In this episode of ‘Partnership,’ the focus is on redefining online partnerships for bootstrapped businesses by emphasizing the significance of supporting affiliates. Alex explains how building strong, loyal, and committed relationships with affiliates can boost sales and create a sustainable affiliate program. The episode covers strategies to enhance communication, provide valuable training and resources, and maintain motivation through competitive commissions and personalized incentives. Alex also underscores the benefits of understanding affiliates’ needs and goals, offering dedicated support, and fostering a sense of community among affiliates to drive a business forward.
Show Notes
Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to Partnership, where your network is the wind in your sails. I’m your host, Alex Standiford, and I’m here to redefine online partnerships for bootstrapped businesses. I believe in working with top talent to expand your sales channels and enrich the lives around you, not just the pockets of big corporations.
[00:00:19] Today, we’re going to talk about the power of supporting your affiliates and how to build long lasting relationships that boosts sales. If you’ve been wondering the best way to set up your affiliate program for success, you don’t want to miss this episode. Let’s get started.
[00:00:38] When it comes to affiliate marketing or any kind of partnership marketing at all, relationships are everything. Building strong relationships with your partners can bring some big benefits when it comes to maximizing your sales and helping your affiliate program thrive.
[00:00:53] Affiliates who feel valued and supported are much more likely to stay loyal to your program and loyal affiliates will consistently promote your products.
[00:01:02] But It’s not just about having affiliates. It’s about having committed affiliates who believe in your brand and are motivated to share it with their audiences. I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before. Most people don’t need a lot of affiliates. They actually just need a few really good ones and building deep, healthy relationships with the ones that can have the biggest impact on your business is going to be what moves the needle the most.
[00:01:29] Another big benefit to focusing on affiliate relationships is how much better it makes your communication. When you have these strong relationships, communication channels are open and transparent, which means that you’re free to exchange all kinds of valuable feedback on things like products and marketing strategies.
[00:01:50] This goes both ways too, as you’ll probably learn more about what your affiliates are doing, what’s working, and how that can potentially help your other affiliates succeed in the same way. You have to assume that most of your affiliates are probably not as familiar with your product as you are. So educating them on use cases and key benefits of your product , as well as how to promote it in their context, is going to help them promote your product.
[00:02:18] Naturally, affiliates who understand your brand and products are much better equipped to create authentic, high impact promotional content.
[00:02:27] A side benefit of this communication with your affiliates is that they’ll often have feedback for you. As your champion ambassadors, these people will probably have a unique perspective on your product and often have access to an audience that you just don’t have.
[00:02:44] And guess what? The good ones are listening to their audience and probably have a really good idea on what’s most important to them. This creates a win win because you can make tweaks to your product to ensure it satisfies their audience’s needs and they get a better product to offer their audience.
[00:03:03] Another reason to offer deeper support is that affiliates are more likely to engage in joint marketing campaigns, product launches, and exclusive promotions. Collaborations like this can seriously boost your sales. Plus affiliates who trust and believe in your brand will communicate that trust to their audiences.
[00:03:23] That reflects well on your brand regardless of if their audience buys or not.
[00:03:28] For example, let’s say you have an affiliate who has a big audience in a very specific vertical. You could connect with them and schedule a joint promotional effort where you personally do a live stream for their audience and do an interview with the affiliate and maybe you even offer that specific audience a special one time offer exclusively for them.
[00:03:51] Oh yeah, and you get to use your partner’s affiliate link so they get a cut as well.
[00:03:57] Just think about how motivating that would be. Imagine you’re an affiliate who receives an email from one of the products that you’re selling and that person wants to help you promote their product. Turn it into an event and offers your audience an exclusive discount and you’re going to get credit for the sales.
[00:04:16] Do you think that would motivate you?
[00:04:18] Now, that isn’t the only way to do a collaboration, but my point is, if you can do something with your affiliates that ensures that they have a big payday a few times a year, you can guarantee they’re going to be excited to hear from you. Not to mention you get a healthy payday yourself.
[00:04:36] Satisfied affiliates are also more likely to refer other high quality affiliates to your program, which can expand your network a lot. It’s also worth mentioning that in times of crisis, strong relationships can go a long way towards helping you manage any potential issues.
[00:04:53] Overall, investing in building strong relationships with your affiliates really pays off, and it helps create a supportive and motivated network that actively contributes to your brand’s success. This investment easily translates into higher sales, better market reach and affiliate program that’s truly sustainable over the long term.
[00:05:16] Now, let’s talk about why you should make an effort to understand the needs and goals of your affiliates.
[00:05:23] This is so important. Understanding your affiliates needs and goals is crucial to the success of your program because it helps you make informed decisions. It also helps you set up priorities and make sure that your program is a true win win for you and your affiliates.
[00:05:40] If you’re not sure where to start. Just engage with your affiliates and start making some observations. Spend some time learning what truly matters to them. Things like their values, their passions, and their interests. Learning about what’s important to their lives will give you a lot to work with. What are their career aspirations?
[00:05:59] How do they want to improve their lives? What about their business goals? It’s so much more effective when you can align your strategies to support them in a way that actually helps them accomplish their own goals. After all, everybody says they want money, but really what they want is something to do specifically with that money.
[00:06:19] Maybe they want time, maybe they want freedom. How can you help them accomplish those things?
[00:06:26] Aside from helping them, you also don’t want to waste your time and resources, especially if you’re running an affiliate program by yourself. Understanding your affiliates needs and goals gives you direction and purpose, and it helps ensure that you’re able to focus your energy on what truly matters to your affiliates instead of wasting resources on the wrong strategies, or the wrong affiliates for that matter.
[00:06:49] This allows you to cater your collaborative efforts with them based on what they can realistically bring to the table. After all, doing a full blown week long webinar with someone who has little to no audience isn’t going to do you much good. But, that person could definitely benefit from other lower touch strategies that supports them without eating up too much of your time.
[00:07:11] Input from your affiliates can provide all kinds of valuable insights into their strengths as well as many areas that might need some improvement. Affiliate perspectives can help you refine your understanding of their needs and their goals, which means that you’ll be able to tailor your program to bring the absolute best out of them.
[00:07:30] Remember that markets, culture, and circumstances all change, so you need to stay open to new strategies and take affiliate feedback on board if you want to keep your methods fresh and relevant. Also note, if an affiliate wasn’t a good fit at one time, it’s possible that something changed in their life and you need to make sure that you remain open to the opportunity to talk to them and help them make the improvement that they want.
[00:07:57] Maybe they recently had a career change or they lost their job or something like that. And all of a sudden. They have a lot more time and resources to be able to commit to actually doing these promotions. And they would, in that case, certainly have a lot more motivation. So be sure to always kind of stay on top of that.
[00:08:17] Okay. So we’ve talked about the importance of strong affiliate relationships, getting to know your affiliates, et cetera. But what about the value you promised them in exchange for joining your program in the first place? Providing value to your affiliates is a fundamental part of the whole relationship, and it’s key for maintaining their motivation, their loyalty, and their performance.
[00:08:40] You can have as many meetings as you want, but if you’re not giving them the money, or you’re not paying them with the incentive that you promised, they’re not going to stick around for long.
[00:08:49] Now, when we talk about value, competitive commissions and incentives are the first things that come to mind. And, yes, of course, it’s important to offer attractive commission rates compared to your competitors, especially if you want your program to actually be appealing. But If you want to motivate your affiliates further, you might also consider things like performance based bonuses for reaching sales milestones or generating high quality leads.
[00:09:15] You could also create special promotions or limited time offers exclusively for your affiliates to share with their audiences. Think about anything you can do to reward their efforts and help them boost their engagement. It’s also valuable to think about different ways you can modify your programs to make it more attractive, aside from your rate.
[00:09:37] I actually talk about this in another episode called what is a cookie window and how do I use it? I’ll link that in the show notes below.
[00:09:45] High quality marketing materials are another crucial aspect of the value you provide. Giving your affiliates a variety of customizable assets like banners, social media graphics, email templates, and promotional videos helps to ease their workload and it empowers them to succeed.
[00:10:02] But, it doesn’t just have to be images and videos. You can also pre write advice and tips that they can fold into their own white papers on their site. By doing this, you can save them some time by pre writing content for them that they can inject into their own lead magnets on their site. They probably shouldn’t use this verbatim, but giving them a boost on copy can be a really big help.
[00:10:25] Just remember to regularly update these materials to reflect any new products, promotions, and seasonal campaigns. You want to make sure that your affiliates always have fresh and relevant content to share.
[00:10:38] Training and resources are another important element to mention whenever it comes to affiliate success.
[00:10:44] Think about doing things like giving regular training sessions or webinars on the marketing strategies that you want them to use. Or teaching them about product features and industry trends that can enhance their skills and their knowledge.
[00:10:58] I also think a private newsletter is a fantastic option too. You can send a weekly or monthly email that updates your affiliates on the progress you’re making on your product, upcoming features, and how they work. This gives your affiliates time to come up with content strategies to promote those new features and talk about them to their audience. I personally think it’s a great idea to include a way for your affiliates to also schedule a one on one with you.
[00:11:23] This email opens the door to spitballing ideas and talking about different ways that they can promote this upcoming feature.
[00:11:30] Maybe you decide to create a resource library with guides, ebooks, and tutorials so that affiliates have access to ongoing support and education.
[00:11:38] Videos can be especially helpful when keeping affiliates up to speed. Video tutorials can make it really easy for affiliates to understand how your products work, showcase their benefits, and provide tips on effective promotion strategies. You can also share recordings of webinars, product demonstrations, and success stories to give affiliates practical insights and inspiration.
[00:12:00] In general, videos are very versatile and can be easily shared on various platforms. Bonus points if you set up the videos so that they can be easily downloaded and injected into their own materials.
[00:12:11] And one more thing about video assets. Make sure to offer them in square, landscape, and portrait formats. This maximizes the place they can use these assets on the web, and it just makes it that much easier to fold these things into your affiliate’s content.
[00:12:28] Whichever types of resources you choose, keeping your affiliate program fresh and exciting is super important if you want them to stay engaged.
[00:12:37] This means regularly updating it with new features, better tools, and improved resources to keep it competitive and highly valuable.
[00:12:45] All of these things are great. But the truth is there’s just nothing that compares to dedicated support.
[00:12:51] So even if you provide things like training and resources, maintaining open communication and offering one on one support is going to make a big difference to your affiliates. Maybe you have a dedicated support team to assist them with questions or issues, or you schedule regular check ins with your affiliates.
[00:13:09] Whatever the case, encouraging communication and feedback is going to help you build much stronger relationships with your affiliates. I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here, but my point is, you really can’t have too many meetings with these people. Take as many one on one calls with them as you can.
[00:13:27] If you really want to go above and beyond, consider building a community for your affiliates. For example, a private discord community or a social media group where affiliates can share tips, success stories, and best practices. This creates a sense of camaraderie. I don’t necessarily recommend that you do this right away, but if you find that your community has grown to a certain size and you can get your affiliates to actually show up on that platform, it’s a great way to drop the communication barrier that much further.
[00:13:57] I particularly love discord because it allows you to share successes with everyone and offer advice to each other in the process using a chat based format. It also has some video tools and some audio tools so you could do some live streams and presentations directly inside of that platform. Really cool.
[00:14:15] You could also host events, webinars, or meetups to give your affiliates the chance to network and build relationships among themselves. Offering things like early access to new products, features, or promotions, and providing special discounts or deals that affiliates can offer exclusively to their audience adds an extra feeling of exclusivity and value.
[00:14:37] If you’re listening to this and you happen to have a big affiliate program, All of this is probably sounding like a lot of extra work, and I hear you. So let’s talk about different ways you can approach your relationships with affiliates that might work better with bigger programs.
[00:14:53] The reality is a lot of affiliates don’t fit this out of the park, amazing affiliate who generates big sales for you regularly. Affiliate marketing is a challenging thing to do really well. And sometimes it can be difficult for both affiliates and vendors to connect, but when they do, wow. The point I’m trying to make here is that you’ll quickly find that some of your affiliates are going to be very minimal.
[00:15:18] For example, a few of my affiliates for Siren are agency owners. who want to refer their customers to use Siren, and they want to get a little kickback when they do that. This is totally fine, and I’m excited to get to work with these people, but the fundamental things you can do to support them is very different than a blogger with a big captive audience that needs your product.
[00:15:39] One on one meetings are all about personalized attention. These individual sessions allow for tailored advice, direct feedback, and a deeper understanding of each affiliate’s unique situation. These are sessions between you and your individual affiliates. You can do these monthly or quarterly, and they usually last around 30 minutes to an hour.
[00:16:00] This is where your high touch, high value affiliates are going to get a lot of value. In these calls, you’ll be able to build out an entire launch catered to their audience.
[00:16:11] Group discussions, on the other hand, are more about community building, shared learning, And collective brainstorming. They usually involve multiple affiliates and can be done as webinars, conference calls, or even in person meetings.
[00:16:26] Group discussions are typically held quarterly or biannually and last about one to two hours.
[00:16:33] During your check ins and feedback sessions, you’ll want to cover a few key areas. First up is performance reviews. This is where you look at key metrics like sales, conversion rates, and traffic generation. You’ll want to review progress towards both individual and program wide goals and give some constructive feedback and recognize their achievements.
[00:16:52] You can also discuss any challenges your affiliates are facing and figure out if they need some extra resources, some training, or some ideas on how to better promote your product.
[00:17:03] Collaborating on solutions to these issues is really the majority of the conversation you’re going to have with your affiliates.
[00:17:10] Program updates are also important. You’ll want to keep affiliates in the loop about any changes or features to your program, including new products, tools, or policies. Share any upcoming promotions or campaigns and discuss how affiliates can make the most out of these opportunities.
[00:17:27] Again, review marketing strategies, share insights and best practices, and analyze the success of past campaigns to plan your future ones. Make sure to identify any specific content or marketing materials that your affiliates might need. Whenever you send an email out, make sure you have that stuff ready to go.
[00:17:47] As I mentioned earlier, feedback collection is a big part of these sessions. Encourage your affiliates to share suggestions on how the program can be improved and to talk about their overall experience, including any pain points or highlights.
[00:18:02] And find out if they have any innovative ideas or what strategies that they have found to be effective. By actively seeking out and valuing their feedback, you’re showing your affiliates that their opinions matter and that you’re committed to making the program better for everyone involved. This open line of communication not only helps you identify areas for improvement, but it also empowers your affiliates to take an active role in the program’s success.
[00:18:29] When affiliates see their suggestions being implemented, it reinforces their sense of value and it strengthens their commitment to your brand.
[00:18:38] Building strong relationships with your affiliates is the cornerstone of a successful affiliate program. From understanding their needs and goals to providing them with the right resources and support, every effort you make contributes to a more engaged and successful affiliate network.
[00:18:55] At the end of it all, the effort you put into building and maintaining strong affiliate relationships is an investment that pays off. These people can amplify your marketing efforts and give you much better reach that benefits both you and your affiliates. So take the time to nurture these partnerships, listen to your affiliates, and provide them with the tools and support they need.
[00:19:17] The result will be a loyal, high performing network that drives your business forward.
[00:19:23] Thank you for joining us in this episode of Partnership, where your network is the wind in your sails. I hope you found today’s discussion insightful and inspiring. Remember, the strength of your business lies in the partnerships you build and nurture. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review.
[00:19:41] For more tips and insights, visit our website at partnership. fm. This is Alex Standiford, sailing out.
