What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is one of the pillars of digital marketing. It is a system that was set up in the 90’s by Jeff Bezos and that has contributed to the success of his company.
The principle is simple: the company pays a commission to the affiliate for each sale generated through him. The affiliate is a person or a company that manages a website or social networks on which it promotes the products or services of an advertiser.
Affiliate marketing offers many benefits to businesses, including the ability to reach a wider audience and increase sales. For affiliates, affiliate marketing can be a source of additional revenue and a way to monetize their content. The affiliate industry continues to grow and develop in 2023, with more and more companies using affiliate marketing as a digital marketing strategy. That’s why it’s interesting to take a look at this topic and better understand who the main players are in this digital acquisition lever.
What are the main types of affiliates to follow in 2023?
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Content websites
Content websites, also known as “bloggers”, run sites or blogs with editorial content about a specific topic.
They recommend a company’s products or services to their audience and may have a specific, targeted audience that is interested in an area of expertise.
Companies can benefit from the credibility and trust that bloggers have already established with their audience. Thus, they improve their natural referencing and their traffic thanks to the notoriety of the blogger’s website.
As for the bloggers, they can earn money from their recommendations and content. Moreover, affiliation can help bloggers diversify their sources of income and monetize their content.
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Influencers
Influencers use their blogs or social networks (such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, Pinterest,…) to recommend a company’s products or services to their audience. To do so, they relay advertisements in different formats such as voucher code, banner ads or product highlights.
Companies can benefit from the notoriety of influencers and their ability to reach a specific audience and can thus reinforce the trust of their consumers.
Influencers earn commissions thanks to their influence and their posts on social networks via their affiliate links. In addition, affiliate marketing can allow them to promote products and services that match their personal brand.
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Price comparison
Price comparison sites are websites that allow consumers to compare the prices of products sold by different companies in one place. These sites have partnerships with companies that pay them a commission for each sale generated.
There are two types of price comparison sites:
– General price comparison sites: these are sites that offer a comparison of prices and features on a type of product.
– Specialised price comparison sites: they are specialised sites in a particular theme (such as lifestyle, sports, technology, travel or fashion…) and that offer a price comparison.
Companies have an interest in doing affiliation on comparison sites in order to gain online visibility, generate sales and improve their return on investment. It also allows them to compare their prices with those of their competitors, which can help them adjust their prices to stay competitive in the market.
On their side, price comparison sites can benefit from diversifying their revenue streams by working with businesses. This can help them attract consumers who are looking to save money by buying products online. Also it can boost their credibility by working with well-known brands.
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Cashback
Cashback are websites that allow consumers to earn money by making online purchases. As soon as a member of the community buys a product on one of the cashback site’s partner sites, he or she will benefit from a monetary payout of a portion of his or her purchases made through the site.
There are also “loyalty clubs” which are sites that have an exclusive community of members who earn discounts in the form of a virtual currency such as points, miles or tokens when they shop online. This is often the case, for example, with airline websites that reward their customers by allowing them to accumulate miles for each purchase. These miles can then be converted into a discount for the purchase of a next ticket.
By working with reputable brands and featuring them on their own site, cashback sites can build their reputation and gain consumer trust. However, it is important to note that the choice of affiliate program is crucial to ensure success. Cashback sites must ensure that the brands and products they promote are relevant to their target audience.
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Voucher code
Voucher code, offer promo codes and other good deals to use for various products and services online from e-merchants. These sites typically have high traffic, as many consumers are looking for ways to save money when shopping online.
Promo code sites also offer businesses a great opportunity to generate additional sales. By offering discount codes, businesses can attract customers who may not have purchased without the promotion.
By becoming an affiliate, promo code sites can earn a commission on the sales generated. And it can help them grow their professional network by building relationships with businesses, which can lead to closer collaborations in the future.
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Email marketing
Email marketing are databases that relay offers via dedicated emails. They send emails to their list of subscribers that contain links to relevant products or services, and receive a commission on the sales generated from these links.
There are also “email retargeting” which are advertising networks that target visitors who have not made a purchase from an advertiser’s site with a personalized email advertising campaign.
Email marketing affiliates usually have very targeted subscriber lists, which means that the recipients of the emails are already interested in the product or service offered. The emails sent can also be highly personalized, which can help build trust and credibility with the recipients.
Becoming an emailing affiliate can be beneficial as it allows them to monetize their subscriber list and earn commissions on sales generated from their affiliate links.
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Display affiliates
Display affiliates are websites that display ads on their pages. These ads can be in the form of banners, videos, pop-ups or other formats. They generate revenue by displaying ads and getting clicks or impressions. These are generalist sites or sites that specialize in a specific field.
There are also “display retargeting” affiliates, which are ad networks that target visitors who have not made a purchase on an advertiser’s site with a personalized ad campaign while they are browsing.
Companies can target displays on specific websites to reach qualified audiences and gain brand awareness. Display affiliates can offer their audience special promotions through their ads and can also build credibility for their website by displaying ads from well-known and respected brands.
How to get in touch with affiliates? Discover the SKALE with Kwanko platform
There are different affiliate platforms to simplify your task because they centralize the affiliates with whom you can be put in contact quickly.
This is the case of our affiliation platform SKALE with Kwanko, a self-service solution dedicated to small and medium-sized companies, start-ups and self-employed entrepreneurs, to allow them to quickly develop their e-commerce activity.
Based on a SaaS approach, the SKALE with Kwanko offer allows e-merchants to autonomously manage their affiliate program and thus boost their online sales thanks to the performance marketing model: the Publishers! (the affiliates!) are paid, not per click, but per sale commission. A very attractive model with guaranteed profitability.
This complete offer gives you access to all the features of the platform, Kwanko i.e. its network of 150,000 affiliate websites, but also to all the tools for managing its programs.
If you want to discover how our affiliation platform works, click here: https://skale.kwanko.com/affiliate-how-does-it-work
To summarize this article, affiliation is a powerful tool for companies looking to increase their online visibility and sales. With a diverse range of affiliates available, every business should be able to find the type of affiliate that best suits their needs. So don’t wait any longer and start your first affiliate program !
