Affiliate marketing isn’t a new trend by any means, but it is becoming one of the most popular trends in marketing today. With so many businesses operating online, marketing teams are finding new ways to get their product to a wider audience.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when a business pays another business, content creator, influencer, etc., to mention a particular product or service on their website.
Let’s say that you are a blogger. A business would pay you to discuss a new product on your site. They may even ask you to do a review. In that review, you would link to the product. Sometimes, businesses will even give a discount special to your audience for the product that you’re reviewing.
When readers of your blog click on that link or buy the product through that link, you will get a payout.
By becoming an affiliate for a business, you can create ways to receive a passive income. You can create a blog post, video, social media post, or article just once and see the money roll in as your audience continues to click the link.
Affiliate Marketing Channels
There are a handful of ways that affiliates market a product or service. Some of the most common are:
- Social Media
Social media influencers are probably the most noticeable affiliates today. Influencers have been selling products through their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts for years now.Most of the time, when you see an affiliate here, they have created a video or taken a picture with the product they are being paid to sell. They give a brief review of it and include a link to the product. When one of their followers clicks that link or buys that product, they get a kick-back.
These are usually pretty short and sweet.
- Bloggers
Blogs offer an opportunity to give a more in-depth review of a product or service. It will feel less like a friend sharing a product that they like (as is the case with a social media influencer) and more like an expert talking about the product with specific talking points.When a blogger is chosen as an affiliate, it is typically because they already have a high volume of organic traffic coming through their website. They probably rank well in search engines and have a following in the same industry as the business.
Businesses can take advantage of this popularity by paying the blogger to be an affiliate so they can easily reach the audience the blogger has built.
- Related Websites
A business may choose to work with a website that relates to their product or service. For instance, a company that builds software for small businesses would do well to partner with a website that publishes material already aimed at small businesses.By finding an affiliate that shares a target audience, that business can quickly get many really great leads.
Affiliate Payment Structures
Businesses use a few different structures to pay their affiliates. These include pay per click, per lead, and per sale.
Pay per click affiliates are paid every time someone clicks on the link that leads to the desired site. It doesn’t matter if the person buys anything or does anything once they get to the site. This is the easiest task for the affiliate to complete.
The pay per lead structure only pays out if someone clicks the link and completes an action. This action could be signing up for an email list, taking advantage of a free sample, or downloading a file. The person following the link doesn’t necessarily need to spend any money for the affiliate to get paid.
The pay per sale structure only pays the affiliate if someone clicks the link and completes a purchase because of the affiliate’s content. This is probably the most common structure because businesses will only pay when they get paid.
As an example, Amazon affiliates are paid per sale. Depending on the item, they get a certain percentage of the sale as payment. Luxury beauty products and amazon coins pay the best at 10% of the final sale.
Why Affiliate Marketing Works
Affiliate marketing is a great tool because the consumer feels that the message is more of a personal pitch. Where logically-minded shoppers look for the bare facts, more emotionally-minded shoppers will be drawn in by affiliates.
Affiliates can also speak directly to niche markets to create a more targeted marketing campaign. When a specific target audience really trusts a blogger, influencer, etc., they’re more likely to believe their review over traditional market methods.
Businesses Love Affiliates
Affiliate marketing in 2017 accounted for $5.4 billion in US marketing spending. By 2022, it is estimated to reach $8.2 billion. Businesses see the value of affiliates and are taking advantage of it.
Though affiliates are paid to promote products, they are far from a burden to the businesses that pay them. Often, the partnership created between the two is incredibly beneficial for the success of both.
For instance, as online casinos have become increasingly popular in recent years, some websites have entered into an affiliate partnership where they send traffic to specific casinos. OnlineCasinoGems is a great example of this. They publish news and tips about gaming and casinos. Online casinos use OnlineCasinoGems to reach an audience that they know is already interested.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways available to increase audience reach in online marketing. It is beneficial to both parties. In the years to come, affiliate marketing is only going to become more popular.
If you’re looking for a way to increase your passive income, jump on this trend now. Consider becoming an affiliate with a business that sells a product or service that your audience would be interested in.
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