Ayo Edebiri’s accolades showcase her artistry in acting and comedy. However, there’s no Oscar category for ‘Best Affiliate Partner’ to highlight your expertise to brands. Consider effectively leveraging alternative strategies to showcase your value to brands as an affiliate partner. Since 64 percent of a company’s revenue stems from partnerships, seize the chance to distinguish yourself.
Lasting partnerships can help brand and affiliate partners collaborate better and improve campaigns. However, affiliates must demonstrate their value to reach long-term collaborator status. Here are five insider tips to help you toot your own horn to brands.
Key takeaways from this blog
- Regular communication with partnering brands helps nurture strong relationships.
- Innovative promotional strategies expand reach and increase conversation around the brand.
- Providing solutions to brand problems enhances the value of the partnership beyond promotion.
- Suggesting campaigns based on emerging trends can lead to new growth opportunities.
- Sharing success stories and testimonials helps illustrate the real value provided to previous brand partners.
- Highlighting statistics and ROI demonstrates the impact of promotional efforts.
- Seeking feedback enables you to understand performance and identify areas for improvement.
5 ways to align your affiliate partnership values to brands
When your values as an affiliate resonate with those of the brands you’re partnering with, it’s like hitting the jackpot.
You’re representing a brand, promoting their products or services, and communicating their message to your audience. If your values don’t align with the brand’s, the disconnect will show—affecting authenticity, which today’s consumers appreciate. On the other hand, when your values match, you foster partnerships built on shared beliefs.
So, how do you ensure value alignment? Consider these tips to highlight the value you deliver to brands.
1. Build lasting relationships with regular communications
Building solid relationships with your brand partners is ongoing. Like watering a plant––a little care goes a long way.
Regular check-ins show a genuine investment in mutual success. Depending on the brand and campaign you’re working on, schedule weekly, monthly, or quarterly check-ins. These sessions are a chance to talk about:
- What’s working well
- If you’re still aligned on campaign goals
- How else can you help with the campaign
Management solutions such as impact.com automate communications. You can engage in meaningful conversation by quickly accessing your brand partner’s profile, which allows you to contact them via email or the in-app chat options.
2. Provide customer insights and the latest trends
Remember, your role isn’t just to promote. It’s also to be an eye and ear to the ground. If you notice customers are providing consistent feedback (good or bad), share it with your brand partner and find ways to incorporate it. Be solution-oriented rather than a simple funnel for news from the outside.
Also, watch for the next big thing: a social media trend, a holiday, or a shift in consumer interests. Propose affiliate campaigns that tap into these trends and show brand partners how these ideas can lead to growth.
3. Share data-backed success stories
When trying to show your value, nothing speaks louder than success stories. Have you helped a brand increase sales? Did your campaign bring in tons of new customers? Openly share these wins and have the data to show why they worked.
It’s like telling a story where you’re the hero who helps brands succeed. These wins help existing partners understand your value and why they should repeat your collaboration.
Plus, real-life results make it easier for potential new partners to see what you can do for them.
Additionally, numbers speak volumes, so keep track of everything. Depending on the brand and campaign goals, these metrics could include:
- Traffic you bring to your partner’s site
- Number of conversions
- Click-through rates
- Growth in followers or subscribers
- Increase in audience engagement
These stats are proof of the impact you’re making. When you can say, “Look, I increased sales by 20%,” it’s compelling evidence to brands of your tangible contribution. Make it a priority to provide regular updates on these stats.
Reporting suites such as the ones provided by impact.com make collecting, interpreting, and sharing data easy and accessible. For instance, the Performance by Brand report tracks data according to each creator’s social posts for a specific brand. You can provide insights into your important KPIs, including actions, clicks, etc.
4. Use data to build long-term success
To be a top-notch partner, you need to embrace your inner detective. Data is a great way to prove you know what you are doing and to build longevity in a partnership.
Use this knowledge, plus the data you collected earlier, like customer preferences and buying habits, to guide your strategies. When you suggest ideas backed by solid data, brands will see you as the go-to expert who knows what works.
It’s also key to understand partner brands inside out. It’s like knowing a friend so well you can finish their sentences. Study the brand’s values, its audience, and its products. This deep dive helps you align your content and promotions with the brand’s values.
When you’re in sync with the brand, your promotions feel more genuine; customers can sense that. It’s all about being the perfect fit.
5. Schedule time for a comprehensive campaign debriefing
Debriefing campaigns with brands as affiliates helps understand the impact of your collaborations and forge stronger, more effective partnerships moving forward.
This strategic approach allows both parties to dissect what worked, what didn’t, and how to enhance future campaigns for maximum success. Here are several strategies and questions that can drive valuable feedback and insights
- Quantitative analysis: Examine tangible metrics such as conversion rates, click-through rates, and overall sales generated. Ask, “Which specific aspects of our campaign drove the most engagement or conversions?”
- Qualitative insights: Understand the brand perception and customer feedback during the campaign. Inquire, “What feedback did we receive from the audiences about the campaign? How did it align with brand values?”
- Innovation opportunities: Seek insights on emerging trends and technologies that you can incorporate into future campaigns. Question, “What new tools or features can we leverage next time to enhance our reach or engagement?”
- Efficiency improvements: Identify areas of the campaign process that you can optimize for better efficiency or cost-effectiveness. Consult, “Which parts of our campaign execution could be streamlined or optimized for better results?”
By adopting these approaches, affiliates and brands lay the groundwork for more impactful and efficient future campaigns.
Build better relationships with brands for long-term partnerships
Successfully partnering with brands requires more than setting up an affiliate marketing campaign. When you go above and beyond as an affiliate partner, you have a higher chance of establishing long-term relationships with brands. Start by sharing ideas, highlighting your successes, and requesting feedback. Partners who do this show they’re valuable to any brand’s team.
To take your partnership marketing skills to the next level, enroll in the PXA Course. It’s your chance to master the art of effective partnerships and reach new heights with affiliate marketing.
For more info and guidance on affiliate partnerships, check out these impact.com resources:
- How to run a SaaS affiliate program (blog post)
- The state of partnership marketing (report)
- Awareness to retention: How affiliates and influencers connect the entire customer journey (infographic)
- TUI uses impact.com to stay ahead of the curve (testimonial)
