How affiliate marketing could be a game changer for your brand

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model where an individual, news outlet, or social media site earns commission by promoting a company’s product or service. It’s a simple technique where a unique tracking link enables the referrer, or affiliate, to get paid when a conversion takes place. This could be a sale, lead or click-through.  

Predominantly this type of marketing sits in the B2C category, whereby a customer purchases or clicks through to a product via a publisher (e.g. a news outlet) and gains a direct sale for the advertiser (the brand). So, how does this play out in action? 

• Step 1: A brand signs up to an affiliate programme – such as AWIN, Rakuten etc
• Step 2: This brand then engages with a content creator or publisher – e.g. media such as the Daily Mail, cashback sites like TopCashback, paid advertisers (PPC), website or blog, or social content creator and influencers
• Step 3: A trusted affiliate shares product reviews and recommendations with their audience  including links  to your product or service using their trackable link
• Step 4: The brand receives goal action (e.g. purchase) and the affiliate earns commission – it's a win for everyone! 

The best affiliate marketing strategies  

There’s a whole host of useful channels that can be utilised by affiliates, such as YouTube, Email, Pinterest, TikTok, and even discount or competition providers. Not only can it be helpful to drive end-of-funnel sales but also lead generation to capture email data.  

There are several different affiliate partners to consider and it’s useful to use a full-circle mix of content, display, email, and search.   

• Cashback – Cashback publishers have a member base that earns money back when making an online purchase – the most popular are sites such as Quidco and TopCashback
• Communities and user-generated content (UGC) – Community publishers host online spaces where groups of users engage and interact, with publisher links included where relevant – think forums such as Mumsnet
• Comparison engines – Comparison publishers, such as Compare the Market, operate websites that compare prices and features of products across multiple online retailers
• Content creators and influencers – These individuals drive traffic by sharing personal opinions through blogs or social media platforms
• Discount codes – These websites feature promotional offers, coupons, and other deals like competitions that can be used on advertiser websites or in stores – for example HotUKDeals, UniDays and many more
• Editorial content – Editorial publishers such as the Press Association, Bauer and many more create written content daily to engage audiences on specific topics, incorporating publisher links where appropriate. They usually must disclose where affiliate links are featured  
• Lead generation (content) – Lead generation publishers attract potential customers for advertiser products or services through content-driven websites 

Benefits of affiliate marketing 

There are many benefits to affiliate marketing as it results in reasonably low-cost conversions and is a completely trackable lead generation which creates targeted brand awareness on a small and large scale. It’s also hugely scalable via repeated partnerships with successful affiliates and can enable your product or service to look authentically used by influencers and reputable press outlets. Some other benefits include:  

Performance-based ROI 

It’s incredibly low risk, you only actually pay affiliates when they deliver results. On affiliate networks such as AWIN, you’re able to limit your commission rate to as low as 3% and decisively raise the commission value (CPR) based on publishers offering you wider promotion. You can also refuse commission if a sale or lead did not fully convert e.g. if there was a refunded product within 30 days of purchase, or if you stipulate you can’t receive cashback as well as a voucher code on cashback affiliates.  

Scalable growth 

With the correct foundations and set-up you can tap into new markets, niche areas or audiences without the need for huge marketing teams. A skilled individual in affiliate marketing can set you up with targeted publishers that are renowned in your ideal market to help you reach already engaged customers. These warm leads are also supported by reaching new and diverse customers via brand awareness exercises across an array of channels you would otherwise not be able to reach. Offering incentives to both the customer and the publisher, you are more likely to be promoted time and time again.  

SEO and brand visibility 

Affiliates are often already trusted by their viewers or specialise in a niche, for example, a food blogger or regional news outlet. This means you can be visible in the spaces where you’ll thrive - whether that’s the right demographic and location-based customer pools, or by interest. Amassing more direct leads and referral traffic will lead to supporting SEO rankings.  

While affiliate backlinks don’t give ‘do follow’ value from links, backlinks from relevant websites can significantly boost the website's authority and rankings in search results if the featured sites are relevant and of high quality. When a user interacts with an affiliate link and stays on site, this signals to search engines that this content is a valuable resource for users.   

Pitfalls of affiliate marketing 

There are very few drawbacks to affiliate marketing, however there could be a lack of control over how your content is posted. Ensuring brand tone and guidelines are met when the affiliate has full control over what they post can be tricky.  

Lack of control  

By working with a reputable network, you can control assets and choose to defer requests to be part of your affiliate programme should you not want your brand being associated with such an affiliate. You can set up limitations such as not associating your brand or products with other categories of product, for example, if you’re a children’s brand, you probably wouldn’t want to be associated with alcohol. You do have control over a certain amount of assets – however, without strong guidelines and proofing, your brand loses some control over how the branding is used when promoting.  

Over reliance on affiliates  

Often SMEs can get caught in the trap of relying too heavily on affiliates to grow their business. This can cause high costs when the likes of PPC and META advertisers bank on click-throughs rather than conversion as the end goal, and where there is high competition and market saturation, for example in the nutrition sector. Ad blockers can also hit affiliate sites hard as links can sometimes become marked as ads which hides the link from users.  

Examples of affiliate marketing 

Here are some examples of how affiliate marketing can work for a range of brands:  

• A collagen brand (think Feel) works with a beauty influencer to promote their product via a tried and tested daily routine reel on their Instagram page. The influencer gives an organic-feeling review and drives people to click on their trackable ‘link in bio’ to purchase
• An insurer (think Admiral) partners with a comparison engine such as USwitch or Compare the Market to help customers compare prices and features of products across multiple online retailers
• A bed retailer (think DUSK) joins Skimlinks – an affiliate resource whereby media can promote products within their websites or newsletters – and sets up a promotional newsletter to the email subscribers of Country Homes magazine to win a bed or get a 20% discount.  

Imagery  

Capturing customers’ attention through accessible branding and stand out imagery is key to affiliate marketing. It will increase engagement, tell your brand story and maximise the chance of purchase.  

Video content 

Video content is equally as essential to capture your audience's attention. Consider a variety of formats including:  

• Product reviews
• How-to guides
• Comparison videos
• Testimonials
• Unboxings
• Offers 

Blogging and vlogging 

An on-screen presence can support affiliate marketing efforts through more organic alignment with engaged audiences. Through encouraged interaction and feedback this can also add value to a business by stemming honest reviews and additional content from genuine customers.  

Appealing to a range of customers that engage on multiple platforms, the mix of both blogging and vlogging via social media, YouTube and the internet enables the affiliate to craft a personal brand which resonates better with its viewers and helps with storytelling -(something we often think about in PR). Partnering your product with a specialist in its field (think a doctor giving researched context to support a nutrition brand) will ensure that content is less promotional and more educational or entertaining – helping such content rank better in search engines due to being optimised with experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. 

Contact our affiliate marketing experts today 

Want to find out more about how we leverage affiliate marketing to drive you leads and sales? Contact our digital marketing team of experts today on 0115 853 2110 or email in on hello@cartwrightagency.com