R.I.P Affiliate Marketing: How Affiliate Marketing is changing in 2025

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The relevance of affiliate marketing has long been debated, usually by those outside of it. For an industry that’s been around for more than three decades, it’s bound to be put under the spotlight like this every so often - and every time, it’s come out shining. Why? The long-standing success of the affiliate marketing industry has always come down to its ability to react and adapt to anything thrown its way.

So, what’s changed?

Why are even affiliates questioning its relevance in 2024 and therefore its future in the new year? That’s the question today’s newsletter is going to answer, as well as offer some insight into how ‘relevance’ is not the issue.

The state of Affiliate Marketing in 2024

Before we get into anything else, I need to make one thing clear; affiliate marketing remains one of the most cost-effective and scalable ways for businesses to drive sales and leads. In the US alone, there are 11,400 affiliate programs, but herein lies one of the issues threatening its ‘relevance’ - we’ll get into that a little later. For now, I want to evaluate the current state of the affiliate marketing industry.

This year in particular has seen multiple spanners thrown into the affiliate marketing machine. We started the year preparing for the phase-out of third-party cookies and ended it with a greater focus being put on data privacy regulations. It’s no wonder whispers of the industry's relevance began when a key part of how it operates was about to be removed. However, even without the phase-out going ahead, affiliate managers and marketers were already making the moves necessary to thrive in a cookie-less future.?

In addition to this, the rapid development of AI and automation had everyone question their jobs at one point. Now, we know that affiliate managers and marketers who adopt AI tools position themselves as key players in the industry. These updates are enough on their own to make it obvious; affiliate marketing is not becoming obsolete, it’s evolving in a way we’ve never seen before.

Let’s get into it.

Competition

Popularity is something everyone wants but rarely few are prepared for. The affiliate marketing industry has learned this first-hand. Since the affiliate marketing model is more popular than it’s ever been before, the market has been flooded with new affiliates. While this has increased opportunities, it’s also made it harder to stand out in this crowded market. Established affiliates might not be feeling this pressure but new or smaller affiliates might find the increase in competition intimidating.

Going into 2025, this competition is on track to continue but that shouldn’t restrict the accessibility of affiliate marketing. The key to thriving in the new year will be differentiation, focusing on a particular niche or industry where the competition won’t feel as fierce. Instead of targeting broad categories, focus on the niches in these categories. Narrow your focus and streamline your efforts in the new year.

First-Party Data

We’ve already established that affiliates and affiliate program managers had to be on their toes this year when it came to data privacy regulations. While this might not be the cookie-less future we were preparing for, it’s clear that the control consumers have over their data will be a big focus in 2025. Stricter data regulations are placing increased scrutiny on how brands and affiliates collect and use consumer data.

This means that third-party tracking solutions may no longer be viable. 2025 will be the year of email lists, loyalty programs and anything that encourages direct consumer engagement - all in the effort to build up this first-party data. Giving consumers more control over their data obviously benefits the consumer but affiliates and marketers can also benefit from delivering more personalised marketing campaigns.

Artificial Intelligence

2024 has introduced many new AI and automation tools that are revolutionising the affiliate marketing space. This wide adoption has led to a lot of trial and error but it’s now time to identify and focus on the tools that are going to propel success in 2025. If you haven’t already embraced AI then don’t wait around any longer. Trends and statistics have proven that AI is set to influence every industry moving forward in some way.

The most common way AI can help affiliates is by automating repetitive tasks such as keyword research, content scheduling, and performance tracking. This will lead to more personalised and targeted marketing campaigns, increasing engagement and conversion rates. AI is set to continue its evolution so adopting it now will ensure you’re at the forefront of the opportunities it will create.

Multi-channel Marketing

Multi-channel marketing does not mean diluting your marketing efforts. It’s about directing your efforts towards the channels that actually reach your consumers, through content they want to consume. However, this year has made it clear that the traditional customer funnel is no longer relevant. This has increased the opportunities affiliates have to convert as long as they are meeting consumers where they actually are.

Diversifying your content to include blog posts, podcasts, videos, newsletters, emails and social media posts is your chance to engage consumers across multiple touchpoints. In the new year, this is going to require a lot of working smarter so that you don’t have to work harder. There’s no reason why you can’t take one piece of content and repurpose it across multiple channels.?

2025 is set to be a transformative year for affiliate marketing. What are you most looking forward to?

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