How to Choose Geos for Your Campaigns (1)
You’ve probably heard it a thousand times before – U.S. is an impossible geo to crack if you are just starting out in AM.
And yet you’d be amazed at how many marketers try to pull it off.
Why? Two reasons – U.S. is rich money, offer and traffic-wise (reason 1) and there’re no specific instructions on what geos besides the U.S. one should start with (reason 2).
We decided to look into it and help you choose geos that are likely to work for you.
TIERS OF GEOS
All available geos are broken down into tiers 1, 2 and 3. The classification is somewhat unstable and dynamic. Countries from tier 3 crawl slowly into tier 2, and those from tier 2 make their way to the top tier.
Here we plotted the tiers on the map:
Target audience perspective:
Tier 1: The first countries to receive a solid online payment infrastructure and attention from affiliate marketers. They have the best potential of bringing in sustainable profits. The population has a sufficient purchasing power and all the means to pay for goods and services online. The penetration of mobile phones is very high.
Tier 2: Countries where population has lower average income and fewer means to affect online payments. With the development of infrastructure and economy improvements they move to tier 1. The penetration of mobile phones is sufficient.
Tier 3: Developing countries where online payments might not be available at all and the majority of population is under the low-income threshold. The penetration of mobile phones is low, too.
Affiliate marketer perspective:
Tier 1: LOTS of expensive traffic on all major traffic sources and high-paying offers.
Tiers 2 and 3: Plenty of cheap traffic with medium and low-paying offers.
WHY AVOID TIER 1 COUNTRIES?
It seems that with lots of traffic and well-paying offers you could monetize a tier-1 geo with some luck. Right?
Wrong!
Tier 1 is where competition is not just fierce – it’s ruthless. Hard-core affiliates started working in these geos years ago and, if they are still doing it, then they might know what works and what doesn’t – the key difference between profit and loss. What’s even worse, some of them have direct deals with advertisers, which means higher payouts, which means higher budgets, which means higher bids… you get the idea.
And the target audience? They know what to click and what not. They feel at home in the online world and won’t go for a simple “Hot singles in your area” banner. The market is saturated, customers are picky, government helps them by imposing regulations, and your successful campaigns (prelanders, banners, etc.) will be ripped in a matter of hours. The latter is especially dangerous for dating, where creatives burn out with the speed of light.
That’s what you will deal with in tier 1. We don’t say you can’t do it. We pretty much count on you being able to! But with enough practice, preparation and experience. In short – after you’ve mastered the other two tiers.
WHY CHOOSE TIER 2 AND TIER 3 COUNTRIES?
It’s worth reiterating – traffic is abundant and cheap, especially with enormous geos such as India. Other reasons include:
- Laws are still not in place to restrict your online activity and entail sanctions
- Big fish does not feed there. Major players want to invest big and win big – certainly not something you can achieve in second-rate geos.
- A perfect testing environment, where you can acquire and polish your skills, find profitable campaigns, and learn the tricks.
- Mobile traffic is easier monetized in tier 2 and 3.
- A chance to earn on autopilot and for a longer time. Low-profit campaigns are more stable and don’t require close monitoring. While you are making $20 a day in an “obscure” (i.e. usually non-profitable) geo, you can also start preparing for bigger games.
- Unlike tier 1 offers that often require premium spots on premium websites, tier 2 and 3 are good to go with RON (run-of-network) traffic, which is cheaper.
WHICH GEOS ARE HOT RIGHT NOW?
As a newbie affiliate, focus on up to 5 geos, preferably 2 or 3.
Without any definitive answer to which ones you should choose, here are those that are becoming increasingly popular:
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- Saudi Arabia
- Egypt
- India
- Thailand
- Colombia
As you have undoubtedly noticed, most are Asian countries, which means you will need to pay close attention to what angles you use in creative materials – it’s way too easy to kill your campaign with a raunchy image that will be considered inappropriate or offensive in a more traditional culture.
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