3 Common Mistakes Affiliate Programs Make And How To Fix Them

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As many of you know, I’ve been in the affiliate marketing industry for more than two decades. In that time, I’ve been asked many things many times.

But there’s one question that I get asked more often than most.?

“What are the top 10 things I need to do to make my affiliate program successful?”

If I had a dollar for every time I’d been asked this, I’d be a millionaire… SERIOUSLY.?

But for this advice to be helpful, you first need to know the common mistakes that typically are made and how you can avoid them.?

Unfortunately in this industry, people tend to get comfortable and therefore get stuck in the way that they do things.?

Affiliate management is an incredibly complex job.

You’re CONSTANTLY managing your time and making sure that you’re delivering your KPIs and business marketing strategy.?

If anybody has ever told you that being an affiliate manager is easy, I can assure you that they’re lying or they simply don’t know the truth about it.?

I know 100% just how difficult it really is to launch, scale and grow an affiliate program.

It can get challenging to encourage yourself to think outside of the box, or even to get yourself into a positive mindset.?

If you’re one of those people who are stuck in a rut, I hope this week’s newsletter will give you a fresh perspective!?

Cold Calling – STOP IT!

Cold calling to find new partners is nothing but a waste of time.?

Sending 100 emails in the hopes of getting 10 new affiliates to sign up to your program is the definition of insanity if you think it’s going to do anything but annoy potential partners and get you zero returns on your program investment and time.

There is no reason for you to be cold calling OR cold emailing.?

Instead, do your research to find the right partnerships and collaborations that will enhance your business, and build the right rapport with potential partners who will be as invested in sending sales as you are to meet targets.

Honestly, I 100% believe that cold calling is like death to your affiliate program.?

Affiliates will immediately hit the delete button on any cold email they receive-?

I would know, because I do the same. It’s gotten so bad that I can tell a templated outreach in under 30 seconds and believe me you don’t get a second chance to impress.

I read a statistic online that something like only 0.04% of cold call emails ever gets responded to, so with that kind of result, why bother?

It wastes your time and the time of the potential affiliates you’re trying to get on board.?

It also shows these affiliates that you’re not willing to put the initiative and effort into building a relationship with them or to understand what they need from you and your program to be successful from the get-go.?

Think about your affiliates in the same way that you would think about your customers…

You wouldn’t hit up a customer immediately in the first email and say “Hey, come buy my products.”?

You’d never get anywhere with that.?

If anything, affiliates find this kind of thing highly offensive.?

Instead, you need to build rapport with them. Sprinkle advertising messages that attract them to your product, build affinity around your brand and then find ways to appeal to them to convert.

You should be doing the same thing with potential new affiliate partners.?

They want to know that by the time you’ve reached out, you’ve already researched their website, portal or any other platform they may use.?

You know why you want to work with them and you know what would be best for them to promote to get results as quickly as possible.

You’ll get a much better response if you don’t jump straight into hard selling and instead nurture the relationship and see what they need and want first.?

People don’t like to feel like they’re being sold AT – so don’t.?

Expecting Affiliates – Without Any Effort

So many times, I have heard, “We launched our affiliate program, but don’t seem to see a lot of affiliates signing up”.?

My first question is - What are you doing to market your affiliate program??

If the answer is “not a lot”, then you can’t expect to get affiliates on board.?

Some affiliate managers believe that simply having an affiliate program in place - is enough.?

This isn’t Rome - you can’t simply build it and expect people to come…?

You need to graft.?

You need to market it.

HOW??

I hear you asking…?

That part is up to you.

Here are a few things I’ve done that work and you can take your pick to try some of these suggestions too

• Enter industry awards
• Create social media groups and invite your partners in
• Attend conferences and networking exhibits?
• Get active on your social media
• Put yourself up for speaking on webinars, podcasts and events
• Get actively building your email marketing lists with lead-generation tools
• Invest in program Sponsorships & Advertising
• Engage with partner ambassadors?
• Do a bit of paid advertising
• Collaborate with trustworthy media partners
• Use your affiliates to promote your program to others

These are just a few of the things you could be doing to promote your affiliate program and get partners truly engaged with your brand.?

If you’re not thinking about how you’re going to promote your affiliate program, it’s time to start.?

You’re Not Being Patient?

Affiliate marketing is NOT paid advertising.?

If you’re looking for immediate results, you won’t find them here.?

Affiliate marketing is all about patience and nurturing. It takes years to build a successful affiliate program.?

You may be able to launch and get deals done fairly quickly if you’ve got a large-scale budget, but actually building a successful, sustainable affiliate program requires patience in that you’ll have to be playing the long game.?

Unlike paid media, you can’t just implement your tracking technology and suddenly bring in a thousand affiliates.?

It just doesn’t work that way.

Instead, you need to work on your marketing strategy and ensure that it’s as clear as possible.

Alongside this, you must begin what I call the ‘Launch, Test, Repeat Cycle’.?

One single marketing strategy won’t work for every single client or brand, that’s why it’s crucial that you’re testing new techniques each time you approach somebody different.?

The launch, test, repeat cycle will continue to run throughout your affiliate program, regardless of whether you’re at the startup phase, the plateau phase (3-5 year mark) or whether you’re in the maturing phase (5-6 years +).?

The point here is that you need to be continuously focused on growth.?

Patience is a virtue that affiliate managers must have.?

In short, affiliate programs are like gardens that must be constantly tended with patience, and care to ensure it grows.?

So if your program is struggling to take off take a closer look at these three points to see if they might help you kick start into a new gear.

Good luck!

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