Affiliates typically tap into existing product demand and consumer interest. How do we find affiliates who consistently capture volume and purchase intent incrementally?

AM2.0 #4 Pt.1

Shoutout to the new affiliate managers, agencies, networks, and brands who have subscribed.

I really appreciate your support and always appreciate you passing this on to a colleague or client to help build the community.

If you’re new to the “Affiliate Marketing 2.0 Newsletter,” consider checking out issue #3, “An Affiliate Manager’s Guide to Paid Search Strategy.”

In today’s issue, we’re going to the whiteboard again and turning our tassels to the side for another deep dive into demand growth strategy.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

According to AI Overviews, affiliate marketing is a type of advertising where third parties promote products or services in exchange for compensation.

Based on my ~7 years of industry experience, I’d say that’s about right.

In other words, affiliate marketing is a tool for brands to reach customers they can’t directly reach or don’t have access to already.

Not through their own SEO, brand awareness, media buying, email lists, influencer campaigns, display campaigns, social profiles, etc.

That’s where affiliates come in.

If your brand/client has a “searchlight” out there scanning for the next customer via its marketing and advertising campaigns, and your competitors do too, amplifying your reach via third parties is what affiliates help you to do.

They give you a bigger light beam to reach more eyeballs.

And more eyeballs means more customers.

Yay! Capitalism!

In addition, unless you’re talking about Amazon, you get to “own” the customer for their full lifecycle after an affiliate refers them.

Who Are the “Best” Affiliates?

There is no hard and fast rule on who the best affiliates are.

But most of the time, the best affiliates are the ones who generate the most conversions, the most relevant traffic, and the highest lifetime value in the most efficient way, while being incremental.

The best affiliates:

• Make the brand the most money now (revenue/conversions)

• Make the brand the most money in the future (+ lifetime value)

• Make the brand the most money now and in the future efficiently (target CAC/CPA)

• Refer customers who wouldn’t have bought anyway