“Affiliate is the new richest manager of the global market.” – Unknown
Affiliate Marketing is a billion-dollar industry and it is expected to grow at 10% per year. According to Truelist, as of today, 81% of the brands and 94% of the publishers use Affiliate Marketing to run their business.
If you are new to Affiliate Marketing and do not know what Affiliate Marketing is, I will tell you in the simplest of words – “Affiliate Marketing is the process of promoting someone else’s product(s) and making commissions if you generate sales.”
Additionally, you could attend my free training session where I will share a step-wise method of how you can efficiently utilize the power of the Internet to generate an income.
With 81% of the brands using Affiliate Marketing, you could imagine how effective this method of business is. However, if you are still unclear, please read on and find out the top 5 reasons why should consider incorporating Affiliate Marketing into your business.
(1) Hire a Specialist, Not a Generalist
- The first way through which you can grow exponentially is by hiring a specialist Affiliate Marketer. By “specialist” I mean, hire an Affiliate Marketer who specializes in the kind of products you sell or has the same niche as yours.
- For example, if you sell products related to health, specifically, weight loss, find Affiliate Marketers who are already making a difference and helping people with their knowledge.
- Many organizations have made this mistake. They hire a general Affiliate Marketer to promote their products. The general Affiliate Marketer first needs to gather knowledge about the product, and its niche, and it is a time-consuming process.
- Rather than that, simply hire an Affiliate Marketer who has the knowledge of your product/niche. This is like a general physician versus a neurologist situation. A general physician makes decent money. On the other hand, a neurologist is a specialist of one area and makes multiple millions, but yeah, more than a general physician, that is for sure.
(2) Have a Simple Process
- The second method is to have a simple process of onboarding Affiliates. Like a sales funnel, the process of Affiliate onboarding should be clearly defined.
- Secondly, provide the important resources with the Affiliates in a welcome email. The resources should contain the following:
- Swipe files (a collection of emails that Affiliate Marketers can send to their audiences),
- Banners/creatives (for running display ads), and
- Affiliate links (which the Affiliates will share with the audience and if they get sales, affiliate links will help to identify which Affiliate generated sales and then in paying out commissions)
- In the welcome email, in addition to the resources, clearly define the commission structure, your organization’s Affiliate policy, and terms and conditions.
- Thirdly, share the product information, pros and cons, and the target audience with the Affiliate Marketers. It will enable them to plan their marketing strategy and targeting.
(3) Incentives Help, Too!
- Quarterly, or half-yearly, analyze the performance of Affiliate Marketers and give them incentives – cash price, gifts, merchandise, etc.
- Incentives will encourage them to perform better and it will be a win-win for the both of you. You will get more sales, reach a wider audience, and your awareness will grow. Affiliates, on the other hand, will make more commissions.
- Alternatively, you could increase the commission rate of the top-performing Affiliates. For instance, if you are giving a commission of 30%, after a quarter or 6 months, you can increase it to 35% or 40%, or however you want, based on his/her performance.
- Apart from giving incentives, interact with them regularly – weekly, or monthly – and answer their doubts, discuss new products, marketing, targeting, and so on.
- Consider them your partners and work together to achieve the organization’s goals.
(4) You Enjoy the Fruit
- Let’s consider 2 scenarios:
- In the first scenario, your organization does all the hard bits – marketing, targeting, etc. Suppose, you spend ₹1,00,000/- in 10 days and you get 200 conversions. Now, let’s do some Maths, shall we? 😀 You got 200 conversions for ₹1,00,000/-. Here, your Cost Per Conversion (CPC), is ₹500/-. Now, suppose, the cost of your product is ₹750/-. So, you make ₹750 by spending ₹500. So, your net profit is ₹250. Overall, you made a profit of ₹250 x 200 = ₹50,000/-
- In the second scenario, you partner up with 2 Affiliate Marketers and promise them a commission of 30% for each sale they generate. You market the same product and your numbers remain the same – a profit of ₹50,000. However, the affiliates that you hired spent ₹30,000 from their pockets (did not cost you anything), and made ₹75,000 each or, 100 sales each. Now, let’s get back to Maths! 😀 Since you promised them a commission of 30%, both of them make 30% x ₹75,000 = ₹22,500/-. So, you pay a total of ₹45,000/- to the Affiliates. After paying ₹45,000 to the Affiliates, you are left with ₹1,05,000/- in pure profit. So, overall, you make ₹50,000 (your efforts) + ₹1,05,000 (generated by Affiliates) = ₹1,55,000/-.
- So, from the 2 scenarios, it is crystal clear that with the help of Affiliate Marketers, your organization generated more profit. So, if you are thinking of growing your sales, find Affiliates (pointing to myself 😀 ) who will do the hard bits for you and you enjoy the fruit!
- DISCLAIMER: (Robot voice) The results are not typical and may vary. This requires a lot of hard work and dedication.
(5) You Save Money
- As illustrated in point no. 4 scenario (b), with Affiliate Marketers in the house, even if you do not spend much, you can make a profit.
- Let me explain how you can benefit from Affiliate Marketing without spending much. Let’s say your niche is health and you sell weight-loss products. Suppose, you have already sold many products and you clearly understand your target market.
- You record your findings in PPTs and/or documents. When you hire Affiliate Marketers, you share your observations which makes it easy for them to plan their marketing.
- Based on the data you shared with the Affiliates, they run campaigns and generate sales. Then you pay out the commission and keep the profit – all of it – to you. This way, your sales grow at a rapid pace, and you – the organization – make profits without spending a dime on marketing, and research (in the long run).
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Conclusion
Affiliate Marketing is a billion-dollar industry and it is expected to grow at 10% per year. According to Truelist, as of today, 81% of the brands and 94% of the publishers use Affiliate Marketing to run their business.
With 81% of the brands going for Affiliate Marketing, you could imagine the potential of this method of business.
Apart from the above fact, let’s go over the 5 reasons why you should consider incorporating Affiliate Marketing into your business.
- Hire a Specialist, Not a Generalist: Hire Affiliate Marketers who have knowledge about your product(s) and your niche. It is like a general physician versus a neurologist situation. A general physician makes decent money, but, a specialist, a neurologist make multiple times more.
- Have a Simple Process: Create a simple registration process for the Affiliate Marketers and share the important resources – swipe files, banners/creatives, and affiliate links.
- Incentives Help, Too: Analyze performances of Affiliate Marketers, quarterly or half-yearly, and give them incentives such as increased commissions (35% instead of 30%), gifts, merchandise, etc.
- You Enjoy the Fruit: With the Affiliate Marketers doing the hard bits – marketing, defining the target audience – you sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits (profits).
- You Save Money: Let’s say your niche is health and you sell weight-loss products. Suppose, you have already sold many products and you clearly understand your target market. You record your findings in PPTs and/or documents. When you hire Affiliate Marketers, you share your observations which makes it easy for them to plan their marketing. Based on the data you shared with the Affiliates, they run campaigns and generate sales. Then you pay out the commission and keep the profit – all of it – to you.
