Sustainable Practices in Affiliate Marketing

There are many different sustainable practices you can implement in affiliate marketing management. You’re likely to find lots of tips and tricks on our podcast or at events like AMLeaders. But what are the best ones that we swear by? What are the basics you need as a foundation? Take a look at our suggestions to find out.

Use the right affiliates

It almost goes without saying, but the first rule of sustainable practices in affiliate marketing is to pick your partners carefully. It’s a rule to go by in personal lives, and business, but especially affiliate marketing. Think carefully about how you benefit your partner and how the partner benefits you. Does their audience have a substantial crossover with your targeted demographic? Are you then actually going to gain anything from that audience? Does their approach to content suit your brand, etc.?

We say that with the caveat of not immediately going for only the influencer or brand with the biggest follower count. That can, in fact, be counterproductive, depending on your goals. Instead, reach out to more niche affiliates with a more focused target audience that feeds your needs.

Optimise your platforms

A lot of brands think that creating content and then simply posting it wholesale to every platform is the way to go. This can make your brand look lazy which will do your marketing campaign a disservice and it isn’t a sustainable practice. It’s important to tailor your content to the platform for the best response and supplement it with strategies like personalised emails, targeted landing pages, intent-based keywords and more. Additionally, you should be keeping an eye on your analytics to monitor whether or not a certain method is working and then analyse what you can change to improve it.

Diversify your affiliate program

Like an accountant diversifying assets and stocks to reduce risk, you should be diversifying your affiliates. As mentioned, you shouldn’t drop all your eggs into the basket of the influencer with the biggest follower count. Instead, make up a collection of diverse affiliate partners that cover different platforms, different formats, different genres, different approaches, etc. That way, if one falls through or isn’t performing how you expect them to, you have others to fall back on.

Use B2B (brand to brand)

B2B, brand-to-brand, co-branding, collaborating, or whatever else you want to call it, is a great sustainable practice in order to share audiences. If you put out an offer or an exclusive product between the two of you, you can get the attention of a lot of people. Shoutouts, exclusive offers, and interest in what you come up with will make a lot of people crossover to see what you offer.

Use affiliate marketing software

If you take our advice and create a collection of affiliate marketers, that can be a lot of plates to spin. Keep them all in one place with the right affiliate marketing software. Your chosen software can automate tedious aspects of management, track performance data, and streamline all your affiliates into one platform.

Understand your data

Of course, there is a difference between collecting data and understanding data. If you choose your affiliate marketing software wisely, you should be shown in simple terms what all the maths means. Remember that the human element is needed when it comes to action. These software platforms can only inform decisions, you have to make them. Keep up-to-date with the latest trends and issues in data retention to make informed decisions.