When setting up affiliate campaigns, it’s important to note that it should make your business grow. This entails asking how you will set it up and launch. Since affiliate campaigns are integral to digital marketing campaigns, you should thoroughly plan for their long-term success. 

Types of Affiliate for Affiliate Campaign

The tactics in affiliate campaigns are usually similar for different affiliates. However, each affiliate may reach different types of audiences. This requires affiliate campaign marketers to keep track of every affiliate. You also want to monitor any overlap to adjust expenditures.

Here are the different types of affiliates.

Personal Websites

Different personal website earning was one of the principal aims of affiliate marketing. However, right now, it is just part of the different affiliate types and marketing combinations.

Content and Niche Sites

These types of affiliates center on a specific topic and category of products and services. Any product or service they promote under the affiliate campaigns will be tracked, such as those dedicated to cameras, beauty, and more. If the niche site promotes clothing, they earn a certain amount for every transaction made by their audience with their URL. Content and niche sites also make reviews for products and services. One thing about these affiliates is their seasonality. Some websites make content specifically about Christmas, Mother’s Day, and more.

Email List

There are also affiliates suitable for email marketing. They operate large opt-in email lists while promoting whatever the merchant is offering. They do this with their email newsletters. While there are those who use spam email, this is not recommended. Terms and conditions now apply to avoid these problems in big industries. This also occurs as affiliate marketing matures.

Loyalty Sites

Loyalty sites may encompass charitable donations, cashback, or points. There are affiliates who split their commission with customers. How does this happen? Points-based sites or cashback sites make this possible. Affiliate campaigns may also include donating a percentage of the amount earned to charity. 

Setting Up Affiliate Campaigns

The first step to setting up an affiliate campaigns is having a structured idea of your goals. Your goals will also define the identity of your business. This is essential as your competitors might have affiliates who promote already. You want the affiliates to know why they should work with you. Tell them why this campaign is much better than others.

You won’t be able to tell the affiliates about that if you have no goals yet. Building traffic or brand awareness is typically a basic goal. This is recommended for new businesses who want their brand to be known by others. Others may want new customer leads, while others want their sales to increase. Be clear on this part and guarantee that your site clearly expresses these goals.

LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP SOLUTION TO YOUR GROWTH NEEDS?

After setting the goals, it’s time to run the affiliate campaigns. This process is a tedious one. You’ll have to consider paying, recruiting, and tracking here. You also want to choose if you will use an affiliate network.

Part of planning the affiliate campaigns is doing your research on your competitors. Find out about the following:

  • The incentives that they offer to affiliates
  • The third-party network they work with
  • The types of affiliates they work with
  • Cookie periods
  • Commission tiers
  • Creative offerings.

The basics for starting a program include the banners, product feed, and creative offerings. 

More importantly, you have to test if the tracking software you are using is working. You also want to guarantee that it does not contradict another software you are utilizing. 

After testing everything, it’s time to finally invite affiliates. Affiliate fora may be employed to endorse the program. Contact channels of affiliate networks may also be used to recruit. You can also do a simple search of the sites that might fit the target audience of your program.

Defining Affiliate Network

An affiliate network is another party in the campaign usually used by small merchants. Such networks provide technical support and solutions to problems encountered in the campaign.

For example, the affiliate network may set the terms for this program and even offer tracking solutions. Creative banners, program reports, handling commission, and more are also factors. 

To pick the best affiliate network, consider the following aspects:

  • The location of your competitors
  • Which businesses have the type of affiliates you need
  • Joining and monthly fees
  • The extent to which the affiliate network can support you
  • The country of the network.

An affiliate network is different from a manager. Meanwhile, the affiliate manager runs the entire program. Do you plan on outsourcing the management in your program? Or do you have sufficient resources to operate it by yourself?  

The Key to a Successful Campaign

Once you have launched your campaign, it doesn’t mean you just have to ensure that things keep flowing smoothly. You want to retain and strengthen the program through communication. Continuous communication with your affiliates, and even marketing their own sites, is the key to success. They have to get their commission quickly as well, and you do this by validating sales. Stay competitive even after you have launched, especially when it comes to commission offering. If they have inquiries, attend to them right away. Affiliates have to be updated immediately with any important information that might affect them. For example, they need to stay competitive about how they can send more customers your way. This is for the betterment of both of you, as the merchant and affiliate. There is more commission for them if there is more revenue for you. 

Product Feed

The product feed is a simple tool of any affiliate campaigns. Each retailer should have this. It’s a way to inform them about the products on the site of the merchant. It breaks up the details easily in CSV or XML format. Additionally, typically encompasses the name of the product and its URL. It should also have a picture, description, and price. Other information includes the shipping price and the information on stock. 

© Image credits to Anni Roenkae

LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP SOLUTION TO YOUR GROWTH NEEDS?