ch#08 Strategies for Affiliate Marketing:

''Strategies for Affiliate Marketing''

1. Select the right affiliates

Word of mouth is still an effective marketing tool. Naturally, you’d want to look into potential affiliates who already have an engaged following that trusts them. Remember that while numbers are important, engagement, rapport, authority, and page views should also factor into your decision-making.

Moreover, you should also gauge whether the audience would be interested in the products that you’re selling. In other words, determine your niche and work with affiliates under the same field of interest or who have an audience that matches your target segment. If you’re a tech company, you wouldn’t want to choose an affiliate that specializes in pet products.

If you don’t know where to begin, you can always use influencer marketing platforms to help you discover and recruit high-ranking affiliates.

2. Optimize your platforms

While your arm of affiliates can direct traffic to your site, your main goal should be conversion. That is, when visitors land on your page, they should be engaged enough to take action, whether that’s to purchase a product or sign up to your newsletter.

Conversion optimization creates a great user experience, which increases leads and traffic to your website. Other optimization strategies to boost conversion include:

Creating video information
Sending personalized email messages
Using intent-based keywords on all your website pages
Developing targeted landing pages
Producing highly relevant content or updating previous ones

3. Diversify your affiliate program

In finance, investors diversify their investment portfolio to reduce risk. It’s the same thing with diversifying your affiliate program. Relying on one to two affiliates is a great start, but it might not be sustainable in the long run. To truly maximize your program potential, creating a diversified affiliate program is the way to go. It can also help you tap new audiences and create future opportunities.

4. Partner with an influencer

The rise of social media influencers is changing the marketing game. In fact, a poll earlier this year found that 14% of older Gen Z’s had bought an item in the previous six months based on an influencer’s recommendation. Moreover, a study found that influencer marketing yields 11 times more return on investment than a traditional banner ad campaign.

There are many reasons why influencers make great affiliates. Perhaps the biggest one is that they already have an audience. These content creators don’t even need to be celebrities. Many ordinary people with engaging content on social media can build a large following.

5. Leverage coupon deals

People love value – even if they’re saving just a dollar or two. This is why, even in the age of digital marketing, coupons are continuing to grow in popularity. According to statistics, 60% of online shoppers worldwide actively search for coupons before purchasing from a virtual shop. With people relying more on the internet due to the coronavirus pandemic, saving up has only become a central priority.

6. Initiate brand to brand partnerships

Co-branding is one of the most effective way to increase the number of email subscribers. 43% of consumers have declared that they would try a co-branded product from a company they already like.

This shows that brand to brand partnership is an effective means to a high conversion rate. All you need is another brand that aligns with your values and targets the same demographic.

Spotify and Starbucks’ co-branding campaign to create a music ecosystem is a perfect example of this. By partnering with Spotify, Starbucks gets to create a new coffee shop experience. Starbucks employees receive new complimentary access to Spotify premium as well as power to control the in-store playlists.

7. Use affiliate marketing software

Building and managing your affiliate marketing campaigns can be overwhelming. This is where affiliate marketing software enters the picture. These platforms can assist you in tracking, overseeing, and even growing your initiatives. Those, in turn, can increase your e-commerce sales and scale your brand to brand partnerships.

8. Build your own affiliate program

You might start out as a merchant in an affiliate network. But if you’re ready to expand your business to another level, you might want to consider building your own affiliate program. This would not only grow more traffic to your domain but it would also give you an opportunity to take control of all your transactions, affiliates, and commissions.

In building your own affiliate program, you need to:

Choose a software solution

Running your own program entails the use of an affiliate tracking SaaS solution. This is instrumental in helping you oversee your affiliate campaigns. It would allow you to communicate with your partners, manage your offers, and compensate your affiliates. Moreover, it can help you review your campaigns’ performance and optimize future campaigns better.

There’s a variety of software solutions to choose from. Maybe you want an extensive tracking report or multiple commission options. Choose the one with features that can address your business goals.

Define program rules and expectations

Discuss the basics with your affiliates. Pinpoint your target audience and identify the time of day you wish to plot your marketing campaign. Explain which channels would be appropriate for each marketing campaign.

Explaining program rules should be a priority. It would help curb fraudulent affiliate links and shed light on payment issues. It’s important to have an agreement with your affiliates regarding duties and expectations. This would help prevent misunderstandings that may not only be costly but damaging to your reputation as well.

Choose a payout scheme

Familiarize yourself with the most convenient payout methods (pay-per-sale, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead). Your choice of payout structure would depend on your goal. A practical commission percentage depends on a few elements, such as customer acquisition and retention. Compare how much commission your competitors are offering for the same products. Offering higher commission rates for a limited time could also make your brand a more exciting option.

Find affiliates

Affiliates are the main drivers of your program. There are several software that can help you find reliable and high-performing partners. Other techniques to entice potential affiliates include linking your affiliate program to your website, advertising through forums or social media groups, using Facebook or Instagram ads, or emailing your subscribers to join your affiliate network.

Prepare marketing guidelines and collateral

Advertising materials are some of the things that affiliates look forward to when working with a brand. Preparing your marketing materials and guidelines beforehand makes the work easier for both you and your affiliates.

First, it speeds up the promotion process. It allows your affiliates to understand your brand quicker, therefore promoting your products more efficiently. The less time they channel into creating content, the more they have on promotion. Presenting the types of materials that work best for each type of platform also saves time and energy.

Sending marketing collateral to your affiliates also helps them market your most relevant products without losing your voice. You can approve which logo designs they can use, for example. You can also brief them on the tone they apply on copy points and captions they may use in promotion.

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