Affiliate marketing can be a crucial strategy for any growing brand. Especially now that experts say that organic reach on platforms like Facebook and Instagram is declining, businesses can no longer rely solely on organic content distribution.
The good news is, with trusted affiliate marketing techniques, brands can engage niche, target audiences across publisher platforms, and drive performance results at scale.
Yes, building robust affiliate marketing programs can be demanding. But it’s often worth the effort. Done right, affiliate marketing growth strategies can deliver impressive ROI and improve trust and credibility among those who matter most: your customers.
Ready to harness the benefits of affiliate marketing for your business? Here, we’ll break down the best affiliate marketing strategies for beginners, so you can boost brand awareness, conversions, and revenue across the open web.
Best Effective Affiliate Marketing Strategies to Promote Your Business and Increase Traffic
Some advertisers might still be wondering: Does affiliate marketing work? The answer is yes — as long as you use effective methods to promote your affiliate marketing products and enhance results. As the Performance Marketing association reported, affiliate marketing generates an average return on ad spend (ROAS) of 12:1.
With the right strategies at your fingertips, you can access a range of benefits, such as:
- Accessing a diverse network of affiliate publishers and their unique audiences.
- Building credibility and trust to influence customer decisions.
- Expanding your online reach and gaining widespread exposure through affiliate networks.
- Gathering detailed performance analytics that provide valuable data insights.
- Mitigating risk, since affiliate payments are based on actual conversions.
- Creating long-term partnerships with successful affiliate publishers.
- Gaining a competitive edge in a saturated digital market.
The question now is: What do effective affiliate marketing strategies actually look like? Well, you can use native advertising to reach engaged audiences in the right contexts. You can use search engine optimization (SEO) to target your affiliate marketing niche with the right keywords. And you can use programmatic advertising to more easily scale your campaigns across platforms.
Still, that’s just the start. Here’s a closer look at the best affiliate marketing strategies to promote your products.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click (PPC) is a powerful form of paid advertising that brands can use to reach customers on search results pages. Meaning, they can get their product, service, or informative content in front of users right when they’re searching for relevant keywords.
With PPC, advertisers only pay when someone clicks on their ad, so they know their budget is going towards generating traffic that can potentially yield conversions. This makes PPC a cost-effective solution, especially for growing brands that are still looking to build awareness and leads.
Platforms like Google Ads and Taboola are effective for launching PPC ads with ease. On Taboola, for example, brands can distribute recommended content across premium publisher sites and apps, getting in front of customers when they’re already engaging with content and looking for something new.
Social Media
Social platforms provide access to vast user bases for product research and content sharing. Whether through organic or paid content marketing, affiliate marketers can use these social channels to launch campaigns that generate website traffic and word of mouth about their products. Social platforms can also serve as hubs for building native communities of users who want to communicate with other customers and stay updated on your brand.
Social media engagement isn’t just for upper- and mid-funnel results, either. Many platforms like Instagram and TikTok allow businesses to launch in-app stores so customers can buy products without leaving their feed.
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The main goal of SEO is to increase traffic and optimize web pages for better search engine visibility. This often involves conducting keyword research to understand what customers are searching for, and then building high-quality content that incorporates those keywords.
Essentially, SEO is the organic version of PPC, which involves paying for visibility on search results pages. A backpack brand, for example, might find that target customers are searching for terms like “best winter backpacks” or “backpacks for biking.” They can then create an in-depth blog post for each of those search terms, populating their site with relevant and informative content.
Other notable SEO strategies include linking to the right internal and external pages, optimizing images with the right metadata, and using responsive design for mobile-friendliness.
Blogging
Blogging is one of the most effective affiliate marketing promotion methods for increasing brand awareness and developing a specific niche of followers. This form of content creation can help you provide customers with valuable information about your industry, build a community of readers and return visitors, and establish expertise in your industry.
A clothing brand, for example, might start a blog of seasonal fashion trends and tips. Or a food and beverage brand might run a blog with daily or weekly recipes, some of which incorporate their products.
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Videos
Video marketing can be an extremely effective strategy for boosting affiliate marketing performance. That’s because online video consumption is on the rise thanks to the popularity of streaming platforms and social video apps.
Affiliate marketers can use videos to create in-depth product reviews, live demonstrations, interviews, and interactive storytelling experiences. Advertisers can also tap influencers, creators, and brand partners to launch video recommendations and testimonials on their behalf.
A technology brand, for instance, might create a quick video comparing their product to competitor solutions on the market. Or a gaming company might tap influencers to play their games and offer a comprehensive review — either through a pre-produced video or a livestream.
Coupons
Coupons leverage the popularity of deals and discounts to attract customers. This can be incredibly valuable for helping affiliate marketers drive new sales and boost customer retention. In fact, almost 60% of U.S. shoppers used digital coupons in 2023. Affiliates can work with popular coupon sites like RetailMeNot, Offers.com, and Honey to easily add these discounts and promotions to their online shopping experiences.
An e-commerce affiliate marketer might work with a publishing partner to promote 20% off holiday gifts from their catalog. The publisher can include a link to the brand’s site in their holiday gift guide, offering readers 20% off their purchases.
Email Marketing
Email marketing provides a direct way to deliver customized content right to people’s inboxes. That’s why it’s one of best affiliate marketing strategies for enhancing engagement, building on brand awareness, and letting customers know about special promotions that match their interests.
Just look at the numbers: There are over 4 billion daily email users worldwide. It’s no surprise, then, that email marketing can be one of the most effective strategies within affiliate programs. And advertisers can integrate it into their affiliate campaigns by sharing trending content, recommending products, and nurturing customer relationships across the funnel.
Reviews
For today’s customers, reviews from friends, influencers, and peers can be more influential than brand advertisements. That’s why reviews of affiliate products are crucial for building brand awareness, brand perception, and credibility.
To ensure affiliate campaign success, marketers should regularly manage their review pages on sites like Google and Yelp by responding to reviews and incentivizing customers to rate their experiences. Remember to follow up with new buyers and ask questions like: What problems did our product help you solve? What are your favorite aspects of the product? Would you recommend this product to a friend or family member?
Advertisers can also tap affiliate partners to publish reviews for their products and promote customized links to their audiences.
Why Affiliate Marketing Strategies Are Crucial for Any Business
Any business can develop an effective affiliate marketing campaign by choosing a tailored mix of the techniques outlined here. With the right strategies, brands can harness the many advantages of affiliate marketing, such as improved ROI, enhanced customer loyalty and trust, and access to untapped markets.
While you build your affiliate marketing programs, just remember to select the channels that best align with your goals, products, and audience behaviors. This can be a complex and time-consuming process, but a platform like Taboola can help.
As a leading content recommendation platform, Taboola offers a range of services to help brands engage high-quality audiences across publisher platforms and increase performance results like conversion rates. Especially as brands battle for attention online, it’s more important than ever to find new ways to stand out among the noise and build direct connections with your target audience. That’s where affiliate marketing shines — providing brands with a cost-effective, scalable, and competitive solution to drive engagement and revenue.
Learn more about how to boost your affiliate marketing with native advertising.