There are massive amounts of information on the internet about affiliate marketing. Enough to make business owners, like you, feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available. That's precisely why we wrote this article. To clean the slate and give you a good head start on this search engine-dominated term.
To simplify it further, we will explain what affiliate marketing is and explain why it's a go-to strategy to help your business effectively market your products and services. Even with a low budget it’s still possible to enjoy increased brand growth.
Most marketers think affiliate marketing is all about referrals. However, it's quite more complicated than that. Essentially, affiliate marketing is a reward-based advertising model. It works when a small business, like yours, partners with an affiliate marketer to drive traffic and leads to your affiliate products, for an affiliate commission.
Let's say you want to boost the organic sales of your newly launched product, you can employ affiliate marketers to promote your products on their websites or social media with unique affiliate links. Once a successful sale is made using an affiliate link, the affiliate marketer earns a commission; a percentage of your earnings from each product.
So, why is affiliate marketing beneficial to you? You leverage the extra help from affiliates to reach a broader audience, increase your ROI and get lifetime customers for your brand.
Creating an affiliate marketing network around your business is somewhat of an art form. That is why we’ve created a curated 5 step process to get you started. Follow this 5 step process to start making money with affiliate marketing:
1. The affiliate marketer and the business enter a partnership (either via an affiliate network or a direct call from the business).
2. The affiliate marketers share the products and services with their network ( they mostly share a unique affiliate product link or coupon).
3. Potential customers engage with the product affiliate links.
4. Customers navigate to the business affiliate site to make a purchase.
5. The business gets the sales, and the affiliate marketer receives a commission ( a win-win)!
If you’ve read this far, you already know why you need to have affiliate marketing at your fingertips. We are not expecting a beginner to walk away after reading this and know how to start affiliate marketing like a pro. However, if you are really interested in running an affiliate marketing program, we recommend that you start by following these affiliate marketing tips:
- Determine your goals and create an accountability system around it.
- Check out our competition and their strategies (you need to beat them).
- Identify your commission structure (it should be attractive to affiliates).
- Choose your affiliate network (focus on those who share your target audience).
- Roll out your affiliate program.
- Onboard and train the successful affiliates (then assign unique affiliate links).
- Stick to the affiliate agreement (paying affiliate marketers on time will make them stick to your brand).
- Use termly incentives like gift cards or bonuses to motivate affiliates to promote your affiliate marketing products.
Affiliate marketing can be challenging to navigate at first, but it’s definitely worth the effort and extra hours of hard work. We hope that you found this article educational and exciting. We are rooting for you and can’t wait to see your business grow significantly through affiliate marketing programs.
If you want to know more about affiliate marketing business, affiliate networks, and other brand growth strategies, don’t hesitate to check out our website and send us an inquiry.
