What if you could make money at any time, from anywhere — even while you
sleep?
This is the concept behind affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for
marketing another person’s or company’s products. The affiliate simply searches
for a product they enjoy, then promotes that product and earns a piece of the
profit from each sale they make. The sales are tracked via affiliate links from
one website to another.
The benefits of affiliate marketing
For brands
For brands affiliate marketing can be a fantastic way to use word of mouth
to drive sales, revenue, and brand awareness cost-effectively. [74% of
consumers]( are influenced by word of mouth when it comes to purchasing
decisions.
Brands pay on performance, meaning that no commission is paid out if an
affiliate doesn’t drive sales. It can be a more effective way to utilize
marketing budgets than traditional marketing channels like paid search,
where there is more risk.
It can also help increase your conversion rate , as working with affiliates can
provide you with an audience already primed to buy because they heavily
target their ads to your audience.
For affiliates
For different affiliate types and influencers, affiliate marketing can be an
excellent way to make a secondary income (or primary income) from your
website or social media channels. Once you have the content published, it
then becomes a passive form of income as people will discover your
content and purchase from a brand you promoted, earning you a
commission.
Traditionally, affiliate marketing has always had a low bar to entry, meaning
that anyone can start doing it. Depending on whether or not you already
have an audience, it can have a low-to-no setup cost. If you are an
influencer or have your own website already, you can easily start promoting
brands to your audience without any costs. If you do not have an audience
already, you will need to invest some money at the start to get your site set
up and appearing in the SERPS.
Disadvantages of Affiliate Marketing
Some of the main disadvantages of affiliate marketing are as follows;
No Control
You don’t have the ownership of an affiliate marketing program; you’re just a part
of it. In other words, you have to follow the regulations of a Retail Company, and
you’re dependent on them. It seems charming in the beginning, but it becomes
less competitive later. You have to wait for the client to adjust the new rate and
implement the changes. Other than communication, you can’t do much.
Unguaranteed Income
Income-based on your performance is a double-edged sword, it can offer you
benefits along with no income at all if your performance goes down. It’s
challenging to work with affiliate programs, you have to keep on working
consistently to maximize growth and profitability. You have no idea how much
income you’re going to earn every month.
Quantity Approach
Affiliate marketing usually falls under the category of spam marketing, and it’s
true to some extent because some marketers do that. It’s important to mention it
here if you follow any of the shadow techniques, then it would limit your growth
chances and jeopardize your reputation. Furthermore, the affiliate program
would finish the deal with you.
How can you get started with affiliate marketing?
For brands:
To start your affiliate program, you will need to figure out how to track sales
(we recommend signing up for a free 14-day trial of Tapfiliate to see if it
suits your business). Once you have set up tracking you can start recruiting
affiliates and building relationships with them. After a while, you should
start to see sales coming in. Congratulations! Your affiliate program is
starting to drive growth.
Discover more about automatic tracking in affiliate programs.
For affiliates:
Assuming you already have an audience, the next step is to look for brands
that would suit your audience and apply to their affiliate programs.
Once you have been approved you can start promoting them using your
affiliate link, coupons , or any other assets they have provided you with
(banners, data feeds, social posts, etc.,) You’ll have your own login for your
affiliate program or network, so then you can see any sales that come in
and how much commission you have earned. It’s a great idea to approach
brands to run custom affiliate campaigns to try and maximize their revenue
(and yours!)
So now, let’s get to the juicy part - how can you learn more about affiliate
marketing?
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Because affiliate marketing works by spreading the responsibilities of product
marketing and creation across parties, it leverages the abilities of a variety of
individuals for a more effective marketing strategy while providing contributors
with a share of the profit. To make this work, three different parties must be
involved:
1· Seller and product creators.
2 · The affiliate or advertiser.
3. The consumer.
Seller and product creators.
The seller, whether a solo entrepreneur or large enterprise, is a vendor,
merchant, product creator or retailer with a product to market. The product can be
a physical object, like household goods, or a service, like makeup tutorials.
Also known as the brand, the seller does not need to be actively involved in the
marketing, but they may also be the advertiser and profit from the revenue
sharing associated with affiliate marketing.
The affiliate or publisher.
Also known as a publisher, the affiliate can be either an individual or a company
that markets the seller’s product in an appealing way to potential consumers. In
other words, the affiliate promotes the product to persuade consumers that it is
valuable or beneficial to them and convince them to purchase the product. If the
consumer does end up buying the product, the affiliate receives a portion of the
revenue made.
Affiliates often have a very specific audience to whom they market, generally
adhering to that audience’s interests. This creates a defined niche or personal
brand that helps the affiliate attract consumers who will be most likely to act on
the promotion.
The consumer.
Of course, for the affiliate system to work, there needs to be sales — and the
consumer or customer is the one who makes them happen.
The affiliate will market the product/service to consumers through the necessary
channel(s), whether it be social media, a blog or a YouTube video, and if the
consumer deems the product as valuable or beneficial to them, then they can
follow the affiliate link and checkout on the merchant's website. If the customer
does purchase the item, then the affiliate receives a portion of the revenue made.
However, keep in mind that the customer must be aware that you, the affiliate,
are receiving a commission off the product.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, an affiliate marketer must clearly
and conspicuously disclose their relationship to the retailer, thus allowing the
consumer to decide how much weight to give your endorsement.
A disclaimer such as “The products I’m going to use in this video were given to
me by Company X” gives your viewers the information they need and allows
them to make an informed decision about whether or not to buy the affiliate
product.