Looking For Additional Revenue Sources
There are many different ways to fund and scale a business, while bringing additional value to your audience. One such approach is affiliate marketing, which allows companies to earn money without investing in production. Startups can get started in affiliate marketing as an advertiser or publisher, depending on whether they want to grow their product or earn money by promoting the products of other businesses.
Is affiliate marketing profitable in 2021? Many stores and facilities closed their doors due to the continuous lockdowns, which left people with no other choice but to buy and book online. As a result, the volume of ecommerce sales skyrocketed. You can ride the wave of online shopping and grow your brand through affiliate marketing.
There are several affiliate marketing opportunities for startups to consider. They can opt to join an existing affiliate program and promote other brands to earn commissions by bringing sales to advertisers without the need to make investments in product development or logistics. In addition, brands can opt to open their own affiliate programs, which will widen their audiences with the help of publishers, and only pay for actual sales.
If you are wondering which type of affiliate marketing is best for beginners, read on to learn about the advantages of both ways to enter into the field of affiliate marketing and generate the most profit.
Advantages of Joining an Affiliate Program
Suppose you want to extend your revenue sources without investing in product creation. In that case, you can start affiliate marketing as a publisher and promote products and services that will suit your audience. Here are some of the benefits you may encounter as an affiliate marketer.
1. No Investments Needed
How much does it cost to start affiliate marketing? One of the best things about affiliate marketing is that there is no need for investment for either beginner or seasoned marketers. Just sign up on an affiliate platform or partner directly with a brand and promote their product with the resources you already have at your disposal.
Usually, platforms and brands take care of all the technicalities of such partnerships, so you only need to build an audience to promote to. If you research the niche and explore your audience’s interests, you’ll find products that can align with your offer and foster the growth of your business at the same time.
2. Easier to Make Money
Another benefit is that affiliate marketing allows brands to generate revenue faster than other monetization methods. Bloggers and webmasters with established communities will only need to research relevant offers and place affiliate links on their website to earn commissions. Building a community is the hardest part for many aspiring marketers, so the revenue will soon start to come in if you already have that part covered.
3. Unlimited Earnings
In affiliate marketing, there is no limit on earnings, as product owners wish to make as many sales as possible. So, try to find offers that will interest your audience the most and invest effort into promotion. Commission rates vary for each vertical and advertiser. For example, digital products have higher payouts because there are no production costs.
Track your statistics and revenues to see which ones convert best. It also makes sense to research the most beneficial channels for your audience by placing affiliate links in posts on your blog or creating webinars to connect with your audience. Run several tests to discover the most efficient tactics and take full advantage of them to promote affiliate offers.
4. Quick and Regular Payouts
Most affiliate programs pay out quickly after a sale has been made and send commissions regularly. Even though programs have minimum payout amounts, they are not usually high (about $50), so you can get your payment as soon as you cross that threshold.
5. More Trust With Your Audience
If you start promoting products that perfectly complement your audience’s interests, your website can become a more trusted resource for them. Seeking, reviewing, and recommending products to your readers will bring them more value. To do this properly, you need to thoroughly research the niche, discover the audience’s pain points, find offers that will suit them the most and complement your startup, and create promotional content that will show how advantageous these offers are.
6. Fostering Your Business Growth
The commissions that you’ll earn with affiliate marketing can further be invested into your business growth. For example, you can invest the money received into more advanced web hosting or hire a professional copywriter to write more engaging articles. This will allow you to get additional funding to improve your offers without the need to chase investors.
7. Independence
Affiliate marketers can work at any time, from anywhere, and at any pace. They are independent contractors rather than part of a company and can work either full-time or part-time in addition to their regular job in order to maximize earnings.
Advantages of Creating an Affiliate Program
You can also grow your brand by creating an affiliate program and letting other affiliates promote it to their audiences. Recruiting an army of affiliates will allow you to widen your reach, generate social proof and connect to users whom you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. You can self-host a program or sign up on an affiliate platform to leverage its technology. Either way, you’ll encounter plenty of advantages that affiliate marketing can offer to provide your business with growth.
1. Increasing Your Audience
Affiliates will promote your product to their audiences and introduce it to more users. Customer acquisition is usually the most time-consuming and laborious part of running a business. Some entrepreneurs try mass outreach, which generally has a very low ROI. However, if you enlist affiliates for that challenge, they will share your offer with their audiences and leverage their promotional channels to widen outreach. The best part is that you don’t have to pay anything until they generate sales for you.
2. More Product Reviews and Comparisons
Affiliates are likely to create reviews and recommendations to promote your products more efficiently and encourage more users to buy them by sharing their positive experiences with your brand. Such reviews are especially effective with millennials, who often allow user-generated content to influence their purchasing decisions. The more authentic the reviews, the more trust you will build with your audience, who will be more likely to buy. Increasing social proof will also contribute to your brand awareness.
3. Raising Brand Awareness
Affiliates will share a referral link to your website and send traffic to that link, so more users will know about your brand. It would help if you stayed in close contact with affiliates, encouraged them to be active, and helped them with any issues that may arise. On the other hand, you’ll also need to ensure they receive high-quality promotional materials and don’t publish any controversial content or use low-quality traffic sources to maintain your brand identity.
4. Scaling Your Business
The more traffic and leads you get, the more you can scale your business and enhance it in the ways you want in order to support further growth. If your business is stuck at the moment, affiliate marketing can be your way to generate more traffic and attract sales, which will provide additional funding for business growth.
In addition, affiliate marketing is highly efficient in terms of ROI, as minimum investment is needed and potential for unlimited reward. Your returns entirely depend on the time spent on the promotion, affiliates’ efforts, conversion path, and demand for your product. If all factors come together, you can expect to generate high revenue.
5. Boosting Your Campaigns
Regardless of the type of marketing campaigns you run, affiliate marketers can help you scale them. Instead of spending a lot on advertising, you can engage top influencers in the niche to boost any of the campaigns you are running without additional spending. You’ll pay these marketers only after they generate sales, let alone traffic, leads, and growing brand recognition. In addition to campaign info, you can also share news with the affiliates so that they can spread the word and generate more buzz around your brand. Providing discount codes is one of the most efficient techniques for getting more users to join your campaigns.
6. Customizing the Program to Your Needs
Most importantly, you can assign conditions that will benefit your business, whether you want affiliates to attract particular traffic types or run specific campaigns. Self-hosting an affiliate program gives you complete control of your program, but may require substantial investments in affiliate software and the creation of materials. Partnering with affiliate platforms will allow you to save money and time, which will allow you to focus on promoting your offer to audiences. Travelpayouts provides extensive customization features, such as setting your commission rate, allowing certain traffic types, choosing affiliates to partner with, and much more.
How to Grow Your Brand’s Revenue With Affiliate Marketing
Marketing your brand takes quite a lot of time and investment. If you don’t have them at your disposal, try affiliate marketing. With minimal efforts needed to maintain it, affiliate marketing is easy to join and earn passive revenue. So, you might be wondering, “How do I start affiliate marketing successfully?” Make sure to research your niche, find products that best complement your offer, and respond to your audience’s needs. If you decide to engage other affiliates to promote your brand, focus first on targeting publishers with the right audiences and supporting their campaigns.