What Is An Affiliate Program?

An affiliate program is a business arrangement where a company pays someone a commission for driving sales to their website.

Introduction

Affiliates typically promote the company’s products or services through their own marketing efforts, such as blogs, social media, or websites, and earn a commission for each successful referral or sale they generate. It’s a way for companies to expand their reach and for affiliates to earn money by promoting products they believe in.

• An affiliate program is a marketing strategy where you recruit individuals to promote your product.
• They share a special link through various channels like blogs or social media.
• When someone visits the site through this link, Siren tracks it as an engagement.
• When that person later converts, Siren rewards the affiliate.
• This pay-for-performance model extends your reach by leveraging your network’s enthusiasm for your product.

How It Works

A Visitor Clicks an Affiliate Link

This is usually shared through their blog, on social media, or an email.

Visitor Is Given a Tracking Cookie

This cookie is stored in their browser, and is used by Siren to determine which affiliate referred the visitor.

The Visitor Buys Something

Since this visitor has a cookie, Siren can credit an affiliate for this sale.

The Sale Gets Recorded

Siren detects that the visitor is associated with an affiliate, and tracks how much you owe the affiliate for the referral.

The Referral Is Validated

You review the sale, and when you’re ready, you approve the commission.

The Affiliate is Paid

After the commission is approved, you create a payout in Siren, and pay the affiliate what you owe them.

Example Scenario

You’ve developed a product that you’re proud of. You’re eager to get the word out. Traditional advertising methods come to mind, but they can be pricey and might not deliver as expected. As you weigh your options, you think about your network—friends, family, and colleagues who already love your product. What if you could tap into their enthusiasm to reach a wider audience? Well, there’s a strategy that does just that, and it’s called an affiliate program.

You recruit individuals who believe in your product. This could be anyone – happy customers, friends, family, or complimentary businesses. You provide them with a special link to your product that they can share with their audience. This could be through their blog, social media platforms, or directly to other people.

Now, let’s say someone clicks on one of these unique links and makes a purchase. The system tracks that sale back to your affiliate’s link, crediting that affiliate with the referral. For their efforts in promoting your product, the affiliate earns a commission. It’s a reward for helping you make a sale.

Setting up an affiliate program can dramatically extend your reach. Instead of relying solely on your own marketing efforts, you have a team of motivated affiliates who are spreading the word about your product. It’s leveraging the power of word-of-mouth but on a much larger, trackable scale.

An affiliate program is like having a sales force that only gets paid when they actually make a sale, making this a cost-effective pay-for-performance marketing strategy. When your affiliates succeed, you succeed.

So, if you’re thinking about how to increase sales or if you’re looking for more innovative ways to market your product, consider setting up an affiliate program. It could open up new avenues for growth and bring your product to audiences you might not have reached otherwise.