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At the time of recording, my business is on track to more than double our affiliate commissions just within the last year – and we’re talking 7-figure commissions being doubled.
In this episode, I’m sharing some of the strategies we’ve been doing behind the scenes and the focus we’ve given to affiliate marketing because boy, has it been paying off.
And the best part is, it’s not a ton of work, it’s strategic and thoughtful work that you are absolutely capable of!
If affiliate marketing is something you want to explore more, I put together an amazing guide to help you get your first affiliate sale. In it, I walk you through where and how to start sharing affiliate offers, give you a step-by-step checklist to clarify and simplify the process, and give you smart strategies to get bigger results.
Download my free guide, How to Make Your First Affiliate Sale, here!
Why I Love Affiliate Marketing
- It gives you a chance to sell things you never plan to create on your own. You get to focus on one thing… selling. Someone else does the ideation, the creation, the delivery, and the support.
- It’s an incredibly low risk way to get comfortable marketing. There’s very little at stake here as you learn how to market these offers and share things that you love. You basically have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
- It allows you to have more offers to share and promote. If you don’t have time to create your own offer or your audience is tired of hearing what you can sell, you get to talk about other things you love organically and authentically.
- You get to just share the things you love. If you are someone who is naturally swearing by the new skincare regime or sending your friends links of the jeans they “have to” buy, this is for you. If you love sharing the things you love or that are life-changing, this is an easy way to get paid to recommend what you love.
- If you do it strategically, you can be more hands off. Some brands have recurring partner models meaning if you get a new monthly subscriber, you get that recurring incentive of getting someone to sign up. You can also build out ways that you’re earning affiliate commissions while you sleep from things like blog posts, Pinterest pins, and SEO.
- You can expand your relationship after you’ve gotten results. According to Demandsage, 80% of brands have an affiliate program if you are already a paying customer – which you SHOULD be if you’re wanting to promote someone. Having that organic experience and being a paying customer is the most authentic way to thrive in a partnership!
How to Promote Your Affiliate Partners
Over the years, there are a few strategies that have worked really well for me when promoting for my affiliate partners. Let’s dive in to my top tips!
- Curate Your Favorite Collections
One of my favorite strategies is curating collections of my favorite things for each brand I’m an affiliate for.
By creating content that answers people’s questions and connects them directly to the products I use and love, I make it easier for them to make a purchasing decision!
For example, I LOVE Primally Pure Skincare, and my team has built out our own page, blog posts, Reels, and Instagram highlight where I share my exact skincare routine and why I love it.
Instead of hiding behind stock photos or the assets a brand gives you, create your own. People will connect on a far deeper level when they understand how this thing transformed it all for you!
As these relationships grow and you expand your affiliate marketing efforts, another option could be to curate ALL top deals and offers together too! For example, you could create a blog post rounding up ALL of your favorite products grouped by category, season, or function.
- Build Your Own Landing Page
It can be a bit limiting if you’re relying on brands to give you the resources, whether it’s a specific “hard to say” link or a generic landing page, these may mean that you need to go a step further.
My team and I have created custom landing pages for many of our affiliate partners over the years to share more of why I love them.
Check out examples of the landing pages we’ve created for a few of our top affiliate partners:
- Save 10% on Primally Pure Skincare
- Save 15% on Your Tonic Website
- Save 35% on your your first year of Honeybook
- Save 50% on your first year of Flodesk
- Follow Up With Those Who Didn’t Purchase
Following up with people who showed interest but didn’t make a purchase is another effective strategy. By asking them questions and offering additional resources or offers, you can increase the chances of them becoming paying customers in the future.
Based on what tracking system the company uses, you may gain access and permission to be in touch with those who have expressed interest, whether it’s getting a list of their name and emails or if you’re able to retarget based on their ad settings!
For example, Flodesk offers a free trial, and for those who started the trial but didn’t sign up for Flodesk afterward, we have an automated funnel following up with them, letting them know what new features are on the platform to see if they want to scoot back on it!
- Align Your Promotion With The Brand’s Promotions
Aligning your promotion with a brand’s promo is also a great way to boost results. By planning your content around the brand’s promotions and being in the loop about upcoming offers, you can create a cohesive marketing strategy that benefits both you and the brand.
We have contacts for our top affiliate partners and most will keep you “in the know” on what they have coming up so we can plan out our promotions to line up with theirs.
When planning out our promotion for an affiliate partner, we aim to promote across all of our channels, including on the blog, podcast, Instagram, email marketing, and Manychat automation. Basically, we treat their launch like OUR launch, and go all out!
- Think Through What Your Dream Client Is Searching For
Think of seasonal trends and how you can create solutions for your dream clients so that they can stop their endless search whether you’re curating things like your favorite business software you’re using or the perfect Amazon matching sets to wear for the holidays.
The best way to do this is to think through what your dream clients are typing into Google, Pinterest, or YouTube!
Some things your ideal client may be searching for are:
- Investments to make in your business before the year ends
- The perfect gifts for your boss/team
- Ways to clean up your products before the new year
When you know what your ideal client is searching for, you can create content specifically for them (with your affiliate links throughout)!
- Integrate Inclusions Naturally In Your Content
Think about this: what are ways you can promote your affiliate partners in your natural content creation process?
Including your partners in your content naturally makes sure it doesn’t always feel like you’re selling but you’re using your partners as a means of serving.
For example, if I’m recording a podcast episode about tools I use for my business and share my personal experience with a product, service, or offer that I love and weave it into the flow of my content, why wouldn’t I? It’s so fun to share what I love!
- Think Long-Term When Creating Affiliate Content
While it’s easy to focus on promotions when there’s a flash sale going on or that one Black Friday deal happening, we’ve found the magic in thinking long-term and more evergreen when it comes to partnerships.
Some of the long-term content that serves us month to month include: Instagram story highlights, blog posts, Pinterest Pins, and references that live in the podcast. We also have built up our SEO over the years through the resources we’ve created for our top partners, which means more on-going income vs. huge spikes and dips.
Even if you’re creating content around a promo, think about ways to repurpose the content you’re creating for more evergreen or long-lasting content efforts.
I hope you will use these effective strategies to supercharge your affiliate sales and increase your income. If you want an additional resource to help you get your first affiliate sale, download my free guide!
