Nowadays, businesses rely heavily on not just purchases and revenue, but also on brand loyalty and returning customers. Affiliate partners can play a huge role in this. Despite a common misconception that affiliate partners are only used to grow numbers of sales, in reality, affiliate schemes can encourage brand loyalty and brand development as well as boost sales.
There has been a lot of development in affiliate marketing since it first began, in everything from how brands and affiliates interact to commission and sales tracking. Affiliate marketing is now able to increase exposure to new markets in a way it has never previously been able to. Affiliate partners are a cost-effective solution for brands.
E-commerce sales are soaring, especially since the pandemic, increasing in the US from $598 billion in 2019 to a massive $791 billion in 2020. Affiliate marketing is now responsible for driving around 16% of e-commerce sales, and so businesses are really starting to take note of this essential marketing solution.
Social media and the influencer
Social media has played a huge part in this. Influencers on Instagram and TikTok make up a huge percentage of affiliate partners nowadays, and creators can earn a living through commissions and affiliate marketing programs, which in turn is driving traffic straight back to brands.
Affiliate partners are a great opportunity for businesses to trial-run up and coming trends while eliminating most of the risk. As an example, things like the buy now, pay later scheme became increasingly popular in the last year, and brands were able to work with affiliate partners on a commission or cost per click (CPC) basis to trial this. This helps businesses to eliminate the risks associated with paying for an expensive marketing scheme that has the potential to fall flat.
Affiliate marketing for your business
No matter the stage your business is at, whether you’ve just started or you’re an established business with regular traffic, affiliate marketing has loads of benefits, and should be an essential part of your business plan. Have a look at some of the main brand-building qualities of affiliate marketing:
Expose your brand to new traffic
Affiliate marketing opens your brand up to a huge new audience. Each affiliate partner will have their own audience and traffic, and every new affiliate you work with, especially if you are smart about it and opt for a variety of influencers and partners from different industries, should open you up to new traffic. This will result in users you’ve not so far been able to reach taking an interest in and purchasing your product thanks to the work of your affiliate partner.
Save Money
Spending money on google and social media adverts can be costly and doesn’t guarantee a sale. Affiliate programs can be tailored to only pay your affiliate partners when they make a sale or to compensate for their work with a free product or service. This results in you saving money, while still allowing you to curate an effective advertising campaign.
Affiliate programmes provide networking opportunities
An affiliate program can be an excellent way of connecting with contacts and other businesses. Use your affiliate programmes as a networking opportunity and build your contacts for future projects and collaborations.
Encourage app downloads
Affiliate partners can be compensated in a variety of ways. Whether you are paying them per social media post to gain exposure, per conversion, or giving your affiliates a small cut of each sale, working out the right method for your affiliate program is essential. If you’re looking to increase the number of downloads of your new app, for example, consider a cost per install (CPI) model, which will compensate your affiliates for each successful download of your application. This model will also encourage your affiliate partner to put in the extra work to encourage their audiences to download and make use of your product.
SME affiliate platforms
Although a lot of affiliate partners tend to prefer to work with larger companies given the increased opportunity for higher rates of pay, and existing brand awareness, there is ample opportunity for small or medium enterprises (SME) to take advantage of affiliate programmes. There are tailored SME affiliate platforms made for this very purpose, which take control of recruitment, monitoring and delegation of affiliates, meaning less work for you.
Increase in SEO
Online retailers in particular are always eager to improve their search engine optimisation (SEO). Affiliate partners are a fantastic opportunity to improve your SEO, given the multiple platforms and links across social media platforms, websites and blogs. A successful affiliate marketing program will share links to your site everywhere they can and significantly boost your SEO.
Affiliate partners are a great way to boost your brand, and an essential marketing technique for your business, no matter what stage of life it is at. If you want even more tips on how to boost your affiliate marketing, join us at the Affiverse Elevate Summit this June!
