One way to leverage partnerships to your advantage as an entrepreneur is to build out an attractive and effective affiliate program. Affiliate programs represent a growing segment of the marketing sector, and, in fact, global spending on affiliate marketing is set to reach $13 billion this year. By 2024, it’s expected to reach $15.7 billion. According to one study, interest in affiliate marketing rose more than 300 percent between 2017 and 2021!

An affiliate partnership is a business relationship between you/your business and an affiliate who agrees to promote your product or service to her audience on your behalf for a cut of the profits made as a result of her referral. Affiliate marketers benefit from this business model by earning passive income with low startup costs. Some affiliates put a lot of time and effort into their promotions, and others don’t.  

Creating affiliate partnerships can help grow your brand by introducing your product or service to a new audience, like influencer marketing. The difference is that in affiliate marketing, you’re sharing the profits you make from the affiliate’s referrals with the affiliate, which incentivizes her to do more promotion, which results in more clients/sales/downloads/etc. 

Businesses partnering with individuals (e.g., influencers) is one way this often works. Entrepreneurs partnering with other entrepreneurs in adjacent or related brands is another type of affiliate partnership that can work really well. 

Examples of adjacent brand partnerships include:

• A graphic designer working as an affiliate for a T-shirt company
• An interior designer working as an affiliate for a construction company
• An event planner working as an affiliate for a catering company

Are you already thinking about the possibilities for your own brand? Or perhaps you have a fledgling affiliate marketing program that needs some love. Let’s amp it up!

Tips for amplifying your affiliate program: 

• Make it easy. In your affiliate onboarding email, give affiliates graphics, talking points, and ideas for promoting your product or service to their audience. Give them some hints on where they can promote (blog, newsletter, podcast, LinkedIn feed, Instagram story, etc.), and give them some verbiage they can use verbatim or adapt to their own voice. The easier it is, the more likely the affiliate is to follow through on her end of the deal!
• Reward affiliate partners with an Affiliate of the Month program. Yes, you’re already paying them, but if you really want to engage your affiliates and get them excited, give them an incentive to be the best each month or quarter. Incentives could include things like gift cards or cash prizes.
• Offer double-earnings days. Pick a day every so often, maybe once a quarter or once a month, and offer affiliates double earnings on referrals that day. This encourages affiliates to make a real effort!
• Make a demo available. If affiliate partners haven’t gone through your program or tried your product or service for themselves, their promotion may not be as effective as it could be. In these cases, offer a demo in whatever way, shape, or form makes the most sense for your business!

Finally, if you have current clients who could also serve as affiliate partners for your business, consider offering referral points. Create a points system in which affiliate partners earn points for each new client you onboard based on their referrals. Points can be cashed in for free services, like a consult or strategy session.

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to build brand awareness, but it takes some effort both on your part and on the part of the affiliates themselves. You can encourage affiliates’ effort by making it easy and incentivizing them to do a good job! For even more ideas and tips on amplifying your affiliate partnerships, listen to this episode of our Served NEAT podcast. 

If you would like help building ideal affiliate partnerships that grow your brand, book a call with us!