AccuQuote's Sean Cheyney on Getting Leads Through Affiliates
July 1, 2009 By Heather Fletcher, Senior Editor, Target Marketing TM: How did AccuQuote find the affiliates that targeted its demographic?
SC: That's where Direct Agents comes in and really helps us find all those publishers. They've had people apply to our program that just weren't going to be a good fit for us because our audience wasn't a fit. And they let the affiliate know, and I think the affiliates appreciate that because they don't want to have their precious resources wasted. ...
TM: What portion of AccuQuote's 20 percent growth in 2009 can be credited to the transparent AccuQuote Affiliate Program?
SC: ... It's going to represent a tenth of that 20 percent growth.
TM: How does AccuQuote make its ad placement decisions?
SC: ... We do both online and offline advertising and marketing. But for the purpose of online, even an affiliate represents one portion. Search represents another portion. Display is another portion. Social media's another portion. And the way we determine it is, No. 1, we look at where are we going to hit our target audience. And No. 2, where is it going to make contextual sense? We may choose not to advertise in a place where you would think it would make sense, because it would hit our target audience. But contextually it makes no sense whatsoever. So, as an example, one thing we get approached about a lot is, "Hey, advertise in in-flight magazines for airlines." But advertising life insurance in an airline magazine kind of has a weird vibe to it. ... We get approached by ... [an] obituary site. ... And I have to tell them, "No. Your target audience may make sense, but no." ... It's so bad for our brand; I just feel like it would be predatory. ...




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