Your affiliate marketing program has been flourishing the past couple of months, but recently you've slowed to a halt. Why? What's causing the increase of sales to stop and why is it happening so suddenly? Here are some top tips and tricks to help find the right affiliate marketing partners and keep your affiliate program running smoothly.
Learn more: Read about key concepts and strategies in affiliate marketing.
How do I find publishers that fit my business?
Through the affiliate networks you are part of. Whether you're connected through Commission Junction, Rakuten, Shopify, Amazon Associates or any of the other hundreds of affiliate networks, you are bound to find publishers that are the right fit for your business! These networks provide easy access to thousands of publishers, all in one place. Use them to research the different types of publishers, their experience, their classification, and if they would be a right match for you!
Once you do find that perfect publisher, you'll want to work to build and maintain a great working partnership. There is always a need for constant communication between vendors, publishers, and advertisers (you!) in affiliate marketing. A positive connection between your company and the publisher can help keep your business running smoothly and create more opportunities. If you notice that your vendor or publisher isn't communicating well, steer clear! An insider secret - publishers talk to each other about who their best advertisers are, and likewise, their worst. So staying connected is crucial!
What are affiliate publisher classifications, and why are they important?
Publisher's designate themselves into separate classifications for ease of discovery. There are many different categories of publisher:
- Loyalty/Rewards
- Content/Niche
- Coupon (Voucher)/Deal
- Search
- Software/Technology
- Social Shopping
- Price Comparison
- Service/Tools
- Mobile/Tablet Application
- Sub-Affiliate Network
You can find the right publishers just about anywhere, and you can partner with more than one category of publisher. For example, if you are a company that sells many different products in a brick and mortar location, it would be smart to consider partnering with loyalty/rewards, coupon (voucher)/deal, and price comparison publishers. These publishers do the work of getting products that are on sale more exposure!
Another example would be if you are an application focused vendor, partnering with software/technology, mobile/tablet application, and service/tools should be your plan of action. These different publishers will talk about you in their blogs, website, or podcast to help with business growth and exposure.
Before you send out 1,000 invitations to publishers in each of these categories, make sure you do the research on who you want to partner with and how they can perform for you. A vendor could pair well with publishers in a coupon (voucher)/deal category but have very low sales in the mobile/tablet application category. To be successful in affiliate marketing, companies need to embody the idea of quality over quantity.
Now show me the money!
Not quite yet. Like anything in life, it takes a lot of hard work, research, and time to grow and become successful in affiliate marketing. Top-tier businesses that are selling millions of dollars of products each year still need at least a year to grow new products or channels. There is an ever-evolving learning curve when it comes to affiliate marketing. A price comparison publisher that was doing extremely well for your business last month could be struggling this month. Affiliate marketing goes well beyond consumer buying trends, publisher communications, and metrics. To really find your right path in the affiliate marketing world, you need to find what your business can thrive on compared to the competition.
The Digital Marketing experts at Informatics are well versed in everything affiliate marketing and can help you kickstart your affiliate marketing goals. Contact us to find out how to make your affiliate marketing program a success!
