What are influencers and creators doing for your brand's sales and revenue? These trusted partners are known for delivering the best results and are very effective at building brand awareness, but unless they provide a unique code, direct impact is difficult to measure. This makes it difficult to understand the value of your investment in influencer partnerships.
According to the study, 73% of brands will launch influencer programs by 2022, with global spending on influencers exceeding £14.5 billion. The cost of partnering with creators is also rising as demand increases, and these partners are sharing more and more details with each other about what they make of brands.
It goes without saying that your business needs a significant ROI from influencer marketing to justify the investment. And affiliate marketing is the perfect way to do that. here because...
Building internal collaboration.
Metrics and accountability are critical to any partnership, and affiliate marketing gives your team access to the information they need. By combining creator efforts with affiliate marketing, you can measure direct sales to increase influencer-led purchases. You can also improve partner diversification, get quantitative information on individual performance, and combine sales metrics with higher value data and conversion mean for a comprehensive view.
This cross-functional teamwork helps your organization break down departmental silos and hold you jointly accountable for working toward goals. In addition, many of the company's best ideas are the result of collaborations between historically disjointed groups such as social media, public relations, and partner organizations.
Achieve goals
Influencers are often unaware of brand goals and campaign goals. This is never a good situation because in the absence of goals, creators make assumptions about what you want. While it may take a little more work on your part, it's important to take the time to communicate your goals well so creators can adjust your efforts to achieve the results you want.
However, this is only half the battle. It is important to share the results you are looking for, but also to agree on how you will measure and then compensate for the results. The default compensation model for influencers is down payment, and like I said, they're only scratching the surface of what you're looking for in exchange for actionable leads. By combining your affiliate business with influencer marketing, you can accurately measure a creator's impact on sales and get paid for tangible results. And with the individual sales tracking that affiliate marketing provides, you can accurately measure the ROI of each influencer and focus on the most productive ones.
Performance-based compensation models also benefit influencers by providing immediate feedback. Brand and product associations that resonate with your audience will highlight the sales you help drive and will send a clear signal that you are delivering real value to your subscribers.
Create seamless collaboration
Most affiliate platforms work with influencers. But unlike their compensation models, the user interface and broader metrics are often unfamiliar to these partners. When you force influencers to join an affiliate program using these tools, you can create unnecessary friction.
Finding and maintaining close contact with the right creators can make or break your bottom line. To make it easier for influencers to interact with brands and measure direct sales, partner platforms like Awin provide seamless access to influencer marketing subnets, removing friction and allowing creators to focus on engaging audiences.
Long term help
Influencer marketing focuses on short-term tactics. Since then, we've known you get the best results by developing long-term relationships with artists. Find voices who understand your brand and take the time to build lasting partnerships.
Building these long-term relationships gives your founders more income stability and can turn them into a continuous source of income for your business. Your brand's permanent presence will also influence your followers and create lasting social proof.
Expand your customer base
Top creators with over a million followers look more attractive because they can build a wider network, and that increased reach won't always translate into sales. As a result, these influence players are sometimes reluctant to operate within a performance model. This is where niche and micro influencers (with a smaller audience and engagement of up to 50,000 followers) are your secret weapon. These content creators know they can make more money with an affiliate partnership with a brand because they attract a more engaged audience with a greater willingness to engage.
Now is the time
With the cost of agents rising and the need for direct selling, companies must find ways to generate more revenue while proving the value of their investment. As you can see, affiliate marketing provides a solution.
By joining forces with influencers and partners, you gain top-level influence to drive awareness along with proven tactics that drive business. The combination of these two outcomes is beneficial to both parties. Brands and influencers collaborating through affiliate partnerships is a new way of working together that benefits everyone.
Awin, the leading affiliate marketing platform, has spent over 20 years helping brands large and small use the building economy to generate measurable sales and revenue for their businesses with a return on investment of between £16 and £1. Learn more about Awin here. .
