If revamping your affiliate program was on your OKR list, here’s the piece for you. Things change fast when it comes to B2B affiliate marketing and it’s important to stay current. So, here are some of the strategies affiliate partners can implement to drive sales, increase revenue, and win more affiliates in 2023.
Provide beginner-focused tiers
Affiliate marketing is becoming increasingly preferred over traditional advertising. But let’s face it, it’s hard for incoming B2B affiliates to stand out in an influencer marketplace crowded with high-flying affiliate programs. It’s equally hard for affiliate programs to appeal to newcomers to the affiliate space over name-brand partners like Amazon.
To capture the attention of prospective partners, affiliate program managers can offer a specialized tier appealing to beginners in the affiliate marketing space. Consider advantages like no-minimum traffic requirements, payout requirements, or using sliding scale commissions for clicks instead of sales.
Providing a dedicated, low-barrier entry point can make your affiliate program attractive for incoming partners.
Related: How to attract better quality affiliates to your program.
Create competitive commission incentives
Partnering selectively with programs your target audience knows and loves is totally on-trend. Some of the top affiliate programs stand out by offering perks within their industry.
The travel sector is a great example of this. TripAdvisor, for instance, pays out 50 per cent of the commission when a user visits the website through an affiliate link, while Sandals affiliates can win free trips and performance bonuses on top of their regular commission.
The added incentive of a Caribbean vacation becomes a motivating factor for travel bloggers and influencers who can promote their affiliate links to partner with one brand over the other. The additional perks can entice affiliates to choose that partner.
As a bonus, partner programs can provide freebies for affiliates to give away to their network, meaning users get free perks while your affiliate and yourself earn added sales and commissions. It’s a win-win-win.
Support with dedicated affiliate management
One of the best things affiliate partners can get access to is a dedicated support line or marketing manager focused on their account. Some top programs offer direct access to affiliate support teams. Others provide one-to-one access to personal account managers to help partners every step of the way. Determine what resources your brand needs to provide based on its range of affiliate partners.
Top affiliate companies like Fiverr, SEMrush, and WP Engine, all provide dedicated affiliate managers for partners.
For content creators, affiliate managers can even provide assistance to partners in creating key content narratives which give affiliate marketers additional eyes on the SERPs that make it into affiliate advertising.
See more: These are the features and functionality your first affiliate program software should have.
Refine your program based on data
Unfortunately, the “set it and forget it” approach won’t stand out when it comes to an affiliate program. Tracking the relevant KPIs of your affiliate program and adjusting as necessary is your best bet in optimizing your affiliate strategy.
Affiliate managers can use insights gathered from data like revenue earned, conversion rates, leads generated, and unique sales to rank affiliates and determine which affiliates are bringing in the most leads and sales and reorient their affiliate lineups in response.
Bundle your offerings
Who doesn’t love a deal? Pairing an affiliate offer with a fellow vendor adds a value incentive, especially when the end user is receiving two goods or services for the price of one checkout.
The incentive is manifold: new customers are incentivized with a discount, while both vendors can leverage their respective audiences as well as the affiliate’s.
Bundling can also work alongside other promotions like coupon codes. When deployed correctly, they have the added bonus of being cost-effective and trackable, so you can see how and where they’re being used, or make adjustments to the offering where you need to.
Pro-tip: Join an affiliate network
Trying to make your affiliate dreams come true? Don’t go it alone. Affiliate networks like the PartnerStack Marketplace get you exclusive access to some of the world’s most relevant B2B affiliate marketing programs, and hopefully, your next partner.
Affiliate networks can be valuable for finding active partners. Rather than evaluating every single affiliate that piques your interest individually, affiliate networks act as a library of service partners, giving you the full range of need-to-knows of each, all in one place. PartnerStack also has engagement-boosting features like challenges, in-app messaging, and learning materials to enhance brands’ interconnectedness.
In all, your affiliate program should be treated like a living system. Remember, maintaining a successful affiliate program depends on the success of your partners. Making the necessary updates to your routines and tracking initiatives will help you stay ahead of the competition and keep you on the cutting edge of affiliate marketing in 2023.
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