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Whether your company is in the early stages of development or has a long history, online visibility is key to staying engaged with current and potential customers. Partner marketing plays an important role in terms of cost efficiency as well as a transparent way to measure ROI and awareness.
Customer trust in a brand is today’s most efficient currency and cannot be achieved through traditional channels or marketing campaigns alone. A customer's decision to choose one product over another is heavily influenced by the credibility of the messaging and associated products. Content is still important here.
According to our own research based on company data sets (these calculations were made based on an internal data set of 6.2 million US marketplace orders from January to June 2023) , content platforms alone account for over 25% of sales leads in the US. In attracting sales to the American market, affiliated stores accounted for 18.5% of sales, followed by coupon services (12%), cashback services (8%), and social networks (more than 7%).
How can affiliate marketing increase brand awareness? Maintaining high visibility within your community and growing your customer base is easy with these 5 easy steps .
Related: 7 Strategies for Entrepreneurs in Partner and Affiliate Marketing
1. Your audience isn't just in one place, they're online 24/7
By using all available platforms, you can deliver your brand's message and proposition more effectively than if you focus on just one platform. Affiliate marketing allows you to get your brand visible on almost any existing type of content site or platform.
For example, according to ConvertSocial data, more than 25% of orders in the US beauty industry are attracted by partners by buying traffic from various ad networks such as Google, Facebook, and Instagram. Content platforms also have a high share here, accounting for over 30% of all beauty purchases.
It is very difficult for brands to work with every possible traffic channel outside of the affiliate marketing model. This requires significant resources and puts your budget at risk when testing new sites. Affiliate programs allow brands to maximize their audience coverage, even from sources they are not yet ready to master on their own, while paying only for targeted actions. can.
Related: 3 effective strategies to reach your audience online this year
2. Turn content creators into affiliate marketing partners
Content creators want to monetize their traffic, so it's important to work directly with brands. Content creators involved in affiliate marketing don't face the strict constraints of advertising contracts, making it a perfect vehicle for such collaborations. This means you can display information about your products and brands in the most native and creative format. Also, brands can then give their most effective partners their own terms, run their own campaigns with them, and make them brand ambassadors to further strengthen their connection with their audience.
When a brand wants high-quality, customized content and offers an affiliate commission model, creators actually take it as a sign that the brand is willing to invest in a true partnership. The key here is to make posts from your affiliates more personal, but also more transactional. Remember: Consumers are wary of this content. They are looking for quality posts, not sales pitches or advertisements.
Related: 5 things to know before collaborating with an influencer
3. Event marketing-based campaigns are highly effective
Affiliate marketing not only offers you the opportunity to generate sales, but it also allows you to work with your own branded events. A concert by American rapper Travis Scott was held in the middle of a Fortnite game. Mitgame, a partner platform, worked with Fortnite's marketing team and other related organizations and partners to attract players who could listen to the concert on-the-spot. This significantly increased brand awareness for the game, thanks to good timing and an attractive selection of content.
More than 10 million people attended this virtual event, making it the largest event in Fortnite history, featuring multiple shows, highly detailed performances, and a large audience. And this event will definitely be surpassed in the future.
4. Consider ROI and apply different compensation models
Although performance marketing is seen as a solution where advertisers only pay for results, it's still important to consider ROI. In other words, consider maximizing your return on your advertising investment. In addition to the right compensation plan, you need to choose the right affiliate. If one of your goals is to increase your online visibility, CPC can be an attractive payment method. CPL (cost per lead) is typically used to set appointments or acquire more email contacts, while CPS (cost per sale) is more suitable for sales growth goals .
You can also combine different payment models depending on your needs. Many advertisers animate their affiliate programs by temporarily increasing commissions and challenge their affiliate partners during commercial highlights. In any case, the desire to increase brand awareness should not prevent you from regularly reviewing the results of your campaigns to see if the investment is worth it.
Related: 3 Tips to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing
5. If you need help, please contact a professional affiliate platform.
As you can see, although affiliate marketing is attractive and very profitable, it can be very time-consuming. It can be difficult to navigate between affiliate search, content creation, program animation, follow-up of obtained results and possible related optimizations.
An affiliate account manager will oversee and optimize your program and will be available to provide advice and answer any questions you may have. In these situations, you can outsource the management of your affiliate campaigns to an affiliate platform.
