AFFILIATE MARKETING AND ITS ADVANTAGES IN 21ST

CENTURY BUSINESS

A century ago, marketing was done through newspaper and magazine adverts and on billboards.
Following the developments in technology, it has begun to spread to radio and television advertising,
which reaches a wider market.
But technology has advanced rapidly since 2000 and gifted modern businesses with unprecedented
media and communication platforms to get their message across globally. The growth of businesses is
also increasing along with the intensity of competition due to the presence of internet technology.

Word of Mouth Marketing

The expansion of the global economy and e-commerce has provided consumers with more options than
ever before, allowing even tiny businesses to enter the international market. The internet now plays a
more crucial role than ever in creating the ideal marketing plan.
Thanks to social media, a great innovation in the 21st century that allows us to share images, videos
and sounds, modern campaigns can be easily implemented. Through word of mouth on social media, a
campaign can access a wide range of markets.
Word-of-mouth has always become an effective way of marketing – since a long time ago, not just
talking about the advantages of a product or how useless your latest purchase was. With the advent of
the internet, word of mouth means sharing your views with global audiences, including leaving online
reviews on purpose-built sites.
This is where affiliate marketing works, by leveraging digital platforms to create the crowd of word-of-
mouth and convert them into revenue.

Affiliate Marketing Increase Traffic, Awareness and Revenue

The crowd in digital conversations can be maximized for marketing campaigns. By offering someone
to promote your products on social media, personal blogs, or any digital platform, which aims at
generating revenue, you have begun your affiliate marketing program.
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing that has proven to be extremely effective
in SaaS business models, subscription-based services, and the product review sector. It is a risk-free
way for a wide range of industries to increase traffic, brand awareness, and sales.

Affiliate Marketing Helps Online Shoppers in Making Purchases

Startup companies including small businesses face many challenges to reach their maximum sales in
the first year. Similarly, convincing consumers to buy a new product from a company that has been
around for a long time requires more effort.
Before making a purchase decision, consumers should conduct research to gather more information and
avoid overpaying for products purchased online. The simplest and most popular way to find those items
is to conduct a Google search. According to a Kenshoo research paper, 85% of online shoppers use
Google to get ideas and information before making a purchase.
Affiliate reviews, comparisons, and tutorials provide consumers with answers. This is where affiliates
have a chance to get the conversion.

More Than 80% of Advertisers Use Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a fresh approach to advertising that may both raise consumer awareness of
products and produce consistent revenue. More potential customers can be drawn to one channel
through the usage of affiliate marketing, which is crucial for boosting traffic.
According to a Forrester survey commissioned by Rakuten, 81% of advertisers and 84% of publishers
use affiliate marketing. In addition, more than half of the affiliate publishers polled in the same analysis
claimed that affiliate marketing accounted for more than 20% of their annual revenue. This number is
continually expanding, with affiliate marketing spending in the United States increasing by 10% each
year.

This demonstrates that affiliate marketing is an effective campaign method for reducing marketing costs
while increasing revenue.

What Are the Benefits of Affiliate Marketing to Small Businesses?

Small businesses frequently have restricted resources and budgets. They may not even have a dedicated
marketing team to promote their business. To increase sales and traffic to your company, affiliate
marketing offers a practical and affordable solution. However, while having a great affiliate marketing
network is a huge benefit for small businesses, you must still be selective about who you work with.
It is preferable to have a vetting process in place rather than accepting everyone into your program.
Affiliates have an impact on your brand's image and reputation in the same way that an e-commerce
search marketing strategy does.
Affiliate marketing, like search engine strategies in e-commerce, will help increase product exposure
and sales. Here are some of its benefits:
1. Boost brand awareness
Every company's online goal is to be easily identified by as many potential customers as possible.
Affiliates increase brand awareness and reach by driving more traffic to your website. Affiliates
have a vested interest in your success because they earn a percentage of your revenue. They are
loyal brand advocates and help build trust with potential customers.
 2. Expand your targeted audience
Small businesses can tap into their affiliates' audiences and thus broaden their brand's reach. Other
marketing and advertising methods may not have made it easy to target and identify these new
audiences. By choosing affiliates who are compatible with your brand, you can ensure that the
traffic you receive via an affiliate's link is targeted to those who will benefit from your products or
services.
3. Increase social proof
Today's consumers are better informed and have higher expectations than ever before. They place
a high value on social proof of a brand's reputation. As informed above, consumers read online
reviews before making a purchase decision. When a company establishes rapport with an engaged
and trusting audience, their affiliate product or service reviews provide credible social proof to
prospective buyers.
4. Increase conversion rates.
The ability to track how your business performs allows you to make future operational
improvements. Companies can gain critical insights into where their customers come from and why
they buy by collecting data from affiliate marketing tracking.
Companies can improve conversions by making changes to their website, offering more engaging
visual creatives, and identifying which affiliates bring in the most revenue by studying and
analyzing the rich collection of data.
5. Spend less money
Affiliate marketing is far more cost-effective when compared to the costs of advertising or other
marketing initiatives. Affiliates are only paid when they generate a sale because the programme is
performance-based. Businesses plan ahead of time for the commission structure to avoid wasting
money on ineffective advertising campaigns.
6. Increase your return on investment (ROI)
Determining ROI for most marketing and advertising campaigns can be a difficult and
unpredictable waiting game. Affiliate marketing's performance-based model is designed to be
profitable. Businesses do not pay for potential buyers based on impressions or clicks, but rather on
closed sales.
This is one of the primary reasons why small businesses choose to promote and sell their products
or services through affiliates. By directing your marketing efforts through an affiliate programme,
you gain influence and direct access to a receptive, highly targeted audience that is more likely to
buy from your company.

Why Should You Use an Agency to Manage Your Affiliates?

Will you develop your own program or rely on an already established affiliate network? There is nothing
wrong with creating your own affiliate program if you have the time and resources to fully manage one.
However, most small businesses find it difficult to develop their own program. Fortunately, there are
numerous affiliate marketing systems that will pay you to promote your products and services.
Affiliate networks act as a go-between for your affiliate program, acting as a middleman or project
manager. They manage your program by offering services like recruiting, vetting, sales tracking, and
commission payments.
Because affiliates are all about optimization, it's no surprise that they prefer to maximise their chances
of working with merchants. According to the Forrester report, 71% of affiliate publishers in the United
States belong to three or more affiliate networks. Only 6% work with a single affiliate network.

However, without a large network of affiliate partners, no traffic or sales would be possible. A quick
look at affiliate networks reveals that the largest have at least 100K active affiliates, here is for example:

• Amazon Associates (900,000+)

• ShareASale (700,000+)
• Awin (241,000+)
• ClickBank (100,000+)

Start Using Affiliate Marketing for Your Business Right Now

Implementing an affiliate program has advantages and disadvantages, just like anything else in life.
However, the digital world is shifting toward an influencer model in which businesses can reach
massive audiences at a low cost, form partnerships with affiliates, and increase revenue.
As advertising costs rise, affiliate programs offer a cost-effective way to reach out to potential
customers.
Finally, here are the main takeaways of the affiliate marketing guide:
1. Affiliate marketing can increase website traffic, brand awareness, social proof, reach, and yield
a higher ROI.
2. Determine your goals, research your competition, determine your commission structure, select
your network and platform, and track your data before launching an affiliate program.
3. Consider factors such as the quality of their content, the authenticity of their communication,
and the strength of their online presence when looking for affiliates.