In any purchase process, the attraction stage is essential. To
sell, we first have to attract and then connect with that potential client.
Sometimes we can't do it alone or we find ourselves in a stage
of the business where we want to maximize results, minimizing our efforts. In
that sense, affiliate marketing is an excellent strategy that you can carry out
in your online business.
This strategy is based on the power of recommendation. So, if
your goal is to increase the reach of potential buyers and, of course, increase
your sales, it's time to put it into practice.
What is affiliate marketing?
Under this marketing model, the premise is to establish an
affiliate network. Thus, you will be able to attract potential clients through
intermediaries that work as allies of your business.
Intermediaries are people or brands that have a dissemination
channel (be it a website, a blog or social networks) and whose recommendations
are positively valued by the public that follows them.
Establishing an affiliate network to spread your brand will
allow you to increase your reach to potential consumers who may not yet know
you, or they do, but still don't have enough confidence to make the purchase.
In this way, affiliate marketing becomes a
relationship where everyone wins: the brand sells its products through its affiliates,
while they manage to monetize their websites, blogs or social networks through
that sale, charging a fee commission for each of them.
Many companies have an affiliate program where the dynamics of
participation, conditions and benefits are established.
4 keys to carry out affiliate marketing in your business
When carrying out this strategy, there are some issues that you
should take into account:
1) Analyze what stage of your business you are in. If it is an
emerging venture, it will be necessary that you first achieve your own
positioning. Even if the affiliate begins to build trust with the potential
client for them to complete the purchase, the brand must also have generated a
minimum amount of prior trust. Otherwise, the sale may not go through.
2) Establish clear objectives and commissions with your
affiliate network. Typically, the goal of the associate marketing strategy is
to make the purchase happen. That is, the affiliate receives a commission for
each sale, but the objectives could also be other, such as driving traffic to
your online store or performing an action such as completing a form or clicking
on a banner, for example. Your objectives may vary according to the stage in
which your business is. Many times, these actions are carried out on special
dates to encourage sales.
3) In affiliate marketing, it is essential that you can record
the sales of each one in detail and then pay the corresponding commissions.
4) Finally, it is important that the values of the brand are
represented in each affiliate and that they generate content associated with
the universe of that brand. Otherwise, it can be a counterproductive strategy.
What channels do affiliates usually use to disseminate
products or services online?
The channels most used by affiliates to disseminate products and
services online are:
●
Website or blog: The link with your audience
is usually generated by the type of content they share. For example, pages that
are based on recommendations on topics such as technology, fashion, food or
beauty could be part of an affiliate program for brands in those categories.
●
Social networks: today they are the most used
channels in associate marketing due to the great reach they have. Its main
protagonists, and candidates to be part of an affiliate program, are
influencers or brand ambassadors. They have a close link with their followers,
who trust their recommendations, and this allows them to monetize their social
networks through this type of action with different businesses.
●
Email marketing: it is a channel that provides
a direct arrival to subscribers, unlike social networks, where it costs more to
convert followers into customers and where important branding work must be
done. For this reason, there are affiliates who focus exclusively on building a
solid database with loyal readers of their newsletters to whom they can then
offer third-party products or services.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
The main advantage of affiliate marketing is that it offers a
triple win, where all participants benefit in one way or another. Those who
market the product or service find in the affiliate marketer a promoter who, as
he knows that the profit he will receive will depend on his results, strives to
achieve his objectives.
For its part, the affiliate receives a share of the profits
without having to deal with issues that the seller is in charge of. For example
—among others— logistics and customer service.
In turn, the customer can find the most relevant information on
a product that can provide a solution to a pain point in a single site.
In addition, and especially in relation to those products or
services that have offered them a satisfactory experience, affiliates become
brand ambassadors. And, thus, they give what they promote a new approach that
perhaps the person who sells it had not thought of.
On the other hand, because of the "halo effect", it is
likely that the positive attributes of an affiliate are associated with what
they promote. That is why many brands carry out an analysis of those interested
in promoting their products.
In other cases, although there is no instance of prior analysis, periodic monitoring is carried out. This action is carried out to verify that whoever sells products as an affiliate complies with the terms set forth in the contractual relationship. Beyond the existence or not of a qualification stage, it is common for the sellers of the goods to carry out this type of control.