Affiliate marketing works to attract new customers and save your budget. We come across examples of affiliate marketing every day, sometimes without even realizing it – when in a cafe for a cappuccino we take chocolate from a famous brand at the checkout, when in a clothing store we receive a discount coupon for a dry cleaner, or when we receive a sample of conditioner as a gift for buying washing powder.
Why Affiliate Marketing?
The main goal of affiliate marketing is audience exchange. Small companies can unite in the fight against large competitors, creating joint loyalty programs or even building a common distribution system – when, in the absence of goods in the warehouse, a client is redirected to a partner who has it.
Such promotions can be carried out by companies of any size: corporations with huge budgets, and small local businesses with a couple of thousand subscribers on social networks. In the latter case, each client is important, and if 20% more orders come to you through partner promotions, it will be a great success. The main thing is to choose the right partner so that the campaign is successful for both parties.
How to find a partner?
For the collaboration to be successful, it is important to reach your target audience with a relevant offer for it. Therefore, the main principle of choosing a partner is the general target audience.
The partner should not be your direct competitor. Choose those who work in related categories or produce related products – for example, tea and candy, clothing and accessories, hostel and travel agency, accounting and legal advice.
Your goods or services must belong to the same price segment. It makes no sense to advertise a premium beauty salon in an economy class fitness center or a budget taxi in a luxury cinema.
The partner must have a good reputation: after all, by bringing your customers to him, you are using their trust in your own brand. Study the advertising campaigns of a potential partner, the quality of his product, reviews to understand how his image is combined with yours.
And finally, to conduct a joint promotional partnership must be mutually beneficial – both parties must provide their resources and get results.
You can search for partners for small businesses through social networks, Yandex and Google maps, 2Gis, city portals, industry exhibitions and conferences, as well as simply track ads and study signs in the area of interest. You should contact the marketing department specialists with a proposal for cooperation.
Examples of promotions
1. Discount coupons
When buying from you, the client receives a discount coupon from a partner, and vice versa, the partner issues a discount coupon from you to his customers. Coupons can be issued as flyers or promotional codes (when purchased online).
Here’s an example of a more creative discount mechanic. The American jewelry store ran a joint promotion with a local pizzeria, with which they were united by a common target audience – couples and young families living in their area. When buying a pizza, customers were offered to try their luck by pulling a stone at random from a bowl containing 200 zirconia and 1 diamond. To find out which stone they drew, they had to come with it to a jewelry store for an assessment. Even if the stone turned out to be zirconium, customers of the pizzeria received a 10% discount on the purchase of jewelry. The store received a bunch of orders, including 4 for an individual design, and the lucky one who won the diamond, of course, told all his friends about this store.
2. Sampling
Simple mechanics: with each order, you give customers samples of the partner’s product – and vice versa, the partner distributes your samples. For example, a special offer was held in the Fix Price chain of stores: when buying 300 rubles, customers received a bracelet from the Sunlight brand as a gift. Fix Price thus increased their average check, and Sunlight received new customers.
3. Shared content
Joint email distribution. Thus, the newsletter from the event agency can include fresh clips of musicians from a friendly production center in order to save the client from the headache of which group to order for a corporate party. An online clothing store in its mailing list can place an interview with a make-up partner telling you what makeup to do for a new summer look, and give a link to his account on social networks. To increase the conversion to the newsletter, you can additionally add a promotional code for a discount from a partner.
Another type of useful content is any advice on how to use the product, from instructions on the packaging to how-to videos on social networks. By joining forces with a partner, you can give the consumer a ready-made solution to his problem. For example, if you sell hair dryers, it makes sense to do a video with a hair brand that shows you how to get a new trendy hairstyle. A similar mechanic was applied by the manufacturers of Ariel washing powder and Lenor conditioner: in the instructions for use, they indicated the so-called “formula of purity”: Ariel powder + stain remover + Lenor conditioner.
4. Exchange of audience in social networks
The practice of mutual mentions on social networks (SFS, shout-out for shout-out) is common not only among bloggers but also among brands. When telling your audience about a partner, do not forget about the value of the content for the consumer: in addition to mentioning his account and calling to subscribe, tell about his product, content, or promotion. And, of course, add a promotional code for a discount to increase conversion.
5. Exchange of retail space
For example, if you have a coffee shop, you can place croissants from a bakery partner at the checkout, and a bakery can sell coffee beans under your brand name. In addition to buying a partner’s product, you can give away… that’s right, discount coupons in their store.
American jeans brand ZipFit Denim developed the idea of sharing retail space and hosted a joint event with an online premium furniture store. At the event, it was possible to try on jeans and arrange a “test drive” for them, sitting on a chic leather sofa.
In the partner’s trading area, you can place a product, not for sale, but as an advertising sample. This is what AvtoSpecCentre does, promoting high-price segment vehicles through partnership marketing with premium restaurants. They place Porsche and Audi exhibits at the entrances to restaurants, insert a test drive request form into the printed menu, and insert their advertising splash into the e-menu. And if the guest’s check has exceeded a certain amount, they are taken home in their cars for free. For its part, AutoSpecCentre brings new target customers to restaurants, giving a free dinner as a gift when buying cars of these brands.
6. Loyalty program
Live Nation, which organizes concerts of world celebrities and music festivals, has partnered with Coca-Cola: consumers of the soda brand could accumulate points through codes from the product packaging and exchange them for concert tickets, T-shirts, souvenirs, or the opportunity to meet their favorite artists.
The Soho retail chain cooperated with the Ile de Beaute cosmetics chain through mutual discounts: Ile de Bote VIP cardholders received a 20% discount at Soho, and Soho cardholders received an additional 10% discount at Ile de Bote.
7. Collaborate with influencers
An influencer marketing partnership allows you to share the cost of integration or make it more valuable to your audience – for example, launch a joint giveaway with a set of products not from one, but from two brands at once.
8. Charity events
By teaming up with one or more partners, you can organize an event for the good of the community, such as a market, all the profits from which goes to a charitable organization. This is what the animal shelter Dark Horse Eco does together with various fashion brands.
You don’t have to involve charitable organizations, but simply feed the residents of your area for free in honor of some holiday. This will create a positive image for all participating businesses. In addition, the event is a good news outlet for the media, which you can invite to cover the event, or at least ask to publish a press release.
What to consider when planning?
From the example above, it can be seen that when planning, it is important to record all agreements with a partner in writing in order to avoid misunderstandings. Namely:
- What results do you want to achieve for both businesses?
- What both sides provide: budget, advertising options, and retail space.
- When the promotion starts and ends. It cannot last forever, otherwise, clients may come to a partner for a discount after years.
- When the staff is trained under the terms of the promotion
- How partners will report to each other on the fulfillment of their obligations.
Once you have agreed on all of these points, it makes sense to enter into an agreement, especially when it comes to a large long-term stock.
