Create Your New Affiliate Program with Little to No Budget
“Adding an affiliate program can not only boost your sales, it is also a budget friendly way of advertising your business.” – Jim Webster, iDevAffiliate
One of the BIG advantages of affiliate marketing is that it enables you and your team of affiliate marketers to reach your ideal consumer base quickly with exciting, action-inspiring offers. The fact that it is performance based, means you only pay for leads or sales that come in from your affiliates.
Instead of using a broad approach to marketing, you can start an affiliate program to identify your ideal audience and your ideal affiliate advertising partners to increase your results with a higher rate of conversion. Affiliate programs have been proven over and over again to be profitable, and of the most cost-effective ways to promote your products and services.
“Affiliate marketing is popular among brands and publishers alike because it involves a very small investment. It is a performance-based form of marketing, meaning that advertisers pay only what they get for, while better performing publishers are incentivized by increased income.” – Source: Mediakix
Recruit The Right Affiliates Into Your Program
Maybe you are just starting out, or you have affiliates in your program already. In either scenario, affiliates are trusted representatives for your brand – they know and love your products, their voices matter to their audience, and they can clue their followers in to the good deals you have to offer. If an affiliate is good, bringing them into your program will be a plus, since an affiliate can encourage their audience to become your new loyal customers. And since most affiliates are paid via commission, paying an affiliate means you’ve also made a profit. Whether you’re looking to add one or two high-performing affiliates at a time, or bring on a bunch of motivated new affiliates, finding the right affiliate marketers for your program is key.
Get Active and Get Personal
Be an active affiliate manager and getting to know your affiliates. It is proven that a well-performing affiliate program generates more traffic, leads, sales and more repeat customers. Since affiliate marketing is performance based, learning what drives them to get up each day and market is important. Imagine being able to help your affiliate purchase a car, a house or pay off their mortgage. Chances are the better you understand them, the more they will want to market for you.
All Affiliates Matter
Monitoring your affiliates isn’t as basic as checking in with them every so often. Sure, a quick “everything’s great” is easy, but there’s much more to affiliate management than that. There are metrics that detail each affiliate’s performance; a successful affiliate program manager should be keeping an eye on these analytics daily to ensure everything is, in fact, great with each affiliate. With an all-in-one affiliate tracking software, you can easily keep pace with the performance of all affiliates in your program. Remember to congratulate the ones that are killing it with new business and help the ones who are struggling or dormant. Every affiliate is important and matters.
Current Customers Make Great Affiliates
The customers you already have can make great affiliates for your new affiliate program. Reaching out to your current customers and recruiting them as affiliates is one of the best ways to promote your affiliate program at minimal cost. And bringing them onto a program that has everything in place – accessibility, payment management, affiliate ad management, and budgeting – will make the process effortless and profitable for you and your new affiliates. The easier it is to collect marketing materials, share links and collect payments the more successful your affiliate program will be.
Get Creative and be Social
Marketing your affiliate program to affiliates is easier now than it was 20 years ago. We suggest being as creative and passionate about marketing your program to affiliates as you would be to customers. Here are some ways you can use to market your affiliate program that does not break the bank.
- Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram)
- Affiliate Forums
- Entrepreneur Websites & Forums
- Virtual Events
- Your current Affiliates
Accessibility is Everything
Today’s younger generations of consumers have grown up with smartphones and tablets. Older generations have also embraced technology for many of their online needs as well. Laptops and desktops are still used every day by many, but the world of social media and online advertising are accessed by a variety of devices at all hours of the day.
Let’s face it online browsing and shopping can take place anywhere – at home, at work, while standing in line at the store, at the gym..etc. The same goes for affiliates: some may use a laptop, some prefer a desktop, and many may post directly from their smartphone. While one affiliate manager may work from their MacBook, another might check in on affiliates using his or her iPhone. The point is, affiliates market using all types of devices so your affiliate program should always be accessible and work across all devices:
- iPhones
- Androids
- Tablets
- Laptops
- Desktop Computers
When you use the right affiliate tracking software, you’re unlocking unlimited potential for your affiliate program. The profitability of your affiliate program isn’t based solely on one one’s budget, it’s based on how well everything performs.
“Affiliate partnerships drive more than 20% of the annual revenue for publishers, according to the latest affiliate marketing statistics.” Source: inc.com
So what is the right Affiliate Software program for you?
That’s the easy part! We at iDevAffiliate have been recognized as an industry-leading affiliate software provider for over 20 years. When you’re ready to get started, we’re ready to help and can have your new affiliate program up and running in just minutes. Get started for as little as $39 /month!
Chris had the privilege of growing up in the Orlando, FL area and attended Valencia College where he studied international business. After school, Chris headed west to Los Angles, California. There he began his voyage in to the world of Global Trade Intelligence and affiliate marketing.
Chris currently resides in Salt Lake City, UT where he and his wife of Caren enjoy hiking, golf, tennis, the ocean and most important giving back to their local community. A good deal of Chris’ time is spent doing charity work.
