Last updated on April 2nd, 2024 at 04:06 am
Marketing has an important role to play in organisations of all sizes. Many young talents are opting for a career in digital marketing. Every organisation has a dedicated marketing team that is in charge of marketing its offerings and generating revenue.
Changing needs of organisations have brought about a revolution in the sphere of marketing. Today, the world has more novel marketing strategies than ever, and this sphere is constantly evolving. Affiliate marketing is one such technique that has been gaining importance recently. Before we evaluate the efficacy of this new strategy we must categorically understand what it is and how it works.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a new-age performance-centric marketing strategy that involves an advertiser rewarding the affiliate on the basis of each sale completed as a result of their marketing efforts.
The affiliate has the liberty to promote the product of the advertiser through their preferred channel with the help of a unique link. The affiliate can promote the product through social media, email, or even advertising providing a unique tracking link. Each customer has to make their purchase through the unique link of the affiliate so that they can earn a commission based on each completed sale.
Affiliate marketing is an increasingly popular marketing strategy that helps business increase their revenue and expand their operation in a short span of time. Since this process is incentive-based, it works as an effective marketing strategy.
Types of Affiliate Marketing
Unattached Affiliate Marketing
In unattached affiliate marketing the affiliate marketer is not affiliated with the commodity or service they are promoting. They are not responsible for the product that they promote.
The affiliate marketer creates content in the form of blog posts, videos, or social media posts and promotes the product or service through a unique affiliate link. Whenever a customer clicks on the affiliate link to make a purchase, the affiliate marketer earns a commission.
In unattached affiliate marketing the affiliate has no control over the quality of the product or service. They also do not have access to additional resources or support from the advertiser.
Related Affiliate Marketing
In related affiliate marketing the affiliate shares a relationship with the product or service offered. Here the affiliate is a credible source of generating traffic and they possess the authority and knowledge necessary to drive traffic. However, the affiliate makes no guarantees regarding the effectiveness of the good or service.
Involved Affiliate Marketing
As the name suggests, involved affiliate marketing needs the affiliate to be equally involved with the product or service. That is to say, the affiliate must have used the product or service and must have conviction over the product or service.
They act as reliable sources of information. On the other hand, given that they are making recommendations, any issues with the offering could pose a threat to their image. Hence, affiliates working with this channel of affiliate marketing must thoroughly research the product they endorse.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is advantageous for both the advertiser and the affiliate. Its growing prominence is due to a number of reasons. Check out the advantages of affiliate marketing!
- Affiliate marketing involves almost no financial risk to the advertiser. This holds true because an advertiser will only have to pay a commission to the affiliate in case of a conversion.
- Affiliate marketing grants advertisers a lot of flexibility. Advertisers can expand or contract their teams based on their needs without thinking of finances.
- Affiliate marketing is also flexible to affiliates. There is no strict rule that binds affiliates to work for a certain number of hours in this kind of marketing. Neither there is a term that binds affiliates to promote only a particular type of product. They are free to promote any number of products at the same time. Affiliates can take this up as a passive source of income while being engaged elsewhere professionally.
- The majority of firms need cash flow to finance the products they are selling. There are also some other start-up costs involved. However, affiliate marketing can be done for a reasonable price, making it possible for businesses to start out quickly without any hassle.
- Since the affiliate mainly promotes products among their circle, you can be sure that the traffic to your website is from people who find your product or service valuable.
Importance of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is becoming increasingly popular because it is extremely cost-effective. Affiliate marketing can help businesses increase their sales by reaching a wider audience leading to more conversions.
Affiliate marketing can also assist businesses in increasing brand exposure. When affiliates promote a business's products or services, they are also promoting the business's brand. This leads to their brand getting promoted along with their products.
Affiliate marketing can also help businesses improve their SEO rankings. The business’ website's search engine ranking improves substantially when an affiliate gets linked to the company’s website.
Conclusion
Methods of marketing have evolved over the years and affiliate marketing is one of the emerging marketing strategies. Mastering new-age marketing techniques is not an easy task. However, you can effortlessly grasp them with the help of credible marketing courses if you want to have a career in digital marketing.
Imarticus is offering an Advanced Certification In Digital Marketing and MarTech By IIT Roorkee that will help you refine your marketing techniques and also adapt to newer concepts like affiliate marketing and how to effectively utilise them.
This 4.5-month programme in digital marketing and Martech has been specially curated by IIT academics and business experts to assist you in learning how the modern digital marketing sector operates. It will also help you leverage technology and use digital marketing channels more efficiently.
