Affiliate Marketing is based on strong relationships between three entities:
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Advertiser
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Affiliates
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End user
Let’s explore each of these entities in turn so that you can have a greater understanding of affiliate marketing and how it can potentially fit your business.
The Advertiser
This is an individual or company that has agreed to pay a third party. The idea is that they will help sell and promote their products/services for a fee. Advertisers will work with an affiliate, and provide them with creative. This is often in the form of banner or text ads, unique phone numbers, landing pages, filers etc.
The Affiliate
An individual or company that promotes the advertiser’s product or service. In this case, it is done in exchange for earning a commission. The affiliate or influencer will promote the advertisers creative material through their channels. These may include their website or social media.
The End User
Finally, your consumer views the ad and performs the call to action. This is often done by clicking a link or by submitting their information via an online form. It will take the website user away from the current website and onto the advertiser’s website instead.
Strategy
We believe that strategy is core to everything you do in marketing and business in overall. Don’t rely on affiliate marketing alone. Instead, affiliate marketing is best used to support your other marketing activities. As Affiliate Marketing is a large undertaking, there are a lot of websites and apps such as LinkShop and Slice Digital out there. These are designed to facilitate affiliate marketing for your business – for a cost.
Affiliate Marketing is a popular venture and still in its growth stage, so your affiliate will be competing in a crowded marketplace. Therefore, it is paramount to create content that is valuable, timely, relevant and creative.
Advantages
The main benefits are:
- SEO
- Broadening your market
- Quick responsive to marketplace changes
- Generating awareness
- Pay-per-performance
Disadvantages
Affiliates are motivated by money and are not tied to the brand. Also, the advertiser has less control over affiliates than over the in-house marketing team.
Potential disadvantages are:
- Incremental profit or sales may be limited
- Affiliates may damage the brand’s reputation
- Time needed to manage an affiliate programme
Need help with your marketing?
If affiliate marketing sounds like something you’d be interested in, contact us today. We can help you organise a strategy and find out who would be a good fit for your company to become affiliated with.
