Tribal Chimp caters to the growing demand for effective, easy-to-use grooming solutions for men. Their best-selling hair styling powder has become a go-to product for men seeking to add volume and texture effortlessly.
Tribal Chimp has successfully grown their presence in the U.S. and Europe, supported by localized warehousing and strategic marketing efforts. The brand is built on the principle of providing value to customers with high-quality, problem-solving products that attract repeat buyers. With 30-32% of their customers being repeat purchasers, Tribal Chimp has maintained a loyal customer base while continuing to expand their reach.
The challenge: How to thrive in a market full of imitators
However, as Tribal Chimp grew, so did the competition. New brands began entering the space, mimicking their strategies and creating similar products. Tribal Chimp faced a challenge: how could they maintain their growth and stand out in an increasingly competitive market?
The answer was affiliate marketing. The brand leveraged the affiliate marketing model to work with nano and micro influencers. Unlike traditional influencer partnerships, they wouldn’t be paid upfront. This performance-based model ensured that Tribal Chimp only spent money when it led to real results, paying influencers for every sale they brought in.
After experimenting with other affiliate tools, Tribal Chimp ultimately chose UpPromote for its simplicity, ease of use, and efficiency in managing affiliate relationships. Reflecting on their decision, Mayank Bhogle -Tribal Chimp’s co-founder shared:
We must have tried a few apps before, but finally decided to use UpPromote. We’ve been very happy with the service you guys have provided over the last few years and haven’t found any reason to move to another app.
Explore multiple paths to recruit the perfect partners
Finding the right affiliates is crucial, so TribalChimp has developed a combination of strategies to recruit partners who truly fit their brand. They ran social media ads to cast a wide net and built a branded registration form with the help of UpPromote.
They start by running Facebook ads to reach a large pool of influencers. At the same time, Tribal Chimp took a more personal approach by actively scouting potential partners on Instagram.
Depending on their specific campaigns, the team targets nano-influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers or micro-influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers.
When they find someone who feels like a great match, they reach out directly to start a conversation. These one-on-one chats are all about building genuine relationships and making sure the influencer’s goals align with Tribal Chimp’s mission.
Furthermore, TribalChimp created a sleek, branded registration form with the help of UpPromote. Besides personal information, the team even requested applicants to share their website link, Facebook and Instagram accounts. That way, the brand could have a clear picture of who’s signing up for the program.
Tailor rewards to partner contributions
With the flexibility provided by UpPromote, the brand can create multiple affiliate programs, each designed to suit the unique contributions of different types of partners.
Not all partners contribute in the same way or at the same scale. Influencers, for example, play a pivotal role in promoting Tribal Chimp’s products to a wider, more engaged audience. Therefore, the team decided to reward this group with a generous 30% commission rate, aiming to encourage long-term collaboration.
For affiliates who join through the registration form, Tribal Chimp offers a 20% commission rate. These affiliates may include smaller-scale partners, such as loyal customers who are passionate about the brand and eager to share it within their personal networks.
While their reach may not match that of influencers, their contributions remain valuable, and the 20% commission ensures they are fairly compensated for their efforts.
Moreover, every partner also gets a 10% discount code to share with their audience. These coupon codes are automatically generated by UpPromote, saving time and eliminating manual work for the brand. Once the rules are set, coupon codes are created instantly for every new affiliate who joins the program.
Like TribalChimp, you can seamlessly build separate programs and automate generation of discount codes with UpPromote.
One of TribalChimp’s partners is @honeyhandzz on Instagram – a barbershop based in Texas. In one of their posts, they shared how to use Tribal Chimp’s Sea Salt Spray for hair styling while also including their custom 10% discount code to encourage their followers to try the product.
A barber shop in Texas collaborating with TribalChimp in promoting their Sea Salt Spray
In addition to coupons, affiliates and influencers can also promote products through standard affiliate links. The UpPromote platform tracks all referrals, whether they come from links or coupon codes. TribalChimp can access real-time performance reports to monitor and evaluate their influencers’ contributions.
Support partners with brand knowledge and tools
Tribal Chimp knows that when influencers truly understand the products, they can promote them in a more authentic way. That’s why the brand makes it a priority to stay connected with their partners and give them all the tools they need to succeed.
Whenever there’s a flash sale or a new campaign running on their website, Tribal Chimp keeps their influencers in the loop. Timely updates mean influencers can plan their content effectively and make the most of every opportunity to engage their followers.
TribalChimp also sends free sample products to their influencers, giving them the chance to try out each product themselves. The brand even takes the time to explain how their products work, how they’re used, and the benefits they bring, like improving hair health.
To make things even easier, they provide reference videos from previous collaborators. These examples inspire influencers to create user-generated content that fits Tribal Chimp’s style and resonates with their followers.
Within the UpPromote app, merchants can easily send bulk emails or use the in-app chat to share updates, answer questions, and stay connected with their partners.
We send them a message about everything—how the product is used, what effect it has on the hair, and stuff like that. But in addition, we also send them reference videos of people who have worked with us in the past, so they get a better understanding of how they should create a video.
Mayank Bhogle – The co-founder of TribalChimp
Additionally, UpPromote allows Tribal Chimp to upload a wide range of product images that influencers can use in their promotions. That saves influencers a lot of time, allowing them to focus on crafting engaging content while speeding up the promotion process.
Lessons for other merchants
For merchants seeking to expand their brand, the key takeaway from TribalChimp’s success is to prioritize nano- and micro-influencers over larger influencers. These smaller creators offer a cost-effective way to drive results while producing authentic, relatable content.
As TribalChimp’s co-founder shared, “I would advise other merchants to focus on nano and micro influencers because those are the guys who are going to work for you at a very low cost.”
Ellie Tran, a seasoned SEO content writer with three years of experience in the eCommerce world. Being a part of the UpPromote team, Ellie wants to assist Shopify merchants in achieving success through useful content & actionable insights. Ellie's commitment to learning never stops; she's always eager to gain more knowledge about SEO and content marketing to create valuable content for users. When she's not working on content, Ellie enjoys baking and exploring new places.
