Firstly, I am sure there are some questions around “what is affiliate marketing?“. We have created this easy to follow diagram to try and explain affiliate marketing in a bit more detail. Alternatively, view our affiliate marketing page to read more about this.
An affiliate programme lets you use a number of partners that are only paid when they make you a sale. Commissions structures are completely flexible and vary depending on the market you’re competing in. There are a number of ways to tier your commission for factors such as new/existing customers and sale/non-sale items.
However, Affiliate Marketing isn’t for everyone and not all sectors would benefit from running an affiliate programme. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate whether it’s a good strategy for your business.
We work with a number of retail companies currently, which is a great industry to implement a campaign for. It’s important that you capitalize on key dates in the diary such as Black Friday, Student Loan, Christmas etc.
There are also a couple of ways you can run your affiliate programme through a network, this is through a CPL (cost per lead) or CPA (cost per acquisition) model. The main difference on which model you chose is whether you are a product or service led business.
We think the below questions will answer the ultimate question of “is an affiliate programme right for my business?”:
- Will affiliates want to promote my product/service?
- Can I afford to offer a commission on each sale/lead?
- Do I have a compelling offer or added value to push out to affiliates?
- Are my competitors using affiliate marketing?
- Is there a wider market I could reach which is not currently being targeted?
Another factor to take into consideration is the investment. These can usually be divided into 3 areas:
- Management/Platform costs – you may need an affiliate account manager, to implement and manage the affiliate program
- Investment for Additional Exposure & Tenancies – to ensure your brand is gaining maximum exposure with affiliates of the right target market to increase revenue further
- Creative costs – You’ll need your agency to design creative materials banners, videos, landing pages and more for the affiliate programme.
If you think an Affiliate Programme is right for your business and would like help in managing your campaign, please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our digital marketing experts on 01159325151.