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A lot of people know what marketing means but, in reality, nobody really knows all the different ways that companies market their products to bring traffic to their websites. In other words, marketing is a really broad category that not many have a complete grasp on, but when companies understand what kind of marketing works for them they become unstoppable. While some companies do best with brand ambassadors, others perform better when they use influencer marketing. We have covered brand ambassadors and influencer marketing, but we haven’t gotten around to discussing the nitty gritty of affiliate marketing, why people are drawn to it, and what about it appeals to brands and consumers. Ultimately, I’m here to help us answer the question: Is affiliate marketing worth it?
What is affiliate marketing? Why do businesses and creators do it?
Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products. The affiliate’s job is basically to look for a product or service they genuinely enjoy and then use their resources to promote said products or services. From there, the affiliate earns a percentage of the profit from each sale the company makes for the product or service being promoted. The way in which these sales are accounted for is via affiliate links that record the traffic from the promoter’s site to the advertiser’s site.
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An affiliate link is a link or URL that includes an affiliate’s ID or social media username. The way it works is that a potential affiliate seeks out a brand that aligns with theirs, and determines if said brand has an affiliate marketing program. If the brand does, they apply to be an affiliate. Once they are approved, the brand will provide them with an affiliate link to promote their products or services.
According to Scaleo, the average income for an affiliate creator is $0-$100 per day. The top 10% of affiliates earn over $1,000 per month. This means if you’re a top performer, your monthly earnings could be $10k or higher.
One of the main reasons that businesses and creators use affiliate marketing is because it is an effective marketing tool that is not only cost-effective, but also a low risk method of increasing brand awareness that can be easily integrated with other marketing methods. In the following section, I will expand on the benefits of affiliate marketing which will further inform why businesses and creators use it. Considering all this, how do we feel about the titular question: is affiliate marketing worth it? Based on the aforementioned, I’m gonna go with yes.
Learn more about all kinds of social media marketing and what it is here.
Pros and cons of affiliate marketing
Cost-effective
Given that affiliate marketing is a performance-based method, businesses save a lot of money by setting up commission rates ahead of time. While other forms of advertising can be wasteful, affiliate marketing makes it easy to calculate how cost-effective the price of a sale is.
Low risk
Affiliate marketing takes the burden of marketing off the companies, especially when it comes to monetary expenses. Given that affiliate marketing is a commission-based program, companies are only responsible for paying affiliates based on the sales they bring in.
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There are even more ways to safeguard your campaign. Read more about optimizing your digital marketing strategy here.
Gives advertisers control of their marketing
When it comes to control, the business is in control of the creator’s commission levels and incentives. The business is also in control of what kind of content creators put out using their products or services. Whereas companies that don’t employ affiliate marketing lose money when they don’t make sales, companies that use affiliate marketing only pay their creators if they are successful in boosting sales. In other words, if the marketing doesn’t produce results, the creators don’t make money, which works as a safety net for advertisers.
Facilitates data tracking
Affiliate marketing allows businesses to track insights very easily. They can record where traffic is coming from and why customers are buying the business’ products and services, among other data. This data collection helps businesses decide what moves to make in order to grow in terms of helping them figure out what is working for them and what is not marketing-wise.
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How to do affiliate marketing
So, is affiliate marketing worth it? That’s up to you to find out for yourself. However, to help you find your way in the world of affiliate marketing, I’ve provided a step-by-step process that gives a little summary of how to dip your toes into this marketing strategy and become better at it.
Step 1: Planning. Set goals and objectives, market research and analysis, and create a solid financial plan
Step 2: Build your site. Select a platform, create a domain name, select themes and key plugins, set up affiliate dashboards, choose a payment system, etc.
Step 3: Set up analytics. Set up a Google analytics account, determine what company KPIs are so you can keep tabs on and improve performance, etc.
Step 4: Choose a program and begin creating content. Choose an affiliate program and start promoting products/services.
Step 5: Build your audience. Promote your content on social platforms and expand your research; keep in mind, more traffic equals more income.
Step 6: Maximize performance. Get to know your audience and cater to them on your website to get the most from the traffic you had prior to affiliate marketing and your new audience from affiliate programs.
