Imagine having your own army of influencers to sell your products for you?
Well, that's pretty much what affiliate marketing could do for your business.
So in today's video, you're going to learn how to create a force of affiliates to
help you generate passive income so that you can focus on scaling your business.
But before we go any further, I just want to introduce myself.
My name is Michelle and I am a creative strategist.
And I'm also your host for today's video.
If you've just stumbled upon this channel, welcome to Learn With Shopify.
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run or grow your online business.
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So make sure that you're hitting that subscribe button so that
you're not missing out on any future videos, but without further
ado, let's hop into the video.
We're going to go over the most asked questions so that you can learn how
to build an affiliate marketing plan
that's going to scale your business quickly.
Okay, so question number one: what is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when businesses work with partners that will help
promote their brand or their products.
So businesses will pay these people for every lead, or every sale generated.
All right so here's a little diagram that I found that really helps explain this.
But with revenue sharing, affiliate marketing is a win-win for both the
online merchant and for affiliates.
With affiliate marketing, there is no one size fits all.
I think, you know, every business owner is going to have a different
program, but the nice thing is, is that you get to call the shots.
You get to customize a plan that is as profitable and as scalable as
possible for you and your business.
So, you know, like who you work with, how you pay them and how you want
them to advertise for you can really be tailored to meet your needs.
Which types of businesses is affiliate marketinggood for?
So good news, you can literally be any type of business and have
an affiliate marketing program.
So if we think about fashion or if we think about subscription boxes,
those are definitely popular when it comes to affiliate marketing,
but if you're familiar with Bluehost, for example, they sell domains and
they have their own affiliate program.
So you can pretty much be any type of business and run an
affiliate marketing program.
So how do you find affiliates?
So there are many ways to find affiliates, both passive and active
so that you can start building out your roster of partners.
So if you put a link in the footer of your website, this is a solid, but passive way
to introduce visitors to your program.
So this link would lead visitors to a page and that page is going to be dedicated
to describing how your program works and it will also include a sign up form.
So the sign up form would then be vetted by you so that you can allow, you know,
who you want to let into the program.
For the field section, you can have a questionnaire and you can ask them
for their social media handles and how familiar they are with your products.
A more active way to find affiliates is by reaching out to
your existing customers via email.
So recruiting customers is pretty smart because first of all, they
already know and love your products.
And secondly, they would probably be flattered that you're including them.
And then another method of course, is reaching out to influencers.
So start by emailing or start by DM-ing 10, you know, this doesn't
have to be anything super formal.
It doesn't have to be anything, you know, super intense.
You can literally just drop them a line and invite them.
But what I will say is just make sure that you are giving them the link to your
affiliate program page, and then that way they can check it out for more information
should they be curious.
Now I want to mention that you shouldn't feel like your business
has to be perfect or your website has to be perfect before you reach out.
There's no such thing as perfect.
So don't let that hold you back from starting your affiliate program.
So, this is a common question.
How much should you actually be paying your affiliates?
So usually you pay your affiliates a percentage of the total sale.
The short answer is that you can pay your affiliates anywhere
between 5 and 30 percent.
The long answer is, how you pay your affiliates is going
to depend on a few factors.
So it's going to depend number one, how much can you afford?
Secondly, what is the going rate in your industry?
And of course what your average customer lifetime value is.
But if that all sounds like a lot, and I admit, I feel like that's,
you know, a lot to calculate, what you can do is you can start low.
So start with 10.
And then if you need to work your way up, you can do that later.
Now it might take a bit of, you know, testing and trying
to find that sweet spot.
You want to make sure, of course, that you're happy with your profit
margin, but you also want to make sure that your affiliates are
happy with how much they're making.
But just keep in mind, the more that you pay them,
so the more generous you are with your payouts, the easier of a time
you will have number one, finding your affiliate marketers, and secondly,
keeping your army of affiliates.
So for example, TripAdvisor, their affiliate program pays 50%
commission and that's super generous.
Now there's one more crucial piece to this puzzle that we're talking about here.
So, okay, you're giving your affiliates a cut to incentivize them
to promote your products, right?
But, you also have to think about what would incentivize the
customers to actually use that affiliate code and buy, you know.
You need them to use the codes to make this model work.
So in order to do this, it's common for businesses to give customers a discount
as well for using affiliate codes.
So for example, Mejuri, they give 10% off to their customer and they pay affiliates,
a percentage of the sale made as well.
Now, by this point you might be thinking, oh my God, that's a
lot I'm giving away for free, but just, you know, don't sweat it.
If you seriously want to use affiliates as a part of your marketing, just
work this into your pricing strategy.
You may have to up your prices in order to accommodate for the
cost of affiliate marketing.
So just keep that in mind.
Super common question is, should I be sending my affiliates product?
In order for your affiliates to sell effectively, of course you
want them to be able to speak honestly about your products.
So if they aren't already previous customers, then definitely
you're going to want to send them some products to test out.
If you know that you can only afford to give them a small cut of the
sales, you know so, you know, that's not eating too much into your profit
margins, then maybe yes, throwing in some free products into the mix
might be a really good way to sweeten the deal.
Having them play with your products and try them out, that can
really help turn your affiliates into die hard brand advocates.
How can you tell which influencers are bringing you sales?
So you can easily track which influencers are bringing you in, you know, added
website traffic and added sales.
Now, one way to do that is to use a discount code.
So Shopify allows you to set up a unique discount code for each of your affiliates.
So that way you can track how many sales were made, because Shopify
is going to tell you how many times a discount code has been used.
So another method, if you've ever heard of the term affiliate link,
this refers to a unique URL that contains the name of the affiliate.
Merchants use this link to track how much traffic and how many sales
each affiliate is making.
So what happens is the affiliate is going to drop that link in their content so
they can put it in their Instagram bios.
They can put that in their blog posts among other places as well.
And then you, as the business owner, you can see metrics like how many
times that link was clicked and the number of sales that it generated.
So if you're watching this video, maybe you're struggling to grow sales.
I know we've all been there.
You can learn how to go from first day to first sale in this free training course.
So you're going to get a free 30 minute workshop and you're going to
learn what big e-commerce brands do to drive sales and grow their business.
You're going to learn how to level up your marketing funnel.
You're going to learn the importance of positioning and how to drive more
traffic and increase conversions.
So I will leave a link for you guys.
If this is of interest to you, you can register using the link
in the description so you can watch this free webinar on demand.
Are there any platforms, apps, or tools that will help me organize
my affiliate marketing plan?
So the first step is having the URL set up and the discount code set up like we
talked about, but the next step is to set up systems so that you can see, you know,
all your important metrics in one place.
And you can also see, you know, who's actually making you those sales.
Now I know a lot of you are just starting your business so probably having a free
tool is going to be important to you guys.
So you should definitely check out Google analytics.
So Google analytics is not only going to help you track your affiliate
marketing efforts but it's also one of the best web analytic platforms
out there to help you analyze your entire website traffic as a whole.
So make sure that you are definitely getting the setup right away.
I think this video would probably be a million years long if I went
through how to set up Google analytics.
So I think Google analytics is a great place to start, but there's definitely
something to be said for apps.
So with an app like Affiliately,
everything that you need to run your affiliate program is just, you know, in
this one beautiful, centralized place.
So you can see how much you owe your influencers and you can pay them directly
in the app, which is super convenient.
And then affiliates are also going to love that they can see their own
stats and they can see their own earnings in the dashboard as well.
So that user experience is going to be, you know, great for the affiliates.
You can also see different affiliate stats over time, and that's really
going to help you gauge who your top performing partners are.
And then with Affiliately, you can even pay your affiliates with gifts.
So that's, you know, depending on the agreement you have
with them, that can be great.
So what you can do is you can go to the Shopify app store
and you can download this app.
It's pretty reasonably priced.
I think it's about 16 USD a month, and that will give you 50 affiliates,
which is definitely more than enough if you're just starting out.
What should I require of my affiliates?
So it's important that your affiliates are clear on what is required and expected
of them in order for them to do a good job and start making your business sales.
Now, a common strategy is to ask your affiliates to post to
their social media accounts every time you drop a new product.
So for example, Mejuri, they're going to email their affiliates, letting them know
that they're dropping a new collection.
And then they actually allow their affiliates to choose a
product or a piece that theylike,
and then once the affiliate actually receives the product, then they
have to post a photo to their Instagram before a certain date.
So that relationship is super clear and the expectations are super well laid out.
Mejuri also provides their affiliates with a set of instructions of do's and
don'ts so that their photos and that their wording are on brand and that they're
representing the products properly.
But I think, you know, that's just one particular example.
The actual deliverables of what you would require of your
affiliates is going to be different.
And also it might change over time.
And this is really because you're going to start to learn
what's working for your brand.
You're going to start to learn
what's actually making sales as you track your results.
So you might change your wording or you might change what affiliates
you use or what social media platforms you want them to post on.
But basically once you start to notice what's actually working and what's
actually making you sales, you can set this as a standard requirement for
all of your affiliates going forward.
And that's how you start to build a well-oiled affiliate marketing machine.
What if my affiliates aren't bringing me sales?.
If your affiliates, aren't bringing you sales that means
it's time for you to sit down and analyze why this may be happening.
Now, one of the most common reasons your affiliates may not be bringing you sales
is because it's possible that they're not connected to your brand or the
products that they're selling for you.
It's important to choose affiliates that are passionate about your niche.
If your affiliates don't genuinely believe in what you're, you know,
your products you're selling or your brand, they're probably just
going to come across as salesy.
And nobody likes to be sold to.
So in order to avoid this pitfall, make sure that you're really
vetting your affiliates before inviting them into your program.
Make sure that they have content that shows how knowledgeable they
are about your industry and culture.
And that's going to help you make an informed decision before inviting
influencers or affiliates to your program.
If your affiliates aren't bringing you sales, it could be because they don't know
what to do and they need you for guidance.
You can share a media kit that explains how to best communicate
your value proposition.
You also want to be proactive.
So do your part in turning your affiliates into brand advocates
by teaching them about your brand.
So sharing a brand book can communicate who you are and why they
should love you when you're just starting your affiliate program.
Definitely be prepared to take things slowly in the beginning,
especially because these things are going to take time.
But using productivity tools that help eliminate any manual tasks,
that's really going to help you save time and stay organized, which of
course is key for scaling any system.
So we already talked about affiliately,, which is a great tool
that's going to really help you scale.
But HubSpot is another really great productivity tool and it's
also free and that's going to help you manage your relationships.
Another key to scaling is focusing on adding die-hard fans to spread the
word, and that can really make some serious sales for you and your team.
And my last tip for you when it comes to scaling, is to
keep your affiliates engaged.
I think it takes a lot of time to find, recruit and maintain your affiliates,
so keeping your affiliates engaged with your program over a longer period
of time, that's going to give you the best return on time investment.
I know you don't want your affiliates to, you know, get bored and then leave because
it's going to take a lot of time to continuously find and train a new person.
So in order to keep them excited about your program, you can segment
them and treat them accordingly.
All right.
So let's talk about these segments.
So for new affiliates who haven't posted, offer them an extra
bonus to start creating content.
For inactive affiliates who used to post often but stopped, send them a surprise
bonus gift to encourage them to post it.
For high performing affiliates, reward them for their hard work
with an extra 5% payout as a special
thank you and that's really going to keep them motivated to
continue doing a good job for you.
Now that you've taken the time to really consider the value of affiliate
marketing for your business, you may also need some helpful tools to actually
go ahead and turn it into a reality.
So at Shopify, we believe that running a business should be a possibility
for everybody, which is why we offer a totally free, no risk, 14 day trial.
So if your business does require something that's, you know, reliable and robust
and that's really going to help you scale and grow, make sure that you're
checking out the link in the description box, and that's going to give you
access to the full Shopify platform.
We would love to support you in building the business of your dreams.
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I will see you in the next one.
Bye.