As influencers continue to take the social media world by storm, affiliate marketing is one technique that no business should overlook.
What is affiliate marketing?
In short, affiliate marketing is a beneficial way of earning a commission by promoting another brand’s product or service. In this practice, an affiliate is a person who acts as both a marketer & salesman for the brand to gain a certain commission for selling a product/or service.
Normally, a sale is tracked through affiliate links from one site (or app) to another and is generated through the affiliate sharing content via their website, blog or social media channels. In return, they earn a fee from each sale generated by their personalised link, with this often generating a great monthly income.
What are some of the most popular types of affiliate marketing
Whilst there are hundreds of types of affiliate marketers, some of the most popular types include:
- SEO/or PPC Affiliates: When marketers employ PPC skills to drive traffic through SEO, social media advertising or AdWords to the advertiser’s site.
- Webmasters or site owners: These types of affiliate marketers either own websites or plan to build sites as one. Businesses or advertisers can then contact them and use these sites to promote their offering through banners, widgets etc. This is often the best option for those who are in a niche market.
- Content sites: Such as blogs, websites & portals. Affiliates will often leave reviews of the advertisers’ products or services to influence potential customers to invest.
- Social media: The rising in influencers over recent years has made social media the most popular form of affiliate marketing, with these individuals using their platforms and significant followings to gain commission from the products they advertise
Types of commission
The affiliate’s commission is dependent upon a few factors, including the type of product/or service they are promoting, and of course the company itself. Most often, a minimum of 5% commission can be earned for each sale.
However, if you’re on an affiliate marketing program, you sometimes can expect to receive a flat rate rather than a percentage rate. Affiliates may also be paid a one-off commission depending on the purchase or the lead converted.
Lastly, some affiliate programs may offer a recurring commission, say if the item on promotion is a subscription. In this instance, the affiliate is remunerated for as long as the customer is still a referred sale.
How does affiliate click-attribution work?
A sale can be tracked in two ways; a cookie or a link
Firstly, a cookie would be used to track a user’s website behaviour or if they have clicked on an affiliate link to land on the website. Embedded through a code, a cookie can ensure where a website visit has come from, which through an affiliate would be another website or a source.
Cookies also have a lifespan, meaning that sometimes an affiliate can only earn commission through their ads for a certain period of time. For example, if they were promoting a flash sale, they would only earn their commission whilst the promotion was active.
Moving on click attributions, these are most commonly split into last & first click:
Last click: As the most common attribution model, a last-click gives the affiliate full credit for the sale/conversion if their site was the last page the customer visited before converting on the website of the partner.
First click: In this situation, an affiliate is rewarded when the user clicks on their personalised link and visits their partner’s site for the first time & a sale is converted.
In summary
Affiliate marketing is a practice where both the brand & advertiser win, with one gaining a great income (if they do it regularly) and the other gains more sales & a higher ROI.
As leading marketing specialists, Myk Baxter Marketing can help you to action the practices above, with our team working to keep on top of the latest trends in the industry – helping you to achieve more. Reach out to us today to book your free consultation.
Telephone number: 01325 939 838
Address: 2 Peel Court, St Cuthberts Way, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1GB
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