Affiliate Marketing Lead Generation
Good People Great Marketing Affiliate Marketing Lead Generation Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Google ads What Is Affiliate Marketing Lead Generation? When it comes to affiliate marketing, there’s more to the process than “click on this link and buy my stuff.” It’s really all about understanding buyer intent and leveraging the right partners that bring high value context to the right spot in the buyer journey. In fact, context is the unique leverage point in the affiliate channel. There’s no spam in a customer inbox, no waste in the snail mail recycle bin, no irrelevant messaging in a social media feed based on creepy demographics or questionable privacy workarounds. The context for seeing an offer from a brand is the actual publisher site where an offer is made. Publishers and their partner agencies – those with whom they have proven, reliable relationships – provide relevant content where a brand’s offer simply makes sense and is aligned with the integrity of the publisher site. It’s this relevance that provides credibility when a paid offer is made to an audience who is on that site because they have interest and intent that may drive further engagement, and eventually, a purchase. Types of Affiliate Marketing LeadsWhen businesses think about affiliate marketing, they may have the impression that allocating resources to the affiliate channel is all about coupon codes, sale deals, and other transactional engagement moments in the buyer journey. In fact, today businesses across verticals and audience types are using partnership and affiliate relationships to engage and a variety of points on the customer-engagement spectrum. It all depends on the objectives each affiliate campaign sets to measure the value to its brand, and the results desired. Determining the Value of Affiliate LeadsThe value of an affiliate lead is going to be determined by the goal set out in campaign development. If the campaign is time sensitive, such as a program developed to bolster Cyber Monday, the holiday season, or a new product introduction, the marketing and sales funnel for this campaign is shallow; the offer will be specific; it may have a coupon code or a discount element that drives a visitor directly to a purchase opportunity. However, if a campaign is set to build a less transactional relationship with a potential buyer, the campaign design may include a deeper funnel based on information sharing, educational content, or registration to an event or for event specific notifications. In these cases a successful transaction may not be a purchase, but instead a variety of avenues for staying in touch with the prospect based on his interests. This is where intent comes into play, and where the right publishers provide relevant context for engagement offers. What Successful Affiliate Lead Generation Looks LikeHere is an example from the Contractse roster of clients: As a relatively new startup and digital disruptor in their industry, this digital will company had not yet entered the affiliate and partnerships space. They wanted to work with an agency that understood the full landscape and could recruit and nurture the partnerships that would help them scale and grow. The results spoke for themselves: After they launched in October 2018, they saw consistent revenue growth of 58% monthly in 16 months with our management. With the addition of a solid lead gen campaign, active publishers grew by 174%. Brands can have different objectives for their affiliate campaign, so the value of each lead fulfills a different goal. In some cases, it was to spur time sensitive purchasing; in others, the value of a lead held a longer timeframe and was an investment in future awareness, new engagement opportunities, and loyalty purchasing. Strategies for Generating Affiliate Marketing LeadsIdentify a Target AudienceWhereas with some channels, like social media in particular, targeting is based loosely on demographics and other ‘look alike’ metrics. This runs the risk of, plainly speaking, getting it all wrong. We’ve all been on our own social portals only to receive an irrelevant or inappropriate offer based on some random demographic measure. This is not only ineffective – it can actually damage brand integrity and credibility. In partnership marketing, brands work with their affiliate partners to identify the publisher platforms that connect a brand and a customer on a much deeper, intent-based level. Nugs doesn’t need to get into your customers’ business to see previous entertainment purchases acquired by buying a list from a data broker. They know that if someone is on their site, reading their content, and exploring options that appeal to them; so an offer on the Nugs site that connects with a like minded site visitor has a better chance of engagement based on true customer behavior, not sketchy web scraping or questionable privacy practices. Success lies in the deep relationships agencies have with their publisher partners; truly understanding a publisher’s audience helps agencies align client offers where relevance and intent have a better chance of making the brand-customer connection. Define Measurable GoalsWhile many brands seek out leverage in the affiliate channel for near-term revenue success metrics, some see value in setting longer-term engagement measures of success. For example, a brand that generates most of its revenue around the holiday season may have contra seasonal goals for their affiliate program. They may aim for an increase in email sign ups for future sales or content; this allows them to invest in list building off season so they have a larger audience for high season right after Thanksgiving. This requires brands to adjust program metrics differently throughout the year. While engagement during first and second quarter may not demonstrate an immediate lift in purchasing and revenue, significant increases in the size of their database may be the success metric they need then, to prepare for the holidays. Then, in third quarter, the metrics may change to measure website visits as gift-giving exploration begins; then shifting again to purchasing when the high season finally arrives. While this is only one example, it reveals the importance of: Get Attribution Data Right from
