How to start affiliate marketing 

All you need to start an affiliate marketing program 

Whether you are starting a new business from scratch or already have an existing business, affiliate marketing is a great way to generate revenue. We introduce you to the topic of affiliate marketing, what you should consider and give you a glance at the promising future of your business.

What is affiliate marketing? 

Affiliate marketing is a microcosm of marketing channels and methods, from search, to social, to price comparison, email, content, remarketing, and anything that goes in between, all refined to deliver meaningful results for any given business.

There are two paths that you can choose for affiliate marketing. As a retailer (advertiser) or as an affiliate (publisher).

Essentially, publishers act as an outsourced sales team for the advertiser, promoting their products and getting rewarded, most often, on a percentage of the basket value. It is a passive way of earning commissions by marketing another brand’s products or services. Simply put: When someone buys through your affiliate link, you get a commission.

Using affiliate marketing within your strategy broadens your possibilities: as an affiliate marketer, you can promote products from many different companies and earn commissions from all of them.

With a cost-per-sale business model, affiliate marketing is the most cost-effective and risk-free marketing channel and one of the simpler income streams to set up and automate. We show you necessary steps to set up your new strategy.

Join an affiliate network or an affiliate program?

At first glance, both provide you the opportunity to sign up with an affiliate. However, they differentiate within the number of programs they can connect you with. Whilst affiliate programs allow you to sign up directly with a company, affiliate networks enable you to choose between different programs that are offered by many different companies who publish their programs on these large networks.

When you are deciding for a network or a program, keep your business model and your time in mind:

• Do you want to connect with one company or more?
• Do you want to connect with companies individually or do you want to have your partnerships all in one place, a service networks offer?
• Would you classify your business as a start-up or small business?

Depending on your business situation and aspirations, you can either choose a network or a single program.

Maybe rather join a self-service-platform? 

However, if you are still in the early phase of a start-up or small business, you might not have the time to speak to account managers at networks or publishers. Actions, that are needed to build and maintain relationships for continued investment.

In conditions of limited budget and resources, small businesses are the ones who could benefit the most from a wide range of online partners rewarded on a performance model. That is where we suggest a self-service platform like Grow.

The core principle of Grow is to adapt Tradedoubler’s technology and experience in affiliate marketing to the needs of small businesses: simplicity, flexibility, automation.

A promising future ahead 

Affiliate marketing is the solution if you want to gain control of your own income by focusing on performance-based revenue options. According to Statista, business spending on affiliate marketing will hit $8.2 billion in the U.S by 2022. Set up your affiliate strategy today and take advantage of the promising business model!

Reach out to our team of experts here.