4 Myths About Affiliate Marketing

By definition affiliate marketing is the practice of earning commission revenue through the promotion of a third party product or service. You can engage in affiliate marketing programs by posting ads on your website, making social media posts or sending out emails encouraging others to join your program. Although it seems like a fairly simple process, affiliate marketing is also one of the most misunderstood aspects of the business marketing world. Take a look at these four common misconceptions about how affiliate marketing programs work. 

1. Revenue Generation is Instant

Upon hearing the words ‘affiliate marketing’ most individuals think of a consistent stream of money that rolls in instantly upon setting up an affiliate program. While it is possible to make a substantial amount of income from an affiliate marketing program, it is not something that will happen overnight. 

Essentially an affiliate marketing program consists of a wide network of individuals and companies that each have a different need for your program. There may be a blog writer with an interest in your program simply to write various product reviews. A product dealer may look to participate in your program by requiring real time promotional updates. Other affiliate programs may contact you to gain insight into your best performing products or services. 

Each channel in your affiliate network maintains the potential to generate a steady stream of revenue for your company. To make that happen sooner rather than later you need to keep the lines of communication open with everyone that joins your program. Doing so can help you make decisions that benefit your program and the revenue it generates for you. 

2. Coupon Sites Are Not Viable Revenue Sources

Coupon sites can be a beneficial part of an affiliate marketing program. There is the potential for you to manage this type of affiliate marketing program and do it in a way that works to optimize your customer conversion rates. For this to happen, you need to form partnerships with brands that have a strong reputation in place with its current customer base. 

Customers who visit your affiliate marketing site will take part in the coupons that you offer when it is relevant to a brand that they already recognize. When setting up a coupon affiliate marketing program make sure you work with a reputable company. Focusing on the amount of time between a coupon site referral and the customer purchase transaction. That can help you determine whether or not the site referral is the transaction starting point. 

3. Affiliate Programs Require Little Management

At first glance, it may appear as if an affiliate marketing program can run itself with little to no additional help from you. That could not be further from the truth. As with any other marketing practice that you engage in, affiliate marketing programs need your consistent time and attention to meet the goals and objectives that you set for the practice. Letting the program develop on its own will result in you generating little to no revenue from the affiliate relationships. 

Upon creating your affiliate marketing program, you need to build relationships with the brands that you are partnering with to get the program off the ground. Those relationships require continual fostering to allow your affiliate program to grow. By doing so you will be able to identify who may not be a good fit for participating in your program as well as pinpoint other partnership opportunities that will help you meet your goals. Continual management also allows you to provide fresh opportunities for affiliate members to have access to the latest products and services available. 

4. Extensive Product Placement is Necessary for Success

Your initial thought when setting up an affiliate program is that you need to gain access to as many products as possible for your program to be a success. A more productive thought process is to envision quality over quantity. For that reason, you want to be selective in the types of products that you bring into your affiliate marketing program. 

You may think that a small business website could not contain the customer conversion potential of a corporate business website. However when you factor in the customer loyalty potential that a small business website likely has in place, there is the potential for you to see a higher percentage of opportunities to convert those potential customers into long-term clients for your company. 

Therefore, you want to take the time when setting up your affiliate program to find the companies that are the best marketing avenue for what you are offering. Having several quality affiliations in your program will prove to be more profitable in the long run than hundreds of affiliations in industries that are not a good fit for your company. 

Is there still some lingering confusion present on how affiliate marketing works? Our team at Business Marketing Engines can help give you a better understanding on how it works! Contact us today. 

Gabe Arnold creates affordable, long-term marketing and technology solutions for businesses of all sizes. He has over 15 years of experience in writing, technology, and marketing campaign creation, and management.

Gabe has worked with over 1,000 startups as well as hundreds of established businesses over the past decade to help them achieve their goals. He is passionate about connecting businesses with the best possible solutions in marketing and automation. Gabe helps business owners like you reach their full potential. Contact Gabe here, or follow him on Twitter.