretty sure I would not allow email marketing campaigns! Can you imagine the number of emails sent out to just family and friends?!
Promoting In Email Campaigns
To answer the other question about what you can do instead. If I have something that I want to promote to my list and I have an affiliate link for the product but I can’t use it in my email this is what I do.
I write a review of the product on my website. I am allowed to use an affiliate link on my own site so I use it there instead. I then
send an email to my list talking a bit about the product and suggesting they go and see my review of the product over on my site!
This is in fact much better because:
1. It creates extra content of your blog
2. It brings in more traffic to your blog post from your list as well as other traffic
3. If presells the product and so your visitors are more likely to click on your affiliate link
I hope that helps you with your question and others who were also thinking about this.
If I have mis-understood the question then please let me know!