In the affiliate marketing world, loyalty is key to yielding great results. It can be the difference between a successful affiliate marketing program and an affiliate marketing program that fails at the first hurdle. If you are looking to grow and develop as an affiliate manager, it may benefit you to find out how to incentivise publishers to stay loyal to your program from the very onset and throughout. If you tend to make the common mistake of sitting back and relying on your publishers to achieve great results on behalf of you and your brand, continue reading to find out everything you need to know.
Introduce a rewards program
In order to incentivise publishers to stay loyal to your program, it may benefit both parties involved to introduce a rewards program. During the first few months that your affiliate marketing program is up and running, it is human nature to have too much faith in your brand and trust that it will carry your affiliate marketing program to overnight success. In addition to this, however, you must also maintain momentum and do whatever it takes to secure exposure on top-rated publisher platforms. This can include rewarding publishers on their weekly, monthly, or annual performance regardless of how much their efforts have contributed to the success of your brand in the long run. It can give your affiliate program the edge it needs to stand out from the crowd and encourage publishers to stay loyal to your program.
Run competitions or offer prizes
In order for an affiliate marketing program to succeed on a long-term basis, affiliates must feel valued and appreciated at every step of the way. By acknowledging their hard work and effort, they are far less likely to stray, and you can be reassured they share common short-term and long-term goals for the brand and are committed to ensuring it flourishes. This can incentivise publishers to stay loyal to your program in the long run. When it comes to running competitions or offering prizes, however, you must remember to keep it simple. This can be done by providing an online voucher of their choice for outperforming fellow affiliates during a key sales period, for example. In addition, you must also ensure entrants have a fair chance of winning. By failing to do so, they may become disinterested and walk away.
Offer tiered commission
In the affiliate marketing world, tiered commission is a great way to incentivise publishers to stay loyal to your program. It is, in the simplest of terms, the practice of setting incrementally higher commissions in an attempt to encourage affiliates to improve their performance on an ongoing basis. It can allow you to reward your highest performing affiliates for exceeding set expectations and trigger a domino effect by motivating others to follow suit. It can also allow you to inject short-term and long-term goals into your affiliate marketing program and communicate with your publishers to ensure they are aware of what you are hoping to achieve when it comes to your brand. This may sound like a basic incentive, but it has the potential to produce great results if implemented correctly and for a prolonged period of time.
Provide content inspiration
In recent years, the line between editorial and advertorial has continued to blur. As a result, a growing number of affiliates are openly requesting content ideas from brands that dabble in what is known as native affiliate marketing. This is, put simply, the process of capitalising on paid advertisements that mimic the look and feel of similar content on the platform on which they are published. It is a common misconception that blogs with high levels of engagement and readership are better than blogs with less engagement and readership. But it may benefit you to know that content, genre, niche, and even style can play a large role when it comes to the success of your affiliate marketing program. By providing content inspiration, such as which products to review or which advertisements are likely to perform well, you can strengthen your relationship with your network and incentivise publishers to stay loyal to your program. This approach has proven popular amongst fashion and e-commerce brands, in particular, as well as brands that view their affiliates as influencers that have the power to encourage their readers to take a desired action.
If you are an affiliate manager, you may be wondering how to incentivise publishers to stay loyal to your program in the long run. This can be done in a number of ways, but several methods have proven popular over the years. This includes introducing a rewards program, running competitions or offering prizes, offering tiered commission, and providing content inspiration. By taking note, you can run a successful affiliate marketing program that is not only designed to survive but thrive.
