Affiliate Marketing is a strategy used to expand a company’s sales, whether in the digital or offline medium, relying on partners to increase the reach of a product, service or brand.
Want to know more about this tool? Find out what Affiliate Marketing is and how to apply it to your company, and take advantage of this strategy to boost sales!
The Importance Of Digital In Sales
Digital Marketing opened the doors to several sales strategies in the online environment: methods such as inbound marketing, content marketing, Ads, paid media, and local SEO, among many others, allowed companies to explore different ways of reaching the public. And win new customers.
And there’s no use running away — online sales are growing yearly, and ignoring this environment can be fatal for certain businesses. People are getting used to looking for products and services on platforms, social networks and search engines in general, even in a non-active way, where they are impacted by ads and content related to brands and end up acquiring solutions they did not know about before.
Ignoring these possibilities means losing sales, reach and competitiveness in the market, giving the competition space to connect with the target audience and increase your profit.
However, with so many digital marketing strategies available, the company can study and choose one that best fits its reality and needs. It is optional to invest in far-fetched methods or completely escape what is possible for the organization, but rather work with tools that make sense to your target audience and current capacity.
And, of so many possibilities, Affiliate Marketing brings an exciting opportunity to increase sales by relying on strategic partnerships.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is a strategy in which the company negotiates with individuals and companies to strengthen the dissemination of a product, service or brand. An agreement is made in which these partners receive a commission for their work, which can be on top of individual sales or for a certain amount.
Despite being strong in digital marketing, many corporations already apply the logic of this strategy in traditional commerce. Several companies partner with other legal entities to leverage each other’s reach and sales, teaming up to gain more market share.
In the online environment, it is customary to rely on people — even those who are not big digital influencers, that is, an astronomical number of followers do not accompany them, but those who follow them are quite engaged — to participate in this strategy.
Amazon is an example of using this strategy online: anyone can sign up to become an affiliate and receive a unique link. This partner disseminates the link to their acquaintances, and all purchases made through it count toward earning a commission on top of sales.
In this way, the affiliate helps promote e-commerce and its products, earning a significant percentage for its efforts. The more he sells to the company, the more he makes.
However, there are even more advantages in this type of partnership for the company that applies the concept in its marketing and sales strategies.
Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing
The idea behind this strategy is quite simple. However, this model can generate significant sales results and other advantages for the company. Some of them are:
Demands Few Investments
Due to its dynamics, Affiliate Marketing is a strategy that does not require significant investments, even more so compared to other methodologies. Just have the products, services, a well-planned sales campaign and an appropriate amount of partners to run after customers.
This means that it is possible to reduce or not worry so much about common issues, such as hiring new salespeople. However, a tip that can make a difference for the campaign is to offer some preparation for the affiliates, ensuring that they correctly communicate the solutions — avoiding misinformation that could mislead the consumer or specific behaviors that negatively impact the campaign—brand image.
Increased Company Reach
In the end, Affiliate Marketing works like traditional word-of-mouth. A person knows the product and service and recommends it to his contacts — 3 people or thousands — using his credibility and image to encourage the purchase.
This helps broaden the company’s reach to new audiences to drive sales or create greater brand awareness. All this allows the business to strengthen itself in the market by building a positive image and increasing its profit.
How To Apply Affiliate Marketing In The Company?
There are some fundamental guidelines for setting up the action with successful affiliates:
1- Define The Campaign
One of the first steps is to define the campaign’s objective and its offers: which products or services can be exploited by the affiliate program? Or how to strengthen the brand image through this dynamic? How long will the activity last? How will the partner commission be paid and calculated?
The campaign’s sales and reach of the goal should also be established, defining the indicators used to evaluate the action’s performance and identify gaps and opportunities in it. Thus, it is possible to strengthen the strategies to generate better results.
2- Define The Affiliate Program
Who can participate in this campaign — everyone interested (as Amazon does) or just a few selected partners (individuals or companies)? Will this action be online, offline or mixed? Do these affiliates have to go through some training or orientation?
Several essential issues need to be resolved to develop an efficient campaign: that is why you must dedicate yourself to putting together a detailed plan to achieve the desired results.
3- Organize The Action
It’s no use defining the entire campaign, but forgetting to, for example, prepare stock for increased sales or train salespeople to meet the boom in customer flow. Otherwise, imagine if you don’t have a product for everyone or the service takes time — the action could become a shot in the foot for the business.
It is also important to point out that just adopting an isolated strategy may not generate the desired benefits for the company. It is necessary to combine forces to achieve a more significant impact on sales and profit, using all available and possible tools in favor of the business.
Also Read: What Is Service Marketing And Its Importance
