Understanding Affiliate Marketing: The Japanese Edition
In our previous article, we discussed ASO (App Store Optimization) and how to best localize your app for success in Japan. Today, we are going to look at the basics of affiliate marketing, issues specific to Japan, and how JapanMarketing is your best partner to help you succeed in promoting your smartphone app in Japan.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a form of performance-based marketing in which an affiliate, also known as a publisher, advertises or markets products or services for another company or entity. In return, the affiliate receives a commission or fee for any resulting purchases from or consumer engagement with the other company.
For example, a famous athlete posts a photograph on Instagram of herself wearing a new pair of shoes during a workout. Thousands of followers see the post and read the text with a link to the company that sells the shoes. Some followers of the athlete’s Instagram account click on the link, go to the company’s website, and subsequently make a purchase. The company is happy; the consumers are happy, and the affiliate gets a cut of each transaction.
While a marketing technique before the advent of the Internet, affiliate marketing quickly became popular online in the 1990s after William J. Tobin, founder of PC Flowers & Gifts, developed his business model of paying sales commissions to affiliates using the Prodigy Network.
Since then, Internet-based affiliate marketing has grown into a $3 billion global industry. A sign of its continuing success and popularity can be seen in Amazon’s embrace of affiliate marketing. In fact, almost 40% of their revenue comes from this source.
Affiliate marketing: The players
To best understand affiliate marketing, it is important to understand that there are three main parties involved: sellers, consumers, and affiliates.
In this relationship, the goal of sellers is simple: engagement with consumers that results in a sale. They need to show their information to potential customers and are competing in an increasingly crowded world of advertising and marketing. Affiliates make it possible for companies to easily and affordably market their products or service by getting their ads and URL links on computer and smartphone screens outside of traditional marketing on television, radio, or print publications.
For consumers, the goal is to find the products or services that best meet their needs at the right price. However, while the Internet has become an amazing source of information, it can also be difficult to find the right information. An Internet search can result in too much information, making it difficult and stressful to make a decision.
So who are the affiliates?
A trusted source of information
Fundamentally, the main idea behind affiliate marketing is that consumers are more likely to make a decision if they know and trust the source, much more than the company actually selling the product or service. Affiliates, therefore, create an additional link between sellers and consumers.
The success of affiliates comes from their relationships with their audiences. The expectation on the part of the audience is that affiliates are sharing the information because they themselves either use the product or service or think that it is worth recommending.
There is a wide range of affiliates, and with current technology, it is extremely easy to become one. In terms of individual affiliates, at one end of the spectrum, it could be a beginning blogger who hosts Amazon links on their personal webpage in hopes that readers will click on the link and complete a transaction. On the other end, it could be what is called an “influencer,” someone with a huge social media presence and millions of followers, who not only promotes a product or service but may create a whole campaign with a variety of tie-ins and promotions. In addition, a company itself may be an affiliate by hosting and posting ads for another company.
In general, there are three types of affiliate marketing:
- Unattached affiliate marketing: The affiliate has little to no connection with the product or service.
- Related affiliate marketing: The affiliate has some kind of relationship with the product or service. Usually, this is based on the affiliate’s niche or area of expertise.
- Involved affiliate marketing: The affiliate has a strong relationship with the product or service. They have used or purchased the product or service and/or it is directly connected to their niche or area of expertise.
Affiliate Service Providers
And now that online affiliate marketing has become successful, it is no longer just a business relationship between the sellers and the affiliates. A whole industry has developed with the goal of facilitating the relationships between sellers, affiliates, and consumers.
Affiliate Service Providers (ASPs) work with sellers to find the best placement for their ads. They also take on all the responsibilities involved with the process, such as market research, communication with the affiliates, setting up contracts, and billing.
Affiliate marketing in Japan
While affiliate marketing has been a successful global strategy for many companies, Japanese companies have been comparatively slow to embrace the strategy. However, this means that there is a great deal of potential for forward-thinking companies that are willing to take the plunge with the right partner.
Japanese consumers: Trust and loyalty
As stated earlier, the success of affiliate marketing comes from the relationship between the affiliates and the consumers. This is nearly a perfect match for Japan where trust is paramount and consumers prefer to buy from companies they are already familiar with and that guarantee high quality. An endorsement or promotion from an established Japanese company or trusted influencer such as a celebrity, musician, or artist sends a strong message to Japanese consumers who often do not like purchasing directly from a company they do not know.
Reviews of products and services are also an important part of the decision process of the typically cautious Japanese consumer. A positive evaluation or promotion from someone they view as trustworthy and legitimate carries a great deal of weight and can make the difference between success and failure for a company hoping to enter this market.
Localization is key
As discussed in our previous article about ASO, culture and language play an extremely important role in successful localization. For foreign companies wishing to explore the possibilities of the Japanese market, it is strongly recommended to work with a local partner.
JapanMarketing is your partner for success in Japan
Here at JapanMarketing, we understand what it takes to succeed in the Japanese market. Our experienced team works closely with clients to create the optimal affiliate marketing plan to promote their smartphone apps. Below are just some of the benefits of working with JapanMarketing:
Personalized App Store Optimization
- Localize your smartphone app to improve search results in both the Apple App Store and Android Play Store.
- Save money by focusing on only the areas that need optimization.
KPI-based affiliate marketing plan
- Create an optimal plan according to your company’s key performance indicators, such as installation, app launch, finishing a tutorialtutorial clearing, etc.
Localized content and media
- Create effective ads and videos specifically designed for the Japanese market.
Strong ASP relationships
- Work closely with major ASPs in Japan.
- Responsible for communication, contracts, and billing with ASPs.
- Define and negotiate ad fraud conditions with ASPs.
Hands-on monitoring
- Actively evaluate placement and performance of ads and videos in the media and manually remove any with poor results.
To learn more about how JapanMarketing’s affiliate marketing services and fees, contact us today!
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After that, we will reply to the registered email address within 2 business day.
Understanding ASO: The Japanese Edition
One of the unsung heroes for attracting new customers and expanding your exposure is App Store Optimization (ASO). However, just like any other avenue, it has some unique characteristics. Below we discuss the basics of App Store Optimization (ASO), specific issues related to the Japanese market, and how JapanMarketing can help you succeed!
Smartphone apps: Gateway to the Internet
In 2021, more than 50% of all Internet traffic comes through mobile devices. As a result, smartphone apps (applications) are now the main access point between users and companies.
To tap into the huge potential this presents, you need to create a business model that takes full advantage of this new reality. Part of that process is creating an app that is attractive and offers a user experience (UX) that makes it easy for your customers to engage with you, your product or service, and seal the deal.
However, first, you need to get the customers to discover and then download the app on their phones.
Can your customers find your app?
Whether your business is brick and mortar or purely online, one of the biggest challenges is connecting with potential customers. How do people find you and your amazing product? How do they discover the service you offer is exactly what they need? Advertising and marketing are all about helping you get your information in front of the people who need and want what you offer. But what about an app?
Smartphone apps are no different, and in today’s increasingly crowded and noisy market, with millions of apps already out there, it can be even more difficult, even overwhelming, to find the best way to stand out from the competition.
Answer this question honestly: Have you done everything you can to get your app downloaded onto potential customers’ smartphones?
Why ASO?
Many people understand the importance of search engine optimization (SEO), the steps involved in improving the quantity and quality of traffic to a website or webpage from search engines. Businesses spend a great deal of time and money on research and design, constantly changing and adjusting more than 200 factors to improve their SEO. The result they are looking for, ultimately, is an increased number of visitors who will become customers.
App store optimization (ASO) is a very similar process with very similar goals. ASO is designed to improve an app’s visibility or ranking in the search results in an app store. However, one main difference is the goal: increase the number of users that complete the process by downloading the app, often referred to as “conversion rate optimization” (CRO). The more downloads an app gets, the more customers use your product or service.
ASO factors: Apple and Google
With millions of apps each, Apple’s “App Store” and Google’s “Google Play” are currently the dominant players in the field. Each of them uses a variety of ASO factors to determine an app’s search ranking:
App Store
- App name
- App URL
- App subtitle
- Keyword field
- In-App purchases
- Rating and reviews
- Updates
- Downloads and engagement
- Hidden factors
Google Play
- App name
- Short and long descriptions
- In-app purchases
- Rating and reviews
- Updates
- Downloads and engagement
- Hidden factors
While there are some similarities, there are also differences you need to pay attention to.
Improving your app’s ASO
Once you have finished developing your app and working out all the bugs, you need to prepare all the above information required to list your app in the app store.
However, there are some key steps to consider as you think about ASO:
- Establishing an effective ASO strategy
- Choosing the right app name
- Researching the best keywords
- Writing clear and persuasive app descriptions (short and long)
- Creating app icons, screenshots, and videos
- Localizing the app for different geographic target markets
All of the above are vital steps to get your app to the top of the app store rankings and deserve a blog post of their own. However, each one also requires a great deal of time and expertise to ensure they are done properly and for maximum optimization. This is where JapanMarketing can help you, especially in terms of app localization for the Japanese market.
ASO localization for Japan
Not all markets are the same. Any company, whether they make the tiniest widget or the largest airplane, that ignores that fact does so at its own risk. Understanding and adapting to linguistic and cultural differences are extremely important for success.
Or failure.
A recent example is described in this article about the Japanese version of the Uber Eats app. Japan is no stranger to food delivery services; however, due to a poorly localized UX design, app users struggled to successfully complete the registration process or use the app successfully. Problems, such as how Japanese names and addresses are formatted, brought the UberEats app negative reviews and publicity, something a company trying to enter a competitive market wants to avoid at all costs.
Japan-specific ASO considerations
More than one alphabet
One of the more interesting characteristics of Japanese is that there are three different “alphabets:” kanji (the more traditional logographic characters originally from Chinese), hiragana (phonetic characters for Japanese words), and katakana (phonetic characters for foreign loan words). Searching for the right keywords based on usage, meaning, pronunciation, and other factors can be extremely difficult in Japanese. App designers need to have a clear understanding of users and the kinds of things they will intuitively look for when hunting for an app.
Entry field character length
Due to the fact that Japanese kanji is image/meaning-based, not phonetic, it is possible to convey much more information with less text compared to other languages. For example, “不動産” (fu-do-san) can mean “real estate.” In this case, only three characters are needed to convey the information that requires 11 characters in English. For the App Store and Google Play, there are set limits to the maximum number of characters in the entry fields for app information. However, in Japanese, this creates a fantastic potential to convey much more information in the space allotted if you know what kanji to use and how to choose them..
Grammar differences
The Japanese language has very different grammar from some other languages and relies heavily on context. For example, as compared to English which requires pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.) in most situations, pronouns are not used as frequently in Japanese. The listener or reader must understand the surrounding information to know who is being referred to. This can make reliance on machine translation very problematic when researching the keywords or metadata of Japanese competitors. Machine translation, for example, often fills in the word ‘it’ instead of “I,” which can be awkward, to say the least.
Japanese ASO experts can help your app and organization avoid these pitfalls and many others.
JapanMarketing: The ASO partner you need to succeed
To achieve the best ASO localization to launch your service or product in Japan and gain a foothold in the Japanese market, you need to collaborate with those who know the target audience, language, and culture. JapanMarketing’s team brings together the expertise and experience needed to improve your app’s keyword, conversion rate, and review score optimization.
Benefits of working with JapanMarketing
No minimum contracts
While three- to six-month contracts are standard in Japan, we offer flexible services that can be tailored to your needs. We believe that while some things are standard in this field, your company and its product are not. Custom-designing our services for you and the length of contracts is one of the key ways we have found to ensure our clients get off to a good start in the Japanese market.
Focus on improvement
Instead of selling you a service package with features and options you don’t need, we spend time talking and working with you to get to know your company and products or services. This allows us to spotlight the areas with the greatest potential of enhanced optimization and create a plan of action.
Cost-effective
Compared to our competitors, our affordable prices make us a popular choice. Talk to us about potential plans and projects, and we will find a price point that works for both of us.
Take charge of your ASO
To learn more about JapanMarketing, contact us today!
Contact Us
Please contact us first using the form.
After that, we will reply to the registered email address within 2 business day.
