Have you tried Affiliate Marketing to grow your online business? It works!
What is Affiliate Marketing?
It’s a simple program actually. Based on the straightforward idea that if someone promotes your website and gets you buyers, they get a commission from you.
In the online space it works well with established websites that people like to visit, or websites that are convincing in design and content. This external website agrees to place a link to your online store on their site, and in return they get a commission for every transaction on your online store that comes via their website.
There are substantial benefits of Affiliate Marketing for online stores
- It does not require any upfront investment for the business as commissions get paid only when a transaction has been completed.
- Affiliates work like an indirect sales team, working towards the goal of increasing traffic to your website and promoting conversions.
- Tracking of this is automated and easy to set up through Google Analytics especially if you choose platforms like Shopmatic to set up your online store.
- It is an added channel for you that brings visitors to your website; and can be a great complement to your existing marketing strategy.
- For the Affiliate, it offers the scope of marketing a product and the incentive of earning a passive income without any responsibilities of product design or development.
- It is a win-win situation for both parties, and therefore pursued with equal interest too.
Here are some ways to use Affiliate Marketing to your advantage
- Spread the reach of your business and ultimately grow sales in a wider market. The websites, bloggers and influencers you partner with will bring awareness of your products or services to their audiences so pick those that are relevant to your own target market.
- Tailor your online promotions keeping the audience of your affiliate partner in mind, making your campaign more effective and creating a bigger buzz.
- Use Affiliate Marketing to provide social proof to your online business.Customers value reviews from trusted sources. A good review or an engagement with your brand by your affiliate partner is valuable to their audience and ultimately valuable to your business.
- Track sales through affiliate links from one website to another in real time using Google Analytics. And include other metrics like clicks, sales and email sign ups so you understand the impact and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns; and are able to design more effective future programs
Remember there are no upfront costs involved in Affiliate Marketing. You only have to pay the Affiliate a predetermined percentage of the profits of the sale once the transaction has been completed. The cost of the affiliate network is already included in the retail price of the product or service you sell. This can be very helpful when you are looking at ways to economise on costs or working out your marketing budget.
And Ideas of Affiliates you Could Partner With
Through Social Media, Blogs and Websites, the objective of your affiliate partner is to engage and attract the customer’s attention and ultimately convince the customer to complete the transaction.
Living in this world ruled by social media, Influencers are perhaps the best Affiliates one can have. With an existing large fan following, these Influencers have the power to influence the purchasing decisions of large groups of people. Getting such Influencers to promote your product/ service in return for a percentage of the profits is a smart marketing option.
Bloggers can be great Affiliate Marketers too as they try out your product/ service and generate a comprehensive review to share their experience. This can help spread the word around as well as promote your offering. As traffic and sales grow, the blogger can be given a part of the profits for his efforts.
The Pay Per Click strategy is also useful as it provides incentives to the Affiliate to produce an effective campaign that can lead to greater conversions.
There are also Affiliate Marketers who spread the word around through an email marketing campaign and earn a commission when the customer actually purchases the product.
So start looking for engaging websites that your target audience might be visiting, and write in with a friendly email inviting them to partner as an affiliate with you for the benefit of your company and themselves. A few good Affiliates will complement your existing marketing programme to connect with more customers and grow sales and profits further.
There is little to lose!
