Read part 1: How to Build an Affiliate Marketing Program: A 101 Guide [Pt 1/2]
Now that you know the basics, time not to understand how you can create an effective affiliate marketing program. Thanks to affiliate program networks, this is fairly simple today.
7 Steps to Create an Affiliate Program for Your Product
Define Your Goals
The first step to creating an affiliate marketing program is to define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your program? Are you looking for a way to generate more traffic, leads, and sales for your business? Are you hoping to save money by outsourcing the work of creating content and making sales calls? Or are you primarily hoping to generate revenue from the sale? The answers to these questions will help determine which affiliate networks would be best for you and what your overall strategy should be.
Analyze Competitors' Affiliate Programs
If you're looking for inspiration on how other businesses are leveraging affiliates, check out some of the top competitors and see what they're doing differently. By comparing their programs with what you have in mind right now, you'll find many insights, which will subsequently help you create a better program. So, identify top competitors in your niche and spend time checking out their affiliate programs.
Choose an Affiliate Program Network
Affiliate program networks connect publishers or affiliates with brands. So, they are essentially a marketplace for affiliate programs. ShareASale and Commission Junction are two of the most popular names in the game. Once you have selected an affiliate network, this is where your program will be hosted; meaning, this is where people will come to sign up for your affiliate program and get paid. So, do your research to find a good affiliate program network that maps to your needs.
Create Affiliate Performance Requirements
Once you've selected an affiliate program, the next step is to create the performance requirements. For example, if you want affiliates to earn a commission based on how many people they bring in from their blog posts, then set up a goal for those clicks or leads and make sure that all of the links in the content are set up appropriately. In short, this is where you take care of all the details of your affiliate marketing, covering everything from how to apply to your program to how the affiliates will get paid. Get help from a digital marketing services provider.
Define Your Commission Strategy
There are several commission models you can follow to reward the affiliates. Recurring payments are when you pay affiliates every time the customer they brought makes a purchase. The percentage-based commission is when you pay a percentage of the total sales amount made. The direct sale model is a flat one-time commission your pay the affiliate. Do more research before pinning down one commission strategy. Weigh all the pros and cons of every commission model.
Promote Your Affiliate Marketing Program
Part of the process of creating an affiliate marketing program is promoting it to others. You can promote your affiliate marketing program by sharing it on social media, email lists, and any other channels that might help you spread the word about what you're doing.
You'll want to make sure you create a unique landing page where people can find more information about how they can participate in your affiliate marketing program. When you're promoting an affiliate marketing program, you should include things like:
- The name of the product or service
- How much money the person will earn for referring customers to purchase the product or service
- A link to the landing page where people can sign up for your affiliate marketing program
Continue Improving
Your affiliate marketing program isn't perfect. As things progress, you will discuss many things that are (and aren't) working with your program. The key is to identify these things and make changes accordingly. Keep on improving based on what is financially sound for your business.
Final Words
These are the broad steps involved in creating an affiliate marketing program. All said, developing and managing an affiliate program isn't very easy. There are many things that need to be taken care of. The program also requires proper monitoring. This might not be ideal for all businesses. This is where seeking help from the best SMO company in Kolkata that have experience with affiliate marketing can be a game-changer. So, consider getting help from experts and creating an effective affiliate marketing program.
