iCreatemagazine.nl is part of the iCreate brand and the winner of the 2nd place award in the Spring Sale campaign we organized a few months back. The origin of this brand is a high-quality print magazine that is published in the Netherlands and Belgium for over 15 years now.

Thijs de Hoogh, Partner Manager for iCreate, was kind enough to share with us the brand's story about how they adapted to digital and became successful with affiliate marketing. As the print industry has changed rapidly in the last decade, iCreate has developed itself into a multimedia channel, which includes a content website, digital newsletters, and social media.

Whilst in the past their business case was focused on the print subscribers, they are now experimenting with new business cases to increase revenue and reach. Affiliate marketing is a new opportunity to monetize their content.

1. How long have you been working in the affiliate marketing industry and what's your main role at the moment?

I've been working in the media industry for over 12 years now. As a partner manager I've been working for F&L Media, the publishing house creating iCreate, for over 9 years. My job is to create business opportunities by connecting our partners to the audiences we reach. My primary focus lies on our tech-related brands, iCreate is among them.

2. What's your biggest affiliate marketing challenge right now, and why?

iCreate has been working with affiliate partners for 2 years now. We are still learning every day and we see affiliate-opportunities everywhere. On the other hand, our readers value us for our in-depth articles and high-quality content.

Our challenge is to create a balance between independent, high-quality content and conversion-driven articles. It's so tempting to jump at every opportunity you see and focus on Google results. But we see that the best results are realized with partners that match our regular content and target audience best, such as Mondly, and create results over a longer period of time.

3. Name the most successful affiliate project you've worked on. What do you think made it successful?

We aim most of our affiliate activities at subscription-based services. The most successful cooperations have been created with Telecom providers in The Netherlands. As we often write about the newest iPhones, we have created a price comparison tool for our readers to compare all mobile subscriptions in combination with the Apple iPhone. A large portion of our readers is interested in seeking out the best deals, and these partners create the highest revenue. A perfect combination.

4. Can you tell us three digital marketing trends every company should look at and prepare for in the next two years?

Any company should be looking at the opportunities that AI has to offer. Not to take over the work, but it can save a lot of time, increase the quality of your articles and visuals and provide you with inspiration when you lack it yourself. AI won't be taking over your job, but people who can work with AI will.

Privacy regulations are getting more complicated and stricter by the month. Retargeting and tracking is getting harder with all the recent limitations on cookies. Especially when you have many visitors with a Safari browser like we do. More advertisers and publishers will be embracing cookieless advertising and use contextual advertising instead. By selecting media channels that best match your target group (instead of more generic media) you have a better chance of reaching your potential buyers.

In the last decade we have developed from print publisher into a multimedia publishing house. We reach niche target audiences based on personal interest and hobbies. We expanded from high quality print articles to websites, digital newsletters, and social media. We notice that our target audiences are developing and consume content in different ways then before. Our future audiences consume their preferred content in video channels. It's our next challenge to prepare our content for these audiences.

5. How do you think our network helps iCreate achieve its goals as an affiliate?

Avangate Affiliate Network is our portal to a huge range of potential partners. The simplicity of the dashboard, reliable payments and linkbuilding tools make it very easy to create new partnerships and monetize our content.

6. Any advice for affiliate newcomers who are promoting software and digital goods?

Don't jump at all the opportunities you see but focus on partners that best fit your target audience. They'll create the highest revenue in the long term.

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