Affiliate marketing is spreading as an effective method that helps merchants get more traffic by reaching new audiences, open a broader approach for buyers to their business thanks to the variety of affiliates.
However, not all of us are master in building qualified referral programs and the key question is:
How to promote your referral link broadly and efficiently?
You can’t simply create an affiliate program and sit still hoping someone will approach you to ask for being a partner. The initial step is vital, you need to figure out among all possible channels, which one you might have the advantage to explore, then focus on them. You could take the following channels into account and choose your potential options:
1. Display strategically on your website
What is better than inviting your own customers to be your partners? They have already used the product, known its features and quality. Having them as your affiliates would take full advantage of word-of-mouth marketing – the method that leads to the highest conversion rate. Once your buyers refer a friend, you get sales and they get commissions, it’s a two-way street.
Therefore, don’t forget to show your affiliate program on your website.
Catch your customers’ attention on their first visit
You can choose whether to leave it permanently on the homepage, create a separate page or use a popup to catch your customers’ attention. Make sure when customers come to the site, they would see the referral program immediately.
At UpPromote, we put our affiliate program link right on the menu bar, on which anyone clicks would link to the registration form.
Make sure you have a full package of documents on your website that explain how the affiliate plan works.
Add an Affiliate page on your shop Menu
Using UpPromote: Affiliate marketing, you can add the affiliate registration form on the shop menu, so any visitors who visit your site can easily approach your affiliate campaign.
Your affiliate can create an account and log in right in your shop, which is really simple and convenient.
Add to thank you and confirmation page
After someone completes their transaction, they could be super excited with the item they just bought, just remind them that they can get extra money by joining your referral program. Add a few texts to explain how the program works or show a catchy popup to grab their attention.
Thank you, NEXT…
2. Social media are powerful tools
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,… are the most popular social channels for a selling site to update their status. Make sure you mention your affiliate program on these channels, add information about your campaigns into social media bios and don’t forget to bring out the benefits to be your partners.
Using these tools to approach everyone on your network and asking for cooperation would be a great ideal. Besides, don’t forget to join some affiliate communities on Facebook to introduce your work and get in touch with someone who can help.
3. Build an email campaign
One potential way is to collect and send emails to invite your customers or anyone you find suitable to join your affiliate program. If you want this method work successful, target those who’ve actually bought your products and services, or those who are your email subscribers. Remember to explain how the program works and encourage them to spread your business by offering a win-win relationship.
4. Ask for everyone in your network
Talk to your friends, relatives, colleague about your program and urge them to sign up or even share it on their own network. This is a simple way that doesn’t require much effort but the result is sometimes outstanding.
Plus, the best people to promote your referral program are those who already love what you do. Reach to someone who has previously purchased your product and left a positive review, by that way, they’re not just happy customers– they’re ambassadors.
5. Use video to introduce your program
Video marketing is striving as one of the key approach channels of business. Videos are simply more lively, eye-catching and sometimes, can convey more meaning than mere words.
But how to spread your program through videos? You can either add some information about your affiliate program at the end of your product videos or create a fresh one that is specific to your program. Then you can add that video to all of your existing marketing campaigns, share on your social channels, and even embed it at the end of your emails or newsletters. This video can then be shared anywhere!
6. Join forums and other channels
Do a research of forums or sites that your audience usually visit (Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn,…), then post about your program to offer help. Plus, Shopify forum would be a great place to introduce yourself, merchants and Shopify partners frequently ask questions and browse for informative news here.
Also, you can list your offer information on some affiliate offer websites such as Affiliate Program Database to let affiliates approach your program easier.
7. Run a paid social media campaign
Facebook Ads or Promoted Tweets, and other types of paid social media are a great way to promote content, products, and even referral campaigns. The best advantage of using this method is that you can attract exclusively existing customers by uploading a list of email addresses. Even small businesses can benefit from these paid promotions on social media.
8. Share your promotion media with your affiliates
Promotion media such as Banners, logos, discount announcement could be wonderful tools for the affiliate to share and attract more customers. However, not every affiliate know how to approach these files so the ideal solution is you share with them first. This way affiliate can catch up with the top promotion campaign you are running, as well as have more option to flexibly spread your business with potential customers. Using UpPromote: Affiliate marketing, you can easily upload media files in Creatives section, thus any affiliate on your team can immediately access and share them in their channels.
The mentioned tips could be some of thousand ways to promote your affiliate program, just keep trying until you find the most effective method. Keep in mind: Good things take time!
