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New Practices for Affiliate Relationships

Affiliate partnerships have come a long way. With the inception of influencer marketing and its expanded growth, there has been a lot of crossover and blurred lines between the two. The gap is closing between affiliate and influencer marketing, and these partnerships are becoming increasingly important.

Here are a few thoughts from around the web related to building these partnerships and finding what works best for your brand now.

Effectively Reaching New Audiences

PerformanceIN recommends working backwards as a good approach to reaching your audience in a new way:

“Think beyond the affiliate partner that markets themselves as an affiliate partner. Work backwards from what audience you want to reach, and you will find creative new ways to partner with people and organisations that are willing to work on a pay-per-performance basis through a partnership with you.”

Think about other interests your target audience has. What other influencers do they follow? What other types of brands, products or lifestyles do they engage with?

Influencers can also help you come up with creative ways to reach their audiences. Let them come up with some ideas and take the creative lead. After all, it’s what they do best.

Think Outside The Blog

Rather than simply focusing on paid posts, think about other avenues to reach your target audience. An article by Business of Fashion gives this advice:

“Instead of relying exclusively on a one-off transaction model — the paid post — brands are tapping the unique talent of their influencers to diversify into more multifaceted and long-term collaborations. This speaks in part to a desire from brands to more creatively leverage the influencer-brand dynamic, and also on the part of influencers to further separate themselves from a salesperson identity.”

Consider sponsoring YouTube videos, promoting email newsletters, providing unique coupon codes, and more. Don’t focus on just one medium, but create a comprehensive strategy to reach your audience from many different directions.

Partnerships are Evolving

Partnerships are evolving from simply an affiliate posting links on their website to a committed relationship between brand and publisher.

According to MarTech, “Although affiliate relationships continue to play a large role in most brands’ partnership portfolios, they are increasingly being joined by a variety of other models, including relationships with influencers, traditional and omnichannel publishers, other brands, and more.”

These relationships are becoming serious partnerships. These long-term commitments contribute to the growth of influencer and affiliate marketing.

Protect Partnerships and Reputations

As affiliate marketing continues to expand, it’s important to protect the integrity of partnerships. Maintaining a quality reputation is crucial for both publishers and advertisers.

According to Forbes, “What we can take away from this is that the power of social influence relies on its authenticity. The only way for influencer marketing to survive will be to ensure the legitimacy of partnerships, and this can be done by protecting the industry.”

What has changed?

What has changed about your strategy in the last year? If nothing, what do you think you should change to continue to effectively reach your audience through partnerships?

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