Affiliate Marketing: what I know now
As customer behavior changes, new ways to market your business come to light. Whether it’s new to you or everybody, it seems like affiliate marketing is quickly becoming the buzzword for businesses everywhere. But what is it?
I only really became aware of affiliate marketing last year through the blog, for a period of time I was an affiliate marketing for sustainable tampon companyDaye. It was a great experience while it lasted, but ultimately I just didn’t have the time to commit to the affiliate deliverables each week - I had to cut ties after about 7 months.
After that, I noticed affiliate marketing was being credited as one of the top 3 passive incomes to learn in 2022 - I kept it in the back of my head as something to learn as the year progressed, but never actually committed to learning about it until now.
After a few months of parting about, I’m finally back on my learning journey when it comes to marketing. The industry is always growing and changing, to miss out on a few months of changes can completely through you out of the loop on what gets customers across the finish line - so lets catch up together.
Today I’ll be exploring the world of affiliate marketing, a strategy that seems to have always been in the background for B2C businesses- but is slowly transitioning over the B2B tech environments.
The definition of affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is the promotion of other peoples products in return for a small commission for each sale. You’ve probably seen headings marked “affiliate link” on a lot of the websites or blogs you’ve visited - if not have a look at Buzzfeed’s gift inspiration blogs.
How does it work?
First, you find an affiliate program or network you’re interested in. look at the program overview, including the type of products or services, payment methods, and commission they offer affiliates.
If it appeals to you, start the application process. once accepted it is absolutely vital you adhere to their affiliate guidelines - which will likely ask you to create a set amount of content per month and use the custom links they provide to track any sales you’ve converted.
You can work with individual companies or affiliate networks, but you ultimately have total freedom where you register.
Sounds, easy doesn’t it?
All you have to do in terms of background planning is set up a website and start researching affiliate programs you want to work with. It’s how most trending sites and blogs bring in money. But it’s worth noting that blogging isn’t the only way of making money from affiliate marketing. Microsites, email lists, and video marketing are just a few methods people use to generate online income.
Of course, not everyone is guaranteed to make six figures a month from affiliate marketing, you can find tips and strategies to improve your site, and increase your income.
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commission every time you promote a company, product, or service and get a sale.
Who does what: Affiliate Marketing
Let’s take a deeper look at the cogs of a successful affiliate marketing cycle.
The Merchant
Also known as the creator, the seller, the brand, the retailer, or the vendor. This is the party that creates the product or service involved in affiliate marketing - it could be a enterprise like Dyson, or a small start up looking to grow their business.
From solo entrepreneurs to startups to FE500 companies, anyone can take the role of the merchant in an affiliate marketing program. They don’t have to do anything…they just need a product to sell.
The Affiliate Marketers
This party is sometimes also known as the publisher. Affiliates can also range from single individuals to entire companies. An affiliate marketing business can produce a few hundred dollars in commissions each month or tens of millions of dollars.
It’s where the marketing happens. An affiliate promotes one or multiple affiliate products and tries to attract and convince potential customers of the value of the merchant’s product so that they end up buying it.
The Consumer
The customer or consumer makes the affiliate system go ’round. Without sales, there aren’t any commissions to hand out and no revenue to be shared.
The affiliate will try to market to the consumer on whatever channel they see fit, whether that’s a social network, digital billboards or through a search engine using content marketing on a blog.
The consumer needs to knows they are part of an affiliate marketing system. Usually a short disclaimer like “If you purchase items on this site, I may earn a small commission. Thanks for supporting our work.” is fine.
The consumer will not typically pay a higher price to the affiliate marketer, as the cost of the affiliate network is already included in the retail price.
The Affiliate Program
Only some consider the network part of the affiliate marketing equation. However, I believe that an affiliate marketing guide needs to include networks, because, in many cases, a network works as an intermediary between the affiliate and the merchant.
While you could technically promote someone else’s course and arrange a direct revenue share with them, letting a network such as ClickBank or Commission Junction handle the payment and product delivery puts a more serious note on your affiliate marketing.
Sometimes, affiliates have to go through an affiliate network to even be able to promote the product. For example, this happens if the merchant only manages their affiliate program on that network.
The affiliate network then also serves as a database of lots of products, out of which the affiliate marketer can choose which to promote.
Amazon Affiliate Network
If you’re looking to dip your toe in affiliate marketing the Amazon Associate Affiliate Program is the biggest and the best starting point.
Anyone can sign up and then generate a custom affiliate link to Amazon products. if someone purchases through your link, you’ll earn a small commission from the sale.
So, what do we know now?
There are basically two sides of the affiliate marketing equation to choose from, assuming you’re not going to build an affiliate network yourself - you can become a merchant and have others promote your product in exchange for giving them a commission of the sales. Or, you can become an affiliate marketer for several products and use your marketing skills to sell those to customers, in order to earn commission for yourself.
Whilst most marketers start by taking the affiliate route, and it’s definitely the easier one, building enough traffic to make a meaningful income just from affiliate sales is not an easy task. It takes time, commitment, and a well thought out SEO strategy.
At some point in the future, I’d love to recommit to affiliate marketing, but I know I’m time poor when it comes to building up my blogs SEO score, and committing to affiliate marketing posts in general.