7 Strategies Successful Affiliate Marketers Use To Drive Revenue To The Brands They Promote

Affiliate marketing is a methodology where people or companies can earn a commission for marketing another company’s brand, product, or service. Did you know that affiliate marketing leads social commerce and is in the same league as email marketing for producing revenue online? It is used by almost every company and, hence, is a great way for influencers and publishers to integrate it into their activities.

Affiliate Marketing Key Statistics

Affiliate marketing accounts for over 16% of all eCommerce orders in the US and Canada and accounts for over 15% of all digital media revenue. Affiliate marketing spending is projected to grow by over 10% in the next couple of years.

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You don’t become successful overnight in affiliate marketing. In this piece, we recounted seven things that successful affiliate marketers do right. 

Affiliate Marketing Strategies

1. Maintaining Accounts Across Several Social Media Platforms – Being active on multiple social media platforms can benefit affiliate marketers in many ways. It enables you to reach a wider audience because it’s unlikely that you’ll capture your entire audience on a single network. That’s because likes and preferences vary between audiences. Some prefer LinkedIn for more professional content, while others prefer more fun platforms, like TikTok, SnapChat, and Instagram. You’ll, of course, want to create content in different formats, including blog posts, videos, images, infographics, depending on what’s popular on that network.

Since 2020, the number of influencers and publications who develop more than one account has not exceeded 10% of the total number. However, the more traffic channels an affiliate has, the higher their average income is. In 2021, influencers and publishers who maintained 2 or 3 accounts across social networks earned on average 3 times more in Admitad ConvertSocial than those who maintained only one account. At the same time, those who developed 4 or more accounts earned about 10 times more than users with one account. 

Admitad ConvertSocial

2. Diversify The Brands, Products, or Services You Promote – Successful affiliate marketers don’t limit themselves to one brand or product. As a marketer, your income directly correlates with the number of advertisers you work with. 
   
   For instance, in 2021 alone, Adam Enfroy, a renowned content marketing influencer, earned a staggering $63,363 from 64 different affiliate programs. Adam recommends diversifying the products you advertise and working with many advertisers. Diversifying helps to compare the results of monetization and make profits. Diversifying the links can also boost sales by providing subscribers with different buying options. 

Affiliates who work with 2-5 advertisers earn 3 times more than those with just one advertiser. The more advertisers you work with, the higher your earning potential. 

Admitad ConvertSocial

3. Matching the Ads with the Blog Niche – If you’re a beginner, it’s advisable to focus on one favorite topic and occupy a specific content niche. In this case, ensure the products you advertise should belong to the niche that corresponds with your blog. In 2021, for example, the income of affiliates who worked in Admitad ConvertSocial only in their niche doubled compared to 2020. Why is defining a niche so important? Simple, if you try to cater to everyone, your overall marketing message won’t speak to anyone. To define a niche, first, analyze your audience. Gather insights into their preferences through chats, comments, etc. Once you understand your audience and what they love, create content around those topics and match ads with your blog niche. 
4. Being Open and Transparent About Advertising – Content creators and influencers don’t have to hide in the background of the content they’re promoting. Today’s audiences prefer to see real people and understand their true intentions. This also applies to paid promotions. 
   
   Content creators and influencers shouldn’t hide the fact that they’re earning a commission when the reader clicks on certain links. Disclosing this information helps build trust and a lasting relationship beneficial to both parties. 
   
   Successful affiliate marketers also ensure their users understand what’s in for them if they buy using affiliate links. For instance, users should know that they can save money by buying using promotional codes or affiliate links. 
   
   Introduce advertising to your audience as soon as possible, otherwise, it would look out of place for subscribers. Even if you have 100 followers, start discussing brands and products – it may attract potential advertisers to you, help you adapt to selling yourself, and warm up your audience.

In a recent study, 86% of the respondents said that transparency from business is more important than ever. The researchers also found that consumers had higher expectations for honesty in brands than they did for politicians.

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5. Testing Formats of Advertising Content – The best display ad strategies utilize a combination of different ad formats. Most marketers use a combination of standard text ads, image, video ads, and rich media banner ads. Successful marketers test different ad types to determine which formats convert more and on what platforms. You can gain insights into your ads’ performance by analyzing relevant blog and social media analytics. Monitoring the entire sales funnel can also give you insights into how your ads are performing. 
6. Collaborating in a Smart Way – Collaborating with other publications and influencers is a great way to develop professional relationships to meet your goals. Done right, collaboration can help you reach a new audience, increase your brand’s traffic, and build trust. However, collaboration should be done in a smart way. Make sure to collaborate with those who share a niche with you. For example, if you’re blogging about fashion, it’s best to collaborate with other fashion influencers rather than publications who write about technology or real estate. 
7. Don’t Get Carried Away by Advertising – Promoting any product just for money is unethical. For starters, it’s advisable to find a niche you clearly understand and promote one product you’re knowledgeable about.
   
   Don’t get carried away by advertising. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and select too many affiliate products at once. This will likely end up in fewer sales—defeating the purpose of getting started with affiliate marketing in the first place. Having too many promotional products on your blog can also create a wrong impression on your audience. They’ll see your products and conclude you’re just in for money.
   
   Rather than getting carried away by paid promotions, it’s good to maintain a good balance between promoted posts and posts without ads. A lot depends on the platform and the topic. But if you have 1-2 posts or sets of stories per day, then it is optimal to sell directly and post ads 2-3 times a week. And do not forget that you need to be super careful about choosing an advertiser. As a rule of thumb, we recommend:
   • 80% of engaging and useful content.
   • 20% of promotional content.

Success in affiliate marketing doesn’t happen overnight.

It results from continuous efforts and commitment to succeed. Whether you’re new to affiliate marketing or an established influencer, doing these seven things will help you build a fruitful relationship with your audience that will lead to more sales.