Let’s get it out there to start with. It’s not just cashback and voucher sites. It’s an opportunity to participate in every stage of the customer journey through a series of digital partnerships; a 360-degree model of activity. But let’s break it down, what is affiliate marketing?
A – Advertising. Simply put, getting your brand in front of an audience to promote a reason to visit/engage.
F – Finding audiences. Whether new, targeted, lapsed, there is a means to access each and all audiences via affiliate networks and partnerships.
F – Future proofing. Being part of a network gives you access to new partners easily when you need them, as well as new technology as it arrives.
I - Insights. Providing detailed information into your customers’ behaviour, competitor analysis or areas of opportunity.
L – Launch platform. A cost-effective means of launching new products vastly and quickly, with the option to test, start small or scale up.
I – Innovation. Access the latest martech or change how you spend your budget or your own internal processes. Participating in affiliate marketing leads to guaranteed innovation.
A – Average Order Value growth. A universal benefit from the activity due to insight driven performance focused decision making.
T – Targeted. By audience, by location, by business, by income, by age, by interest. Get specific and go directly to who you want to talk to.
E – Expansive. With thousands of publishers available and growing, your opportunity to expand into new markets, audiences and channels are endless.
M – Multi-attribution. Fully understand your customer journey to spend better and convert higher.
A – Accessible to all budgets. On a CPA basis, the smallest of brand scan still participate in global marketing activity. Start small and grow as your business does.
R – Risk-free. When you only pay if you make a sale, trial, test and transact. No risk of wasting upfront costs or retainers.
K – Keyword benefits. Backlinks, rising traffic levels and access to conversion tools all support improved visibility and provide SEO secondary benefits.
E – Editorial. Tell your brand’s stories, through editorial and content partnerships with partner brands who match your audience type.
T – Technology. From conversion tools to automated communication channels, loyalty currency to data analysis. Affiliate Marketing is as much about new technology as it is partnerships.
I – Incremental. By accessing new partners and being visible in new places, through targeted expansion, or by measuring the customer journey, your affiliate activity can, and will, bring incremental benefits to your business.
N – Networking. It’s networking but online. It’s building relationships and mutually beneficial partnerships for the greater good of providing a customer-first offering.
G – Growth. Affiliate marketing only serves to help brands grow.
If affiliate marketing now feels like more than just a channel, that is because it is. It’s an integrated marketing function which is sustainable and attainable. As it expands over the coming years, now is the time to find your place in the affiliate marketing sphere.
