Affiliate Marketing Strategies: Proven Tips for Success

Affiliate marketing has quickly become one of the most successful marketing techniques, regardless of brand size. If you’re getting ready to launch a campaign for the first time or expanding your program, use this guide to popular affiliate strategies to identify the best opportunities for your affiliate partnerships.

First: What Is Affiliate Marketing?

At its simplest, affiliate marketing involves partnering with a third-party publisher to promote your brand’s products or services. In exchange for the promotion, affiliate partners typically earn a commission based on pay-per-sale, pay-per-click or pay-per-lead models.

There are a variety of affiliate partner types, ranging from bloggers to content creators to comparison, review and deal sites. Depending on your needs, you can mix and match affiliate types to create a multichannel approach that works for your brand.

9 Key Affiliate Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Program

As mentioned above, affiliate partners can take numerous forms — as can your affiliate marketing strategy. As the industry continues to evolve, new partnerships, campaign strategies and platforms will emerge. With that said, here’s a look at the top affiliate marketing strategies to consider this year.

1. Optimize your assets before launch

Take time to prepare your assets — including your mobile and desktop website, product images and videos and brand messaging guidelines, to name a few — before launching an affiliate program. Don’t worry about perfection, especially if this is your first time developing an affiliate marketing strategy. Instead, focus on consistency, easy accessibility and functionality for new users and your affiliate partners.

2. Choose the right payment model

You can typically choose between a few types of payment models, including:

• Pay-per-sale: Your affiliate partners earn a predetermined commission on every sale they generate.
• Pay-per-click: Affiliates are paid when their link drives users to a designated page or platform.
• Pay-per-lead: Affiliates receive a commission when their content drives users to your site to complete a desired task, like signing up for a newsletter, downloading a PDF or subscribing to a service.

The pay-per-sale model is typically the most popular for brands, since your partners don’t get paid unless you do. However, the model can also depend on the desired outcome of your program. If you’re looking for leads, then a pay-per-lead model may be a better fit.

Consider the benefits of each before choosing one, or pair a few to achieve varying business goals.

3. Develop a diversified affiliate program

You know the adage: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. This wisdom can be applied to your affiliate marketing strategy, too. While it’s important not to spread your program too thin, especially at the beginning, consider identifying two to three strategies to give your affiliate program the best chance at early success.

4. Target niche influencers

It’s tempting to go after influencers and content creators with the largest followings. However, micro-influencers and niche creators can provide a surprising amount of value — especially when the influencer is a reflection of your ideal user.

Do your research and find influencers in your niche, particularly those with moderately sized, dedicated followings. They may not reach audiences of millions, but their users may be more engaged, more qualified and more likely to purchase a product or service promoted by the influencer.

5. Go global with your affiliate marketing strategy

While targeting a local or domestic audience makes sense for some brands, don’t be afraid to go global. Partnering with influencers and publishers worldwide can help you tap into new markets and expand at a quicker pace.

If a global strategy sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. Expert affiliate marketing management groups like ours at Acceleration Partners have vast networks of vetted, global affiliates ready to work with a brand like yours.

6. Consider coupon deals

Whether you plan to focus your affiliate strategy on influencers and content creators or work with comparison or review sites, consider launching a coupon deal alongside your affiliate program. Even qualified buyers look for the best deal, and an exclusive discount code can boost the chance they’ll make a purchase from a new brand.

7. Initiate co-branded partnerships

Launching an affiliate campaign with another brand can be a worthwhile way to expand your reach and tap into an established audience. Consider the co-branded partnership between Joybird and Sherin-Williams. The home lifestyle brand partnered with the renowned paint company to collaborate on home furnishings and color palettes. Similarly, Starbucks and Spotify partnered together to create a “musical ecosystem” that engaged with and appealed to both of the brands’ audiences.

8. Partner with an experienced affiliate marketing management team

While some brands manage their affiliate programs in-house, partnering with an experienced affiliate marketing management team like Acceleration Partners can help shorten your time-to-launch, streamline affiliate strategies and optimize program performance.

9. Optimize your strategy

Every affiliate marketing program has the potential to improve, whether it’s the first campaign launched or one of many. Tracking performance and conversions can point you in the direction of top-performing partners. Similarly, technology like Acceleration Partners’ proprietary APVision technology can help identify unique opportunities and chances to better position your brand.

How to Build a Strong Affiliate Marketing Strategy

A successful affiliate marketing strategy relies on strong affiliate marketing partnerships. Some of the best ways to build strong partnerships include:

• Choosing the right partners: It may be tempting to go with a blogger or content creator with the largest audience but take a moment to consider if their audience aligns with your ideal user.
• Offering a competitive commission structure: Affiliate marketing can drive substantial ROIs — but remember to ensure your partners earn a solid commission, too. Offer a competitive commission structure, especially for high-quality, reputable partners with vetted audiences.
• Ensuring consistent, high-quality communications: Your affiliate partners operate as an extension of your brand. If you have new products or services launching, plan to run a seasonal deal or make changes or improvements to your offerings, inform your affiliate partners promptly to ensure consistent internal and external communication.
• Building trust with your partners and your audience: Affiliate marketing is based on relationships — between you and the publisher, and between the publisher and their followers. Prioritize trust and clear communication for long-term success.

Essential Tips for Optimizing Your Affiliate Marketing Strategy

Affiliate marketing can be highly successful, especially when you take steps to optimize your strategy. Here are a few essential tips for brands launching their first affiliate marketing campaign.

• Refine your target audience. It may be tempting to target everyone, but one of the best tactics to optimize affiliate performance is narrowing your demographic. Start with your ideal user, then select affiliates who align with that demographic. If desired, expand from there.
• Don’t forget keywords. Search engine optimization (SEO) may seem separate from affiliate marketing, but a streamlined keyword strategy can help your brand perform across the board.
• Track performance. Affiliate marketing may seem like a “set it and forget it” tactic. In many ways, it can be. However, be diligent about tracking performance to determine who your highest converting partners are and which partners may require tweaks to boost sales.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Affiliate Marketing Management

Want to ensure your affiliate program succeeds? Avoid the following mistakes:

• Working with irrelevant partners or promoting low-quality products
• Failing to track performance and conversion rates
• Focusing on quantity over quality when it comes to affiliate partners
• Attempting to hide affiliate relationships

Count on Acceleration Partners for Expert Affiliate Marketing

Successful affiliate marketing partnerships require careful coordination, streamlined communication and regular tracking, monitoring and optimizing. If you’re ready to take your program to the next level — or launch it for the very first time — our team at Acceleration Partners can help.
Contact us today!