Both from the point of view of a brand that wants to increase its sales with limited resources (basically an investment for sales) and from that of a web page manager who wants to increase its profitability, affiliate marketing or affiliate marketing can be a more than advisable alternative.
But… what is affiliate marketing and how does it work?
One of the types of digital marketing there is to advertise on websites, with the aim of achieving a specific result through redirection to your own website. That is, you advertise on an affiliate website to which you will pay a percentage for each product or service sold, for each lead you obtain, for each application downloaded, because they subscribe, or simply for the clicks to your website that proceed. her.
Explained in another way, an e-Commerce sells a product or service (or any of the other objectives that it intends) thanks to an intermediary, to whom it will pay for its service, since it does not make a free recommendation.
affiliate marketing arises in 1989hand in hand with the American businessman William J Tobinfounder of PC Flowers & Gifts, who realized the potential of virtual broadcasting and launched Prodigy, the first affiliate marketing program in history. It consisted of an IBM subscription service that offered virtual services (access to news, games, etc.) and that allowed subscribers to earn commissions for facilitating PC Flowers & Gifs’ sales to other members of the network.
Years later, in 1996, the founder of Amazon revolutionized the original idea by launching an affiliate program that linked the websites of other sellers so that they would obtain a commission for each book sold on Amazon and referred through the website of the other merchant.
To do such an action, The first thing you must define are the objectives you want to achieve, the audience you are going to address and the channel you are going to use..
First of all, be clear about what an affiliate is
An affiliate is a online shopping that works 24 hours 7 days a week. no vacation and only get paid for the goals achievedthat is, by directing qualified traffic to the affiliate website, whether in the form of leads, sales, application downloads…
exist three types of affiliates: companies (large and small), the self-employed and private individuals. The actions that can be carried out are very diverse, for example, display or incentivized actions.
What are the benefits of affiliate marketing…
This advertising model has benefits both ways. For the web that is advertised because it only pays if the results previously established with the affiliate are produced. And for the affiliate, they should focus on driving traffic to the advertiser, because they charge for actions and results.
If you are the one looking for an affiliate it is important that you invest resources and time in finding those who help you generate more. For this you need to be related to your sector, since in the general media it is more difficult to find your potential client.
Then you must decide, among everything you offer, those products or services that arouse the greatest interest among the audience. That is, the best sellers. You can find this out by taking a look at the largest eCommerce stores (eg, Amazon, Ebay, El Corte Inglés, … and their “best sellers” lists).
… and what disadvantages
Well, it also has some disadvantage. For affiliates the most notable may be that it is usually a medium/long-term strategyso they will not see income for a period of time, even if they have already done a large part of their work.
For companies, the disadvantage usually comes when they make a excessive use of this practice and users come to perceive that not a natural “recommendation”but forced by the brand, making them lose credibility in it.
Some affiliate programs
Recruitment can happen in three ways: let it be the brand that looks for the affiliate (active recruitment), whatever the affiliate who looks for you (passive recruitment) or, the third possibility, that both look for each other.
affiliate networks
Very simply, it is web pages that serve as a meeting point between companies that accept to pay commissions and users who want to join them. These intermediaries offer the infrastructure, the software, the payment systems between advertisers and affiliates and, logically, they also take their commission.
There are many affiliate networks, so it is convenient to study them before contracting with one.
The process is easy if you want to be an affiliate: you register on their platform, search for the companies that interest you the most, place the images, links or HTML code that you must use, carry out your work and get paid for those actions carried out by those who have hired you (if they click on the link, but they do not complete the action desired by the brand. You will not charge for it), discounting the part that the affiliate network takes.
For the advertiser the process is similar, you register on the chosen platform, you tell them the actions to achieve and when you find an affiliate you provide them with the resources. For each action achieved by the affiliate you will pay the established commission (to the network and to the affiliate).
At SpainBS, we have teachers who work in awin to give this theme, since it is one of the main affiliate networks.
affiliate programs
It is the same as above, but without intermediary. In this case, it is the companies that create their own affiliate programs. Therefore, there are no commissions to intermediaries.
The dynamic for the advertiser is the same. Place the resources provided on your website in such a way that they are as credible as possible for users (credible in that it is not a previously established sale or procedure, but “natural”). Some companies post the statistics of the clicks received on their website.
That the advertiser looks for the company
There are many companies that are unaware of this type of marketing, so it is about convincing them of the benefits for both parties. For them it is preferable to sell more without having fixed expenses and pay only the commission for the action that has been previously established.
The affiliate links
Placing advertising on the affiliate’s website is a task that depends on the affiliate. It can be of different types. Some examples: with a banner, in one or, the most common way, as a normal link within a text with which the reader considers that it will add value if they click.
But it does not consist of putting a link in your articles and waiting for them to click, but of “selling” them the action that they must carry out from the confidence that the affiliate inspires them, that is why it is so important that you spend time choosing the perfect affiliate . It will be of little use to affiliate with a fashionable one if you dedicate yourself to fishing.
In the same way, an affiliate will not want to agree with you if he is not convinced of what he has to do (your product is not that good, the app does not give him confidence, etc.), since it leads to a loss of credibility.
These links have a tracking code to find out through which channel the action to be achieved has been carried out. That is to say, the sale, the subscription… by the affiliate is accredited thanks to a cookie placed on the user. The user carries it with him when visiting a website and clicking on a link that contains an ID or identification of the affiliate.
Keep in touch with your affiliates
Communication with members is a important axis for the strategy with them to work. The main reason is that there are actions of the brand that you are going to carry out and that they do not have to know about, if you do not tell them about it. In order for them to activate the campaigns properly, they have to be aware of the actions that you are going to develop, so there must be constant communication, either through personalized email, the company’s blog or through the networks themselves. of affiliation.
Communications will primarily be about:
- Promotions and actions which will be activated in the coming weeks. You can develop an action calendar for affiliates where they can see when and what will be active.
- Information about the brand such as image change, strategic agreements, publication of results…
- Affiliate Incentives; commission increases, contests, gifts…
- Changes produced in the terms and conditions.
Furthermore, it is also important that get their opinion on your program and get feedback about those aspects that can be improved. You can do this through a satisfaction survey.
The importance of establishing Terms and Conditions
The establishment of terms and conditions of the affiliate program is one of the most important pillars because the entire relationship between advertisers and affiliates is regulated based on this framework. It is a kind of legislation applicable to all affiliates who work within the program and where it is established what an affiliate can do and what he cannot do.
Although affiliate networks have standard T&Cs for affiliates, it is important that advertisers carefully read these T&Cs and add that exclusive content that you must apply to your brand. In addition to its wording, another important task is to provide affiliates with a template of the terms and conditions of the program. In fact, it is advisable to send them periodically.
Some points that should be considered in the preparation of the T&Cs are:
- User’s Guide brand image.
- Regulation of advertising in search engines that affiliates can do.
- Conditions of use of exclusive promotions to prevent theft between affiliates.
- Cancellation policy of sales.
- Reduplication affiliate channel.
- Notice periods.
- Conditions for use and content generation.
- Types of affiliates allowed within the program.
- Provision of sanctions for breach.
Affiliate program optimization
The optimization of the program is one of the aspects that will allow the best results to be achieved by investing fewer resources, both human (time) and economic (money).
The first thing is establish what the key indicators will be within the program to, based on these, take actions to improve the performance of the program. Similarly, for optimization, it is important to analyze the brands you are competing with within the affiliate channel.
Some things you should monitor your competition:
- commissions of competing programs.
- Active promotions within the channel (type of promotions, discount coupons).
- Type of affiliates allowed.
- incentives for affiliates.
- Terms and conditions of your program.
Analyzing how your competitors develop the aspects mentioned above, you will be able to have a better understanding of the competitiveness of your program to be able to make the decisions that allow you to attract more publishers and generate sales.
Some ideas for optimize an affiliate program They may be:
- To establish a premium commissioner for the segment of…
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