Many designers across the country are now using affiliate marketing to help their overall financial success.
Affiliate marketers receive commissions for referring customers to companies and brands that they buy from. These fees can range from less than 1% to much higher percentages, depending on the product and the level of referral volume. For online campaigns, customized links or referral codes are used to track sales.
At the recent High Point Market, designer of the day Executive Editor Andrea Lillo, designers Jasmine Crockett of Joy Meets Home, Jaime Zehner of JZ Interiors, Lori Paranjape of Mrs. Paranjape, and Noel Gatz of Noel Gatz Design and Beam & Bloom; He talked about how he got involved in affiliate marketing and developed brand partnerships. .
“I am a little different from other designers because I used my relationships with builders to help me design and build my own home,” Paranjape said. “He donated $400,000 worth of products for our new home, which we are currently using as a show house to promote our brand. It benefits both brands that donate.”
The other three designers are new to affiliate marketing and say they've learned that authenticity is extremely important. According to the designers, the first step is to solidify your brand, which means who you are and what you stand for, then visualize your desired client avatar, and finally, create a brand that stands for both your website and social media. The idea is to work on increasing the number of followers.
“I use social media a lot, so brands know that I post a lot of content,” said Zehner of JZ Interiors. “I use Canva to plan my Sunday posts. At the moment, he publishes two blog posts a week and a weekly newsletter for his followers.”
Zehner said she tags all the brands in her posts, which gives her followers a direct link, and other brands contact her to add products. But when it comes to her interior design projects, she has difficulty sharing information about those projects without violating client privilege.
Designers all say affiliate marketing has a steep learning curve, but it's worth it in the end.
Crockett of Joy Meets Home is currently at the stage where she can trade merchandise for social media posts. “Brands now contact me first instead of the other way around.”
Gatts of Gatts Design & Beam&bloom said he is currently considered a micro-influencer due to his large number of followers.
“Getting clicks is a numbers game,” Gatz says. “Yes, you're an affiliate marketer, but it's important to carefully curate your content and make it clear that you won't promote anything you don't believe in.”
Paranjape posts on Instagram twice a week, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. She said her path to successful affiliate marketing was a longer one because she went about it in a non-traditional way.
All designers recommend reaching out to brands they'd like to work with, like CB2 or West Elm, and asking them to be one of their affiliate marketers. But if that seems too difficult, they suggest designers might have better luck reaching out to boutique brands, which are less likely to have a large pool of affiliate marketers.
“New brands are always more likely to donate product,” Gatz says.
Paranjape said it's important for designers to be able to discuss money with clients and brands.
“Remember that you are an expert at what you do,” she said.
All four designers said that affiliate marketing has been very profitable for them, with each designer earning an average of $500,000 per year.
See also:
How to overcome a designer's biggest challenge: Calculating pricing
7 reasons why going digital as a designer can drive revenue
