“Would like to make passive income by selling products that you use?” Chances are you would quickly delete messages of this kind. Today, sales pitches are not as effective as they once were; it is unlikely that a cookie-cutter approach will help you with recruiting affiliates.
So, what’s the best way to recruit good affiliates or at least get their attention?
There is only one answer to the above question: provide irresistible value from the get-go.
Successful affiliate programs are hugely dependent on relationship building. You will achieve a lot from prioritizing personal communication as much as you can.
Building a lasting and productive relationship takes lots of time and resources. The good news is, it has the potentials to set an affiliate program on the path of success.
The purpose of this article is to show you some of the best practices to adopt when looking to recruit retail affiliates. Without further ado, let’s hit the ground running.
Create an Affiliate Program
It only makes sense to have an affiliate program ready if you want to recruit retail affiliates. You can either create your affiliate program in-house or make use of an established affiliate network.
To get your program started, you have to get affiliate URLs. When an affiliate comes on board, they will get a unique URL which will be used to track sales. You need the data recorded by an affiliate’s unique URL to make regular payments.
If you opt to use an established network that has the tracking and payment systems ready, you will find several options to choose from. Make sure you settle for a program that offers comprehensive analytics, low fees (to maintain your profit margin), a huge online marketplace, and a user-friendly interface.
Set up an Affiliate Page
You’ve taken the first important step, but you can’t leave your affiliate network to do all the work, especially advertisement. Before you begin the process of recruiting affiliates, it is important to set up a well-optimized affiliate page on your business website. There is no better way to make your program look legitimate.
Choose a Niche
If you are intent on finding the right affiliates, you need a defined niche. The idea of casting a wide net to attract more people can be tempting. Sadly, this can be the start of failure.
Carry out a thorough research of the market. Connect with your audience and optimize your affiliate program to align with the uniqueness of your audience. If you are insistent on maintaining multiple niches, be sure to market each one separately.
Focusing on one niche may require you to use a niche-specific affiliate program.
Utilize Your Affiliate Program When for Recruiting Affiliates
A good affiliate network will provide you with tools for recruiting new affiliates. For instance, ClickBank offers tools that afford retailers the option to remarket to individuals who have bought products and directly connect to the community.
Go through all the available options in your affiliate network, and find out how best you can utilize the available tools.
Contact Publishers within Your Niche
One of the most effective methods of recruiting affiliates is to contact the affiliates directly. Reach out to publishers who provide affiliate advertising for the kind of products you offer. You find them on the internet by searching for the top keywords related to your products.
Put together a list of relevant publishers, and contact all of them. Give them information about what they stand to benefit from, and present the idea of earning affiliate commissions.
Advertise in Affiliate Directories
Affiliate directories give you the opportunity to pitch your products to prospective affiliates. So many publishers use affiliate directories, and this makes them useful. Think of affiliate directories as Craigslist for affiliate marketers.
Some of the popular affiliate directories include:
- Affiliate Seeking
- Awin Advertising Directory
- Top Affiliate
- Green Affiliate Programs
Launch Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
Platforms like Google and Facebook can be used as advertising channels to reach and recruit affiliates. You can aim for keywords like “[niche] + affiliate” when searching for people who might be interested in your program. Remember to use your affiliate keywords in your ad headline and description, and clearly state the benefits of your program while introducing your product(s).
Try running several ads simultaneously. Use different demographic preferences, phrasing, and different advertising channels. Look out for the ad that yields the best results and make the necessary adjustments.
Advertise to Your Customers
Satisfied customers can make good affiliates. You can integrate the advertisement of your affiliate program with the checkout process. This way, buyers will get useful information about your program, and this can prompt them to show interest. Outline the benefits, and add that satisfied customers may have the opportunity to earn back every cent they’ve spent on buying your product.
Give buyers the link to your affiliate page. Using a follow-up email to advertise your program is another excellent idea. If you decide to run an affiliate PPC campaign, be sure to take full advantage of remarketing to advertise to customers after they’ve exited your website.
Give Your Products to Influencers in Exchange for Promotion
This is a different strategy from your standard affiliate program, but if you work with an influencer that has a wide reach, the results can be impressive. Just trade a free product for a quick promotion, and you will gain access to both potential affiliates and buyers.
There are some affiliate networks that connect retailers with influencers for this purpose.
Continue Marketing to New Affiliates
Too often, businesses make the mistake of launching one or two affiliate campaigns and that’s it. They leave their businesses on autopilot. As time passes, this can result in having no active affiliates.
By relentlessly recruiting new affiliates, you can increase your marketing reach on a continuous basis and boost sales exponentially. To complement this strategy, you can set up a separate affiliate program where you can compensate existing affiliates for recruiting new partners.
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