• When you first hear about affiliate marketing, it can be confusing trying to understand how to get started, especially for brands.
• This guide aims to clear that up and help you create your own affiliate program to get people to promote your products and services to others.

How does affiliate marketing work?

There are two key players in affiliate marketing: the affiliate and the merchant (brand). The merchant is the one who has a business selling products or services. They want other people to promote their products and services.

The affiliate is the one out there, promoting other people’s products and services to their audience. There are many affiliates out there, and they can be anyone from social media influencers to bloggers to review websites. 

As a reward for promotion, the merchant (brand) rewards the affiliate a percentage commission on every sale they directly refer. This is tracked using affiliate tracking software or by an affiliate network.

What are the benefits of affiliate marketing for brands?

Affiliate marketing benefits for brands include increased traffic, revenue sales, better brand awareness, and improved conversion rates. 

1. Increased traffic:

Affiliate marketing is a great tool to drive traffic to your website. Because your products and services get promoted by various websites within different types of content, it will generate more clicks to your website. This can then lead to a sale. 

2. Increase revenue and sales:

Affiliate marketing can help you to increase your revenue and sales, which is the most critical metric for any business. This is because your brand gets promoted on different websites, word-of-mouth marketing is more impactful, and people are more ready to trust a recommendation, even from a stranger (according to SEMRush). 

3. Better brand awareness

Instead of hoping that people will find out about your brand by posting regularly, your website will be on several different websites and get mentioned by social media influencers. This way, you will increase your brand awareness naturally.

4. Improve your conversion rates

Because people who come to your website via the affiliate channel are more ready to buy, this alone can help you improve your conversion rate (the percentage of people who come to your website and buy.

How to start affiliate marketing?

If you’ve decided to run your own affiliate program to get affiliates to promote you, these are some good next steps to get started.

1. Choose your goals

What do you want to get from an affiliate program? It’s essential to know from the start what your goals are before you begin to measure your progress. 

2. Choose a network or a turnkey affiliate tracking software

When choosing between a network or turnkey affiliate tracking software, there are some critical differences between the two.

Pricing: An affiliate software is the cheaper option out of the two. A network has higher fees, sometimes setup fees, plus an override fee (a sort of transaction fee between 1-2% on the total of each transaction)

Affiliates: An affiliate software does not have a pool of affiliates you can access. You are the one that goes out and finds your own affiliates. They have a pool of affiliates ready to promote your brand with a network.

Data ownership: With affiliate software, you own all of the data because it’s yours. With a network, you can’t download affiliate lists and details with a network because you don’t own that data.

Agreements: With affiliate software, there are no agreements (unless you are on an enterprise plan). With a network, depending on your size, you may be tied into a year-long contract. If you are a big merchant, you may potentially also have an exclusivity clause in your agreement.

3. Choosing your commission rate

This is an essential part of having an affiliate program. Not enough commission, and affiliates won’t want to promote you. If you don’t have any wiggle room to increase your commission rates for extra promotional opportunities from affiliates, you are making it more difficult for yourself. It’s a good idea to check out what your competitors are doing so you can create an attractive commission rate for your affiliates. Don’t forget to think about your profit margins.

4. Get integrated

Once you’ve chosen a software or affiliate network, you’ll need to get integrated. Usually, it does not require a developer unless you have a custom cart or website. Many affiliate software and networks have simple integrations that you can do in a couple of clicks. Check to make sure whether your cart is supported.

Once you’ve done these three things, you can get started with your affiliate program.

Start Your Program Today

Affiliate marketing for brands is a great way to drive traffic and revenue for your business by rewarding affiliates a percentage of every sale that they refer. Knowing what your goals are, how you will track your campaigns, and what your commission rate will be are essential first steps to get started. Once you’re integrated, you can promote your affiliate program to others.