Three Key Affiliate Marketing Strategies for B2B Brand Success

On the surface, affiliate marketing doesn’t always seem like a natural fit for B2B brands. But Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships for TikTok for Business, Merrell Wood, says if B2B businesses look at the channel through a different lens, affiliate programs can have a high return on investment.

Affiliate marketing in the direct-to-consumer world is easy to understand. At Acceleration Partners, we’ve mastered leveraging incentives, coupons, content, buy now pay later partners, and more to drive success for many direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands. On the surface, affiliate marketing for B2B brands seems trickier. Brands looking to explore affiliate marketing might ask themselves some common questions: What partner types should I focus on to drive the best results? How do we navigate the industry regulations that apply to B2B companies? What are our goals and priorities, and how does affiliate marketing help us get there?

Over the years, Acceleration Partners has developed key strategies to help B2B companies answer those questions, demystify the affiliate marketing world, and find success in the channel by leveraging strategic partners to drive growth. Here’s what we’ve seen work for brands like TikTok for Business, which created a first-of-its-kind B2B affiliate program that unlocked new audiences and revenue streams to triple partner growth.

Challenge the existing affiliate mix.

Your typical mix of DTC-focused affiliates who sell products may not necessarily translate to the B2B world. Instead, focus on creating a more diverse set of partners and evaluating individual partner performance and the overall mix quarterly or annually. A strong starting point may be to take a step back and get to know your business audience. Are there content creators — bloggers, reviewers, and publishers — already enthusiastic about your product and creating UGC (User Generated Content), or helping others? Start here and explore ways to turn them into affiliates. An agency like Acceleration Partners can add value here. We have experts on board who know the space, the strategic partners who will work for your brand, and the unique opportunities out there.

Lean on other brands or industry allies.

Think beyond the traditional partner playbook. One powerful way to diversify your affiliate mix is by collaborating with companies that already engage your target audience, even if they aren’t using an affiliate model today. For example, many software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms have loyal business customers who trust their recommendations. Building relationships with industry allies can access new audiences with built-in credibility, unlocking potential co-branded campaigns, referral programs, or white-label integrations that leverage copycat audiences. Want to see it in action? Check out our TikTok for Business case study to see how this strategy drove real results.

Educate your audience.

Partner education is a top priority for B2B success, and it often starts with meeting your audience where they are. Unlike traditional affiliate programs in the consumer space, B2B partnerships require more context and clarity to get off the ground. It’s common to encounter business decision-makers unfamiliar with affiliate marketing and creators or media buyers who have never operated under a performance-based model.

Consider developing a scalable partner education framework to minimize friction and accelerate onboarding efficiency. This could include:

• Interactive welcome decks or partner guides tailored by partner type (e.g., creators, publishers, SaaS platforms), outlining how your offer operates, how they will be compensated, and what a “successful” campaign looks like.
• Live or recorded onboarding sessions to guide new partners through the setup and best practices.
• Performance playbooks or case studies demonstrate effective strategies that yield results, particularly from other verticals or comparable partners.
• Build clear creative assets with pre-approved messaging and calls to action for quicker activation.

When B2B brands focus on what works in their partnership marketing strategy and maintain an open mind, we’ve seen affiliate programs becoming incredibly efficient for these companies. They don’t require much existing capital, allowing companies to achieve a positive return on investment quickly. I like to call it the Swiss Army knife of marketing: you can incentivize partners differently and scale various stages of your marketing funnel through an affiliate program.

Interested in developing an affiliate program for your B2B brand? Get in touch with our team.