The Power of Affiliate Marketing: Are You Underestimating These Tips?

In the middle of the year, the marketing, advertising and creative communications industries of the South of France come together for the annual Cannes Lions Festival. The week celebrates the best and offers an opportunity to network, exchange creative ideas and, of course, drink rosé. As always, challenges and opportunities were major topics of conversation, including how the industry can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and the continuing enthusiasm for audio that is emerging with the expansion of the podcast industry.

Another feature of this prestigious event are its venues, such as the Villa, La Croisette and the Yacht, which once again demonstrated how effective outdoor advertising (OOH) can be. From apartment facades to yacht takeovers, brands and their marketing campaigns were out in full force. However, for the rest of the year, other forms of marketing campaigns will take center stage, whether it be connected television (CTV) thanks to the ongoing video boom or the perennial power of mobile devices.

OOH is highly memorable and one of the highest return on investment (ROI), yet it often takes a backseat in today’s digital world. So is it time to rethink other similarly overlooked marketing tactics?

Underrated: Dispelling the Myths

After 30 years, affiliate marketing has grown. In his teenage years, there were concerns about some black sheep causing misleading domain names, fraudulent practices, and a competitive and crowded market. This gave rise to the myth that this was a get-rich-quick scheme or a pyramid scheme.

However, this reputation is not representative of modern affiliate marketing. Thirty years later, a legitimate business model has emerged that connects people to products and services and earns a commission on successful sales. This image changed as the industry introduced innovative concepts like attribution and targeting, transforming marketing into the strategic and powerful performance marketing function it is today.

Building trust is key to a successful affiliate campaign, making this marketing tactic an extremely useful tool for brands to build a community, promote products, and generate sales. However, building an audience and gaining influence takes time and dedication.

Yes, affiliate marketing can generate leads quickly, but it’s a long-term strategy. In fact, it can take affiliates several years of creating and publishing content on a regular basis before a brand sees consistent success.

The Opportunity: A Targeted Approach

Creating compelling content that informs, educates and entertains people is at the core of affiliate marketing. To do this, affiliates need to know exactly who their target group is. This means they need to identify their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities/challenges. Then it needs to be an ongoing process – getting feedback from your network, keeping up to date with demographics, etc.

It’s also important to think about how you share that knowledge. It’s key not to overtly direct sell. Rather, success comes when partners show passion, focus on solving identified problems, highlight opportunities and answer questions. A clear call to action drives conversions, which are all the more important for your brand.

The partner market is a busy place, so differentiating can be hard, but winning is key. However, there are many options that affiliates can use to find what works for them. For the ultimate brand, it’s just a matter of patience, persistence, and creativity.

Collaboration: Improving existing marketing and advertising strategies

For brands that may have been inspired by the sheer creativity on display at early summer industry events, affiliate marketing is worth considering. When brands achieve higher conversion rates through affiliates’ targeted approach, they usually see significant ROI. And brands only pay for results, not campaigns.

The hard part of setting up an effective affiliate program is securing carefully selected affiliate partners. Once this network is in place and all the necessary resources are shared, brands can sit back and wait for the amazing results that will take their performance marketing strategy to the next level. Instead, you can continue to focus on your existing marketing and advertising strategies.

Affiliate marketing is a tactic that works in tandem with broader awareness and trust campaigns across other media, from PR to TV advertising. This established affiliate network can attract relevant traffic and move prospects through the funnel to the final conversion point: that all-important sale.