Wouldn’t it be brilliant to make money around the clock and all over the world without having to do too much? This is affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing involves businesses partnering with other businesses, individuals or websites (their affiliates) to promote their products or services. The affiliates earn a commission for each sale or interaction their involvement generates having promoted the products via blogs, social media, websites, or email marketing, all of which contain a unique affiliate link that allows you to track who’s selling what right down to individual, one-off sales.
Get it right and affiliate marketing models offer a very productive way of driving online sales and revenues. This can be extremely rewarding for both the brand and the affiliates as marketing tactics continue to morph, driven by use of tech and changing habits.
In terms of the results it’s generating, during 2023 affiliate marketing spend in the United States alone reached almost $9.6 billion and grew to $10.7 billion in 2024. Estimates predict this could hit $12 billion in 2025!
The benefit of affiliate marketing for brands is it’s a cost-effective way to expand your reach and generate new sales in new markets. The benefit for affiliates is it earns them the opportunity to earn income simply by promoting stuff they genuinely like.
However, there are a few things to think about if you do want to get involved in affiliate marketing.
Firstly, there are choices to be made.
You need to choose a niche you’re interested in. Your understanding of the market/niche/sector has to come across in your messaging, this will increase your chances of success. Similarly, you’re going to have to create a lot of buzzy, high-quality content if you’re going to attract an audience. You need interest and understanding to do that. You also need to choose the right platforms and channels, the ones your targets use. Again, you need to understand where they go and how they act which takes us back to having that genuine interest.
There are also a few legal considerations you can’t fall foul of.
Affiliates need to be totally transparent about their affiliate relationships and clearly disclose that they earn commission from every purchase. It needs to be clear that this is a commercial and financial arrangement, not just a personal recommendation. Affiliate activities must also comply with consumer protection and data protection regulations.
What types of businesses does affiliate marketing suit best?
Affiliate marketing works best for businesses that offer products or services with a high demand. These include:
- E-commerce, companies like Amazon, eBay, and Shopify have built huge and hugely effective affiliate programs.
- Software and Software as a Service (SaaS) which often have a have high-ticket affiliate programme.
- Personal finance and investment as there is currently an increasing interest in financial matters given the economy.
- Health & Wellbeing, another area enjoying a huge growth in demand.
- eLearning which relies on affiliate marketing to help promote courses and platforms to extended audiences.
- Travel, particularly hotels, destinations and airlines.
- Beauty and skincare due to the constant demand and growth in competition and choice.
- Tech and consumer electronics, something aficionados – by definition – want to stay at the vanguard of.
- Eco-friendly products, another niche driven by increased demand and a desire to know about the next big thing.
- Home improvement and DIY.
- Pet care, food, toys, and services.
- Eco-friendly products, another niche driven by increased demand and a desire to know about the next big thing.
However, there are no boundaries for using affiliate marketing and its use is certainly not divided across sector lines.
Established brands with strong brand recognition and a large following are using affiliate marketing to great effect to widen their audience and capture the attention of younger customers. And of course, the influencer effect can’t be ignored either. Affiliate marketing is perfectly positioned to bring on influencers to promote products to their ever-expanding followings.
What do you need to make an affiliate model a success?
When it comes to affiliate marketing, the key factors for success include:
- A clear value proposition that underlines how your products or services will benefit your target market.
- High-quality products or services your affiliates can buy into as they’ll be more likely to promote you if they believe in and trust you.
- High-quality marketing materials, including eye-catching artwork, banners and content.
- A strong affiliate network that will build into a route to a wider audience for all your affiliates.
- Attractive rates of commission, after all that’s the ultimate reward!
If you’d like to discuss affiliate marketing or have any other ideas or questions, you’d like to discuss with one of your marketing experts, please get in touch today.
