Marketing is a crucial aspect of any business. According to a study by Forrester, a whopping 80% of businesses surveyed use affiliate marketing programs to help boost sales and grow their reach. Affiliate marketing is a useful tool, but how can you improve an affiliate marketing program to help drive growth? Here are six key ways to improve your affiliate marketing program.
1. Have Clear Objectives:
Defining clear objectives for your affiliate program is essential to guide your efforts and measure success. These objectives could include increasing sales revenue, expanding brand visibility, driving website traffic, or promoting a specific product line. Clear objectives help align the efforts of your affiliates with your business goals, providing a common purpose and direction for everyone involved.
2. Use A Specialist
Using a specialized agency vs a general marketing agency makes a huge difference when trying to improve your affiliate marketing program. An agency that specializes in this style of marketing will be able to help you much more than an agency that tackles a bit of everything.
Think of this like going to a doctor, you wouldn’t go to a dentist if you needed a physical. You’d go to the doctor that is able to give you what you need, even if both are still doctors. This logic applies to marketing and marketing agencies as well. A specialist will be able to help narrow down your weak points. They’ll be able to formulate a plan that works best for your business and have the knowledge and expertise to follow through. While general marketing agencies are great, they’re best left for general marketing, and not for your affiliate programs.
3. Consider Software
Speaking of agencies and specialists, another outstanding option when it comes to improving your affiliate marketing program is to use affiliate marketing software. This software is specifically created to allow you to use just one platform to manage a rather complex universe of partnerships.
With software, you’ll be able to get the reach that you need without all of the hassles. The software offers cross-device tracking, a branded interface, fraud protection, comprehensive tracking, and much more. Using software takes affiliate marketing and breaks it down into an easy-to-use interface, allowing you to gain the success you need without the struggle or confusion. This software makes getting real affiliate marketing simple while remaining effective.
4. Create An Onboarding Lifecycle For Partners
An important facet of affiliate marketing is helping affiliates grow their online presence, in turn boosting sales and leads. By creating an onboarding lifecycle that’s clear and easy to follow, you’ll be giving your affiliates the roadmap that they need to convert traffic into results.
Consider what your affiliates will need to start building loyalty and trust within your program. It’s important to remember that affiliates are real people and need to be guided as such. It’s wise to think about your affiliate lifecycle as your customer lifecycle. What do your affiliates need to succeed in your program? Make sure that signing up is easy for affiliates, and provide a clear path as well as the necessary tools.
Should your affiliates be using a program to sign up with you, make sure that these programs have your full welcome packet ready to give to new affiliates. This should include a clear guide, as well as the necessary links, contacts, tools, and even some perks to keep your affiliates interested and dedicated. If you interest your affiliates early on, you’ll possibly reduce your costs later on by building a good rapport early.
5. Choose Affiliates Carefully
Another key way to help improve your affiliate marketing program is to choose your affiliates very wisely. The better your affiliates are the better results that you’ll have.
When choosing affiliates, make sure that they suit your brand, and make sure that they have the attitude that your brand demands and conveys. It’s also important to make sure that you’re doing routine due diligence on partners signing up for your program. This typically includes testing site ownership, as well as getting in touch, whether via the phone or web chat, to ask questions about how they’re driving traffic, how they engage with customers, and where they will be promoting your brand.
If you choose to partner with affiliates new to this style of marketing, it’s best to do checks more often as they learn the ropes. No matter if your partners are seasoned champions or new rookies, make sure they suit your message and your brand and keep in contact often to make sure that they’re doing what’s required for success.
6. Collaborate But Don’t Helicopter
It’s important to keep your partners engaged with your brand. Collaborate with your partners to generate new interest and passion, but don’t hover over them too much. Partners that are too closely watched are likely to feel stifled or suffocated. This not only hurts a relationship but also may hinder progress in other ways as resentment and tension develop.
Throw the benefits and perks of your affiliate, and collaborate frequently to keep passions high. Communication is key, especially when building trust and loyalty. However, keep your communications in check, as too much is often a death sentence when it comes to building a good relationship with your affiliates. The better relationship you have, the more likely you are to have success with your program and partners.
7. Provide Personalized Support And Incentives
This tip is key for everyone involved, even yourself. Personalization can encourage your partners to activate their promotions faster, thus driving sales sooner. Remember, your affiliates are real people with real desires. Help keep your affiliates passionate and hardworking by offering a personal account manager, as well as benefits and incentives meant to match who they are. This may also help your partner feel cared for and listened to. Make sure they also have all of the tools they need to succeed, from documents to data, and everything in between. Your success relies on theirs, so it’s best to work together to achieve that than not.
8. Continous optimization
Continuous optimization is a vital component of any successful affiliate program. It involves consistently refining and improving various elements of your program to enhance its effectiveness, maximize results, and adapt to changing market conditions.
Closing Thoughts
Affiliate marketing is an exceptionally effective form of marketing when done correctly. Consider what your affiliates need to succeed and make sure that they have that. You’ll also want to build a strong relationship with your affiliates as early as you can, so it’s important to keep your lines of communication open. The more you care about your program, the more your affiliates will care, which is essentially the bottom line.