Digital marketing and its perpetual development have changed the landscape of the way brands carry out promotional and marketing activities. It is a wide spectrum of marketing techniques, each with a unique approach but the same end goal of generating more revenue for the organisation. While there are scores of digital marketing techniques available, affiliate marketing is one of the most popular technique that is predominantly used for creating a strong online presence for the brand and subsequently to generate leads.
Affiliate marketing is widely used by blog owners and reputed organisations, who use the technique to attract their target audience. In this affiliate marketing guide, we will shed light on the intricacies of affiliate marketing, tools related to it and how it influences the progress of organisations. Read on to get a better insight!
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing can be categorised as an online sales tactic, wherein business and product owners collaborate with affiliates who share the same target audience as theirs, to enhance brand visibility and sales. In simpler terms, organisations liaise with affiliates to highlight their products by sharing brand-related information on blogs, social media platforms and websites.
In this process, affiliates earn a commission every time the information shared by them helps convert a potential lead into a customer. Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing technique that is used on a large scale by start-ups as well as established organisations.
Who are the key players of affiliate marketing?
- Organisations or brands: Affiliate marketing is used as a core marketing technique across different industries starting from retail and e-commerce to travel and telecom. In fact, many organisations and brands also use this online sales tactic to carry out business-to-business (B2B) marketing.
- Affiliate Partners: Organisations partner with affiliates to help attract more customers towards their brands, products and services. These affiliates can be social media influencers, blog owners, e-commerce site owners, mobile app developers or coupon websites owners, depending on whether the target audience of the organisation matches with that of the affiliate partners’ audience.
- Affiliate networks: Affiliate networks work as mediators between brands and suitable affiliates for their marketing efforts. They facilitate organisations with a network of affiliates that can help brands create a strong online presence. The affiliate networks are also responsible for tracking, reporting, paying and managing affiliates.
How does affiliate marketing work?
The affiliate marketing model comprises of several layers, which might appear ambiguous to a layperson. However, affiliate marketing procedures are transparent and efficient. The process of using this marketing technique involves the following steps:
- The chosen affiliate partner promotes an organisation’s brands, products or services on their website.
- If a customer visits their website and clicks on the promoted link, a cookie is stored on the customer’s browser, allowing affiliates to track the customer’s action, starting from the original website to the brand’s website.
- Once the customers click on the promoted link, they are redirected to the brand’s website.
- If the customer buys the brand’s products or services, the SaaS (Software as a Service) platform records the purchase and gives out the commission to the affiliate automatically for generating revenue for the brand.
How to get started with affiliate marketing?
Step 1: Choose your industry
Before you start on the journey of earning your first affiliate commission, you must have a niche in mind, wherein you want to start practising affiliate marketing. The toughest call in the entire process would be to decide what your website is going to be about. Once you have this figured out, the future course of action will become relatively easier.
Step 2: Find the right affiliate program for your website
Once you have narrowed down on your niche, the next step is to identify what products and services can you promote through your website using affiliate marketing. While researching about the best affiliate programs, make sure to dig deeper to identify organisations and brands that use affiliate marketing. You must also look out for, products that can provide you with high commissions and determine whether you want your site to be associated with a particular product or service.
Step 3: Create your website
Once you are through with your research, the next step in the process is to build a website. Gone are the days when building a website was a tedious task. Today, you are just a click away from owning a website. There are many online platforms and service providers who can help you build a website in no time, at minimal costs. To set up a website, you will have to buy a domain, purchase and set up hosting, install a theme for the website and create engaging content.
Step 4: Develop engaging content
Producing quality content is the key to retain existing customers and attract new ones. To ensure that customers keep visiting your website and follow the content published there, you must produce content that is closely related to your niche. Furthermore, you should include a provision that allows customers to interact on the platform such as product reviews, comment section, forums and more. The content published on the website should pique your target audience’s interest and must answer their relevant questions.
Step 5: Building an audience base
Creating a solid audience base for your website is critical to your success. This will not only ensure the constant traffic of visitors to your website but also consistent sales of the products you are marketing. To improve the audience base and enhance your website’s presence, you can promote the website through social media platforms, email marketing, paid advertising, by optimising your blogs using SEO tools or by making guest posts on third party websites. While this may require you to spend some money, the results can be advantageous for you.
Step 6: Promote yourself as an affiliate
Once all the above-mentioned components are in place, it is time for you to promote your website in the marketplace. Let businesses and organisations that use affiliate marketing know that you are now a part of the marketing game. Send emails to business owners and join an affiliate network to become the frontrunner in affiliate marketing. In today’s digitally-charged world, the more you are visible, the more you will sell.
Affiliate marketing careers are highly rewarding, especially if you have the right skills for it. If you are interested in starting a career in affiliate marketing, the first step is to identify whether you have the necessary skills to enter this competitive industry. You can also choose to take up a certification course in affiliate marketing to understand the trade and apply the acquired knowledge to the real-world. However, before you take the plunge, ensure that you have a keen interest in this marketing tactic and have a marketable niche finalised to start your business in.