Powerful Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Beginners

How did many successful entrepreneurs start their journey? For some, it was by flipping Instagram pages; for others, it was by selling used phones on eBay, yet for some of the more talented and mindful entrepreneurs, affiliate marketing was the way to go.  Just ensure you have your Affiliate Marketing Strategies in place.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing is when you use a social media or blog presence to share a link to a product or service and get paid commission on the sales the company gets from your promotion. It’s as simple as that! Affiliate marketing is the next step after content marketing, and here is a blog post that has a deeper focus on content marketing.

Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, or Youtube channel can really make money with affiliate marketing. It is passive income after the initial work of promotion on your part. This is truly one of the best advantages of affiliate marketing, as you can sit back and watch the money roll in.

What Is an Affiliate Marketing Strategy?

Basically, this is how you plan out your marketing program. The coach doesn’t simply send his football team out onto the field without a game plan; he drills moves and strategies into their brains during practice. Affiliate marketing is barely different.

You want to make sure that you have a legitimate plan. Otherwise, even an amazing product won’t bring in any buyers, and you’ll be stuck with a link to a product that no one wants to buy. There’s always a need for a strategy. Here are four great strategies for affiliate marketing, whether you are new to the game or a seasoned veteran.

1. Start a Brand of Your Own

This takes some significant work upfront on your part with seemingly no pay off at first. But if you do it right, you will have a group of people you can market to all the time. 

Create a brand in a niche that interests you and generate content around that niche. Write blog posts, make videos on Youtube, run a themed page on Instagram. An easy thing to do is write/produce high-quality reviews of products on your blog/channel. You can then market your affiliation with those products in that content. 

You will need to understand the audience, but since it’s a niche you’re interested in, you will be able to target the ideal customer; and if you pick something you really know, you’ll know the ins and outs of the market, the problems with the product, and the needs that the product fills.

Make it easy on yourself and promote products or services that you already use. If it’s something you like, chances are, your audience will appreciate the product too. You can then reach out to a company and promote something you are already familiar with and trust.

2. Leverage Email Marketing

Once you have built a fanbase, make sure you get your followers to subscribe to a mailing list. You can send out emails from an email software like MailChimp or ConvertKit to all of your followers with your affiliate link or programs. 

Email marketing has one of the highest conversion rates out of the marketing forms. People subscribe to your mailing list because they already like you or your content and feel like they could benefit from regular emails from you.

Make sure you are smart about emailing to your subscribers or followers. You don’t want to look too spammy and choke their email daily with poorly written messages, bad calls to action, or broken links. In this case, your subscribers will at best ignore the letters, and at worst, actively unsubscribe from your mailing list. 

3. Use Affiliate Marketing Software

Sign up for a program that will help you manage all of your affiliate links. Some of these programs have their own little “marketplace” where you can sign up to various affiliate programs within their whole platform. Many of them are so detailed, so you can see the average conversion rate of the program, the savings the customer is getting, the payout per customer you will receive, and how long the program lasts. Considering this useful information, you will be able to pick the options you want, rather than trying to chase down different programs.

The best examples of affiliate programs and platforms are the following::

• Etsy: You can be an affiliate for anything on their platform and earn a commission off of it.
• Amazon Affiliates: Promote a product and get paid a portion of the sale; simple as that! Also, you get a percentage of anything bought with your affiliate link, not just the product you promote.
• ClickBank & CJ Affiliates: These are marketplaces that are full of thousands of different affiliate programs. Take your pick! 

4. Always Be Honest and Open About Affiliate Links

Subscribers can see scams from a mile away. Maybe it stems from a culture of suspicion or deep familiarity with scam phone calls and the precise wording they use. But anyone today knows when they are being led to a purchase, and they don’t like it. 

Be honest with your subscribers when you are presenting them with an affiliate link. They will appreciate the honesty and will be more comfortable checking out what you’re throwing their way. You’ll build a rapport with them, and—even if they don’t buy this time—they might buy the next time because you kept that subscriber or follower!

Final Thoughts

• Remember to be honest with your followers, and it will reward you in due time thanks to your Affiliate Marketing Strategies.
• Don’t write scammy emails. Be sure to send targeted emails at the right time. Use current events or something you and your subscribers have in common to bridge the communication gap.
• Sign up for well-known affiliate programs or affiliate marketplaces. They are popular because they work well. A little competition here is a good thing because it shows proven success.
• Start a niche brand on social media, market to the niche, and find out if it’s profitable. If it’s not, keep going and find one that is!. No one ever said success was quick or easy, but it’s worth the work.
• Always have your Affiliate Marketing Strategies in mind. Take the time to make a plan, and you will see the benefits soon.