If your company is looking to make affiliate marketing creatives internally, you might not know where to start. If you don’t have a professional graphic designer in-house, or don’t want to use a graphic design service subscription the process may seem overwhelming. Below, you’ll find a guide to help you through the process. Read on to learn the answer to these questions:
- What type of materials do you need for an affiliate marketing campaign?
- Why should you consider making the materials for your affiliate marketing yourself?
- What are the best graphic design tools for affiliate marketing materials?
This article will help you find the right tools to help you manage your materials and your campaign.
What Type of Materials Do You Need for an Affiliate Marketing Campaign?
The materials you need are also part of what’s called “affiliate creative inventory,” which refers to how you present your affiliate material. The types of graphics you might want to create include:
Banners – Banners are a graphic or an image. These can be hyperlinked so someone can click the banner and be brought to your website. Not only will it link to your services, but a banner is also great for brand awareness.
Social Sharing Images – Provide affiliates with additional graphics that might include product images or visuals that promote your brand. These visuals make it easy for affiliates to promote your brand across various social media channels such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more.
Why Should You Consider Making the Materials for Your Affiliate Marketing?
The truth is that you don’t always need to bring in an expert to achieve an expert-level design for your affiliate marketing campaign. For smaller companies, taking on this project yourself will save you a ton of money. More importantly, you’ll have more say during the process, and everything will be in your hands.
You’ll save a lot of money by doing the work in-house. The material’s quality might be lower than what you’d get from hiring experts, but over time you’ll see your campaign shift and evolve as your team gets better.
To get the best results and make the graphics as quickly as possible, you need to make sure you’re using the right tools for the job. In the next section, we’ll discuss which programs and graphic design tools are perfect for your business.
What Are the Best Graphic Design Tools for Affiliate Marketing Materials?
The tools listed below will help you put together graphic content for your affiliate program, and they’re widely considered the best tools on the market. Remember, a successful affiliate marketing campaign is only as good as the tools you use.
Adobe Express
A tool that’s made for designers with more experience is Adobe Express. This is the same company that released Photoshop. Adobe Express is the equivalent for creating marketing affiliate graphics. Their free version has more than enough power to help you build powerful content.
As you might expect, Adobe Express has plenty of features to help guide you through the process. This tool will help you build high-quality, head-turning content if you have a little bit of experience. If you’re just getting started, this tool is a great way to learn more about graphic design.
Pricing: A free version or subscription starting at $9.99/mo.
Best for: Small companies to create high-quality graphics. Built-in design tools make the process easy for beginners.
Pros:
- 1000s of layouts and templates to use
- Simple to use
- Creates a professional-looking product
- Create animations and GIFs
- Co-edit projects
- Mobile apps
Cons:
- Some features are a little inconvenient and require some getting used to
- Outputs are more limited to social media graphics.
Canva
Canva is free to use and very simple. You can drag and drop different components to put together a banner. Canva is probably the most popular tool on this list, and there are plenty of reasons why people love it. They have thousands of templates, and all of them are very professional. They have so many different layouts that you’re sure to find one that works.
You can use Canva for infographics, ads, graphics, and presentation. You can access the site through a browser or with their iTunes app. The tool is free to use, and you’ll get a lot of usability from their free version.
Pricing: Choose between a free trial, free version, or subscription starting at $9.95/mo.
Best for: Anyone who wants to design graphics. It’s perfect for individuals or small companies.
Pros:
- It’s easy to use.
- Create a brand kit to use across all your designs
- The pre-built themes and designs are great
- Easy to use for creating any type of graphic visuals
- Lots of flexibility to accommodate different needs
- Quickly create other visuals such as Facebook cover photos, Instagram stories, and more.
- Paid accounts allow for easy organization and sharing of content.
Cons:
- The free version lacks some helpful features and access to certain content.
Creatopy
With Creatopy (formerly BannerSnack), you can get started with a limited free version. You can also use a free trial of the paid version. Creatopy is an excellent resource for companies of various sizes. It has a lot of automation and customization, which is great news for you. It also has a massive inventory of templates that allow you to put together stunning and unique visual elements.
Another bonus of Creatopy is that the site lets you collaborate with your team through a single interface. For organizations that have multiple people working on a single project, this is a big deal.
Pricing: Free version, free trial, or a subscription starting at $17/mo
Best for: Small, medium, or Fortune 500 companies. Lots of features that work well for teams.
Pros:
- The free version has a lot of functionality
- Intuitive interface and quick learning curve with the drag and drop options
- Even beginners have no trouble using this program
- Plenty of automation
- Easy animation of graphics
- Team workflow options
Cons:
- Fewer templates than some of the competition
Pablo
Pablo is a tool that’s optimized for smaller projects. It’s especially useful for putting together social media graphics or simple banners. It has a free Chrome extension that allows you to quickly edit the text and image for your company. It all works right through your browser. The process is simple, and the tool is easy to use.
Pricing: Completely free.
Best for: Simple images with text.
Pros:
- One of the easiest and quickest ways to make a graphic
- Easy to use and doesn’t require a downloaded app
Cons:
- Lacks the strength to help with large projects
- No complex or high-end features
- Limited to social media graphics and not web banners.
Snappa
Snappa provides an easy-to-use interface to put together your content. You can use it for free or upgrade to a subscription to unlock some extra goodies. It has templates built for infographics, images, thumbnails, banners, and different social media posts. Drag and drop components to put together your perfect graphic.
Pricing: Free version, free trial, or subscription starting at $10/mo.
Best for: Beginners looking for a versatile program to create graphics.
Pros:
- Lots of features to help you along the way
- A simple program to pick up and use
- Create designs very quickly
- Cost-effective platform
- Templates do a lot of the work for you
- Supports team collaboration
Cons:
- No animation support
Stencil
Stencil is another great option for your business. Stencil is an entry-level program that makes it easy to set up graphics and tweak them. It doesn’t offer the same level of customization or professional-grade aspects that other tools on this list do.
What this tool does well is it simplifies the process. A complete rookie can use this tool and put together nice content. You can save up to 10 images a month with their free version or upgrade to their premium version and save unlimited images.
They have an extensive template library with dozens of different pre-configured content types, from social media posts to business banners. This tool is perfect for people who don’t have a lot of experience putting together graphics.
Pricing: Free version, free trial, or subscription starting at $9/mo.
Best for: Small businesses and social media marketers with little experience.
Pros:
- Simple to use and clean interface
- Good option for beginners
Cons:
- The free version is limited
- Lacks advanced features
Need More Help Running Your Affiliate Program?
Using the right graphic design tools for affiliate marketing materials can make your campaign more successful. Your level of experience, budget, and desired affiliate graphics will determine which tool is right for you.
