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Most e-shops start with PPC, then add SEO and social media. People often forget that an e-shop should also be strategically built as a brand, with a communication strategy and clear brand associations. In today’s AI era, digital PR, link building and, for larger projects, clear brand activities that build brand strength are also important. Organic and paid social media are absolutely crucial at the moment.
But there are many more options. Affiliate marketing, for example. In this short article, I give 5 reasons why an e-shop should consider affiliate marketing. If you want to learn more, I recommend my guide to affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a form of online marketing in which a company (an e-shop or another seller) offers to work with external partners, known as affiliate partners (often through an affiliate network). The partner promotes the products or services through their own website, blog, social media or another channel. When someone clicks on a special affiliate link thanks to their recommendation and completes a conversion (a purchase, registration, download and so on), the partner receives a commission.
The main principle is simple: e-shops do not pay for impressions or clicks, only for an actual result, in other words “performance”. This makes affiliate marketing an effective and relatively low-cost way to acquire customers. It looks like a very safe form of marketing, where the e-shop has clearly defined costs. On the other hand, affiliate marketing is often done by coupon websites or other websites that bring in customers the e-shop would often have won anyway.
Greater reach
Affiliate marketing allows e-shops to join forces with affiliate partners (often bloggers, magazines or influencers) who promote the products and the whole e-shop in return for a reward. This increases reach and attracts more potential customers, including people outside the bubble of customers already reached.
A clearly measurable channel
Compared with traditional marketing channels, affiliate marketing usually costs less. You only pay for a specific result, which is often just a click or, more commonly, a purchase.
A popular marketing channel
Affiliate marketing is part of the core marketing mix. In the USA, more than 75% of e-shops use it.
This channel can also be managed and influenced
Many people in e-commerce think that affiliate marketing is simply set up and switched on. That’s it. However, you can experiment with affiliate marketing, create promotions and keep working on it. That is exactly the key to success. It is not difficult to add or remove partners, adjust terms or try new products in advertising campaigns.
Free brand reach
If an e-shop launches a well-designed affiliate programme, its brand reach increases immediately. Magazines, bloggers and influencers start writing about it. Because the partners and the e-shop share the same goal (to sell), the vast majority of mentions of the e-shop will be overwhelmingly positive. The e-shop itself then has all its costs very easy to measure. Of course, the e-shop should check what they write and whether it is in line with its brand manual or chosen brand associations. In short, you can steer it even further.
