Is an Affiliate Marketing Program Right for Your Business?

Business owners know that there are always new and exciting ways to stimulate a thriving business’s growth. 

One of the most common solutions is to find an alternate revenue source. This doesn’t necessarily mean opening another new business though. 

You can easily increase an already thriving business’s stream of income by simply finding creative methods that complement its model and add more value for its consumers and audience.

One of the most popular business growth strategies brands use is something called affiliate marketing. Learn how it can benefit your brand below:

What is affiliate marketing and how does it work?

Affiliate marketing is an online sales tactic that lets the owner of a certain type of product increase its sales by granting others who are targeting the same audience — “affiliates” —  the opportunity to earn a commission by recommending their product to others. 

Simultaneously, this also allows affiliates to earn revenue on product sales without creating any products of their own.

How does affiliate marketing work

Simplified, an affiliate program involves an affiliate referring a product by sharing it with a large number of people at the same time, preferably through some sort of platform with high engagement such as blogs, social media and websites.

The affiliate then earns a commission every time someone makes a purchase using the link they’ve provided in their recommendation for the product. If successful, this tactic can generate profitable results by netting business owners a desirable income.

The benefits of affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing offers many benefits for business owners.

A low risk strategy, it stimulates targeted traffic, boosts brand awareness, increases SEO efforts, creates valuable relationships, scales your business, accesses foreign markets and much more!

One of the most beneficial aspects is that affiliates are working to create direct consumers for you, who you can build relationships with and upsell to, saving you valuable time you might spend nurturing copious numbers of leads.

How to start an affiliate marketing program

Once you’ve determined that this strategy is right for your business, the process of creating a program comes next. Here are seven easy steps to help you sell your product through affiliate marketing:

Set your program goals

Determine what customers you want to bring in and which affiliates can help you do so. It’s also important to create measurable goals like the amount of revenue you’d like to bring in with your program.

Analyze your competitors’ programs

Conducting an analysis on others’ affiliate programs allows you to position your business correctly and competitively. 

A competitive analysis can help clarify how to find affiliate programs in your niche.

Determine the right commission rate

By using your analysis findings, you can create a profitable commission rate for both you and your affiliates. The first step is deciding whether you want to pay an established amount for each sale, or rather a percentage. Some rates can be as low as 5%, while others can go as high as 50%.

Figure out other key aspects

This is where you want to decide on the small, but important details that directly impact your affiliate program. This includes deciding on what marketing channels you’d like your products to be promoted on, to determining if you’d like to designate an affiliate marketing manager.

Find affiliates

It’s now time to decide if you’d like to start finding affiliates either through an already existing lead generation affiliate network or by forming your own. Both options are feasible methods if you’re just learning how to recruit affiliates!

Train your new team

Once you’ve created your team of high-quality affiliates, take the time to review the terms and conditions of your business with them so they can effectively understand how to help you build a proper affiliate program for your brand.

Keep track of your team

Track progress by using an affiliate marketing software program or through the affiliate network in which you’ve decided on using. You must ensure that the measurable goals you set in the beginning are being met.

Want to set up your own affiliate program? Our expert-led digital marketing team can help design one for you! Start affiliate marketing now! Let’s talk!