A Creative Director once said, “There was an idea, to bring together, a group of remarkable people, to see if we could become something more. So when they needed us, we could fight the battles that they never could…” sounds very familiar, right? Well, advertising follows the same ideology. This article would marvel at the advertisers and marketers who assemble to fight the battles that our clients never could. We would be talking about ‘Affiliate Marketing’ and how reaching out and joining hands with the best in the industry is always way better than flying solo.
Affiliate Marketing: The Origin
Affiliate Marketing, in simple terms, is an advertising model where the third-party publisher is compensated to generate leads or traffic to the brand’s products or services. A brand can have multiple affiliate marketers, and vice versa. Essentially, this is a performance-driven way of marketing where the ‘selling’ part is outsourced across a wide network of affiliates.
Imagine! Star-Lord trading The Orb to the right seller and landing in Knowhere. The Collector can be referred to as the intergalactic Affiliate Marketer. That’s the kind of reach Affiliate Marketing has. But, don’t get bamboozled by the mystery of the marketing models. There are different types of Affiliate Marketing that brands can choose from.
The Multiverse of Marketing
Just like every MCU series now is redirecting the audience towards the possibilities of a multiverse and branching out infinite timelines, Affiliate Marketing also branches out into three types:
Unattached Affiliate Marketing: This is where the mantra of #LinkInBio pops up on every random site for every random product. Basically, there’s no connection between the promoter and the brand whatsoever and this is merely a revenue-generating model for the promoters.
Technically speaking, this type of Affiliate Marketing is a basic PPC campaign and the focus lies on the money that the promoter gets rather than customers whom they address. You ask them to say Hail HYDRA and they’ll turn it into a hashtag! All they do is put up an affiliate link or a tag of “Sponsored Content” in Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, etc. and they’ll even say ‘Hail HYDRA’ if you ask them to. That’s why it is important to feel related to the brand, and the next type of Affiliate Marketing is exactly here to solve that purpose.
Related Affiliate Marketing: This is where the promoters can actually make their presence felt online. This is a graduated version of the #LinkInBio thing where the promoter is related to the brand but may or may not be using the actual product or service. For instance, Gadget Guru may not be using every product he features on his platform, but he does endorse a few brands. The affiliate marketer can promote the brand via blogs, podcasts, or videos on social media.
Trust is essentially the prime stimulus in this type of Affiliate Marketing where the brand has to trust that the affiliate marketer is right for their product or service, and the affiliate marketers have to trust that they will do justice by promoting the right attributes of the product or service. One wrong move and SNAP! Everything that you worked for, will bite the dust. That’s the reason a promoter has to be involved in the experience to actually promote it genuinely, and the next type of Affiliate Marketing helps them do it seamlessly.
Involved Affiliate Marketing: This is the ideal form of affiliate marketing used in the food & beverage and the tourism industry where the promoter is completely involved in experiencing the product or the service. This is where the tag of “Highly Recommended” gets its due prominence.
However, with great power, comes greater responsibility to influence the followers to go for the right product or service. This type of Affiliate Marketing is completely opposite to the first type where you’re not even seen. Here, it’s your reputation that will generate leads & revenue, more than the brand.
In the long run, these types of Affiliate Marketing build trust and authenticity with the brands and with the customers as well.
At 3 Dots Design Pvt. Ltd., it is our prerogative to be one of the torchbearers of branding and marketing in Pune with expertise in digital, print and multimedia advertising. Being a 6-year-old kid in the advertising industry, we have a fair share of affiliate marketers who help us serve our clientele with the best possible outcomes and ensure that we deliver what we promise. If you feel that your brand needs to find the right universe to shine, Advertisers will Assemble at 3 Dots Design to fight your battles.