Affiliate Marketing: Why You Need It

If you are a direct to consumer business, you need to be affiliate friendly in order to secure media coverage and therefore, sales. It’s really that simple. Here’s why:

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is essentially a revenue sharing model for online sales. It’s a process where a brand or retailer provides financial rewards to influential third parties when they successfully promote the business’s product or services through a unique link. You’ll see it everywhere once you start looking - if you’re reading an article about “Top 10 winter coat must-haves,” and you click on the link and purchase it, there is a very good chance that the media outlet is getting a cut of the sale. Outlets say it in different ways, but essentially there will be a message that says something to the effect of, “All products featured on our site are independently selected by our editors. However, we may earn affiliate revenue on this article and commission when you buy something.”

Why Should a Brand Invest in This?

The biggest reason? It leads to more media coverage, period. If a journalist is doing a round-up article on the best leggings and your competitor offers an affiliate commission but you don’t, who do you think is going to be included? It’s also low-risk, leads to additional sales and the highly sought after GenZ buyers are most likely shopping online and looking for product recommendations.

The Platforms

There are quite a few choices out there including ShareASale, Impact, Pepperjam/Ascend, Rakuten and Skimlinks.  ShareASale is a good starting point for smaller brands, while Impact, Pepperjam and Rakuten are good for larger brands. Skimlinks can be a bit confusing - think of it as supplemental to your affiliate marketing efforts.  As a merchant, a brand cannot join Skimlinks directly. Instead they’ll need to use an affiliate network (Impact, etc.) to add them as a publisher. Once approved, the brand will be on the Skimlinks affiliate network and be searchable by their publisher partners. Many journalists like Skimlinks, so it’s a good one to also join.

The Costs

Expect to pay between $500-$1500 to join a program and then the monthly commission rate. For example, ShareASale receives 20% of affiliate commissions ($35/month minimum). To be the most successful, a brand should set 15-20% commission rates for top tier publishers - think places like the New York Times Wirecutter site or Vogue. Brands can set up different commission rates for different outlets and also have the option to block coupon sites. Some brands will also increase the commission rates at key shopping periods such as the holidays.

Most Importantly

It takes time to ramp up a program so make sure your brand is willing to give it at least six months to see success.

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