Why Do I Need An Affiliate Marketing Program? Part III

3. Eliminate Risk with Targeted, Pure-Play Performance Marketing

Let’s say you are the Marketing Manager at a large snack company who is about to launch a new high-fructose-corn-syrup-free, gluten-free snack bar geared towards health-conscious moms. You have the choice to test traditional campaigns announcing the launch on radio, TV, and in magazines, but they are typically high-cost spots and offer little visibility into ROI.  Engaging in PPC and other display campaigns requires very close monitoring and a hefty budget up-front in exchange for questionable and potentially low-performing customers. In both of these examples, you have very little control over who ends up seeing your advertisement and how they will interpret it.

Contrast that with your Affiliate Channel. Imagine you have segmented your list of current Affiliates and tagged them to represent different categories. You prepare a custom newsletter announcing the new product launch and plan to send it to the Affiliates you’ve marked as “Health-Conscious Mom Bloggers” and another group named “Fitness Foodies.” You tie in a bonus incentive of $50 per post that drives a new customer sale and also provide information and featured points for your blogger partner to include. You can be assured that you have eliminated any guesswork, that you will only pay out on proven customers, and that a highly qualified, targeted customer base will be receiving your brand message, courtesy of your Affiliate partner. 

Having an Affiliate program allows you to be in control, creative, hands-on, and can lead to relationships that last for years to come. With all of the potential sales to be made out there, the main question to ask yourself about starting an Affiliate Program is, “why not?” Even if you identify only a handful of “shining stars” to promote your brand, it is well worth it.