There’s no doubt that marketing strategies have continued to evolve over the years. In fact, 77% of companies recently reported that they had developed a content marketing strategy to meet modern demand. The days of paid search engine ads are beginning to fade away in favor of creating and sharing original online content. And, by far, affiliate programs make for the most cost-effective and influential type of content marketing, with affiliate sales in the U.S. expected to reach $70 billion.
Affiliate programs work like this: An individual promotes a company’s product or service on their site or social media channel, offering a unique link for customers to click. When a customer clicks on the link and purchases that product or service, the individual receives a predetermined commission from the company. Both individuals and companies make a profit, but companies get an enormous additional benefit: brand awareness.
Creating Brand Awareness Through an Affiliate Program
Brand awareness involves a customer’s ability to recognize a brand. It’s incredibly important because customers are 71% more likely to buy a product or service from a brand they are familiar with. As such, the keys to brand awareness are exposure, originality, and trust between companies and customers.
Influencers Elevate Your Brand’s Content and Presence
The first thing you’ll do when embarking on an affiliate program is finding the perfect affiliates to promote your company and its products or services. Many affiliate programs make use of influencers. These individuals are typically found on social media channels such as Instagram and YouTube and have a dedicated following. They usually appeal to a specific niche, such as travel, beauty, or fashion.
And their influence is very real. A 2021 survey on influencers found that 75% of brands have a budget dedicated to influencer marketing alone. Choosing to work with an influencer makes your brand:
- Authoritative. By utilizing influencers in your market, you have the assurance that the audience you are reaching is actually interested in the product or service you are offering. This highly increases the chances of traffic and sales compared with trying to appeal to everyone on the internet, making your brand an authoritative figure.
- Unique. Influencers offer the opportunity to produce all sorts of creative content, from video and audio to written posts. After all, users are on social media to engage by liking, commenting on, and sharing posts, and they are far more likely to do so with posts that are customized and unique, making your brand stand out.
- Authentic. More than anything, customers are seeking authenticity in the companies they choose to buy from. Consumers are more likely to see influencers they follow as friends, unlike mega-celebrities, whom they see as out of reach. Therefore, they trust what an influencer promotes to be credible, thus labeling your brand as trustworthy.
Partnering with influencers as part of your affiliate program elevates your brand in ways that traditional marketing methods simply can’t.
Social Proof Makes Your Brand the One to Choose
Social proof is another huge part of generating brand awareness through affiliate marketing. It is the phenomenon where individuals copy the actions of others in order to fit in. For example, if people see that a certain store always seems to be busy with people, they are more likely to check the store out than to visit one where no one is inside.
This is even more evident in the online world in a large variety of ways. For instance, 70% of online consumers look up product or service reviews before making a purchase. On a similar note, two-thirds of online shoppers look up YouTube videos to get ideas and inspiration on what to purchase, and 60% also refer to blogs before making any decisions.
Therefore, all it takes to develop excellent social proof is to get affiliates talking about your brand and creating buzz. The best way to do this is to ask affiliates to produce a review of your product, either visually or verbally, and speak honestly about your product. Remember, consumers want authenticity above all, and by allowing your affiliates to speak freely, you are promoting your brand as one that is genuine.
You Save Money To Focus on What Matters
A common concern when discussing how an affiliate program generates brand awareness is how much brands have to spend on their marketing budget. Fortunately, affiliate programs act as the most cost-effect choice, allowing you to put more energy into other important factors of your brand awareness.
Affiliate programs are often the most profitable because working with affiliates is performance-based. You only have to pay affiliates when they make a sale, saving you money both in startup costs and in the long run. Moreover, you will have an established price set with your affiliates, so you don’t have to worry about tracking changes in budget and pricing. Lastly, you can develop strong and long-lasting partnerships with affiliates. There is no more constantly seeking out new advertising strategies or partners.
Even better, working with a trusted affiliate program will grant you access to detailed statistics and data that tracks the progress of your affiliate marketing efforts. Gone are the days of scrounging around various software programs to track your leads, sales, and impressions. You will know precisely how effective your affiliates are and what they are doing to elevate your brand to new heights.
Create Optimal Brand Awareness With the Right Affiliate Program
Now that you know how affiliate marketing builds brand awareness, you’ll want to make sure you are working with a network that allows you to monitor your affiliates successfully and track your success. Fortunately, LeadDyno takes care of all of that for you so that you can start seeing sales faster than ever.
