Affiliate marketing, which has existed for years, has recently become an essential tool for securing publicity. Any company with an e-commerce website needs to be on an affiliate platform to compete in today’s marketplace. From a PR standpoint, it’s necessary to even be considered for editorial coverage. From a sales standpoint, there’s a tremendous opportunity to increase your profits when managed well.
Why has affiliate marketing taken over?
Because it’s a major revenue stream for publishers who lost advertising dollars, so much so that income from affiliate sales can often float their whole organization. Every major digital media outlet is using it from Allure to Dow Jones to The Wall Street Journal. For content creators, it’s one of the ways they make money aside from brand partnerships.
So what is affiliate marketing exactly?
Influencer Michelle Lei’s Amazon Storefront Page Uses Affiliate Links
Once you’re able to recognize it, you’ll see it everywhere. From influencers promoting their Amazon storefronts to the editorial lists of best hair dryers, affiliate marketing plays a huge role in 90% of editorial content being created today.
Affiliate marketing is a system in which content creators/publishers earn a commission by promoting a product or service and in return the content creator or publisher will receive a percentage of any sale made through their link. This all takes place on the backend through trackable links created in the affiliate platform a brand uses.
Editorial coverage using affiliate links can take the form of product reviews, roundups, recommendations from experts, or links from influencers.
How does it work?
If your company’s products are sold online through a big retail store like Walmart, Target, Sephora or Ulta these retailers are already using affiliate software and are easy for journalists to credit in a story. Not surprisingly, Amazon is a preferred retailer for its commission structure and is favored by influencers and top digital magazines because their commission is based off of the entire shopping cart sale, not just the product that originally drove the traffic to the site.
POPSUGAR’s monthly product roundup for October 2022 is an affiliate-driven article
However, if you are a DTC brand, affiliate marketing can help level the playing field if you offer a competitive commission rate to publishers and influencers. First, you need to partner with an affiliate platform like Share A Sale or Rakuten. Your PR agency can help you do this and can often secure a discounted set-up fee for you. Another piece of good news is that you don’t need to have a constant flow of new products to be considered for editorial coverage. Does one of your products have hundreds of excellent Amazon reviews? Great! Is it a proven best seller? Great. This gives publishers reassurance that an article will perform well and everyone wins.
Earlier this year, RED PR expanded our services to now offer Affiliate Marketing audits that include a strategic affiliate plan, proper dashboard set-up and a competitor analysis so you know how to set competitive commission rates for different types of affiliates, such as publishers and influencers.
For our clients, we’re able to offer a 50% discount on set-up fees for Share-a-Sale (which is compatible with top magazine’s favorite sub-affiliate program —Skimlinks).
Through Share-a-Sale, it’s possible to set influencer affiliate rates along with editorial rates. While influencers will often use the software themselves to find new products to feature (generally those with higher commissions are more likely to be chosen), it’s a better idea to identify influencers who share your brand’s values and key demographic then individually pitch them your rates and product for review.
And like influencers, shopping/commerce editors will check affiliate platforms for the top performing products. But it’s best to reach out to them individually, and even better to develop relationships with shopping editors. If this seems daunting or too time-consuming, RED PR has spent years nurturing mutually beneficial relationships with top shopping editors and influencers and continues to create new industry connections everyday.
If you are interested in learning more about how affiliate marketing can benefit your brand, feel free to email RED@RED-PR.COM.
