Promotion is everything in today’s economy. It’s not just enough to develop a quality product or service; you need to know how to capture the attention and minds of the masses. The digital landscape offers a double-edged sword, in that there’s never been a larger, more accessible audience out there, but the airwaves have never been more polluted by low and high-quality competition. With the rise of social media and the democratisation of content, companies are increasingly leaning into affiliate marketing.
But what is affiliate marketing? In short, it’s a marketing model that leverages affiliates; an affiliate meaning an individual or group paid to promote the products or services of another company. It’s no new phenomenon, but it’s become a lot more common in the age of social media influencers and content creators. This article will take a closer look at affiliate programs and how they work, so you can consider them as a limb in your marketing suite.
How affiliate marketing works
The system is pretty simple. You or your digital marketing agency decides that you need to get some additional promotion, so you seek out creators or figures that you feel could connect with your audience. This could be an Instagram content creator, a blogger, a YouTuber, a podcaster, an influencer, a model or any other individual or group with an audience that you’re interested in. This person then promotes your goods and services, then earns commission on purchases that come through them.
In some cases, brands will offer some initial payment along with the commission, but it all depends on the nature of the deal, marketing budgets and the reach of the creators.
Step-by-step explanation
The process of enacting your own affiliate marketing scheme is pretty simple.
- Select the creators that you want as your affiliates
- Getting in touch with them and making them offers
- Writing up contracts and securing signatures to ensure that everything is completely legal and above board
- Start your affiliate program by setting up a range of affiliate links, which are special URLs that track who sent the customers in your direction
- Your affiliates promote your products through whatever their chosen method of production might be
- Customers click your link, with the tracking tools recording who referred the customer to you
- A customer makes a purchase or completes a core action, and you pay your affiliate their agreed-upon commission
These are the common, basic steps in most programs. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to recruit a Twitch affiliate or get a travel blog to plug your agency; it’s important to take the time to carefully consider the type of audience you’re trying to make an impression on before you start making any deals.
Benefits of affiliate marketing
So, you know how it works, but is affiliate marketing actually worth doing? Well, it all depends on whether the benefits sound appealing to you.
- You can connect with an engaged audience. By leveraging a creator with their own audience, you’re going to get some marketing materials with a bit more personality. This will reach more engaged audience members, while also potentially getting you new exposure.
- It’s a low-risk investment. In terms of marketing materials, it’s one of the easier, lower-risk things you can invest in, allowing for more experimentation.
- You’re generally only paying for results. Other than any initial investments you agreed to make, you’re generally only paying for results from the links, so it’s not likely to be an expensive mistake.
If that sounds about right for your business, why not consider leveraging the TikTok Affiliate Program, start creating your own links and contacting creators today? It could be your window to a new, engaged customer base.
