AFFILIATE MARKETING IN 2020!

 

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Although affiliate marketing is often referred to as a "channel", it is actually a model or framework that enables brands to cooperate with individuals or companies (called "members", "partners" and "publishers") to track and evaluate them Performance, and evaluated in an effective, scalable, and cost-effective manner.

For example, suppose you are a direct-to-consumer company that sells engagement and wedding rings directly. Through your membership plan, you can work with...

·         Website focuses on hosting budget-friendly weddings

·         Engagement/Wedding Ring Review Site

·         Distributors who have the ability to promote your "Free Ring Sizing Tool Kit" contract, thereby bringing you high-value potential customers.

No matter what you want these partners to do—promote sales, potential customers, new customers, etc., you can pay them after they complete the required actions.

In other words, you pay for the actual results.

LEARN: How Affiliate Marketing Works?

Who Are The Participants In The Affiliate Marketing Model?

Brand (advertiser/merchant)

A company that sells products or services. Industries include retail, direct-to-consumer, subscription services, financial services, travel, telecommunications, broadband, gaming, e-commerce, marketing, B2B, etc.

Affiliated companies (publishers, partners)

Brand’s marketing partner. They can be bloggers, active social media posters, niche content sites, personal website owners, product review sites, shopping sites, mobile apps, app-to-app marketing platforms, mass media sites, loyalty, coupons And reward sites and even other brands.

To learn more about these different types of affiliate partners, download the "Final Guide to Affiliate Marketing Models" and/or view the list on the "Publisher Development" page.

Member network

In a membership plan, the membership network usually handles all tracking, reporting, and payment for members. In addition to providing tracking technology, some member networks also provide full-service management or self-service management of programs. The membership network also allows brands to access the membership network that has applied to join its network, which also allows these members to access hundreds or even thousands of membership programs.

Software as a service (SaaS) platform

In membership programs, SaaS platforms also provide companies with performance tracking, reporting, and payment, but they do not manage membership programs or provide companies with access to membership networks. Their focus is only on the technical aspects of the alliance program.

Brands choose alliance networks or SaaS platforms as their technology partners, not both. To learn more about the network and SaaS platform and the types of companies under each type, please download the free member network and SaaS platform quick guide.

Agents (please refer to membership plan management below)

On behalf of the daily operation and strategy of brand supervision and management procedures, including partnerships, partner recruitment, activation and optimization. They work directly with members and member networks or SaaS platforms related to the technical needs of the service plan.

Customer

Members wish to influence the audience to make purchases, submit potential customer forms, sign up for newsletters, test services, become new customers, etc.

How Does The Membership Plan Work?

For people outside, the inner workings of affiliate marketing programs can be mysterious and confusing. Some marketers even believe that, just like paid search or paid social, this is a channel that can be opened and closed (destroyer: no).

Although the membership partnership is multi-faceted, it is a structure built on transparency and real relationships, not a one-time transaction.

The overall goal of the affiliate program is to create a win-win framework for the brand and its alliance partners. After the framework is properly strategically established, it can constitute an important part of the brand's online revenue, and has a high return on advertising expenditure and a single time The conversion bid is low.

 Examples Of Affiliate Marketing Used To Drive Sales:

·         Alliance partners promote branded products or services on their websites.

·         The consumer clicks on the brand promotion on the member website, and then stores the cookie in the consumer's browser (for more information about cookies, see the next section); this allows the member network or SaaS platform to track the consumer from the member The progress from the website to the brand shopping cart.

·         Consumers are redirected to the brand's website.

·         Consumers buy products/services from brands.

·         Then, the network or SaaS platform will automatically (according to the rules set by the brand) pay commissions to members to drive sales.