Whether you own a small business or a huge conglomerate, affiliate marketing can be the answer to most of your marketing problems. With companies generating 16% of their online sales through affiliate marketing, it is a sure shot at helping you reach out to a greater audience without taking loans or bearing having losses.
1. What is Affiliate Marketing?
If you are not already aware of the basics of affiliate marketing, then here is a gist of one of the most popular marketing strategies. Companies, big or small, use affiliate programs to convince people into buying their product. But unlike conventional marketing strategies, affiliate partners get remuneration only when they successfully sell the said company’s product. Companies have tracking links that ensure, with 99% accuracy, which affiliate convinced a new customer to buy their product or service. This way, the company makes a sale, the affiliate gets a commission for it and a customer goes home with a product that had been marketed to him by the affiliate. Affiliate marketing is used by many ecommerce marketing companies to add more sales and clients to your bottom line.
2. Cost-Effective and Generates Greater Revenue
Affiliate marketing is less risky and is a win-win situation for businesses as well as the people who are interested in working with you. Since the incentive for affiliates only applies once the product is sold, they are determined to put in the required hard work to sell your product. Unlike other marketing strategies that must be paid for their advertisement services; without any guarantee of equal or more financial returns.
3. Widespread Brand Promotion Through Multiple Affiliates
Once you have several affiliates promoting your product through multiple domains – could be their blog, YouTube, their websites, or even a close circle of friends – you end up creating a chain reaction of brand promotion. This buzz is crucial for the growth of a business. And affiliate marketing is a game-changer; for people tend to forget to have of the advertisements that they come across on their phones or television. But by the word of mouth of affiliates that people already look up to and listen to, you are creating more space for your brand’s awareness and promotion.
4. More Effective Than Referral Programs
Unlike traditional referral programs, affiliate marketing has to do more with the growth of your business. Referral programs are more focused on the retention of customers, whereas affiliate marketing introduces your brand to new buyers. Thus there are more chances of growth in the latter; mostly since referral programs work through sending emails, newsletters or product updates through text. These are ineffective methods of marketing since people do not have the time or energy to always read the latest update – unless they are fiercely loyal customers or are simply looking for discounts. That is why affiliate marketing, despite requiring remuneration, is more effective.
5. Generates More Organic Traffic
Although getting visitors to your websites may seem like things are working in your favor, not generating enough sales or increasing your click-through rate can be discouraging. People on the internet are fickle and tend to lose interest in websites- especially due to the plethora of options available as well as excessive information. But with affiliate marketing, people will find out about your product through an external source and only then visit the website – and even buy the product eventually. This not only helps potential customers to know where to find their desired product on their next purchase, but it also helps generate organic traffic. This has more value to your company than irrelevant click-through ads.
6. Effectively Scale Your Startup
If you are someone who has just launched a product and are unaware of how to effectively promote it, without going bankrupt – then affiliate marketing should be your savior. Reaching out to affiliates or even niche influencers will ensure that your product is effectively reaching out to the desired audience. This way small businesses can also gain the momentum required for speedy growth, without investing in extravagant ad campaigns or taking additional time to build an online presence. Many people tend to trust their brand ambassadors, celebrities or even bloggers whose tips have been helpful or have a lifestyle that they look up to. This engagement of the audience ensures that you will reach out to loyal customers who will mostly return to purchase your product again. Many online retail stores and skincare brands have used this strategy to build their brand in a very short period.
7. Handpicked Niche Influencers for Trustworthy Partnerships
One of the reasons why affiliate marketing is becoming a mainstream marketing tactic is that it ensures trustworthy partnerships. Since the growth of microbloggers and niche influencers, it has not only become easier for marketers to find their target market – but companies can now exercise full control as to how they want their brand to be promoted. Which means they have a greater impact on brand image and marketing strategies. Unlike conventional marketing strategies, where ads were usually preferred. Hiring an advertising company that lacked creativity could seriously jeopardize the brand’s image; the way it did for Pepsi with one particular, memorable and tone-deaf ad campaign. But since most niche influencers are not marketing geniuses, but are creative content makers, it is more convenient for companies to exercise their autonomy – while extracting favorable results!
8. Make Passive Income
Making money while you sleep is every entrepreneur’s dream. Affiliate marketing makes that dream a reality. Once you have found a good number of affiliates, whether they are random people who signed up to your affiliate link or bloggers who are interested in your product, there is not much to worry about from there. All the work must be done by your affiliates to get the commission they need. Companies tend to put a time limit on their affiliate partnerships as well to help them bring about faster results. This does not only help you generate more incoming with minimal hassle but also buys you time to improve your product quality.
Bottom line is that for any brand whether old or new affiliate marketing should certainly be an avenue that should not be left unexplored. If done correctly with the right affiliates, your brand can grow with leaps and bounds.
