How to Use Affiliate Marketing to Increase Sales: 6 Techniques

Affiliate marketing is at times regarded as a scam, with the market flooded with hundreds of “proven methods” and only a few being effective. And as a newcomer or marketer, you cannot afford to be misled. You need the right information to make better decisions.

This article gives you that and more.

Let’s cut through the noise and break down the smartest moves you can make to turn clicks into serious sales.

All About Affiliate Marketing

Essentially, affiliate marketing is also known as pay-for-performance type advertising. Affiliate marketers contribute to the business by bringing in some necessary activity, either a sale, a lead, or a click, which is compensated for.

Who is an affiliate? An affiliate could be a person, organization, or company that acts as the catalyst for reach and engagement for businesses. For example, a startup wanting to get its first wave of customers may hire an affiliate. In this case, an affiliate could be an influencer or known product marketer with a wide network.

The hired affiliate then communicates and promotes the products offered by the startup company to their social networks. This is usually done by running ads, posting links, and doing live streams where the products are promoted.

Typically, affiliates get paid when a user makes a purchase using their referral link, signs them up, or takes some kind of action through them. This differs from referral marketing, in which people making referrals have to be customers already. Lots of companies have both affiliate and referral marketing programs. However, both allow for earning passive income and promoting a brand.

Best Ways to Grow Affiliate Marketing Sales

Just knowing the basics of affiliate marketing is usually not enough. The following are six main methods that will help you in the right way:

1. Target the right affiliates

Always thoroughly assess an affiliate that you are considering partnering with. The point of this process is to ensure that their audience will match your offering. Sometimes it makes sense to set up strict criteria for choosing affiliates or haphazardly partner with ‘influencers’ just because their followers fit a certain demographic. But it doesn’t always work out.

Aim to work with influencers and affiliates whose followers will want to buy your products. Do not target affiliates who only have a good follower count. It’s important to consider other metrics like conversion and engagement. You should also integrate affiliate recruitment software to identify your best affiliates and transform your conversion rates.

But first, consider preparing your business website for traffic and conversion. Build your site’s SEO, define your website’s user path, and optimize call-to-action buttons. Also, cover your landing page with content that sells. There are various marketing process tools and analytics, which can help to automate and improve this process.

2. Expand niche and work with niche micro-influencers

A wider affiliate network leads to better reach and interaction. So find different affiliates on different platforms and of different audiences. A wider scope of activities will improve your brand awareness while also making it easy for affiliates to make more sales.

You should also work with micro-influencers within these niches. The audience of niche influencers highly trusts their recommendations, making them exceptional affiliates for products that perfectly fit their niche. Although they lack massive popularity, these micro-influencers often bring the right genuineness and high engagement, which are crucial for marketing campaigns.

Whether marketing for big or small companies, micro-influencers usually provide consistent results. With your expanded niche, you can reach more potential customers and yield great affiliate marketing results.

3. Use promo codes to try and get new users engaged

Customers are constantly seeking a good deal, and unique discounts or promo codes might assist them in making purchases. This can even be more effective when using affiliates for promotions. Estimate your potential reach and create promo codes using an affiliate to provide a meaningful discount rate for your customers. With time you can change the discount rates to properly make profits.

4. Encourage collaborations and listen to your audience

Increase your brand exposure by coming together with complementary brands. Brand collaborations help in marketing creativity, extending campaign reach, and acquiring new target audiences. However, it is best to use your affiliates with complementary brands that listen to audience needs.

Follow brands that integrate their audience's needs with affiliates and you should do the same too. Set your targets and ask the audience what else they would like to see around as a product. It becomes a win-win situation for you if people start making and offering new suggestions on varying your product. This provides valuable content that can be used to make your collaborations more effective.

5. Employ content marketing with SEO

Have well-prepared content that includes reviews, product tours, and FAQs. As a brand or business, you should invest in content marketing and have 20 or more articles to launch your affiliate program. This will help build a good and informative site for your target customers and naturally improve your affiliate marketing results.

Combining this with SEO encourages organic traffic to your affiliate links. Look for relevant long-tail, high-intent keywords and put them in your webpage in an effort to rank in the search engine. A good SEO will help you meet customers with an interest in related products helping increase credibility and conversion rates.

6. Join an Affiliate network and use various marketing channels

If you are a beginner, it is advised to join an affiliate network. This will allow you to have a large database of potential partners. Alternatively, spread the word about your affiliate needs and your network may offer sub-affiliates for an extra commission. You can offer them bonuses or exclusive gifts so they don’t lose motivation.

Furthermore, never depend on a single channel or type of affiliate. Include information from blogs, webinars, social media, and email marketing to expand. Affiliates can adopt diverse strategies on varying channels to target wider audiences and increase the amount of traffic generated.

Conclusion

With the strategies outlined above, you can make the best use of your affiliate marketing program. Learn to pick affiliates that feed your brand, implement them in your marketing strategies, and see how your audience responds. As you go, adjust your strategies based on feedback and watch your sales grow.