One of the biggest challenges that any modern company can face, regardless of its size, is expanding its brand awareness and, in turn, growing its customer base. The wider the catchment, the greater the opportunity for even bigger profits.
In the age of the Internet, the options are more numerous than ever. However, many of these strategies and tactics can only expand the scope of your efforts within your existing sphere of influence. In order to attract new users and new fans, you need to leverage the power of other people’s networks and not only your own. And affiliate marketing can provide that opportunity.
As a company and particularly as an advertiser, it is prudent to keep return-on-investment (ROI) front of mind. What’s the point of spending hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars on an advertising campaign if it doesn’t result in a corresponding level of growth in terms of audience and sales? With more traditional advertising, like print ads in a newspaper or a 30-second commercial on a local radio station, is that there isn’t much you do to track the level of impact your marketing and advertising dollars are having on your business.
Affiliate marketing is wholly different, in this regard, because you gain access to far more concrete statistics and metrics than you can imagine. You’ll know exactly which campaigns are bringing in the new customers and which campaigns are being less successful. You’ll know how many people clicked through on your offer and how many of those people followed through with your defined payable action.
And what this all means is that you can make a far more educated decision about knowing what is working and what is not. But how does this help to widen your audience and expand the reach of your brand?
Consider this from the perspective of the publisher. If he works with a campaign based on page views alone, his goal is simply to increase traffic and not necessarily increase targeted traffic for you. If he works with a campaign based on clicks, his goal is simply to entice any user to click on the corresponding ad, regardless of the quality and prospective value of that user. But if he works with an affiliate program, he knows that he needs to send qualified traffic that will convert in order to earn a commission.
Affiliates, in this way, are far closer to having the best interests of the advertiser at heart. Say, for instance, that your payable action is signing up for a free trial or signing up for your mailing list. The affiliate is working to direct highly targeted and qualified traffic your way. As an advertiser, you are tapping into an audience and a network to which you may not have otherwise had access. And this widens your audience with members who have demonstrated a clear interest in your brand, product or service.
You are not only growing your audience by adding new members to your mailing list; you are gaining new members who are highly interested in what you have to offer. These audience members are far more valuable than those who may just be casually looking around. And this represents a far bigger upside for potential profit now and into the future.
